Also i can't speak for others but every place I've been employed and my wife, no one (frank)ed with HR, including Owners, CEOs CFOs, the 1 dept that could literally turn a person's life upside down.

If it goes to arbitration and the arbiter splits the difference between 3.4 and 5.85, that's about 4.65M. Ouch. The Hawks can walk away only if the award is greater than 4.538M.
- boilermaker100

If the bolded is accurate Boiler (and I'm assuming you are correct), what a great way for the league to F over the Blackhawks.

Blowman MUST walk away from this Russian fool before he ends up getting trapped by an arbiter that F's over the Hawks with an amount they can't walk away from and cannot trade either without having to provide a sweetener for someone else to take the big oaf off our hands.

Just imagine this clod at some point in the future in a conference finals (well actually, I cannot imagine it with him in the lineup). He would get eaten alive with his slow decision making and poor puck management.

Stay very far away Mr Blowman, very far away before this becomes ASF.

I hear that during that May, 2010 meeting, Stan was supposed to fax the HR Department to inform them of the situation, but forgot.

ASF
- boilermaker100

That was the day Uncle Dale called in sick I believe

If the bolded is accurate Boiler (and I'm assuming you are correct), what a great way for the league to F over the Blackhawks.

Blowman MUST walk away from this Russian fool before he ends up getting trapped by an arbiter that F's over the Hawks with an amount they can't walk away from and cannot trade either without having to provide a sweetener for someone else to take the big oaf off our hands.

Just imagine this clod at some point in the future in a conference finals (well actually, I cannot imagine it with him in the lineup). He would get eaten alive with his slow decision making and poor puck management.

Stay very far away Mr Blowman, very far away before this becomes ASF.
- savvyone-1

Here's the source. It's shown near the bottom in the"Walk-Away Rights" section.

https://www.pensionplanpu...h-no-end-date-maple-leafs

I agree don't go to arbitration.

Here's the source. It's shown near the bottom in the"Walk-Away Rights" section.

https://www.pensionplanpu...h-no-end-date-maple-leafs

I agree don't go to arbitration.
- boilermaker100

I think his agent (Milstein) believes he is dealing the the Leaves. He convinced Dubas to sign Zeitsev for 7 X $4.5.

That was the day Uncle Dale called in sick I believe
- paulr

Hmmm. Tallon named Florida's GM on May 17, 2010, the same day as the meeting in San Jose.

Hmmm. Tallon named Florida's GM on May 17, 2010, the same day as the meeting in San Jose.
- boilermaker100

As Mo’s good friend would say, connect the dots.

I think his agent (Milstein) believes he is dealing the the Leaves. He convinced Dubas to sign Zeitsev for 7 X $4.5.
- LAHawk

Good bye Z and good bye Strome, get whatever you can for them and move on from these bozos.

Easy for me to say I would have done something different in the situation, but hindsight is 20/20. I'm sure there's no shortage of people answering this question online.

All I'm saying is that it's damaging to the franchise, and maybe to the lockerroom. I wouldn't want to hear or think that management doesn't have my back.

And all of this is looking at the now. Who knows what impact this had on the victim. Whole thing is not good.

Q-Stache

The whole thing is not good, but what should management have done on May 10th during the Stanley Cup playoffs?. Aldrich denies the allegations. Thus management in fairness to all parties has to investigate the charges in order to determine if they are true? Was the player forced to interact with the video coach after the allegation before the investigation was completed? Maybe at the meeting they decided that Aldrich was gone after the Stanley Cup?

In my sexual harrasment training, we are told to report the incident to Human Resources immediately if an employee make a sexual harrasment claim. HR investigates and recommends course of action, and generally to make sure the parties do not interact until the investigation and recommended course of action is completed There is no requirement to report the incident to police. That would be the pervue of the alleged victim.
- LAHawk

Did HR - or anyone in the Blackhawk organization - investigate the matter further? Or did they just decide to ignore it during the meeting on May 10 in San Jose?

We don’t know - the TSN article didn’t specifically say.

Sexual assault is a crime: presumably, Aldrich’s activities with the Blackhawk players (if they actually happened) would have been considered sexual assualt (unwanted, non-consentual) and (again, if true) should have been reported to the police at the time.

Remember: Aldrich was convicted of a crime four years later, against a high school student in Michigan.

