NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has publicly apologized to Kyle Beach for what the ex-Chicago Blackhawks prospect went through after revealing he was sexually assaulted by an assistant coach in 2010.
Speaking on a video conference with reporters on Monday, Bettman said his league “will never be able to erase the trauma Kyle suffered … Our goal is to do what is necessary to keep moving forward.”
An independent group report released last week pointed out that Beach’s allegations were flatly ignored by the team at the time.
Bettman also defended the decision to allow Joel Quenneville, who led the Blackhawks between 2008 and 2018, to be behind the Florida Panthers bench during a game last Wednesday, after the incriminating report was released.
Quenneville met Bettman on Thursday before announcing his resignation.
[La LNH] can never erase the trauma Kyle suffered … Our goal is to do what is necessary to continue to progress.
– Gary Bettman
The commissioner also said Winnipeg Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff – a Blackhawks assistant at the time of the incident and the only remaining NHL employee who was present on May 23 2010 for a meeting whose purpose was to discuss the allegations – played a “minor” role in the process, and therefore did not deserve retribution. Bettman spoke with Cheveldayoff on Friday.
Blackhawks president and general manager Stan Bowman resigned following the release of the report, and the club announced that Al MacIsaac, another member of the executive, was no longer working for the Illinois organization. .
The league fined two million US dollars for “the organization’s inadequate internal procedures as well as its slowness and inability to respond” to the allegations.
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