MOSCOW, Nov 5. The second former Chicago Blackhawks hockey player after Kyle Beach filed a lawsuit against the club due to harassment from the team's ex-video coach Brad Aldrich, the Chicago Tribune reports, citing representatives of the law firm Romanucci & Blandin.
Chicago is accused of indifference and deliberate disregard for the safety of its players, including the hockey player who filed the lawsuit. The team is named as the sole defendant, the plaintiff is demanding a jury trial. According to the publication, Aldrich “harassed, threatened and attacked” him throughout the 2009-10 season, and Chicago hushed up the complaint so as not to be distracted from the championship race.
According to the plaintiff, Aldrich stated that he could influence the player's position among the Blackhawks coaches. The former hockey player also said that Aldrich hosted him and other players at his home to discuss strategy, and then “tried to force them to watch pornographic films with him.” The coach also sent offensive messages and used threats to induce sexual contact.
The lawsuit notes that representatives of the club's management knew about the situations with Aldrich, but the meeting with him was held only a week after winning the Stanley Cup. He also did not suffer any punishment from the club at that time.
In 2021, former Chicago player Kyle Beach accused Aldrich of sexual assault before the Hawks' 2010 Stanley Cup victory. The NHL fined Chicago $2 million for inadequate internal procedures and an insufficient and untimely response to the incident involving Aldrich. Later, because of this, Stan Bowman left the post of general manager of the national team and the club, and Joel Quenneville, who coached Chicago in 2010, was fired from his post as coach of the Florida Panthers.