Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — The NHL decided Friday not to discipline former Chicago Blackhawks assistant general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff for his role in the club’s mishandling of sexual assault allegations made by a player in 2010.
Commissioner Gary Bettman met with Cheveldayoff, now the GM of the Winnipeg Jets, on Friday morning. He concluded based on that conversation and the team’s investigation that Cheveldayoff was not responsible for improper decisions made at the time.
“While on some level, it would be easiest to paint everyone with any association to this terrible matter with the same broad brush, I believe that fundamental fairness requires a more in-depth analysis of the role of each person,” Bettman said in a statement. “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.”
Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman and former coach Joel Quenneville, now with Florida, each resigned this week. Chevedayoff is the only person who was present in a meeting about Kyle Beach’s allegations against video coach Brad Aldrich to still be working in the NHL by the end of the week.
Bettman said Cheveldayoff’s status as a low-ranking team official and his limited role in that meeting absolved him of authority to address the allegations.
