Cheveldayoff won’t receive discipline from league

Bettman says Winnipeg GM wasn’t part of Hawks senior management team

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said Friday that the league will not discipline Winnipeg Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff, saying he is not responsible for the Chicago Blackhawks’ handling of sexual assault allegations against a former assistant coach.

The announcement comes after Cheveldayoff met with Bettman in New York to discuss whether the Jets GM had a role in the Blackhawks’ response to allegations made by Kyle Beach against Brad Aldrich during the team’s 2010 Stanley Cup run.

Bettman said Cheveldayoff, who was Chicago’s assistant GM at the time, was not a member of the senior leadership team.

“While on some level it would be easiest to paint everyone with any association to this terrible matter with the same broad brush, I believe that fundamental fairness requires a more in-depth analysis of the role of each person,” Bettman said in a statement. “Kevin Cheveldayoff was not a member of the Blackhawks senior leadership team in 2010, and I cannot, therefore, assign to him responsibility for the club’s actions, or inactions.

“He provided a full account of his degree of involvement in the matter, which was limited exclusively to his attendance at a single meeting, and I found him to be extremely forthcoming and credible in our discussion.”

“First and most importantly, I want to express my support of and empathy for Kyle Beach and all he has had to endure since 2010,” Cheveldayoff said in a release. “He was incredibly brave coming forward to tell his story. We can all use his courage as an inspiration to do a better job of making hockey a safer space for anyone who wants to play the game.”