Quenneville, Bowman, MacIsaac reinstated into NHL

Weztex

Registered User
Feb 6, 2006
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Delivering this on 1st July is a deliberate attempt to deflect some of the inevitable heat.

It is the same approach as how you bury bad news.
July 1st is the official start of the season so it makes sense that the decision becomes effective today. I don’t think it’s deliberate but it sure is very convenient that there’s much going on this day.
 

Iwishihadaspacebar

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Apr 27, 2021
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July 1st is the official start of the season so it makes sense that the decision becomes effective today. I don’t think it’s deliberate but it sure is very convenient that there’s much going on this day.

It could have been publicly announced at any stage in the last few days or next few days but they chose today. It is very much deliberate in my mind.
 
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Yukon Joe

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Aug 3, 2011
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Delivering this on 1st July is a deliberate attempt to deflect some of the inevitable heat.

It is the same approach as how you bury bad news.

So it's a little less common now that we're in the age of social media, but yes - in the past the way to bury bad news was to release it on a Friday afternoon. It was probably too late to get picked up by the Friday night evening news or the Saturday papers, but by Monday it was "old news" and unlikely to get covered.

Of course now things are different with the internet. A story can go viral at any time or day or week.

But yes I agree - in the hockey world releasing the news on July 1st, which is free agent signing day, is as good a way as you're going to get to bury a story.



I'm mixed on re-instating these people. They way they dealt with the allegations was terrible - they prioritized the Stanley Cup run over anything else. That's just a gross set of priorities. But the question is whether that means they should never work in hockey ever again? Not as sure.
 
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GKJ

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Feb 27, 2002
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So it's a little less common now that we're in the age of social media, but yes - in the past the way to bury bad news was to release it on a Friday afternoon. It was probably too late to get picked up by the Friday night evening news or the Saturday papers, but by Monday it was "old news" and unlikely to get covered.

Of course now things are different with the internet. A story can go viral at any time or day or week.

But yes I agree - in the hockey world releasing the news on July 1st, which is free agent signing day, is as good a way as you're going to get to bury a story.



I'm mixed on re-instating these people. They way they dealt with the allegations was terrible - they prioritized the Stanley Cup run over anything else. That's just a gross set of priorities. But the question is whether that means they should never work in hockey ever again? Not as sure.
Personally, when it comes to stuff like ‘should they be excommunicated forever,’ I try to live by an ethos to not be more aggrieved than the aggrieved. Which is to say, what does Kyle Beach think?
 
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the big nobody

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Jun 4, 2024
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I guess I gave Bettman and the NHL too much credit when I previously believed they'd never get reinstated. Still, surely no one will hire them in the NHL, reinstated or not. I mean, the second anyone rehires them, it'd provoke a storm of controversy that'd immediately result in resignation or revocation of the hiring. Right? Right?
 
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Yukon Joe

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I guess I gave Bettman and the NHL too much credit when I previously believed they'd never get reinstated. Still, surely no one will hire them in the NHL, reinstated or not. I mean, the second anyone rehires them, it'd provoke a storm of controversy that'd immediately result in resignation or revocation of the hiring. Right? Right?

I mean it's going to depend on which market, and what position.

I'm in Edmonton, and they are currently looking for a GM. I'd like to think that if they suddenly hired Stan Bowman as GM there'd be hell to pay - Edmonton is too smart a hockey market, and GM is too important a position.

But I dunno - if Bowman was hired as some kind of consultant in a non-traditional market, do you think anyone would really care?
 
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the big nobody

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Maybe I'm just naïve, but I do. Some individual fans might not, but I choose to believe that the kind of misconduct the involved persons engaged in was so egregious and unforgivable that everyone involved ought to be basically impossible-to-hire in any capacity, in any market, at any level. I don't think he should even be hired to mop the floors of the locker room for a local Junior-B team. Conspiring to cover up sexual assault is not something that should be forgiven professionally.

In any case, the controversy that would surely follow them to any job would make them unemployable. It's just disappointing that the NHL would reinstate them in this day and age, given changing attitudes towards sexual misconduct.
 
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Yukon Joe

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Maybe I'm just naïve, but I do. Some individual fans might not, but I choose to believe that the kind of misconduct the involved persons engaged in was so egregious and unforgivable that everyone involved ought to be basically impossible-to-hire in any capacity, in any market, at any level. I don't think he should even be hired to mop the floors of the locker room for a local Junior-B team. Conspiring to cover up sexual assault is not something that should be forgiven professionally.

In any case, the controversy that would surely follow them to any job would make them unemployable. It's just disappointing that the NHL would reinstate them in this day and age, given changing attitudes towards sexual misconduct.

So... I'm a lawyer. I work in criminal justice. People definitely deserve to "pay the time" if they "do the crime".

But Quenneville, Bowman, and the others didn't actually do the sexual assault. They covered up for it, 100%. That's the crime. They deserved to be punished. It was disgusting that they valued winning the Stanley Cup higher than justice for Kyle Beach. It was doubly disgusting they let Brad Aldrich go with a positive reference so that he could go ahead an sexually abuse other players.

But the thing is - the punishment has to be proportional to the gravity of the offence (see s. 718.1 of the Canadian Criminal Code). So what's proportionate to the cover up, but not the offence itself?

So look - I don't know where the line would be. As I said I'd hate for Quennevile to be the next coach of my favourite NHL team. But this is a story that goes back to 2010 - 14 years ago. Quenneville, Bowman and the rest have been suspended since 2021, three years ago.

