Winnipeg Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff said on Tuesday that he was sorry for what Kyle Beach endured and that “he’s suffered as horribly as he did,” adding later that he wishes he had done more to help the former Blackhawks player in 2010.
“What Kyle went through is unacceptable and intolerable. No one should ever have to go through what he went through.” Cheveldayoff said. “Kyle was failed by a system that should have helped him but did not. I am sorry that my own assumptions about that system were clearly not good enough.”
Cheveldayoff made his comments in his first press conference since he was named in a bombshell investigation published by Jenner & Block last week, which looked into allegations of sexual assault made by a former player, Kyle Beach, against a former assistant coach, Brad Aldrich, during the club’s run to the 2010 Stanley Cup.
Cheveldayoff was assistant GM of the Blackhawks in 2010 and attended a meeting on May 23, 2010, that was one of the focal points of an investigation concluded last week by Jenner & Block LLP.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman opted not to hand out any punishment to Cheveldayoff after meeting with him last Friday in New York.
“I wish I could have been an empowered bystander, as Sheldon Kennedy has encouraged us all to be,” Cheveldayoff said Tuesday. “We all must do better to ensure that we have safe spaces and proper systems in place that prioritize a person’s health and well-being to make sure that something like this never happens again.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
