It's been 6 days since Kyle Beach gave his gut-wrenching interview with TSN's Rick Westhead, and a lot has happened in that time to shed light on the absolute failure from top to bottom between the Blackhawks, NHLPA and the NHL. I wrote about it the day after (https://formanfaceoffnhl.blogspot.com/2021/10/the-time-for-change-is-now.html) and just how disgusted I was, and frankly it continues to be downright difficult to enjoy being a hockey fan right now. The league seems to go two steps backwards every damn time they try and "fix" something, a true sign of Gary Bettman's "sweep it under the rug" mentality that reverberates throughout hockey. One thing remains abundantly clear: Gary Bettman is unfit to lead the NHL and needs to be fired immediately (same for Donald Fehr as head of the NHLPA)
For all that witnessed or read quotes of Bettman's disastrous press conference yesterday, there is no question that he needs to go and it needs to happen now. For starters he actually had the audacity to speak these words after all that has happened in the past week,
"Hockey culture does not encourage, but in fact prohibits this type of activity"
I mean how tone deaf do you have to be Gary to say this after the same culture allowed Kyle Beach and several other victims to be sexually abused by Brad Aldrich? What about all the victims of Graham James? Hockey culture DOES encourage this behaviour because it happens time and time again, and acting like it doesn't makes you part of the problem.
Then there was the part where a reporter asked him how could he justify fining the Blackhawks (a team valued at over $1 billion) just $2 million especially in comparison to the Devils getting fined $3 million for cap circumvention with the Kovalchuk contract, and he replied "different context, different facts." There is so much wrong with this I don't even know where to begin. For starters Gary, it sends the message that sexual abuse is a less serious offense than breaking the cap. Then there's the part of it being "different context" which is absolutely true, except that these stories aren't even in the same realm and the Blackhawks fine should have been significantly more. The fact that Gary actually thought this response was going to make him and the NHL look better is a perfect reflection of the entire press conference and how they've handled this situation.
Bettman went on to defend his actions to allow Joel Quenneville to coach last Wednesday night, a mere hour after the Beach interview, because he wanted to "treat him fair" and award him due process. He said the same about Kevin Cheveldayoff who he determined didn't deserve to be fired because he "wasn't in senior management of the Blackhawks and shouldn't be held responsible" despite him being the Assistant GM and lying about being in the meeting. Quenneville ultimately stepped down, Cheveldayoff remains, but the actions speak louder then words here. Gary cared more about catering to these old hockey men then he did giving Kyle Beach and the other victims THEIR due process.
Then there was Bettman being asked about the NHL's Sexual Abuse Policy, in which he gave this response,
"We do have a policy. We don't tolerate it, and we punish as appropriate. I know there are policies in other leagues where they specify what the penalty is, but that's something that they frequently don't adhere to. We think you judge on a case-by-case basis"
So the policy is that they don't have a policy but judge it case-by-case? This just further proves how clueless and downright inept they are at handling these situations. You can't expect anyone to believe that the NHL is handling this matter appropriately when they have nothing concrete in place.
Then there was Blackhawks beat reporter Mark Lazerus who pressed Bettman on the leadership of the Blackhawks, specifically John McDonough, who was always praised for running a "model franchise." Lazerus asked Bettman if he needed to pay more closely attention to the culture that NHL teams foster, and he responded by basically that he was surprised as anyone and wondered why Mark, as the Blackhawks reporter, didn't also know more (despite the fact that Mark didn't cover the team in 2010). Once again Gary deflects blame to someone else, a common theme in his press conference, where it seems that he bears absolutely zero responsibility.
And finally there was Bettman refusing to allow Rick Westhead, one of only a handful of reporters who actually had the strength and courage that most others didn't to cover this story relentlessly (along with Katie Strang), to ask a question in the press conference. It wasn't until 47 minutes in when Pierre Lebrun, a fellow reporter, had to basically shame them into allowing Rick to ask a question and they finally relented. Rick pressed Bettman on if the NHL was going to provide counselling to the high school player who was abused by Aldrich after he left the Blackhawks and he responded by saying they needed more information and they can't commit to it now. Think about that for a second, another victim that the NHL enabled to get abused by Aldrich and they won't even commit to simply supplying him with counselling. Right here out in the open we can see that Bettman has not learned his lesson and never will, and trying to silence the reporter who is exposing all their failures should be Gary's last act as NHL Commissioner.
I want to conclude by stating what I have said throughout this piece, TIME TO FIRE GARY BETTMAN AS NHL COMMISSIONER IMMEDIATELY. Time and time again he has shown that he is not fit for the job, that he lacks any amount of empathy, compassion or moral compass and only cares about being Lawyer Gary and serving the best interest of the owners and other members of the Old Boys Club. Until Gary is gone, these things are due to repeat itself and nothing will change, simple as that. It is up to us as hockey fans to demand that Bettman be fired and it happen now, and I want to thank all media using their platforms to demand the same. Lastly, I want to re-iterate how much respect I have for Kyle Beach and the strength and courage that he showed last week is so important for creating this desperately needed culture change in the sport of hockey.
THE TIME FOR CHANGE IS NOW
Joel Forman - The Forman Faceoff
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