Missed the opportunity to post this last nite, but to follow up on the sexual assault allegations:

There apparently were 5 Blackhawk officials in the San Jose meeting about this - McDonough, MacIsaac, Bowman, Gary (the team’s sports psychologist), and Vincent (skills coach). There was a responsibility in that group - collectively and individually - to take the allegations seriously - not necessarily to automatically believe them, but to investigate further, if not to bring in law enforcement. We don’t know if there was or was not further investigation - perhaps it will come out that they did look into it after the meeting, and determined that there was no basis for the charges (although later events involving Aldrich make that unlikely).

It is not acceptable to dismiss the allegations out of hand, or to try to convince the alleged victims that it was their fault (as Gary supposedly did). There are legal implications, and moral issues.

I don’t know if the statutes of limitations apply to the civil suits in this case - but the five officials would bear a very high moral responsibility for their possible lack of action. You shouldn’t necessarily believe every complaint - but you have to take them seriously.

Had they done the “right thing”, perhaps the future incident involving Aldrich with a high school student in Michigan.
- StLBravesFan

We have seen plenty of cases of false or exaggerated accusations and plenty of truly sad and criminal acts. Can we wait to get more of the details before judging this to be one or the other?

We have seen plenty of cases of false or exaggerated accusations and plenty of truly sad and criminal acts. Can we wait to get more of the details before judging this to be one or the other?
- Ztra

That seems like a reasonable approach, but not on this site.

Also i can't speak for others but every place I've been employed and my wife, no one (frank)ed with HR, including Owners, CEOs CFOs, the 1 dept that could literally turn a person's life upside down.
- BetweenTheDots

That depends on the company, I've seen it where HR holds no power.

Regardless, the CEO holds ultimate accountability and they either assign responsibility to somebody on the team or they take responsibility themselves. If these accusations are true then the organization needs to be accountable.

That seems like a reasonable approach, but not on this site.
- Angotti

Pretty unreasonable given he was convicted of sexual assault of a minor four years later. Obviously, he was a predator that should have been strung up and Mussolinied.

Enjoy Hawaii, Theo. Which island?

I just returned from Oahu yesterday morning and suffering from wanting to go back here in the West suburbs. Proudly wore my green St. Pat's Hawks cap during the entire trip. No other Hawks hats seen and didn't see any NHL caps during my week there. Did see someone sporting a Cub's cap on the North Shore though.

5.8M for Big Z? Ouch. That's nuts. Hard pass on anything over a slight raise from his 3.2 or so current contract. Z had a few games worthy of 5.8M contract, one against FLA where he played physical and didn't make mistakes in his own end, but those games were few too many. Big Z is at best a 5-6 DMan and if we give him 5.8M over a extended amount of years, he'll end up like Leafs and Komisarek, buried in the minors for cap relief down the road. Chara or Bogosian at this point for 1-2 million as a 5-6 is much better for a D providing physicality.

what about tomas tatar as a UFA? https://www.hockey-refere.../players/t/tatarto01.html

his metrics are great. had a slight down year this year but is probably a 50 pt winger

Aloha Theo, nice of you to write this blog while visiting Hawaii

Us readers all know about the need for more talent and have varying opinions as to how and when to add these accomplished players to ice a contending team.

Perhaps you could devote a blog to if and when a new coaching staff will be required to lead this contending team. Do you foresee JC as the point A to point B coach? If the team regresses this year or does not improve overall defensively is his job on the line? I would like to hear your thoughts on the coaching situation.
- boilermaker100

I'll have a coaches blog at some point this summer and can weave in the perspective on whether Colliton is the optimal choice once the Hawks are in contention status again or if someone else should take his place to lead the team.

I hear that during that May, 2010 meeting, Stan was supposed to fax the HR Department to inform them of the situation, but forgot.

ASF
- boilermaker100

Enjoy Hawaii, Theo. Which island?

I just returned from Oahu yesterday morning and suffering from wanting to go back here in the West suburbs. Proudly wore my green St. Pat's Hawks cap during the entire trip. No other Hawks hats seen and didn't see any NHL caps during my week there. Did see someone sporting a Cub's cap on the North Shore though.

