Rod Pedersen discusses Blackhawks scandal with Nick Kypreos

By Olivia Lawrence
RP Show Intern

It was all people could talk about in the National Hockey League on Wednesday and likely will be for the foreseeable future. On Tuesday a report was released about the Chicago Blackhawks mishandling allegations that an assistant coach sexually assaulted a player during the team’s Stanley Cup run in 2010.

On Wednesday’s episode of The Rod Pedersen Show, Rod Pedersen and Sportsnet Radio Host and NHL Alumni Nick Kypreos scrutinized the news.  

“It’s just really still the start, to be quite honest with you, and there will be a ripple effect, and again, peeling the onion, and getting down to the core here and who still knows what, and that’s an investigation that’s ongoing now with the National Hockey League,  said Kypreos. “There’s a ripple effect that’s going to land on the doorstep of the Florida Panthers and maybe to a certain degree, the Winnipeg Jets as well with Kevin Cheveldayoff.

News reports are saying Florida Panthers Head Coach Joel Quennville will meet with the NHL commissioner Gary Bettman in New York as early as tomorrow (Oct.28). Quennville and Cheveldayoff were with the Blackhawks when the sexual allegations were first reported, and were named in the report that was released yesterday (Oct. 26). 

“Yeah, I’ve given my thoughts on that,” said Rod Pedersen. “I mean, those guys, two good men, in my opinion, that got caught up in a situation that isn’t their fault, they’re not the perpetrator here. That’s my thoughts on that.”

A drastic change that has happened since the release of the report is Stan Bowman resigning from his position as general manager of the Blackhawks.  

Rod Pedersen continued the conversation, asking Kypreos a perhaps “callous question” (in his words), but proceeded to ask it anyway.

“The Blackhawks are 0-5-1, do you think that has anything to do with this ongoing investigation?,” said Rod Pedersen. 

“How can it not Rod?,” said Kypreos. “When you just look at what’s been going on in that organization? In the last, what, six months? 12 months? I got to believe that absolutely, it all has a way of intertwining. They were an organization that was kind of unraveling a little bit last year, and I think what we’re seeing is just now the true look of the Chicago Blackhawks on where they are as an organization and that’s the bottom of the barrel.”

One of the largest arguments surrounding this scandal is if it taints the Blackhawks Stanley Cup Championship in 2010. Rod Pedersen and Kypreos voice their opinions on this quarrel. 

 “I’m not quite there at the end of the day,” said Kypreos.  “There’s a certain amount of people that have led that charge, but that had really nothing to do with the on-ice product. And again, I’m not speaking on terms of who knew what because I’m not privileged to that and we didn’t get that in the report. In terms of where [Patrick] Kane and [Jonathan] Toews and [Duncan] Keith and [Brent] Seabrook and all the rest of them stood on all of that, but they won the Stanley Cup, and they did what they needed to do on the ice. I’m not sure about the tainted part in terms of the guys that worked their asses off to win that thing.”

“I’m not either,” said Rod Pedersen. “I couldn’t agree more, I got some really good friends that were on that team and this didn’t even come to light within the club until just before the Stanley Cup final.”

There is a lot of opinions and questions to unpack about teams, coaches and general managers regarding this matter, but Rod Pedersen wanted to make it clear that “The victim is all that matters here” in this terrible situation. Watch: https://twitter.com/RodPedersenShow/status/1453424037024067585