NHL Reinstates Bowman, Quenneville and MacIsaac After Ban for Role in Blackhawks' Assault Scandal

The NHL announced former Chicago Blackhawks staff members Stan Bowman, Joel Quenneville and Al MacIssac are eligible to seek employment in the league.

The NHL announced former Chicago Blackhawks staff members Stan Bowman, Joel Quenneville and Al MacIsaac have been reinstated and are eligible to sign with another team as of July 10.

Bowman, the Blackhawks' former GM, and MacIsaac, the former vice president of hockey operations, were both terminated by Chicago on Oct. 28, 2021. That came after an investigation commissioned by the team determined they had an inadequate response to allegations that the team's former video coach, Brad Aldrich, assaulted Blackhawks forward Kyle Beach during the team's 2010 Stanley Cup run. Quenneville, who had since moved on to become the Florida Panthers coach, resigned two days later.

Bowman, Quenneville and MacIsaac have been ineligible to work for any NHL team since.

“While it is clear that, at the time, their responses were unacceptable, each of these three individuals 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,” a statement from the NHL read.

According to the report by Jenner and Block law firm, ahead of the team’s Western Conference final game against the San Jose Sharks on May 23, 2010, Bowman, McIsaac, Quenneville, club president John McDonough, assistant GM Kevin Cheveldayoff and executive vice president Jay Blunk met to discuss the allegations against Aldrich. According to the report, Quenneville said the team “could not handle this right now” when he learned of the allegations, citing the work the team had done to get that far into the post-season.

When the situation was made public during the summer of 2021, Quenneville initially said he was unaware of these allegations until he read about them in the media.

In an interview with TSN’s Rick Westhead on Oct. 27, 2021, Beach disagreed with that statement.

"I witnessed meetings right after I reported (the assault) to James Gary (the Blackhawks' mental skills coach) that were held in Joel Quenneville's office," Beach said. "There's absolutely no way he can deny knowing it."

This past April on The Cam & Strick Podcast, Quenneville told Andy Strickland he blamed himself for some of the things he "could have and should have done differently.

“I didn't put it all together that it resembled sexual abuse or sexual assault by not asking more questions. And I take ownership on that. I think that had I known more, I think I could've — I would've handled it completely different.”

The NHL also fined the Blackhawks $2 million as a result of the investigation in 2021.

Bowman, MacIsaac and Quenneville aren't allowed to enter any employment relationships with any NHL club until on or after July 10, but clubs are permitted to discuss potential opportunities with them.