I, personally, would not be offended if any of them were hired to "mop the floors of the locker room for a local Junior-B team". Remember Aldrich himself (the actual culprit) received a 270 day jail sentence plus 5 years probation. (and by the way, personally - Aldrich should never work in sports again at any level).

I don't know where the line should be. Like I said "never working in hockey at any level for all of history" seems too harsh. "working at the NHL level tomorrow" seems way too lenient. But you have to draw a line somewhere in the middle, and I think reasonable people can disagree where it should be drawn.
 
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StreetHawk

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Sep 30, 2017
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Q's age of 66 come Sept is going to also work against him getting a job. It would have to be a perfect storm of an underachieving team that had big expectations that would reach out to him. Otherwise, for the majority of clubs, it just would not be worth the PR.
 
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Tawnos

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Sep 10, 2004
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So... I'm a lawyer. I work in criminal justice. People definitely deserve to "pay the time" if they "do the crime".

But Quenneville, Bowman, and the others didn't actually do the sexual assault. They covered up for it, 100%. That's the crime. They deserved to be punished. It was disgusting that they valued winning the Stanley Cup higher than justice for Kyle Beach. It was doubly disgusting they let Brad Aldrich go with a positive reference so that he could go ahead an sexually abuse other players.

But the thing is - the punishment has to be proportional to the gravity of the offence (see s. 718.1 of the Canadian Criminal Code). So what's proportionate to the cover up, but not the offence itself?

So look - I don't know where the line would be. As I said I'd hate for Quennevile to be the next coach of my favourite NHL team. But this is a story that goes back to 2010 - 14 years ago. Quenneville, Bowman and the rest have been suspended since 2021, three years ago.

I, personally, would not be offended if any of them were hired to "mop the floors of the locker room for a local Junior-B team". Remember Aldrich himself (the actual culprit) received a 270 day jail sentence plus 5 years probation. (and by the way, personally - Aldrich should never work in sports again at any level).

I don't know where the line should be. Like I said "never working in hockey at any level for all of history" seems too harsh. "working at the NHL level tomorrow" seems way too lenient. But you have to draw a line somewhere in the middle, and I think reasonable people can disagree where it should be drawn.

I've been wondering if, the longer the NHL kept these guys suspended, the more open to a potential lawsuit they'd be.

As for July 1... yeah, the optics are bad. At the same time, it is the start of a new year on the NHL calendar, so it makes sense that's when the decision would become official even if their eligibility wasn't for another 10 days.
 

TheOne

Registered User
Jun 15, 2023
260
542
So it's a little less common now that we're in the age of social media, but yes - in the past the way to bury bad news was to release it on a Friday afternoon. It was probably too late to get picked up by the Friday night evening news or the Saturday papers, but by Monday it was "old news" and unlikely to get covered.

Of course now things are different with the internet. A story can go viral at any time or day or week.

But yes I agree - in the hockey world releasing the news on July 1st, which is free agent signing day, is as good a way as you're going to get to bury a story.



I'm mixed on re-instating these people. They way they dealt with the allegations was terrible - they prioritized the Stanley Cup run over anything else. That's just a gross set of priorities. But the question is whether that means they should never work in hockey ever again? Not as sure.

Doing nothing/covering up when young black ace reports sexual assault by video coach while team was in playoffs going for Stanley Cup.

VC was released and continued his depravity in HS job he got subsequently.

Maybe I'm just naïve, but I do. Some individual fans might not, but I choose to believe that the kind of misconduct the involved persons engaged in was so egregious and unforgivable that everyone involved ought to be basically impossible-to-hire in any capacity, in any market, at any level. I don't think he should even be hired to mop the floors of the locker room for a local Junior-B team. Conspiring to cover up sexual assault is not something that should be forgiven professionally.

In any case, the controversy that would surely follow them to any job would make them unemployable. It's just disappointing that the NHL would reinstate them in this day and age, given changing attitudes towards sexual misconduct.

So... I'm a lawyer. I work in criminal justice. People definitely deserve to "pay the time" if they "do the crime".

But Quenneville, Bowman, and the others didn't actually do the sexual assault. They covered up for it, 100%. That's the crime. They deserved to be punished. It was disgusting that they valued winning the Stanley Cup higher than justice for Kyle Beach. It was doubly disgusting they let Brad Aldrich go with a positive reference so that he could go ahead an sexually abuse other players.

But the thing is - the punishment has to be proportional to the gravity of the offence (see s. 718.1 of the Canadian Criminal Code). So what's proportionate to the cover up, but not the offence itself?

So look - I don't know where the line would be. As I said I'd hate for Quennevile to be the next coach of my favourite NHL team. But this is a story that goes back to 2010 - 14 years ago. Quenneville, Bowman and the rest have been suspended since 2021, three years ago.

I, personally, would not be offended if any of them were hired to "mop the floors of the locker room for a local Junior-B team". Remember Aldrich himself (the actual culprit) received a 270 day jail sentence plus 5 years probation. (and by the way, personally - Aldrich should never work in sports again at any level).

I don't know where the line should be. Like I said "never working in hockey at any level for all of history" seems too harsh. "working at the NHL level tomorrow" seems way too lenient. But you have to draw a line somewhere in the middle, and I think reasonable people can disagree where it should be drawn.
 

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