Blackhawks cave to public pressure, begin “independent” review of sexual abuse allegations in their organization.

The Chicago Blackhawks have seemingly given into public pressure and will begin an investigation into some rather serious allegations that have been made against the organization, all of which stem from a lawsuit filed by a former Blackhawks player that has yet to be named.

On Monday Chicago Blackhawks insider Mark Lazerus broke the news that the Blackhawks have hired outside council to conduct what they have described as an "independent review" of the allegations of sexual assault that have been brought against former Chicago Blackhawks coach Brad Aldrich. Aldrich has not been with the team for a very long time, and has even gone on to become a registered sex offender in the state of Michigan, but these accusations date back all the way to 2010 when the lawsuit alleges Aldrich assaulted two different members of the Blackhawks roster at that time.

"We want to reiterate to you that we take the allegations described in these lawsuits very seriously," William Wirtz said in a memo. "They in no way reflect this organization’s culture or values."

Now I hate to be that guy but I'm going to call B.S. on this announcement from the Blackhawks right out of the gate. The wording used by Lazerus in his initial report here is quite clear, as you will see in the tweet I link below this paragraph, the Blackhawks have "hired" their own independent investigator. When you consider the fact that the Blackhawks are being accused of hiding knowledge they had of a sexual predator in their midst, one that went on to prey on underaged children in Michigan, the fact that they are paying the guy conducting this investigation does not exactly inspire confidence. It wouldn't be much better if the National Hockey League, which is owned by the teams, had announced the investigation themselves but at least that would have been some small degree of separation from the Blackhawks organization itself.

I am by no means looking to impugn the integrity of the investigator on this matter, the Blackhawks have hired Reid Schar of Jenner and Block LLP, but the reality is that payment coming from the Blackhawks on this matter is a clear conflict of interest. 

This move was not done out of the goodness of anyone's heart either. The fact that this comes off the heels of numerous former Blackhawks, including both players and coaches, speaking out on this matter is no coincidence.