What is Going On With the Wild

[Ped]

Looked for a threat but didn't see one.


A few weeks ago there was an internal investigation into allegations of abuse from Bill Guerin, which I assumed most people have heard about. The allegations were made by Andrew Heydt, the team's direction of operations. It was a little weird that the name of the complainant was made known.


The Wild stated they had two investigations and took appropriate steps, but wouldn't say what exactly the investigations uncovered, and the NHL said it was happy with the investigation (which admittedly means nothing).


Right after the investigations, Assistant GM Chris O'Hearn, who was charged with negotiating contracts, among other things, left suddenly in a "mutual parting of the ways" that was out of left field.


Now, Heydt has also left the team; he was with the Wild for 10 years and apparently was quite popular with the players.


Is this about to blow up again?

[TheScorpion]

It's a bizarre situation. Two concurrent investigations. It's not good.

[sureLoss]

Supposedly the investigation concluded that whatever Guerin did was not a fireable offense.

But yeah, O'Hearn was supposedly Guerin's right hand man and Guerin relied on him a lot.


Also thought it was strange that Russo named the complainant. That will for sure discourage others from speaking up in the future.

[Strange Brew]

Who was responsible for naming the whistleblower?

[Ped]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Who was responsible for naming the whistleblower?

It appears it was Russo.


Also:

In Friday's episode of the 32 Thoughts podcast, SportsNet's Elliotte Friedman said some Minnesota players were "really upset" with a situation involving Guerin and a staff member who wound up filing a complaint against Guerin. That staff member, per Russo, is Andrew Heydt, the team's decade-long director of team operations and player relations.
"It seems like this thing is bigger than what it appears now," said podcast co-host Jeff Marek, setting the stage for his question to Friedman. "I'll throw in the caveat, knowing that there's probably bigger parts of the story, at least more parts of the story, still to come, what have you been able to put together?"
"I didn't realize there were two investigations going on, or that two investigations had occurred," Friedman answered. "It appears that the first of those two investigations focused on O'Hearn and the second of those investigations focused on Bill Guerin.
"I still have no idea what happened with O'Hearn. And like I said, people are stunned because if you would go through the NHL and say this is a person who was guilty of some behavior that could result in a mutual agreement to walk away, he would be very low on the list. Very low from what people seem to tell me. People are shocked and maybe someday we'll get some clarity on that."

https://www.si.com/fannation/bringme...y-not-over-yet

[flames_fan_down_under]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

Supposedly the investigation concluded that whatever Guerin did was not a fireable offense.

But yeah, O'Hearn was supposedly Guerin's right hand man and Guerin relied on him a lot.


Also thought it was strange that Russo named the complainant. That will for sure discourage others from speaking up in the future.

The NHL has a long and rich history of terrible internal investigations.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

Also thought it was strange that Russo named the complainant. That will for sure discourage others from speaking up in the future.

I think that has to be the point doesn't it? Surely they couldn't be so clueless as to think that was a good idea unless the bolded was their goal.

[Erick Estrada]

Heydt is the director of team operations and player relations. Given the complaint seems to be player driven it's probably no secret within the organization that Heydt would file the complaint on behalf of the players. Regardless it's not a good look for Guerin here as clearly he did something that upset the players and one has to wonder what was going on with him and O'Hearn when it comes to how they are treating people in the building.

[Kipper_3434]

My work does this too, if you ask management to speak on your behalf they will name you unless explicitly told not to. Seems kind of scummy bit 100% to discourage speaking up/out

[Scroopy Noopers]

Just gonna leave this here:

https://youtu.be/IOS_MnLZ-Ms?si=xUME4CTc5I1tq9Oa

[Canada 02]

after Guerin attacked a teammate, I've always enjoyed watching his beat downs.
Phaneuf destroyed him when he was just a rookie

[habernac]

Iginla knocking his block off was enjoyable, too.

[Huntingwhale]

Originally Posted by Kipper_3434

My work does this too, if you ask management to speak on your behalf they will name you unless explicitly told not to. Seems kind of scummy bit 100% to discourage speaking up/out

Our too. Someone brought it up at the last townhall meeting that perhaps we should switch to an anonymous message system. The president jumped through hoops for 10 minutes justifying how if you want to bring something up you should basically have the balls to not hide behind a computer screen and use your real name. But don't worry guys , "nobody will take action against you if you speak up. Trust us!".

[Bubba17]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

Our too. Someone brought it up at the last townhall meeting that perhaps we should switch to an anonymous message system. The president jumped through hoops for 10 minutes justifying how if you want to bring something up you should basically have the balls to not hide behind a computer screen and use your real name. But don't worry guys , "nobody will take action against you if you speak up. Trust us!".

From the boss perspective though what if you speak up and slander someone else's name and your accusation is proven to not be true? Then you have slandered an innocent person and ruined their reputation, it happens a lot more in the office than you realize.

[Snuffleupagus]

Originally Posted by Canada 02

after Guerin attacked a teammate, I've always enjoyed watching his beat downs.
Phaneuf destroyed him when he was just a rookie

I was at that game and saw Guerin afterwards, his face looked like it was part of a pinata party, I give him credit for still smiling though.

[Ped]

Originally Posted by Bubba17

From the boss perspective though what if you speak up and slander someone else's name and your accusation is proven to not be true? Then you have slandered an innocent person and ruined their reputation, it happens a lot more in the office than you realize.

That's why you investigate. You don't just fire because someone filed a complaint.

[Goriders]

Originally Posted by Bubba17

From the boss perspective though what if you speak up and slander someone else's name and your accusation is proven to not be true? Then you have slandered an innocent person and ruined their reputation, it happens a lot more in the office than you realize.

That’s what the internet is for.

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by Canada 02

after Guerin attacked a teammate, I've always enjoyed watching his beat downs.
Phaneuf destroyed him when he was just a rookie

“I’m gonna give it to Iginla”. Understatement of the century.

It’s a top 5 Iginla moment for me. Still gives me goosebumps and a giant shot of adrenaline.

[mjk123]

Shame on them for not playing Fleury in Pitts...karma coming!