The assault allegations against former Blackhawks video coach Brad Aldrich, and the subsequent failures by the Blackhawks and the NHL should be the biggest story in all of sports right now.
Aldrich was the Blackhawks video coach during the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons. On May 7, an unidentified former Blackhawks player filed a lawsuit alleging that Aldrich sexually assaulted him and another unidentified Blackhawks player during the 2010 Stanley Cup run, and that the team did nothing after the assault was reported to another employee. The lawsuit also alleges that Aldrich sent threatening messages to the player afterward in an effort to prevent the player from reporting the incident.
After Aldrich left the team following the 2009-10 season, he went on to coach at Miami University as well as for a high school team in Michigan. In 2013 Aldrich was charged with and convicted of criminal sexual conduct related to an incident with a 17-year old player he coached and served nine months in prison.
A second lawsuit was filed in May against the Blackhawks by a former high school player of Aldrich's in Michigan alleges that Aldrich assaulted him when he was 16 years old. The lawsuit alleges that the Blackhawks "provided positive references to future employers for Bradley Aldrich as a hockey coach despite having knowledge of his sexual assaults and failed to report Bradley Aldrich to any hockey or coaching organizations of oversight.”
Since both lawsuits were filed last month, more former players and employees have come forward to speak about how widely-known Aldrich's actions were at the time.
Skills coach Paul Vincent told TSN's Rick Westhead this month that the players told him about the alleged assaults, and that he reported what he was told to then-Blackhawks president John McDonough, director of hockey administration Al MacIsaac, vice president of hockey operations Stan Bowman and team sports psychologist James Gary and urged the executives to report the incident to the police, but they refused. Vincent said that he also told then-assistant coaches John Torchetti and Mike Haviland about the meeting with executives and their refusal to go to the police.
Torchetti said in another report by TSN that he was aware of a meeting in which the Blackhawks' management discussed the alleged assaults.
Another report by TSN said that a former marketing official said that the alleged assaults were "an open secret" in the organization.
“Brad would routinely befriend young interns and invite them to his apartment in Chicago to watch March Madness basketball and other sports,” the marketing official told TSN. “I was told to steer clear of him because he had tried something at his apartment on a few players. This was not something that only a few people knew about. The entire training staff, a lot of people knew...This was an open secret.”
An unidentified player told reporter Katie Strang that "every single guy on the team knew" of Aldrich's actions, and defenseman Nick Boynton said in the same report that he was aware of the incident. Another defenseman from the team, Brent Sopel, tweeted that the reports are accurate.
Dan Carcillo, who was on the Flyers team that played the Blackhawks in the Final in 2010, tweeted on Sunday that the Flyers players "heard the whispers of what Aldrich did" durning that season.
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement that there is "no ongoing investigation" being conducted by the league against the Blackhawks or anyone involved.
It's shocking. There are obviously lawsuits against the Blackhawks, but the NHL has the power to punish the team too. This is the league that launched a full investigation into the Coyotes conducting fitness testing prior to the 2020 combine and took away a first-round and second-round draft pick as a result. But the Blackhawks' numerous failures surrounding the Aldrich situation aren't worthy of punishment?
Several of the executives named are still working in the league. MacIsaac is still with the Blackhawks, currently serving as senior vice president of hockey operations. Bowman is general manager and president of hockey operations with the Blackhawks. The NHL is able to and should take action against the executives involved. But they aren't.
Anyone involved with not only covering up for Aldrich, but providing positive references for Aldrich in his future employment searches, deserves to be banned from the sport.
The league is hoping that this blows over. Don't let it.
For now at least, Aldrich’s name remains on the Stanley Cup.
— Rick Westhead (@rwesthead) June 23, 2021
The Hockey Hall of Fame told me questions about striking someone’s name from the Cup should go to the NHL, which, as I have reported, is not responding to questions about Aldrich. pic.twitter.com/LidmH6THe4
YOUR TURN: What will it take for the NHL to take action and launch an independent investigation, and what should the consequences be for those involved?