Joel Quenneville met with Gary Bettman on Friday in New York to discuss his role in the Chicago Blackhawks’ mishandling of a 2010 sexual assault allegation against one of his assistant coaches. Neither the Florida Panthers nor the NHL commented on the meeting or provided any indication of what will come next for the coach.
Quenneville, who was the coach of the Blackhawks at the time, previously denied knowing about the allegation, which was made by then-Chicago left wing Kyle Beach against then-Blackhawks video coach Brad Aldrich during the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs. An external investigation into Chicago and Beach’s claims about how the Blackhawks handled the situation, however, contradict Quenneville’s statement to the Associated Press in July.
Chicago law firm Jenner & Block published a report detailing its investigation into the Blackhawks on Tuesday and found Quenneville was in at least one meeting where Beach’s allegation was discussed. Quenneville declined to comment on the report after the Panthers’ morning skate Wednesday at FLA Live Arena, then Beach outed himself later in the day in an interview with The Sports Network’s SportsCentre and said, “There’s absolutely no way that [Quenneville] can deny knowing it.”
Quenneville coached Florida (7-0-0) to a 4-1 win against the Boston Bruins, then did not show up at his postgame news conference in Sunrise. General manager Bill Zito instead read from a prepared statement and did not take questions.
“Joel will be meeting with Commissioner Bettman tomorrow. He has no comments prior to that meeting,” Zito said Wednesday. “As an organization, we commend Kyle Beach for his courage in coming forward this evening and bringing to light the pain he endured throughout his time in Chicago. The information that has recently become available is deeply troubling. There’s no question that the events described in yesterday’s report are serious and severe. We are working closely with the National Hockey League to assist with the ongoing process and, with respect to that, I’m not commenting further until after the commissioner’s meeting tomorrow with Joel.”
Zito and president Matthew Caldwell were also in the meeting with Bettman, ESPN reported. The meeting lasted roughly two hours.
Quenneville has the Panthers off to the best start in franchise history. They’ll try to become only the seventh team in NHL history to start a season with eight straight wins when they face the Detroit Red Wings (4-2-1) at 7 p.m. on Friday at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.
Quenneville is in his third season in Florida. The Panthers signed him to a six-year deal in 2019 after the Blackhawks fired him in 2018. He led Chicago to three Stanley Cups, including a championship in 2010, mere weeks after Beach made his accusation.
On the day the Blackhawks clinched a spot in the 2010 Stanley Cup Final, Quenneville was in a meeting of “senior club management” to discuss how Chicago should handle the allegation. “Accounts of the meeting vary significantly,” the report said, but attendees decided hockey operations personnel “should devote their exclusive attention to on-ice matters heading into the Stanley Cup Final and that other appropriate Club personnel within the organization would take responsibility for ‘handling’ the Aldrich situation.”
As part of the report, former Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman also recalled Quenneville being informed of the allegation, shaking his head and saying, “it was hard for the team to get to where they were, and they could not deal with this issue now.”
Aldrich remained with Chicago through the end of the 2010 Cup playoffs and even took part in championship celebrations. He later quietly stepped down when given the choice to either resign or take part in an internal investigation.
Aldrich went on to work as a volunteer coach at Houghton High School in Michigan and was convicted of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct with a student at the school.
“If this had been reported to someone other than [then-Blackhawks president] John McDonough, or Joel Quenneville or Stan Bowman that didn’t have skin in the game of winning a Stanley Cup,” said Beach, who was previously unnamed, “it would have been dealt with and would have protected all of the survivors that came after me.”
As fallout from the report Tuesday, Bowman stepped down as Chicago’s general manager and Al MacIsaac stepped down as Blackhawks senior vice president of hockey operations. Both were in the meeting with Quenneville, as was Winnipeg Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff, who is scheduled to meet with Bettman on Friday.
