What Should a Second Chance Really Look like for Joel Quenneville?
What should a second chance look like after an inadequate response to sexual abuse in a leadership position? The Ducks' hiring of Joel Quenneville has me grappling with it all.
The Anaheim Ducks announced they hired Joel Quenneville as their new head coach Thursday. I specify that they announced they hired him Thursday because the announcement came in around the same time the new pope was elected.
Look, I’m not claiming this was on purpose; that’s a smidge too conspiratorial for an NHL marketing team in the era of social media slop and enshittification. I do think it’s at least convenient that the Ducks decided to dump the Quenneville news on us as a Chicago native pope was announced.
Quenneville, the second-winningest coach in NHL history, had been banned from NHL employment since 2021 in light of the league’s investigation into the Chicago Blackhawks’ sexual abuse scandal. We need to be clear that this ban was not self-imposed, because the language Quenneville uses often implies otherwise. He also implied in his introductory press conference that he didn’t know what happened.
“What happened to Kyle Beach was horrific and inexcusable. I was sick to my stomach when I learned what had taken place. Had I known what had happened, I would have taken swift action,” Quenneville said in his introductory press conference. “I own my mistakes. While I believed wholeheartedly, the issue was handled by management, I take full responsibility for not following up and asking more questions. That’s entirely on me. Over nearly four years, I’ve taken time to reflect, to listen to experts and advocates and to educate myself on the realities of abuse, trauma and how to be a better leader. I hope others can learn from my inaction.”
The NHL determined in 2021 that Quenneville had an “inadequate response” to allegations of sexual assault within the Chicago Blackhawks. According to the report, then-Blackhawks head coach Quenneville learned of allegations against video coach Brad Aldrich during the team’s 2010 championship run, and decided not to act on them. Aldrich stayed with the team through the postseason and had his name etched on the Stanley Cup. The Blackhawks faced lawsuits from at least two former players related to conduct of Aldrich and publicly settled with Kyle Beach. Three years after the Stanley Cup win, Aldrich was criminally convicted of sexual misconduct with a minor.
Bettman unbanned Quenneville last July. Did the facts of the case suddenly change? Did evidence emerge that showed reversed culpability for Quenneville in the situation? Absolutely not.
So what was Bettman’s reasoning for allowing Quenneville to seek employment again, 2 1/2 years later?
“While it is clear that, at the time, (his) response was unacceptable, (he) has acknowledged that and used his time away from the game to engage in activities which, not only demonstrate sincere remorse for what happened, but also evidence greater awareness of the responsibilities that all NHL personnel have, particularly personnel who are in positions of leadership,” the NHL said in a statement. “Moreover, (he) has made significant strides in personal improvement by participating in a myriad of programs, many of which focused on the imperative of responding in effective and meaningful ways to address alleged acts of abuse.”
It’s good that Quenneville continues to apologize to Beach and expresses public remorse. I would’ve added that I appreciate that he takes public ownership of the situation — he’s generally better at that than most in this position (a low bar)— but I was thrown off by his word choice of “had I known what happened” Thursday.
I have to wonder why he tossed that in just now after getting officially hired by a team. I don’t know Quenneville and I don’t have much behind-the-scenes insight into this situation, but vaguely implying he didn’t know what happened the second he was hired again is a red flag.
We have to remember that Quenneville initially denied having any knowledge of the incident when the allegations went public in 2021. He claimed he had first heard of the allegations through the media. But the report contradicted that, as former Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman said that Quenneville was informed of the incident and “shook his head and said that it was hard for the team to get where they are and they could not deal with (the allegations) now.”
Does Quenneville feel like the coast is clear to start the rehabilitation of his public image now that he performed enough ownership and remorse to get reinstated in the league? We need to keep an eye out for any type of revisionist history he might try to spin, and the nonchalance of tossing in “had I known what happened” when we know he knew enough to view addressing it as a distraction. At best he meant he didn’t know the gory details, and even then he’s putting misplaced blame on the victim when Quenneville is the one who should’ve followed up. That’s what any of these “myriads of programs” would tell you not to do.
It’s good that Quenneville participated in a “myriad of programs,” although it’s curious that so many times in these situations, the specific “programs ” aren’t mentioned by name and the length of the program/s isn’t discussed. Further, we don’t know if they were mandated by the league, or if Quenneville participated in them because he is genuinely remorseful, or because it would increase his chances of getting reinstated.
I do believe that Quenneville is now more equipped to handle a situation like this in an appropriate manner, and I believe he’s more equipped to handle it than most NHL coaches. This is less of a “good on Quenneville” and more of a “bad on everyone else,” and this is where the discussion gets more nuanced. I do believe the NHL is better off if it has a leader with a higher level of expertise and awareness regarding reporting abuse in its ranks, even if the knowledge was gained out of self interest.
(It bears repeating that we don’t know exactly what expertise and awareness Quenneville has gained.)
But I don’t believe Quenneville is entitled to a “second chance” at coaching for doing any of this learning. I believe all NHL coaches and management should now be required to undergo this training to get a first chance. The NHL could have a league full of leaders with this level of knowledge if the league mandated it from the jump. But then there would be no perceived need to reinstate Quenneville, and then the Boys’ Club would be fresh out of excuses for forgiving its most loyal card-holding members.
What should a second chance look like after an inadequate response to sexual abuse in a leadership position?