Joel Quenneville in deep hot water over Hawks’ sexual assaults report!

Longtime Chicago Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman has “stepped aside” from his position following today’s release of an independent third party investigation into allegations that the team covered up a sexual abuse scandal from within the organization.

Chicago law firm Jenner & Block released a report today implicating Bowman, then-Blackhawks assistant GM Kevin Cheveldayoff and then-head coach Joel Quenneville in the cover up of sexual abuse allegations levied against former team video coach Brad Aldrich.

Attorney Reid Schar outlined how the team’s executive staff in 2010 swept Aldrich’s assaults under the rug and enabled him to go on to commit even more crimes at his next job in the NCAA. Both Quenneville, now with the Florida Panthers, and Cheveldayoff, now with the Winnipeg Jets, have denied knowing anything about the allegations. But Schar has revealed both of these men to be liars.

On top of that, the report shows that now Florida Panthers head coach Quenneville did not want to deal with this issue because they were contenders to be Cup winners. Bowman told investigators that during this meeting McDonagh and Quenneville “made comments about the challenge of getting to the Stanley Cup Finals and a desire to focus on the team and the playoffs."

To make things worse, Quenneville wrote an evaluation on Aldrich, knowing what he had done, stating that he had done a great job while having several people relying on him.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has revealed that he will meet with Quenneville and Winnipeg Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff to pursue his investigation.

“With respect to Messrs. Cheveldayoff and Quenneville…I plan to arrange personal meetings in the near future with both to discuss their roles in the relevant events as detailed in the Report. I will reserve judgment on next steps, if any, with them.”

Hard to imagine Quenneville surviving this… This is the Panthers' statement: 

“Commissioner Gary Bettman has indicated that he will be meeting with Joel Quenneville to discuss the events highlighted in the Jenner & Block October 2021 report. Accordingly, we have no comment.”