Gary Bettman must step down...for real this time
The NHL commissioner has done wonders for the NHL's business in the past 28 years, but the Chicago Blackhawk scandal has become the tipping point for his leadership
Moments after NHL commissioner Gary Bettman’s media availability ended Monday afternoon, agent provocateur Allan Walsh tweeted out the following observation:
Sadly, that’s actually open to rigorous debate. In Bettman’s 28-plus years running the NHL, there have been a good number of cringe-worthy exchanges with members of the fourth estate, many of them in which Bettman has relied upon lawyer-speak to defend the league’s position on any number of issues. This was another one of those, probably no less or more disastrous than a host of others.
But what is beyond debate is that it is time for someone other than Gary Bettman to be running the best hockey league in the world. This is not a remark that is made flippantly. In reality, rarely a day goes by where someone somewhere doesn’t demand that the keys to the executive restroom at the NHL headquarters in Manhattan be taken from him. Fans and some media have been calling for his job since he moved to the NHL from the National Basketball Association office in 1993.
In terms of his impact on the business of hockey, Bettman has been the best leader this league has ever had by an enormous margin. Under Bettman’s leadership, the league has become a $5 billion-per-year entity and franchise values have soared. He has done the bidding for his 32 employers exceedingly well and has probably taken the business side of the sport as far as anyone could. From that standpoint, Bettman has been an exceptional commissioner. It should also be pointed out that he has run a multi-billion dollar empire through a devastating pandemic and did so about as well as anyone could have expected.
But this is the tipping point, for both Bettman and the league. His handling of the Chicago Blackhawks/Brad Aldrich sexual assault scandal has been with almost no sense of compassion nor (and here’s where the calls for his departure are justified) a sense of true leadership. In times of crisis, leaders lead. And when it comes to that responsibility, Bettman has been found lacking on almost every level.
When news of the allegations were brought forth by Rick Westhead of TSN, Bettman said during his Stanley Cup final availability, “Tell me the facts.” Well, months later, a 107-page independent report from a reputable law firm gave Bettman those facts he so craved. They gave him enough facts for him to summon both former Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville and assistant GM Kevin Cheveldayoff for meetings with him. But neither Quenneville nor Cheveldayoff was required to step away from his duties in the interim. So you had a situation where Quenneville was behind the Florida Panthers’ bench, just hours after Kyle Beach’s gut-wrenching interview with Westhead.
It was terrible optics for the league. A true leader would have insisted Quenneville step aside for that one game, until Bettman could meet with him. When pressed on why he didn’t do that, Bettman explained that Quenneville had coached 867 games since 2010 and that he didn’t want to be perceived as pre-judging Quenneville prior to his meeting. There was enough in that report for Bettman to demand a meeting with Quenneville. And there was definitely enough in that report to justify Bettman telling Quenneville to stand down for one game.
Which brings us to Cheveldayoff. I sat through the entire availability with Bettman and listened to him answer more than a dozen questions about Cheveldayoff, and I’m no closer to understanding why Cheveldayoff was completely absolved of any wrongdoing than I was before Bettman spoke. First, it’s a surprise to learn that the NHL doesn’t consider an assistant GM to be part of an organization’s senior leadership team. Furthermore, Bettman left the impression that was the reason why Cheveldayoff was not further disciplined, not because he neglected to do anything despite having some information about the incident. Bettman also reiterated several times that Cheveldayoff was under the impression that Blackhawks president John McDonough was going to take care of the matter. That’s exactly what Stan Bowman said. What’s the difference?
Bettman was also asked why, also in 2010, the New Jersey Devils were fined $3 million for salary cap circumvention on the Ilya Kovalchuk contract, while the Blackhawks were fined $2 million for covering up a sex crime. His response? “Different context. Different facts.” Well, no kidding. What kind of a justification is that? “This was to make clear that the way the Blackhawks organization handled this matter was not appropriate, even though the ownership was not aware,” Bettman said. “And it was also a message to the rest of the league that you need to make sure your organization is functioning properly on these matters.”
That was it. That was his answer. In all of his communication both publicly and internally, Bettman has stressed that if anyone at any level sees anything unlawful, they are to call the league’s anonymous hotline. At no point has he ever urged anyone to actually inform someone in law enforcement when they have reason to believe a crime has been committed. Because nothing would have impacted this situation, nor prevented Aldrich from sexually assaulting someone else, more than if just one damned person who knew about this had gone to the police. (For the record, I had my virtual hand up during the news conference with the intention of asking about this, but was not called upon.)
Numerous people have lost their jobs because of the way they handled this crisis. By the end of the day, another one in NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr may lose his. There have been countless times over the years in which I’ve disagreed with Bettman on issues and have found his leadership to be severely lacking. To my knowledge, I’ve never called on him to be relieved of his duties.
I’m doing so now. It’s time.
Bettman further explained why he went easy on KC, saying, that (paraphrasing) while Cheveldayoff puts himself at that infamous meeting, he wasn't necessarily aware of the exact nature of the allegation made against video coach Brad Aldrich that Bowman and Quenneville were discussing.
This is absurd.
Cheveldayoff hears Bowman and Quenneville talking about something inappropriate Brad Aldrich is accused of doing and he's not curious enough to ask exactly what inappropriate thing BA is accused of doing?
This is what we are being told to believe?
The Chevy absolution is bisarr. And don’t forget Bergy. Kind of off the hook thru not being at that infamous meeting. But recent draft etc tells another story. Also about the owner who’s never taking any action as long as the dough keeps rolling in..