non hockey problems require non hockey solutions
regarding the blackhawks, and what all of this costs
While we won’t be discussing the details here, this is going to be all about the Blackhawks, so please take care of yourselves and skip this one if that’s not healthy for you.
The Jenner and Block report on the Blackhawks is here. The following is some sort of attempt to process all of that, and the fallout it’s had so far.
It is, fundamentally, sad. It’s the story of a criminal taking advantage of vulnerable young men in his care and the organization that those men belonged to repeatedly failing to protect them and, while not even trying to begin to make amends for the atrocity they endured, actively continuing it. The organization then enabled the criminal to pursue additional employment opportunities, at which he victimized more people, one of whom was a child.
What we thought we knew is all true, and it gets worse than we thought it did. Reading this report is an exercise in searching for the bottom of the barrel when no bottom exists. I’ll note here that the report is 107 pages and I have not, nor will I, read it all. Suffice it to say it is detailed.
There’s also something to say here about how the report certainly can be used to identify the victim, should people choose to put together the un-redacted identifying details (as they have). I’m not sure if this was an oversight by the investigating firm or the Blackhawks, or a deliberate choice to include that in the public report, but it sucks. Fortunately, most of the hockey media has chosen not to include these details in their coverage, but it sure feels like a way to punish an anonymous victim and create a chilling effect for future reports, because victims may not feel that their anonymity will be respected or protected.
Anyway.
This feels like a good time to remember how the Hawks made this a “well technically” problem all summer, between the technical statute of limitations and their technically defined duty of care or lack thereof to future victims. It also feels like a good time to remember how no active player from that team offered any support to the victim, and then-(and now)-Captain Jonathan Toews went so far as to say he was “annoyed” at the suggestion that he knew. The idea that he wouldn’t, as the captain of the team and given that the victim was harassed by teammates about the assault for years after, sometimes during practice, is of course, laughable.
Also, regarding Toews and Currently-Still-Employed-In-The-NHL Joel Quenneville, it is important to remember that the fish rots from the head. Leaving aside that the needs and desires of every victim are different, and that sometimes victims don’t act in ways that we would find strictly logical, if you have created a culture where victims of heinous crimes do not trust you to listen and/or act, that’s on you. If no one told either of them, there’s a reason for that. Whether it’s that the victim thought he wouldn’t be believed, or that he thought neither would care, or that he thought neither would act to remedy the situation, particularly with respect to the harassment, that’s on them. Not knowing is not exculpatory.
So, what has the NHL elected to do?
Any executive who was with the Hawks at the time and still was as of this afternoon is gone now, including GM Stan Bowman. The Hawks have been fined two million United States Dollars. And Maybe More Someday. Kevin Cheveldayoff, now the GM of the Winnipeg Jets, and Joel Quenneville, currently the non-fired head coach of the Florida Panthers (who are doing well right now), both have to talk to Gary Bettman about the situation, and I guess we’ll see if he’s satisfied with what they have to say. Nothing’s been said about Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin, who was also with the Hawks at the time, but absence of proof isn’t necessarily proof of absence.
It’s all so woefully inadequate.
A financial violation, like when the Devils did that extremely not-NHL-legal Ilya Kovalchuk contract, can carry a financial penalty. A drafting violation, like when the Coyotes worked out some prospects outside of the league’s boundaries, can carry a draft penalty. A crime like this, and its subsequent decade-long coverup, is a stain on the organization’s very existence. It calls out for an existential punishment.
It does not matter whether or not the 2026 Blackhawks are good or bad, so long as they’re the Blackhawks. The team, and everyone involved with it at the time, needs to be erased. A paltry fine, and let’s be honest, most fines are paltry to an organization that valuable, does not answer that call. An offense this egregious and deeply rooted in an organization’s identity can’t be paid for with anything other than fire.
There is nothing that can be done now that will restore the victim. There is nothing that can be done to redeem or re-qualify any of these people to work in hockey, or any position of authority, ever again. The only thing that’s left to do is to deter.
The only thing left to do now is to burn the organization down and salt its ashes. Chicago can still have a hockey team, but it shouldn’t be this one. No hockey team has a right to exist, no owner has a right to own, no player has a right to play, no coach has a right to coach, no manager has a right to manage. No one who was there should ever have the ability to work in, or play, hockey again, and the owners should be forced to sell. They should all be forgotten, as should their achievements. They should remain in memory only as cowards and criminals.
You can speed if you can pay the ticket. Let every organization know that the penalty for this is total ruin, from which they can never return.
Why is it important that the punishment for this be all-consuming and inescapable?
Take, for example, the conundrum USAHockey f̶i̶n̶d̶s̶ ̶i̶t̶s̶e̶l̶f̶ ̶i̶n̶ created for itself. Stan Bowman has resigned (hockey media, can we please start saying shit like “resigned in disgrace?), and behind him is AGM Bill Guerin (who is also currently the GM of the Minnesota Wild.) Now, this wouldn’t be a problem, except for the fact that Bill Guerin is currently the subject of a SafeSport investigation for, well, participating in the coverup of the sexual assault of an employee’s wife by another employee while he was with the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins.
There is just so much of this shit.
It is ok and fine and good, even, to believe things can be better and to want them to be. It is also hard. Take care of yourselves, especially if this is a difficult topic.
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