[News] NHL will not discipline Cheveldayoff with respect to Brad Aldrich

[sureLoss]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1454113846604537859

https://media.nhl.com/public/news/15348

After meeting today in person with Winnipeg Jets General Manager, Kevin Cheveldayoff, the National Hockey League has concluded that Cheveldayoff was not responsible for the improper decisions made by the Chicago Blackhawks related to the Brad Aldrich matter in 2010, which decisions resulted in the Club’s delayed and inadequate response to a report of serious, inappropriate conduct as between Aldrich and Blackhawks’ prospect, Kyle Beach.



“While on some level, it would be easiest to paint everyone with any association to this terrible matter with the same broad brush, I believe that fundamental fairness requires a more in-depth analysis of the role of each person,” said Commissioner Gary Bettman. “Kevin Cheveldayoff was not a member of the Blackhawks senior leadership team in 2010, and I cannot, therefore, assign to him responsibility for the Club’s actions, or inactions. He provided a full account of his degree of involvement in the matter, which was limited exclusively to his attendance at a single meeting, and I found him to be extremely forthcoming and credible in our discussion.”



As the Jenner & Block Report, subsequent review by the League this week, and today’s interview with Cheveldayoff make clear, Cheveldayoff’s participation at the May 23, 2010, meeting involving senior leaders from the Blackhawks’ management team was extremely limited in scope and substance. In fact, in the course of the investigation, most of the participants in the May 23 meeting did not initially recall that Cheveldayoff was even present.



As an Assistant General Manager at the time, Cheveldayoff, who reported directly to Stan Bowman, was the lowest ranking Club official in the room, and his position included no oversight responsibilities over the Club’s coaching staff. He was among the last to be included in the meeting; he was learning of the subject matter for the first time in the presence of his boss (then-GM Stan Bowman), his boss’ boss (then-CEO John McDonough) and the Head Coach (Joel Quenneville), who was Brad Aldrich’s direct superior; he had limited familiarity with the personnel involved; and he was essentially an observer to the discussion of possible next steps, which discussion, apparently, ended with Cheveldayoff believing that the matter was going to be investigated.



Cheveldayoff’s role within the Blackhawks’ organization at the time not only left him without authority to make appropriate organizational decisions relating to this matter, but as importantly, he was not thereafter even in a position to have sufficient information to assess whether or not the matter was being adequately addressed by the Blackhawks. In short, Cheveldayoff was not a participant in either the formulation or execution of the Club’s response.



Given these findings, the NHL has determined that Kevin Cheveldayoff should not be subject to discipline in the Brad Aldrich matter.

[N-E-B]

Will be interesting to see how the Jets handle this internally. I really hope the NHL has this right here.

[devo22]

well that's disappointing. He was at the meeting and therefore knew, but he still gets off the hook somehow? Yikes.

[Vinny01]

Felt like this was going to be the case once it was announced his meeting was originally slated for next week. If they were going to force him out they wouldn’t have had it drag through the weekend. My understanding is Winnipeg pushed for the meeting to be moved to today

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by devo22

well that's disappointing. He was at the meeting and therefore knew, but he still gets off the hook somehow? Yikes.

I think this is the key piece to Gary's statement:

he was learning of the subject matter for the first time in the presence of his boss (then-GM Stan Bowman), his boss’ boss (then-CEO John McDonough) and the Head Coach (Joel Quenneville), who was Brad Aldrich’s direct superior; he had limited familiarity with the personnel involved; and he was essentially an observer to the discussion of possible next steps, which discussion, apparently, ended with Cheveldayoff believing that the matter was going to be investigated.

If he thought his boss was dealing with the matter, then later saw Aldrich leave the club, I can see how he thought Bowman dealt with it properly.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by devo22

well that's disappointing. He was at the meeting and therefore knew, but he still gets off the hook somehow? Yikes.

I dont know what to say.

I mean, it appears as though he knew and did nothing, so are they saying that there was nothing he could have done?

Because I'm not sure I'd agree with that.

Maybe he didnt have the authority to fire Aldrich? Which may be true, but he's still there.

[Yamer]

Senior leadership group or not, did he not at least ethically have an obligation to Beach and the players? Moreover, his denial of knowledge despite clear evidence of the contrary is a pretty big pimple.

N-E-B put it well. This feels like a miss from outside the room.

[Lonestar]

This topic was discussed in depth on 960 this morning.

I'm with Warrener, if ANYONE knew, it's their responsibility as a human to take the information to law enforcement. Not twiddle their thumbs and expect the upper management to "take care of it". The guy is a sexual predator, he didn't need to be shown the door, he should have been in handcuffs.

[Sutter_in_law]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

I think this is the key piece to Gary's statement:



If he thought his boss was dealing with the matter, then later saw Aldrich leave the club, I can see how he thought Bowman dealt with it properly.

Bullsh*t. He was made aware and then saw the guy around the team and young players for the next 3+ weeks, celebrating etc..
Yes, he was the lowest ranking person in the room, so what?

I left a career of 8 yrs and acted as a whistleblower on a superior of mine for some shady stuff that was negatively effecting others, not even myself.

