If I were an Edmonton Oilers fan, I’d have several questions about the team’s hiring of Stan Bowman as general manager Wednesday:
This guy?
You’re entrusting the organization to this guy?
Of all the qualified candidates out there, this is the guy you couldn’t do without?
The answer, in triplicate, is yes, which is proof that there are second acts in NHL life even for people who fail to take action in an alleged sexual-assault case. Amazing. And sad.
Bowman was the Blackhawks general manager during the franchise’s darkest hour and, along with coach Joel Quenneville and team president John McDonough, chose to look away rather than deal with a situation they thought might stop their momentum toward a championship.
In May 2010, two players alleged that video coach Brad Aldrich had sexually assaulted them. That prompted a meeting led by McDonough in which the players’ accusations were discussed but subsequently swept under the rug. Actually “swept under the rug’’ doesn’t quite capture it: Aldrich eventually was given a day with the Stanley Cup after the team won the title, an NHL tradition.
Details of the alleged assault became public in 2021 when former Blackhawk Kyle Beach filed a lawsuit accusing the team of ignoring his allegations against Aldrich 11 years earlier. After a Hawks-commissioned investigation into the matter by law firm Jenner & Block found evidence that the Hawks had failed to act on the allegations, Bowman resigned. Quenneville followed with his resignation as coach of the Panthers.
Earlier this month, the NHL reinstated Bowman, Quenneville and former Hawks vice president Al MacIsaac, which meant that any team was free to hire them.
Just because you can hire someone doesn’t mean you should.
And just because hockey is what Bowman wants to do and what he’s best at, it doesn’t mean he should get to.
Here’s what he said in a statement about the sexual-assault scandal after he resigned in 2021:
"Eleven years ago, while serving in my first year as general manager, I was made aware of potential inappropriate behavior by a then-video coach involving a player. I promptly reported the matter to the then-president and CEO, who committed to handling the matter. I learned this year that the inappropriate behavior involved a serious allegation of sexual assault. I relied on the direction of my superior that he would take appropriate action. Looking back, now knowing he did not handle the matter promptly, I regret assuming he would do so.’’
Bowman was making the argument that he had followed procedure and that McDonough had failed to act. But once that procedure fell apart, Bowman still had a moral responsibility to do what was best for those young players. And he didn’t. Neither did Quenneville or several players and staff who knew of the allegations, the law firm’s report said. And, sorry, it’s impossible to believe that Bowman didn’t know what Aldrich had done to other players.
Bowman miraculously found enough awareness to point out that Quenneville was part of the move to suppress the allegations during the infamous meeting, according to the results of the investigation.
"Quenneville shook his head and said that it was hard for the team to get to where they were, and they could not deal with this issue now," Bowman told the Jenner & Block investigators.
The Blackhawks would go on to win two more Stanley Cups after the 2010 title, which would put them in elite company. It’s hard to fathom how something so good could end up so tainted, but years later, it did.
If McDonough, Bowman and Quenneville had spoken up, had done the right thing, Aldrich would have been dealt with and perhaps deterred — three years later, he pleaded guilty to criminal sexual conduct with a 16-year-old high school hockey player and served nine months in prison. Beach and another former Hawk might have felt as if the adults in the room were looking out for them. And those three Stanley Cup titles over six seasons might not have the stain on them that they do now. If only someone had stood up and done the right thing at the right time.
But that’s not how it always works in big-time sports, or in corporate America, where protecting the brand often takes precedence over protecting people. Oilers players and fans might want to keep that in mind with Bowman leading the way. That doesn’t mean he’s the same person he was in 2010. But for all the work he’s done with an anti-bullying group since resigning in 2021, it’s worth remembering that he’s the same person who kept mum about Beach’s treatment for 11 years. It’s nice that he’s admitted his “mistake,’’ as the NHL mentioned when announcing his reinstatement earlier this month. It would have been nice if he had done something about it much, much sooner.