5.8M for Big Z? Ouch. That's nuts. Hard pass on anything over a slight raise from his 3.2 or so current contract. Z had a few games worthy of 5.8M contract, one against FLA where he played physical and didn't make mistakes in his own end, but those games were few too many. Big Z is at best a 5-6 DMan and if we give him 5.8M over a extended amount of years, he'll end up like Leafs and Komisarek, buried in the minors for cap relief down the road. Chara or Bogosian at this point for 1-2 million as a 5-6 is much better for a D providing physicality.
- Popsghostly

We're on Oahu. The inlaws live in Manoa right by the University of Hawaii. My father in law is a contractor and is building some properties on Ewa Beach so we were there yesterday.

We come out here every year (except for last year due to the shutdown) and tend to stay on Oahu. Been to the Big Island once and Kauai once, too. Believe it or not, never been to Maui.

I thought it would be hot here but apparently it's hotter in Chicago and even in the Bay Area where we live now.

As Mo’s good friend would say, connect the dots.
- paulr

That's connect the (frank)ing dots, to you, tough guy!

We're on Oahu. The inlaws live in Manoa right by the University of Hawaii. My father in law is a contractor and is building some properties on Ewa Beach so we were there yesterday.

We come out here every year (except for last year due to the shutdown) and tend to stay on Oahu. Been to the Big Island once and Kauai once, too. Believe it or not, never been to Maui.

I thought it would be hot here but apparently it's hotter in Chicago and even in the Bay Area where we live now.
- Theo Fox

Cool beans. We actually visited U of H Manoa on Monday as my teen will start applying to colleges in the near future. Beats the heck of out of Champaign/Urbana in terms of things to do during downtime.

Yeah sweating it out in my home office in Wheaton/Winfield right now while we were comfortable even in the Oahu sun over the past week. No humidity there.

We were supposed to go to Tokyo from Honolulu to see family but that leg of the trip got cancelled due to the mandatory quarantine there so it was just Oahu. Not a bad consolation prize at all though.

Pretty unreasonable given he was convicted of sexual assault of a minor four years later. Obviously, he was a predator that should have been strung up and Mussolinied.
- jfkst1

If true then absolutely, hang him by his balls, but let’s see what the end results are first. Where there’s smoke there’s usually fire, but again we don’t know exactly what happened while he was employed by the Hawks, so a reasonable approach is to wait for final investigation results to come out. I’m not condoning what he did to the minor, that is a sick individual, but the Hawks situation is different until proven otherwise.

Did HR - or anyone in the Blackhawk organization - investigate the matter further? Or did they just decide to ignore it during the meeting on May 10 in San Jose?

We don’t know - the TSN article didn’t specifically say.

Sexual assault is a crime: presumably, Aldrich’s activities with the Blackhawk players (if they actually happened) would have been considered sexual assualt (unwanted, non-consentual) and (again, if true) should have been reported to the police at the time.

Remember: Aldrich was convicted of a crime four years later, against a high school student in Michigan.
- StLBravesFan

If the players are suing the team because they didn't call the police; the lawyer will ask them one simple question....."If you thought it was important for the police to get involved in order to stop this predator, why didn't you call 911?".

This is not about the police issue. It is about money.

If the players are suing the team because they didn't call the police; the lawyer will ask them one simple question....."If you thought it was important for the police to get involved in order to stop this predator, why didn't you call 911?".

This is not about the police issue. It is about money.
- mohel

Well, if the team did nothing 11 years ago, it was about protecting the brand. Money.

If (IF) the meeting attendees did nothing - no excuses for inexcusable and enabling behavior.

If the players are suing the team because they didn't call the police; the lawyer will ask them one simple question....."If you thought it was important for the police to get involved in order to stop this predator, why didn't you call 911?".

This is not about the police issue. It is about money.
- mohel

I agree with the first part of your assumption, for sure. But I thought the root of the issue is that the organization (Gary) convinced/pressured player(s) not to do that. Which may or may not be illegal, but it is certainly suspect and, as others have mentioned, could very well resulted in preventing that following crime.

Easy for me to say I would have done something different in the situation, but hindsight is 20/20. I'm sure there's no shortage of people answering this question online.

All I'm saying is that it's damaging to the franchise, and maybe to the lockerroom. I wouldn't want to hear or think that management doesn't have my back.

And all of this is looking at the now. Who knows what impact this had on the victim. Whole thing is not good.
- Q-stache

In other words, would you say that it’s “bad for the brand”?