Jordan Hart, Who Provided Late Ranger Derek Boogaard With Painkillers, Pleads Guilty To Drug Charge

Jordan Hart, a minor-league hockey player accused of providing late New York Rangers left winger Derek Boogaard with the painkillers that led to Boogaard’s accidental overdose death pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor drug charge Thursday in Manhattan federal court.

Jordan Hart Pleads Guilty To Drug Charge

Hart, the son of longtime New York Islanders defenseman Gerry Hart, faces up to a year in prison when he is sentenced on Oct. 6. His lawyer, Nelson Boxer, refused comment as they left Manhattan federal court Thursday afternoon.

Hart, 33, had previously faced up to 20 years behind bars after he was charged with a drug felony in a September 2014 indictment. Prosecutors allege he sold illegally obtained painkillers to Boogaard, who died from a drug overdose in May 2011 at the age of 28.

Hart told U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buechwald that he became addicted to painkillers after suffering a shoulder injury in 2009, the year his minor-league career ended after a season with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the AHL.

“Your honor, I did know that it was against the law to accept these drugs,” Hart told Judge Buechwald.

The former Sound Tigers player claimed the pills he had been prescribed were not adequate to combat his shoulder pain, so he bought drugs containing oxycodone in 2010 and 2011.

“I became an addict,” Hart said.

According to the indictment, Hart obtained nearly 3,000 Percocet pills between 2009 and 2011 from Oscar Johnson, a physician’s assistant with hockey’s minor league Utah Grizzlies. Hart played for that team from 2007 to 2009 but was living in New York at the time and was no longer affiliated with the Grizzlies when he allegedly received the drugs from Johnson, who still faces drug charges.

Boogaard was found dead in Minneapolis in 2011. He had spent the night drinking with friends, according to the indictment. He had checked out of a treatment facility just two weeks earlier. Prosecutors tied him to Hart after the former Ranger wrote a $4,000 check to Hart for painkillers, according to the indictment.

Known as “The Boogeyman,” Boogaard was one of the most feared fighters in the NHL. After leaving the Minnesota Wild for a four-year deal with the Rangers, the 6-foot-7-inch, 265-pound forward scored one goal in 22 games before his season ended with a concussion just five months before his death.

PHOTO: UNIONDALE, NY – OCTOBER 11: Derek Boogaard #94 of the New York Rangers skates against the New York Islanders at the Nassau Coliseum on October 11, 2010 in Uniondale, New York. The Islanders won 6-4. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)