Winnipeg GM to keep job in wake of Blackhawks scandal: NHL

Los Angeles (AFP) – Winnipeg Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff will not face disciplinary action over the Chicago Blackhawks sexual misconduct scandal that has rocked ice hockey, the NHL said Friday.

National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement that although Cheveldayoff attended a 2010 meeting where Blackhawks officials agreed to delay acting on allegations of sexual misconduct against a video coach, he had been in no position to influence the discussion.

After Chicago won the Stanley Cup, Cheveldayoff was hired as general manager by the Jets.

Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman and senior vice president of hockey operations Al MacIsaac parted company with the Chicago club this week after a damning report found that they failed to properly handle allegations against former video coach Brad Aldrich in 2010.

Aldrich was accused by former Blackhawks player Kyle Beach of sexually assaulting him in 2010.

An independent investigation revealed that Bowman and MacIsaac were among several Blackhawks executives who attended a meeting in May 2010 where it was agreed no action would be taken until after Chicago's Stanley Cup campaign wrapped up several weeks later.

During that window, Aldrich made a sexual advance to an intern at the Blackhawks. He later left the club and went to work at a high school ice hockey team. In 2014 he was jailed for nine months after admitting "criminal sexual conduct" with a 16-year-old boy.

Following this week's bombshell report, every Blackhawks official who attended the meeting in May 2010 has come under scrutiny.

On Thursday, Florida Panthers coach Joel Quenneville -- who at the time was coach of the Blackhawks and who attended the meeting -- resigned.

However, Bettman said that after meeting Cheveldayoff on Friday, the Jets general manager would not face disciplinary action, noting that he had only been a low-ranking official at the meeting with no decision-making authority.

"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," Bettman said in a statement.

"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."

The league said that Cheveldayoff was effectively only an observer at the meeting, and was not "a participant in either the formulation or execution of the club's response."

© 2021 AFP