The joke of the week, if not the year, concerns Kevin Cheveldayoff!
With the story of sexual assault on Kyle Beach in 2010 while he was with the Blackhawks "reserve" team, a crime committed by Brad Aldrich, heads are now falling.
If Marc Bergevin wasn't part of the report, even though he was working for the Hawks at the time, Stan Bowman, Kevin Cheveldayoff and Joel Quenneville were the main players targeted in all this.
Before the Jets' GM was cleared by Gary Bettman earlier Friday morning, Bowman resigned as Hawks GM, while Quenneville left the Florida Panthers late Thursday night.
Cheveldayoff was cleared, really? YES! Absolutely! According to Gary Bettman's report, his speech was so good that he did not deserve any sanction, unlike his former counterparts.
Here are some important lines from Gary Bettman's statement:
"Cheveldayoff was not a senior member of the team staff in 2010. Therefore, I cannot hold him responsible for the actions, or inactions, taken by the club.
He explained the degree of his involvement in the matter, and it was exclusively limited to his presence in one meeting. I found him credible and cooperative in our discussion.
During our investigation, most of the participants present at this May 23, 2010 meeting did not initially recall that Cheveldayoff was even present.
As assistant to the executive director at the time, Cheveldayoff reported directly to Stan Bowman. He was the lowest-ranking staff member in the room."
He was on the executive? Surely he must have known? How could he not have done anything to help Beach? He was "far enough away" from the situation to get out of it. Is it just me or does the NHL look ridiculous in this case? He was an assistant to general manager Stan Bowman, that's no small thing!
