GM Kevin Cheveldayoff cleared in Brad Aldrich and sex scandal in Chicago!

The National Hockey League has met with now-Winnipeg Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff and has determined that he was not responsible for the improper decisions made by the Chicago Blackhawks related to the Brad Aldrich matter in 2010 and will not be disciplined.

Draft pick Kyle Beach came forward and revealed that he is in fact “John Doe”, Brad Aldrich’s victim from the team’s sexual assault scandal. Cheveldayoff’s name has come up in the report, though the NHL has determined that the former Hawks assistant GM’s participation at the May 23, 2010, meeting involving senior leaders from the Blackhawks’ management team was extremely limited in scope and substance. In fact, in the course of the investigation, most of the participants in the May 23 meeting did not initially recall that Cheveldayoff was even present.

This is the NHL's statement: 

"As an Assistant General Manager at the time, Cheveldayoff, who reported directly to Stan Bowman, was the lowest ranking Club official in the room, and his position included no oversight responsibilities over the Club’s coaching staff. He was among the last to be included in the meeting; he was learning of the subject matter for the first time in the presence of his boss (then-GM Stan Bowman), his boss’ boss (then-CEO John McDonough) and the Head Coach (Joel Quenneville), who was Brad Aldrich’s direct superior; he had limited familiarity with the personnel involved; and he was essentially an observer to the discussion of possible next steps, which discussion, apparently, ended with Cheveldayoff believing that the matter was going to be investigated.

Cheveldayoff’s role within the Blackhawks’ organization at the time not only left him without authority to make appropriate organizational decisions relating to this matter, but as importantly, he was not thereafter even in a position to have sufficient information to assess whether or not the matter was being adequately addressed by the Blackhawks. In short, Cheveldayoff was not a participant in either the formulation or execution of the Club’s response.

Given these findings, the NHL has determined that Kevin Cheveldayoff should not be subject to discipline in the Brad Aldrich matter.

Cheveldayoff was assistant general manager of the Blackhawks during the 2009-10 season. That's when Blackhawks draft pick Kyle Beach became the victim of Brad Aldrich. Aldrich served nine months in prison and was convicted for sexually assaulting a teenage boy in 2014, just four years after he was dismissed from the Blackhawks. But, as we now know, the Blackhawks allowed Aldrich to remain on staff for nearly a month after the team was made aware of his assault on Beach. The team included Aldrich in its Stanley Cup celebrations that offseason, even inviting him to a team party where Beach was also present. 

Joel Quenneville resigned from his position as head coach of the Florida Panthers on Thursday after he met with Bettman. Stan Bowman resigned from his position as general manager of both the Blackhawks and United States men's Olympic hockey team back on Tuesday, while Al MacIsaac, the only other member of the group listed still with the Blackhawks, was also dismissed.

Cheveldayoff, who's been the Jets' general manager since 2011, said in July he had "no knowledge of any allegations involving Mr. Aldrich" until being asked just prior to the end of his tenure with the Blackhawks.