HOFFMAN, FIANCÉE DENY HARASSING KARLSSON, WIFE.
Hired lawyer to investigate after troll accusations
• Ottawa Senators star Mike Hoffman and his fiancée Monika Caryk both deny that either of them had anything to do with the cyberbullying of Melinda Karlsson, the wife of Senators’ captain Erik Karlsson.
Speaking from their home in Kitchener Friday, Hoffman and Caryk say they’re distraught over what happened to the Karlssons and they want to help find the person responsible.
Caryk has hired Toronto lawyer Sheila Block to reach out to Erik Karlsson’s representatives and the Senators to conduct a third-party investigation. They are adamant that they have nothing to hide.
“We both feel terrible for them that they have go through something like this and for us because we’re the accused,” Caryk said.
Melinda Karlsson filed an application for an order of protection from Caryk claiming she was responsible for an online harassment campaign that lasted for most of the last hockey season.
The peace bond was sworn in an Ottawa court on May 4. It alleges that Caryk threatened Melinda and Erik and says the harassment continued until the couple’s son’s stillbirth in March. Ottawa Police are investigating the matter.
No charges have been filed against Caryk and none of the allegations have been proven in court. Hoffman and Caryk say they haven’t been contacted by police.
“We feel compassion and awful for what Erik and Melinda have had to deal with,” Hoffman said. “I don’t really think it’s correct to be blamed for something without having proof. In this world you’re innocent until proven guilty.
“It hasn’t been easy. You don’t wish this upon anyone. The comments were, and have been horrendous, and we haven’t had a chance to defend ourselves until this point.”
Caryk said she first heard about Melinda’s accusations on March 22 — two days after the Karlssons’ son, Axel, was stillborn — when she says she received an email from Taylor Winnik, the wife of Minnesota Wild forward Daniel Winnik.
“I got a horrific email from a girl named Taylor Winnik, I believe her husband plays in the NHL, saying that I’m a horrible and disgusting person, accusing me of writing negative stuff about the fact that Erik and Melinda lost their child,” Caryk said.
“That was the first time that I was aware of any of this.
“Melinda has never come to me with any of this. Nothing,” Caryk said.
Hoffman said he only learned of the accusations when he got home and he immediately reached out to Karlsson by email.
“It wasn’t until four days later that he spoke with me. We ended up doing it after practice, walking out of the rink, and basically what was said was, ‘I’d like to see what your point of the story is’ and all he had to say was, ‘We know it was Monika’ and I asked whether it was on Instagram? Twitter? Just show something or prove something.
“All he said was that they knew it was her and it was the only thing mentioned.”
“We reached out to Erik at the end of May to try and figure this out together and privately
IGOTA HORRIFIC EMAIL ... SAYING THAT I’M A HORRIBLE AND DISGUSTING PERSON.
before something like this happened,” Hoffman said. “We got nothing back.
“All of a sudden a few days later, we see this article all over social media and all over the world. There’s a few times we’ve tried to go to them to get to the bottom of it and discuss it and see what they had to say and let us defend ourselves but there’s been no option to do that.”
So, why does Caryk think she’s being accused?
“I’m asking the same question you are,” she said. “I have no idea. Melinda and I weren’t best friends, but we weren’t enemies. We were civil. I honestly have no idea. I’m asking the same question you are.”
Karlsson’s representatives could not be reached for comment Friday.