Should the Edmonton Oilers consider hiring Stan Bowman? The inside report on what wrong in Chicago

There’s no shortage of people with strong opinions on whether or not the Edmonton Oilers should hire Stan Bowman as the team’s new general manager. I have found, however, a shortage of people who are well-informed on what happened between the Chicago Blackhawks management, victim Kyle Beach, and Brad Aldrich, former video coach of the Blackhawks.

Social media is full of aggressive judgement and fierce takes, but not so much in the way of fair and accurate assessments. I’ve slowly been engaged in a lengthy assessment myself since new broke in early July that Bowman might be in the running for the Edmonton Oilers general manager’s job. I suspect others are also weighing this matter.

The best account I’ve found on what happened in an independent report done by the law firm of Jenner & Block. It was commissioned by the Blackhawks after Beach sued that organization in 2021.

The Jenner & Block team was led by former federal prosecutor Reid Schar. The complete 107 page report is a harrowing and painful read, with a thorough description of Aldrich’s modus operandi.

I suspect most of you don’t have the time or the stomach to take in the whole report, so I’ve prepared a summary, drawing heavily on the executive summary and conclusions of the Jenner & Block report.

In the report, Beach is referred to as John Doe. In this report, I’ll substitute his real name (Kyle Beach) for John Doe for easier reading comprehension.

The report’s executive summary notes that in May 2021 Beach launched a lawsuit against his former team, the Blackhawks, alleging that in May 2010 he’d been sexually assaulted by Aldrich. “(Beach) further alleged that the Blackhawks were made aware of the alleged assault soon after it occurred and failed to act to address the assault.”

The Blackhawks hired Jenner & Block in June 2021. Jenner & Block investigators interviewed 139 witnesses, including current and former Blackhawks’ personnel, from entry-level paid interns to the most senior executives and coaching staff. “Several witnesses were interviewed more than once. We interviewed 21 current and former Blackhawks players and Rockford IceHogs players. We interviewed (Kyle Beach), Brad Aldrich, and individual players and personnel who were directly involved in the events described below.”

The Incident, May 8 or 9 2010

“Our investigation uncovered the following events. On May 8 or 9, 2010, (Beach) had a sexual encounter with Brad Aldrich. The Blackhawks were in the midst of the National Hockey League playoffs and ultimately won the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1961. (Beach) was a twenty-year-old hockey player for the Blackhawks’ minor league affiliate team. He was called up to Chicago during the 2010 playoffs to serve as a “Black Ace,” a prospect player who could be available to play for the Blackhawks if needed. Brad Aldrich was the Blackhawks’ twenty-seven-year-old video coach in his second full year in the job. Aldrich was responsible for cutting video clips of game footage for the other Blackhawks’ coaches.

“Today, (Beach) and Brad Aldrich have widely divergent recollections of the sexual encounter, but both men agree an encounter occurred. The heart of the difference between the two recollections is not only what occurred during the encounter, but most critically whether the encounter was consensual. (Beach) stated that the encounter was entirely non-consensual, (that) during the second week of May 2010, Aldrich invited him to his apartment, provided him with dinner and drinks, told him he had the power to get (Beach) onto the Blackhawks’ roster, and turned on pornography.”

Beach stated that Aldrich threatened him, saying he needed to act like he enjoyed the sexual encounter or Beach would never play in the NHL “or walk” again, forcibly performed oral sex on (Beach), masturbated on (Beach)’s back, and then threatened Beach again before he was able to escape Aldrich’s apartment.

Aldrich had a different story, “Brad Aldrich stated that the encounter was entirely consensual. Aldrich stated, among other details, that he brought (Beach) and a woman from a bar to Aldrich’s apartment, played strip poker, and engaged in oral sex with the woman, but not with (Beach). Aldrich further stated that after the woman left Aldrich’s apartment, Aldrich and (Beach) watched pornography, Aldrich received permission to engage in a sexual encounter with (Beach), Aldrich performed oral sex on (Beach), and Aldrich received a ‘hand job’ from (Beach).”

