Serious question: What punishment did the Blackhawks actually receive for their mishandling of sexual assault?
In May 2021, former Blackhawk Kyle Beach accused former Blackhawks video coach Brad Aldrich of sexual assault during the team's 2010 Stanley Cup run. Five months later in October, a 107-page report from the law firm Jenner and Block found that Blackhawks senior leadership held a meeting on May 23, 2010 during the Stanley Cup run, and decided to wait until after the season ended to address the issue, which was not reported to police. After winning the Stanley Cup, the Blackhawks allowed Aldrich to resign from his position. He went on to work for the University of Notre Dame and Miami University. Aldrich resigned from Miami University four months after being hired after being accused of sexual assault of an intern. A November 2021 investigation by law firm Barnes and Thornburg ultimately concluded that Aldrich sexually assaulted two men in 2012. In 2013, Aldrich was convicted of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a high-school student in Michigan.
The Blackhawks failed Beach, and their decision to allow Aldrich to quietly resign allowed Aldrich to continue to work in hockey and continue to use his position of power to sexually assault others.
Sure, individual executives from that 2010 Blackhawks team were punished. After the Jenner and Block report came out in October 2021, general manager Stan Bowman stepped down. Coach Joel Quenneville, who at that time was head coach of the Panthers, stepped down from his position as well. Neither should have the privilege of working for an NHL team again.
The actual Blackhawks' organization? Gary Bettman gave them a slap on the wrist with a $2 million fine. Not penalizing the Blackhawks with the loss of draft picks ultimately rewarded the organization with the gift of a potential generational talent in Connor Bedard after the Blackhawks won the NHL's draft lottery on Monday night.
It's an embarrassment.
The NHL's system for penalizing teams for misconduct, whether it has anything to do with the on-ice product or not, is wildly inconsistent.
In 2020 the Coyotes were forced to forfeit their 2020 second-round pick and a 2021 first-round pick for violating the NHL's combine testing policy. Teams aren't allowed to put draft-eligible prospects through fitness testing before the league's combine, and the Coyotes illegally tested over 20 prospects from Canadian junior teams. NHL rules stipulate that teams get fined a minimum $250,000 for each violation of the rule, but Bettman opted to not impose any financial penalties on the Coyotes and instead penalize them with the loss of those two draft picks. John Chayka, who was general manager when the violations took place, had resigned prior to the sanctions for unrelated reasons. The forfeiture of the draft picks was a punishment for the organization, even though the general manager who oversaw it all was gone.
Back in 2010, the Devils tried signing Ilya Kovalchuk to a 17-year, $102-million contract that was rejected by the NHL for the obvious salary-cap circumvention. Kovalchuk was obviously not going to be able to finish the contract. It was front-loaded in order to get him his salary, but the absurd 17-year length was an effort to cheat and keep the average annual value and cap hit low. The league then approved a 15-year, $100-million deal that wasn't front-loaded. After the ordeal, the Devils were fined $3 million, a third-round pick in 2011 and a first-round pick sometime between 2011 and 2014, with the Devils having the option to decide which draft they would lose the pick. After waiting until 2014, the Devils applied for reconsideration and Bettman decided to let them keep their first-round pick. Still, they were fined the original $3 million and a third-round pick, not an insignificant amount.
What were the Blackhawks fined for the organization's numerous failures surrounding the handling of Aldrich? $2 million. That's it. No draft picks were lost. The Coyotes were penalized heavier with the loss of a first-round and second-round draft picks for making a bunch of kids do what, ride a stationary bike or something similar? The Devils received a higher financial penalty and the loss of a third-round pick for a ridiculous contract.
Bettman was asked in a press conference in November 2021 why the Blackhawks received lighter penalties than the Coyotes and Devils.
"The others had different context and different facts," Bettman said. "This was to make clear that the way the Blackhawks organization handled the matter was inappropriate, even though ownership was not aware. It was also a message to the rest of the league that you have to make sure your organization is functioning properly on these matters."
Yeah, they had different context and different facts. What the Coyotes and Devils did was far less severe than the Blackhawks' failures. The Coyotes' punishment especially was an example of punishing the team as an institution for systematic failures, even though the general manager as an individual was gone and wouldn't have to deal with the fallout at that point.
The Blackhawks shouldn't even have a first-round pick this year. But because they were allowed to keep it, they are rewarded with a likely generational talent in Bedard.
This is the first-round pick the Blackhawks should have lost had they been forced to forfeit one. By the time the Jenner and Block report detailing the organization's numerous failures was released in October 2021, the Blackhawks had already traded their 2022 first-round pick. Their 2022 first-round pick went to the Blue Jackets in the Seth Jones deal in July 2021, after the initial allegations and before the report was finalized that led to the $2 million fine. If Bettman had decided the Blackhawks' failures were worth losing a first-round pick, it likely would have been the next one they had, which would be this one in 2023. The one that will be used to draft Bedard.
Yeah, owner Rocky Wirtz will take that and pay the $2 million fine any day.
Especially when winning the lottery allowed the Blackhawks to recoup that fine more than twice over.
The Chicago Sun-Times' Ben Pope reported that in the first 90 minutes following the draft lottery, the Blackhawks sold $2.5 million worth of season-ticket plans for the 2023-24 season, including 500 new full-season plans. In the first 12 hours, the Blackhawks had sold $5.2 million in season-ticket plans, including 1,200 new full-season plans.
Yep. That sends a message to the rest of the league, Bettman. The message is that the NHL doesn't even come close to taking sexual assault seriously.