Was it the right move for my career? no, probably not
Was it the right move as a human being and a role model for my daughters?
WITHOUT A DOUBT

###### this stupid league

[Macman]

The NHL also has to come out here and make a statement that this type of behavior can't and shouldn't be tolerated. They're a high profile organization/workplace.

Maybe they have, I haven't seen it and I'm sure they have policies in place but clearly they're not working.
They failed here and didn't provide a safe workplace. They're also coming across as somewhat defensive about the whole thing, not that I'm suggesting they're condoning it either.
But with so many people knowing and nobody doing anything, will Gary Bettman finally step down over this? Who knows.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Seems fair.
I'm actually glad to see the NHL treat each person individually and not just fire them all to save face and appease the thirst for justice.

[devo22]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

I think this is the key piece to Gary's statement:







If he thought his boss was dealing with the matter, then later saw Aldrich leave the club, I can see how he thought Bowman dealt with it properly.

possible. At the same time, that line of thinking could in theory absolve Q and the others too, no? "We thought Bowman would deal with it" is a pretty weak cop out there IMO.

I don't want to burn Chevy here, maybe he is less to blame than others. Still, he knew about it and did nothing. I think being a coach or GM should be a privilege and these people need to be trusted to show leadership. Personally, I don't think anybody in that meeting should be given the chance to do do going forward.

[Lonestar]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

I think this is the key piece to Gary's statement:



If he thought his boss was dealing with the matter, then later saw Aldrich leave the club, I can see how he thought Bowman dealt with it properly.

Allegations like this warrant immediate investigation by law enforcement. Not to be handled internally with the accused leaving the organization opening up the possibility of assaulting someone else... which ended up happening. Anyone who knew should be drug through the coals for this.

[Ryan Coke]

Yes, the easy thing for Bettman is to fire anyone associated with it in order to satisfy an unending thirst for “justice”.

The people involved in making the decisions should feel the most severe consequences, and only through careful look at the evidence should those decisions be made. It shouldn’t be just about PR, and good to see Bettman do that.

[Lonestar]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

Seems fair.
I'm actually glad to see the NHL treat each person individually and not just fire them all to save face and appease the thirst for justice.

So if I'm understanding correctly, if a child is assaulted by the gym teacher and the lowly administrator has knowledge, he/she should just let the principal handle it? Gym teacher gets let go and hired by another school?

That's absurd.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

It’s not realistic to expect every single member of a company or organization to independently go to law enforcement for any potential issue that may arise, especially ones that are clearly outside of their organizational role and responsibilities. Even more so when they have reason to believe their superiors have dealt with the matter appropriately.

[Textcritic]

Yeah, I think the thing that bothers me the most is the code of silence that followed. Even after Aldrich had been dismissed, how is it that Cheveldayoff felt it necessary to keep quiet about what happened, and to essentially enable him to continue his abuse? Surely a call from a NHL GM, or a NHL coach, to Notre Dame after Aldrich appeared there would have been taken seriously. And yet, everyone in that meeting continued to turn a blind eye to this FOR A DECADE.

Sent from my SM-G960W using Tapatalk

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by Lonestar

So if I'm understanding correctly, if a child is assaulted by the gym teacher and the lowly administrator has knowledge, he/she should just let the principal handle it? Gym teacher gets let go and hired by another school?

That's absurd.

No. You’re being absurd. If the Administrator’s boss, the principal and the superintendent all know and all say they’re taking action, then maybe the administrator isn’t on the hook for independently going to law enforcement about a topic they have limited knowledge of but have full reason to believe has been fully handled and investigated by the school.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Yeah, I think the thing that bothers me the most is the code of silence that followed. Even after Aldrich had been dismissed, how is it that Cheveldayoff felt it necessary to keep quiet about what happened, and to essentially enable him to continue his abuse? Surely a call from a NHL GM, or a NHL coach, to Notre Dame after Aldrich appeared there would have been taken seriously. And yet, everyone in that meeting continued to turn a blind eye to this FOR A DECADE.

Sent from my SM-G960W using Tapatalk

This part he is complicit in but that’s not really in the scope of the investigation or what the nhl is commenting on.

Is it possible Chevy didn’t know enough facts to act with certainty? Based on that release it sounds like he potentially wouldn’t have much knowledge of the situation.

[Sutter_in_law]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

It’s not realistic to expect every single member of a company or organization to independently go to law enforcement for any potential issue that may arise, especially ones that are clearly outside of their organizational role and responsibilities. Even more so when they have reason to believe their superiors have dealt with the matter appropriately.

It's perfectly realistic to expect every person in SENIOR Management to protect a young kids life if they see that the other members of the Management team aren't going to.

How could he have possibly felt that his superiors had dealt with it appropriately when the guy was still there day in and day out, celebrating, interacting with players, coaches, interns etc..

This is a massive swing and a miss by the NHL and if the Jets themselves don't realize it and do something themselves I hope this never goes away, I hope there are chants at every arena the Jets play in calling for his firing.

If the league and the teams can't figure this out themselves, then I hope the paying customers that support them make it clear night in/out that we aren't going to stand for this.

#### this stupid league