Coach Q & Chevy in Hot Water
I'll start with this, the NHL needs to come down hard on both Kevin Cheveldayoff and Joel Quenneville because so far there response has been a colossal failure.
With the release of today's report by Jenner & Block there have been more details released that implicates multiple members of the Blackhawks organization. Stan Bowman has stepped down as the General Manager of the organization and although this seems like a punishment it's far from it. Bowman's legacy remains intact although maybe slightly tainted, but overall he's only lost is his job. His name is still on the Stanley Cup, he's still financially whole and as of now the NHL hasn't black balled him from working in the league again.
Now the biggest issue remaining is both Cheveldayoff and Quenneville were in the meeting where details of Aldrich's acquisitions were revealed and neither took the appropriate steps to ensure justice was served or actions were taken. Quenneville even went as far as to state that it would be bad for team chemistry to reveal the actions during the Stanley Cup Finals, because it was "difficult to get that far."
But here's where the problem lies, both Chevy & Coach Q denied knowing anything about these allegations when they were asked in July, which is obviously not the case.
What they were actually saying is they didn't think there was any information at the time that could implicat them.
«I had no knowledge of any allegations involving Mr. Aldrich until asked if I was aware of anything just prior to the conclusion of his employment with the Chicago Blackhawks," Cheveldayoff said, via the team-issued statement. "After confirming that I had no prior knowledge of anything, I had no further involvement. As this is a legal matter before the courts, I will not be making any further comment; however, to the extent I am contacted by investigators in this matter, I will cooperate to the best of my ability and knowledge.»
Today's report directly implicates both of these men in this report. It shows that not only did they know what was happening, but it also implicates Quenneville even further because after Aldrich left the organization he provided him with a glowing letter of recommendation, which allowed Aldrich to go on and get a job that allowed him to assault a high school student. This in and of itself should be enough to make any organization separate themselves from Quenneville.
Now the NHL NEEDS to do their job and make an example of Bowman, Cheveldayoff and Quenneville to let everyone in the league know these actions are unacceptable.
Unfortunately my hopes for the NHL aren't that high.
The NHL already administered a $2,000,000 fine to the Blackhawks organization, which for an organization worth north of $2,000,000,000 isn't really much of a punishment.
In comparison the NHL fined the New Jersey Devils $3,000,000 for circumventing the CBA by signing Ilya Kovalchuk, they fined the New York Rangers $250,000 for calling for Georges Parros' firing and they fined the Arizona Coyotes multiple draft picks, including a 1st round pick, for circumventing combined testing rules.
It's clear the NHL doesn't view this as harshly as they should, but they still have a chance to make up for it and to do that, they'll need to hold all parties responsible for their actions.
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