NHL won’t discipline Cheveldayoff in connection with Blackhawks scandal

The NHL announced Friday it will not be disciplining Saskatoon product Kevin Cheveldayoff in connection with the Chicago Blackhawks’ handling of Kyle Beach’s sexual assault allegations.

Cheveldayoff was the Blackhawks’ assistant general manager when Beach alleged he was sexually assaulted by then-Blackhawks video coach Brad Aldrich.

Cheveldayoff, who’s now the Winnipeg Jets’ general manager, met with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman on Friday. In a statement, Bettman said Cheveldayoff “was not responsible for the improper decisions made by the Chicago Blackhawks” in relation to Beach’s allegations in 2010.

“Kevin Cheveldayoff was not a member of the Blackhawks senior leadership team in 2010, and I cannot, therefore, assign to him responsibility for the Club’s actions, or inactions,” Bettman said in a statement.

“He provided a full account of his degree of involvement in the matter, which was limited exclusively to his attendance at a single meeting, and I found him to be extremely forthcoming and credible in our discussion.”

The Blackhawks’ senior leadership team met May 23, 2010 to discuss Beach’s allegations. Bettman determined Cheveldayoff’s participation was “extremely limited in scope and substance,” which led in part to Bettman’s decision not to impose any discipline.

Bettman wrote that Cheveldayoff was the lowest-ranking club official in the meeting room and he didn’t have any oversight over the Blackhawks’ coaching staff.

“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,” Bettman’s statement said.

“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.”

Bowman and Blackhawks senior vice-president of hockey operations Al MacIsaac left those jobs Tuesday. McDonough was fired by the organization in April of 2020 for reasons that weren’t connected to Beach’s allegations.

Quenneville was fired by the Blackhawks in November of 2018 after the team got off to a slow start to that season. He was hired as the Florida Panthers’ head coach in April of 2019, but resigned on Thursday after meeting with Bettman.