Dan Sanford

Sports Editor

das6267@psu.edu

Chicago Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman and Florida Panthers head coach Joel Quenneville have resigned from their positions amid a scandal in which a former Blackhawks prospect brought to light that he had been sexually abused in 2010 with inadequate action taken to correct the issue. At the time, Quenneville was the bench boss for the Blackhawks; he was fired in 2018, and had coached the Panthers since 2019.

On May 13, 2021, an unnamed former player filed a lawsuit alleging a prolonged sexual assault at the hands of then-video coach Brad Aldrich during an off-ice incident during the Chicago Blackhawks’ 2010 Stanley Cup championship run. A subsequent investigation focused on two players, one of whom was referred to as “John Doe”.

According to the investigation, on May 23, 2010, Blackhawks executives held a meeting about the sexual assault claims and decided they would not address them until after the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Among those involved were Bowman, Quenneville, and Kevin Cheveldayoff, who is now the executive vice president and general manager of the Winnipeg Jets. Other than notifying the team’s human resources department about the issue, the group did not discuss the matter again. Cheveldayoff was told that the matter had been resolved, and faced no consequences other than negative press for his involvement in the scandal.

Shortly after Chicago won the Stanley Cup, the Blackhawks human resources director gave Aldrich the option to resign or face termination if John Doe’s claims turned out to be true. Instead of facing his crimes, resignation allowed Aldrich to participate in postseason celebrations that he was not worthy of, the investigation concluded. At no point did the group or the HR director ever contact police authorities on the issue.

On Wednesday, Kyle Beach gave an interview on SportsCentre confirming that he was John Doe, and spoke about his experiences with the Blackhawks organization after the fact. Beach was the Blackhawks’ 2008 first round pick in the NHL Entry Draft, where he was selected 11th overall. He was a member of the Blackhawks’ emergency squad for the 2010 playoffs should injuries have occurred, but never actually played an NHL game. There were additional allegations that Aldrich purposefully recommended to Quenneville not to roster Beach because of Beach’s resistance to Aldrich’s requests for sexual favors. Because of this, he had long been thought to be a draft bust, where he may have just been unfairly held back instead. He was traded to the New York Rangers in 2013, but failed to reach the big time there as well.

Bowman, who was replaced in the interim by Kyle Davidson, leaves behind a severely struggling Blackhawks team following moves that many NHL pundits say should already have lost him his job. The team won its first game of the season Monday against the Ottawa Senators after starting the season on a nine-game losing skid. In his final offseason, Bowman was widely criticized for signing defenseman Seth Jones to a lucrative eight-year contract which those people viewed as an overpayment. Jones has played well below that paycheck’s expectations to start the season, registering a -8 plus-minus rating on the ice and having zero goals through 10 games.

On the contrary, Joel Quenneville seemed to finally have the Florida Panthers heading in the direction of Stanley Cup contention. The Panthers were undefeated at the time of his resignation, having won seven straight games to begin the season. The team managed one more win to extend the streak without him, before falling in a shootout to the Boston Bruins Saturday. In the interim, Quenneville was replaced by former NHLer Andrew Brunette. Rumors have since circulated that former Columbus Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella, who is known for a very direct and tough style of coaching, is a lead candidate for the job.