Chicago Blackhawks 'mulling a lawsuit' against former CEO John McDonough.

It would appear as though the fallout from the sexual abuse scandal involving the Chicago Blackhawks may be very far from over.

As all of you reading this no doubt already know, several high profile figures in the National Hockey League were ousted from their positions this week when an independent investigation revealed that several current and former high ranking members of the Chicago Blackhawks organization had mishandled sexual assault allegations involving former Blackhawks video coach Brad Aldrich. Those included Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman and Florida Panthers head coach Joel Quenneville, both of whom squarely pointed the finger at another man named in the investigation, former Blackhawks CEO John McDonough.

Quenneville and Bowman may not be the only ones pointing the finger at McDonough though. Recent comments made by National Hockey League insider Elliotte Friedman have revealed that the Blackhawks organization may be looking at legal action against McDonough for his role in this entire fiasco.

"One of the things I am hearing is that the Blackhawks are mulling a lawsuit against him," said Friedman on the 32 Thoughts podcast.

This has been a humiliating process for the Blackhawks, one that has not made the organization look good in the public eye, and it would seem as though ownership may be going after those responsible for damaging the image of their beloved franchise. In this case, it would appear as though McDonough may be facing some potentially serious repercussions.

"I'm not saying anything with any certainty, but as we tape this on Friday night at 8:57 pm Eastern, it looks like it ends at McDonough's feet," said Friedman. "I think one of the things that people are wondering is, are the Blackhawks gonna go after McDonough's severance package and are they also gonna go after his salary that he collected from 2010 until he was out, so that's a decade."

While McDonough may be a much less familiar figure to fans than either Bowman or Quenneville, whose roles were much more public facing, there's no question that he was the highest ranking member of the Blackhawks' franchise present at the now infamous meeting where the allegations against Aldrich were discussed. 

It appears, at least so far, as though Blackhawks ownership was entirely in the dark about this situation. If they were indeed caught completely off guard, it should come as no surprise that they will now seek to hold those responsible for this mess, to account. Unfortunately for John McDonough he may be at the top of that list.