Erik Karlsson's wife accuses Mike Hoffman's fiancée of vicious social media harassment
A wild story emerged Tuesday detailing alleged vicious harassment from the fiancée of one Ottawa Senators player toward the wife of another.
According to the Ottawa Citizen, Melinda Karlsson, the wife of star Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson, recently filed an order of protection against Monika Caryk, the fiancée of forward Mike Hoffman, Karlsson’s teammate for parts of the last seven seasons.
Some of the alleged harassment came after the death of the Karlssons’ stillborn son, Axel. The protective order was filed May 4.
“Monika Caryk has uttered numerous statements wishing my unborn child dead,” says Melinda Karlsson’s sworn statement to the court.
“She also uttered that she wished I was dead and that someone should ‘take out’ my husband’s legs to ‘end his career.’
“Monika Caryk has posted over 1,000 negative and derogatory statements about me as a professional.”
The harassment seems to stem from anonymous social media posts
Several of the posts from anonymous users accused Melinda Karlsson of “popping pain killer medication” during her pregnancy.
In an Instagram post mourning his son’s death, Erik Karlsson posted a photo of Axel’s tiny footprints. In the post, Karlsson thanked the city and the team’s fans for their love and support and wrote: “We feel very lucky to be Axel’s parents. Even though he was stillborn, we know we will hold him again one day under different circumstances and the joy he gave us will be with us forever.”
The post garnered more than 10,000 comments, with the overwhelming majority of them expressions of support and sympathy for the couple. However, one comment, posted by user @sandydandy45, stood out: “I feel bad for the baby he didn’t have a chance with Melinda popping pain killer medication everyday.”
It took the league’s top defenceman just seven minutes to respond: “How dare you. You have been making fake accounts and buying hacked ones for months to harass me and my wife but this is an all new low even for you. You are a disgusting person.”
Both Hoffman and Caryk have denied involvement with Hoffman saying the couple “has nothing to hide” and will “cooperate in any way to prove that it wasn’t us.”
“There is a 150 percent chance that my fianceé Monika and I are not involved in any of the accusations that have been pursued (that are) coming our way. We totally understand there’s no place for cyberbullying. We’ve offered to cooperate and do anything it takes to find out who is doing this, and support (the Karlssons),” Hoffman said in a statement.
“Obviously this is a tough time that they’re going through, and we want to find out who is doing this, because for some reason it’s coming into our court, and it’s 150 percent that it’s not us. We have nothing to hide. We’re willing to cooperate in any way to solve this and figure it out, and prove that it wasn’t us.”
Police are actively investigating the situation and no charges have been filed.
Both players are considered likely trade candidates
Karlsson, 28, is a five-time NHL all-star and two-time Norris Trophy winner who has spent his entire NHL career with the Senators, beginning in 2009.
Hoffman, has also spent his entire NHL career with the Senators. After moving back and forth between the Senators and AHL affiliate Binghamton in 2011 and 2012, Hoffman stuck with the Sens in 2013 and has been one the team’s most consistent forwards over the last four seasons, combining for 104 goals and 120 assists.
After a miserable 28-43-11 record this season, the team is widely expected to pursue trades for both Karlsson and Hoffman.
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Sam Cooper is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
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