Ottawa Senators forward Mike Hoffman and his girlfriend Monika Caryk are denying any involvement in the harassment allegations they are facing.
A story published by the Ottawa Citizen on Tuesday said that Senators captain Erik Karlsson and his wife Melinda had filed for a peace bond (similar to a restraining order) over online harassment they say came from Caryk. Caryk was accused of creating multiple social media profiles to write nasty comments towards Karlsson’s wife, including one blaming her for a stillborn birth of the couple’s first child.
Hoffman and Caryk feel badly about the situation but say they have nothing to do with it.
“We feel compassion and awful for what Erik and Melinda have had to deal with,” Hoffman told the Citizen for a story published on Friday. “I don’t really think it’s correct to be blamed for something without having proof.”
“It’s been a really hard week, to be honest,” Caryk told the Citizen. “We both feel terrible for (the Karlssons) that they have to go through something like this and for us because we’re the accused.”
Both say there is no proof that Caryk was responsible for the harassment. They have hired a lawyer to defend themselves and want to work with the Karlssons on figuring out who is behind the harassment.
