Former NHLer Akim Aliu will be represented by the same law firm that represents former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported Saturday.
“I think a lot of where we’re going to go is going to be determined by this meeting.” Friedman said on Hockey Night in Canada. “Now as you can imagine, Aliu has retained counsel of course – he has a law firm in Canada and in Toronto. But also, there was word he has engaged with Geragos & Geragos, that is a US firm that also represents Colin Kaepernick.”
Friedman has since confirmed that Geragos & Geragos will represent Aliu.
Aliu is scheduled to meet with the NHL next week to discuss “the cultural problems in hockey,” Sportsnet’s Gare Joyce reported on Friday. This comes after Aliu posted a series of tweets regarding alleged racial slurs directed at him by former Calgary Flames coach Bill Peters during their time in the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs in 2009-10.
Teammates in Rockford verified Aliu’s account of the incident, culminating in Peters’s resignation.
Czech defenceman Michal Jordan, who played under Peters for two seasons on the Carolina Hurricanes, accused his former head coach of physical violence against him and another unidentified player following Aliu’s tweet. Current Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour told reporters that the incident described by Jordan “for sure happened.”
The Flames suspended Peters following the accusations, and he issued a letter of apology to the team, but did not refer to Aliu by name.
Aliu characterized the letter as “misleading, insincere and concerning.”
Peters ultimately resigned as Calgary’s head coach.
Ron Francis, the general manager of the new Seattle franchise, released a statement saying that he was “made aware” of the “physical incidents” involving Peters, Jordan and the other player, which occurred when Francis was GM in Carolina.
Francis’s statement appears to contradict an interview Peter Karmanos, the former owner of the Hurricanes, gave with Geoff Baker of The Seattle Times on Thursday.
Karmanos said he would have fired Peters “in a nanosecond” had Francis made him aware of the incidents. But Francis said in his statement that ownership was made aware of it.
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