One more news item from the day to share and it’s in a substantially different light than all of the other Blackhawks-related reports from Monday.
Former Chicago head coach Joel Quenneville and former team executives Stan Bowman and Al MacIsaac have been reinstated by the NHL, allowing them to seek employment in the league for the first time since October 2021 as part of the fallout from the team’s mishandling of sexual assault allegations against former assistant video coach Brad Aldrich.
Quenneville resigned as the coach of the Florida Panthers on Oct. 29, 2021, while Bowman resigned from his role as Chicago’s GM two days before that. MacIsaac was fired on the day that Bowman resigned.
Here’s the league’s statement on the decision, as shared by ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski:
At best, this is a curious decision by the NHL, to make an announcement sure to elicit strong reactions during one of the busiest news days on the entire NHL calendar. At worst, it’s business-as-usual for a league continuing to prioritize on-ice performance and results above everything else despite repeated public comments stating a desire to act otherwise.