CHICAGO — Almost two years after resigning their positions from NHL teams in the wake of a sexual abuse scandal, former Chicago Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman and former coach Joel Quenneville met with league general managers and coaches here Friday.
Both resigned – Bowman as GM of the Blackhawks and Quenneville as coach of the Florida Panthers – in October 2021 after it came to light through a third-party report that a prompt and thorough investigation was not conducted by senior management after it learned of the alleged 2010 sexual assault of former Chicago Blackhawks player Kyle Beach at the hands of former Blackhawks video coach Brad Aldrich.
According to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, neither were mandated to be at the meeting at the Hyatt Regency, near O’Hare International Airport, but were given the opportunity to be there “to tell everybody about their experience and lessons learned.”
“They were here voluntarily,” Bettman said. “It wasn’t something that they were told they needed to do. We said, ‘If you’d like the opportunity to address the group, you could have it.’”
Bettman declined to comment on what Bowman and Quenneville said, saying, “I still have to make a judgment as to when or whether it’s appropriate for them to be reinstated, so that’s not a question I’m prepared to answer right now.”
Both Bowman and Quenneville also denied requests for comment after the meeting, with Quenneville telling Sportsnet, “It’s not the right time.”
Some attendees of Friday’s meeting did, however, share what they took away from the conversation.
“That was about leadership and responsibility and about, if something does come up, how to handle things thoroughly,” said Arizona Coyotes general manager Bill Armstrong. “You have to address it, investigate it, and it’s your responsibility as a leader to go above and beyond to make sure it’s dealt with. And that the league’s perspective, too.”
That was what resonated with Montreal Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis as well.
When asked what procedure he would follow if anything nefarious were to happen within his team, St. Louis said, “I just think, in general, you’ve got to address it, you’ve got to communicate it to people that are above, but you also follow up and make sure there’s actions taking place. I think with where we are as a society, I don’t think there’s any more secrets. I think we’ve all gotta be better. If you bring stuff up, you have to make sure to follow up and make sure that actions are taking care of it.”
The lack of a thorough investigation after Beach reported the abuse in 2010 led Beach to tell TSN, in the fall of 2021, that he felt abandoned and betrayed by the Blackhawks.
“For him to turn his back on players when his one job is to protect the players at all costs – I don’t know how that could be your leader,” said Beach of Quenneville.
After a meeting with Bettman – following the release of an independent investigation by the law firm Jenner & Block, that concluded “failure to promptly and thoroughly investigate the matter and the decision to take no action from May 23 to June 14 (2010) had consequences” – Quenneville resigned from the Panthers.
“I want to express my sorrow for the pain this young man, Kyle Beach, has suffered,” Quenneville said in a statement to TSN on Oct. 28, 2021. “My former team, the Blackhawks, failed Kyle and I own my share of that. I want to reflect on how all of this happened and take the time to educate myself on ensuring hockey spaces are safe for everyone.”
Two days prior, upon Bowman’s resignation, Blackhawks CEO Danny Wirtz said, “We and he ultimately accept that, in his first year as general manager, he made a mistake, alongside our other senior executives at the time, and did not take adequate action in 2010.”
On Friday, Bettman would not comment on whether either Bowman or Quenneville would again be permitted to take official actions as members of the league.
Although neither were officially suspended by the NHL, Bettman had said previously that both would require his clearance to return in any capacity.
Bowman and Quenneville reportedly applied for reinstatement and met with the commissioner in July, though no decision on their futures with the league were rendered then.
“Because I have to go through that process at some point, I don’t want to be discussing it publicly until I’m ready to tell everybody what I’m thinking,” the commissioner said on Friday.
Other news and notes
• While this meeting wasn’t unprecedented – others between the league, its general managers and coaches have been held in June before the NHL Draft – it was the first of its kind to be held at this time of year.
“It was an opportunity to get the head coaches and the managers together to focus on the start of the season and make sure everybody’s on the same page,” Bettman said, adding it could become an annual tradition.
• Rules were on the docket, with some of the discussion centering on slashing. Both Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes and Los Angeles Kings general manager Rob Blake emphasized the importance of enforcing the rule as it’s written and trying to eliminate some of the “grey zone” pertaining to what constitutes an actual infraction, especially when it comes to slashes on sticks.
• Although it wasn’t a focus of the meeting, Bettman was asked about the completion of the sale of the Ottawa Senators. “It’s on track,” Bettman said. “If I had to guess, but don’t hold me to it, sometime next week, they’ll close. We still haven’t done a board vote, but I’m going to do that when it gets closer to them being ready to close. Michael Andlauer was interviewed by the executive committee a week ago and their recommendation is that this transaction proceed.”
As for Andlauer selling his minority share of the Canadiens, Bettman said that was a formality and that it would be completed accordingly.
• Regarding the league’s investigation of the 2018 Hockey Canada scandal, Bettman said, “There’s nothing new to report today.”