The NHLPA executive board is voting on whether to make public the findings from an independent investigation into the union's handling of Kyle Beach's sexual assault allegations, an NHLPA spokesman confirmed to Sportsnet on Wednesday.
The NHLPA executive board, a group composed of one player representative from each team, is voting on whether to make public the findings from an independent investigation into the union's handling of Kyle Beach's sexual assault allegations, an NHLPA spokesman confirmed Wednesday to Sportsnet.
It is not known at this time how many players have voted, or how the votes have fallen in favour of or against the disclosure. Beach said he was sexually assaulted, while he was a member of the Chicago Blackhawks, during the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs by Brad Aldrich, a former team video coach. The organization hired Jenner & Block, a Chicago law firm, to investigate the allegations. Their bombshell report was released in October 2021, spurring a public reckoning over how Beach's case was handled, as well as hockey culture itself and the systems that too often fail survivors of assault.
"For him to turn his back on the players when his one job is to protect the players at all costs, I don’t know how that can be your leader," Beach said."I don’t know how he can be in charge. If that’s what he’s going to do when a player comes to you and tells you something, whether it be abuse, whether it be drugs, whether it be anything, you’re supposed to have the players’ backs and they definitely didn’t have mine.
"While this program is confidential between players and the doctors, the grave nature of this incident should have resulted in further action on our part. The fact that it did not was a serious failure."