Bettman/Daly bury the Blackhawks, reveal why Jets GM Cheveldayoff was not punished.

The National Hockey League, in the form of NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly, addressed the media on Monday on the topic of the major scandal involving the Chicago Blackhawks.

I'll be perfectly honest most of what was said by either Bettman or Daly felt extremely robotic. They said the right things, including apologizing to former Blackhawks forward Kyle Beach for failing him so profoundly, offering to pay for counseling services moving forward, and even revealed that they would be opening up their anonymous reporting hotlines to all levels of hockey including college, major junior and minor hockey, but it all felt very rehearsed.

The most shocking moment of the day came when the league revealed why they had not acted sooner in this situation, placing the blame squarely at the feet of the Chicago Blackhawks organization by stating in no uncertain terms that they had been misled. It was Daly who revealed that they first learned of the news when the Blackhawks contacted them last December to inform them of potential litigation. At that time Daly says he was told by the Blackhawks that the litigation had "no merit" which would result in the NHL only learning the full details regarding this case in May, after the lawsuit had already been filed.

NHL insider Elliotte Friedman has argued that, in light of this revelation from Daly, the fine of $2 million was nowhere near enough of a punishment for the Blackhawks franchise.

The other big statement made on the day came in regards to the status of Winnipeg Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff. This time it was Bettman himself who addressed the media on this subject, revealing why the league had elected not to punish Cheveldayoff as it had others like Stan Bowman or Joel Quenneville. Bettman revealed that Cheveldayoff was such a minor figure in the Blackhawks organization at the time that no one remembered he was even at the meeting... except Cheveldayoff himself.

It would appear as though Cheveldayoff's forthright honesty in this matter, as well as the fact that he was in no position to be making any decisions regarding the matter at the time, is why he has avoided punishment from the NHL.