Former Blackhawks GM, coach want meeting with commissioner about reinstatement

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman met with the media on Saturday before Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final to give his annual state of the league address.

One of the more interesting pieces of information that Bettman shared was the development that former Chicago Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman and former head coach Joel Quenneville would like a meeting about potential reinstatement back into the league. 

Bettman said he will deal with them at the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Final between the Vegas Golden Knights and Florida Panthers. 

Both men have been out of the NHL since early in the 2021-22 season when their role in mishandling the sexual assault scandal involving former Blackhawks player Kyle Beach in 2010. 

In May, 2021, Beach filed a lawsuit against the Blackhawks alleging a prolonged sexual assault by the team's former video coach, Brad Aldrich, during the 2009-10 season. 

An independent investigation found that Blackhawks management and the coaching staff knew of the allegations brought forward by Beach and decided to put off addressing it until the conclusion of that year's Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Blackhawks went on to win the first of their three Stanley Cups under Bowman and Quenneville that season. 

The investigation went on to find that the Blackhawks gave Aldrich the opportunity to resign and then allowed him to take part in the team's championship celebrations. 

Shortly after these findings were made public, Bowman — who was still serving as the Blackhawks' general manager — resigned from the team.

Quenneville, who was coaching the Florida Panthers at the time, also immediately resigned.

While the NHL did not enforce any official suspension, Bettman has said that both men will have to meet with him and be reinstated before they can be hired by another team. 

They are now apparently ready for that process to begin. 

The fact Mike Babcock is reportedly set to re-join the NHL coaching ranks shows that teams have short memories and are willing to overlook past transgressions if they think somebody can help them win. There will no doubt be a handful of teams that want Quenneville to coach their team given his on-ice success, even if it comes with bad PR.

It is a similar story for Bowman. Adding to the complications with Bowman is that his Chicago tenure was also marred by poor roster construction over his final five or six years running the team. There were enough hockey reasons to make a general manager change even without the results of the investigation. 

It only takes one team to have enough interest for them to get that second chance. Bettman just has to decide if they have done enough to work to fix their previous mistakes to get that second chance.