Jenner & Block tracked down the woman described by Aldrich and interviewed her for the investigation. “The woman recalled being present for and engaging in sexual activity with (Beach) and Aldrich in Aldrich’s apartment in Chicago, but leaving at a certain point while Aldrich and (Beach) remained at Aldrich’s apartment. Her version of events contradicts certain of Aldrich’s statements, and also contradicts certain of (Beach)’s statements, who said that he went to Aldrich’s apartment building with the woman on a different evening, but the woman left before entering the apartment and no sexual encounter with the woman occurred.”

Witness Memory

Jenner & Block reported: “Our investigation was affected by the limitations of witnesses’ memories. Memory is malleable and subject to alteration over time, and it is not surprising that witnesses would have divergent recollections of the same events. During the course of our investigation, certain inaccurate information has been publicly disseminated. Many witnesses reported that they were exposed to news and social media posts regarding our investigation and related topics. In our conversations with witnesses, we asked open-ended questions so as not to lead a witness to a particular statement or fact, and we clarified whether a witness remembered a particular fact with certainty and due to first-hand knowledge, or remembered only after the information came to the individual filtered through others or long after the event in question. We also made robust efforts to independently corroborate certain memories with records, such as contemporaneous emails, notes, travel records, and phone records.”

Management Response, late May to early June, 2010

Jenner & Block then dug into the response of the Blackhawks. “On May 23, 2010, the Blackhawks’ Senior Director of Hockey Administration Al MacIsaac was told by a Blackhawks employee that there may have been a sexual encounter involving Aldrich and (Beach). MacIsaac dispatched the Blackhawks’ mental skills coach and team counselor Jim Gary to speak to (Beach) to gather details of what may have happened. (Beach) recalled that he told Gary the details of the encounter with Aldrich as he reported them to us during our investigation and as described above. Gary recalled a conversation with (Beach) on May 23, 2010 during which Gary obtained limited, yet still very troubling information from (Beach) that Gary believed to be true: that Aldrich was pressuring (Beach) to have sex with him and that Aldrich told (Beach) that if he did not comply, Aldrich could harm his career.”

“Later on May 23, within an hour after the Blackhawks won the playoff game that secured their place in the Stanley Cup Finals, five members of senior management (then-President John McDonough, MacIsaac, General Manager Stan Bowman, then-Executive Vice President Jay Blunk, and then-Assistant General Manager Kevin Cheveldayoff), along with then-head coach Joel Quenneville, and Gary, met to discuss what had been learned about Aldrich and (Beach). Accounts of the meeting vary significantly, and the participants had limited recollections of the details of the meeting. All of the participants recalled being informed that there was an incident between Aldrich and (Beach) involving an unwelcome sexual advance, but, for the most part, the participants reported that they only learned about the incident at a high level—that Aldrich, a coach, tried to “get under the sheets” with (Beach), a player. Gary recalled telling everyone in the meeting what he said Beach told him—that Aldrich was pressuring (Beach) to have sex with him and that Aldrich told Beach that if he did not submit to Aldrich’s advances, he could harm his career. None of the participants recalled being told about the type of clearly non-consensual sexual conduct that is described by (Beach) in his lawsuit or was described during (Beach)’s interview with us.

“Bowman recalled that during the meeting, McDonough and Quenneville made comments about the challenge of getting to the Stanley Cup Finals and a desire to focus on the team and the playoffs. Several years later, MacIsaac, in discussing the situation between Aldrich and (Beach) with another Blackhawks employee, stated that McDonough did not want any negative publicity during the Stanley Cup Finals.

“While there was a general failure to recall how the meeting ended, Bowman recalled a statement by McDonough, the most senior member of management in the room, that he would handle the situation.

“Regardless of who was, or was perceived to be, responsible for handling the situation, Aldrich continued to travel and work with the team, and participate in team activities throughout the playoffs. We found no evidence that any action was taken to address the issue until after the playoffs ended.