Quenneville to meet with Bettman on Thursday about Blackhawks sexual assault cover-up
Florida Panthers coach Joel Quenneville is scheduled to meet with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman in New York on Thursday to discuss his role in the Blackhawks’ cover-up of sexual assault allegations that became known to Quenneville and Chicago executives during the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs.
Quenneville will be permitted to coach the Panthers on Wednesday night, even after his role in the incident came to light when Chicago’s independent investigation was publicly released Tuesday.
Bettman said in a statement that he would “reserve judgment on next steps, if any” for Quenneville and Winnipeg Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff, who was then a Blackhawks assistant GM, until after personally meeting with them. Cheveldayoff’s meeting with Bettman has not yet been scheduled.
“I look forward to continuing to contribute to the process,” Quenneville told reporters on Wednesday morning. “I know, I respect you all doing your jobs and your questions as well here, but I won’t comment any further until the appropriate time after I meet with the commissioner.”
Quenneville said he addressed the subject with his Panthers team on Wednesday.
“I think we try to eliminate all distractions and that is one of them,” Quenneville said.
Quenneville was head coach in Chicago for parts of 11 seasons, helping the Hawks to three Stanley Cups, including the one in 2010 which will be forever stained for continuing to include serial sexual predator and then-video coach Brad Aldrich on the coaching staff after the organization became aware of an alleged sexual assault of a player.
The Blackhawks’ investigation, which was conducted by law firm Jenner & Block, revealed that Quenneville and Chicago president and CEO made comments about “the challenge of the getting to the Stanley Cup Final and a desire to focus on the team and the playoffs” in a meeting with front office executives.
Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman, who resigned from his post Tuesday, said in the investigation that Quenneville “shook his head and remarked ‘it was hard for the team to get to where they were and they could not deal with the issue now’.”
According to the report, Quenneville also wrote Aldrich a glowing employee performance review even after the Blackhawks accepted Aldrich’s resignation for the sexual assault: “Aldrich did a great job for the coaching staff in preparing us for all of our meetings and coordinating several tasks that we forward his way. Brad has several people relying on him at the same moment and he has a way of deflecting and accommodating everyone at once … Congratulations on winning the Stanley Cup!”