Around the League 30: who's panicking?

[Joe McGrath]

I don't care if he wasn't named, given his position, there is no way he didn't know.

JT and Kane should be blackballed too because they knew, right?

 

[AhosDatsyukian]

Obviously #1 thing is to focus on is the victim and how he's doing as what happened is atrocious and the cover up is as well. That being said, at least for us as Canes fans I'm very glad we don't have anybody in our organization who was involved/with the Hawks at the time. Of course what happened and holding the people involved accountable is more important than hockey but I also feel for Panthers fans who finally have a team to be excited about and now they have to deal with the distraction and likely ouster of their head coach who has been leading the charge for their recent success.

 

[Svechhammer]

JT and Kane should be blackballed too because they knew, right?

After their 'there were good people on both sides' kind of comments last night, I'm not opposed to that

 

[AhosDatsyukian]

Going after someone for something they might have known with no proof to show for it sets a very dangerous precedent.

Also, even if someone "knew" about it without knowing all the full details, what were they supposed to do? People have compared this to Penn State but those were children who couldn't really advocate for themselves like an adult can. Like if Kane or Toews or Bergevin heard about it without getting too involved, what should they have done? Gone to the police separately? Can't press charges for someone else based off of hearsay with no details... Went to management who the victim already had reported the incident to?

 

[Lempo]

Shawn Lalonde currently playing in SM-Liiga got interviewed for being close to Beach at that time. According to him there was "rumors".




The Champions League player is close to Kyle Beach, who is suspected of being abused in the NHL - this is how he tells of the riot

Pori Aces Shawn Lalonde was a teammate of Kyle Beach when this was allegedly taken advantage of by an NHL coach.
ICE

Shawn Lalonde, who came to Pori Ace in the middle of the season in 2017, in the shirt of the German Kölner Haie.
Shawn Lalonde, who came to Pori Ace in the middle of the season in 2017, in the shirt of the German Kölner Haie. PHOTO: MARIUS BECKER / ZUMAPRESS
Joonas Kuisma
18:15

Pawin’s newly arrived hockey defender Shawn Lalonde, 31, was one of the people interviewed for the NHL world-stirring report of sexual abuse in the Chicago Blackhawks.

Kyle Beach, 31, revealed Finnish time on Thursday night that he was the victim of a suspected abuse in May 2010.

Read more: She is the victim of a harassment scandal that shakes the NHL - “I felt lonely and in the dark”

Earlier this week, an impartial report was released detailing the way Blackhawks then-video coach Brad Aldrich allegedly exploited Beach.

For the report, 139 people were interviewed, among them Lalonde of the Aces.

Read more: How a video coach exploited a 20-year-old player - report reveals shocking details of NHL-shaking scandal

Lalonde played with Beach on the Blackhawks farm team at Rockford IceHogs from 2010-13. Canadian Lalonde played one NHL match in the Blackhawks in 2013.

Kyle Beach in 2013.
Kyle Beach in 2013. PHOTO: BRIAN CASSELLA / ZUMA

He moved to Ace in Pori a week ago after playing before that in the KHL and the German DEL League. Beach currently plays in Germany’s third highest league level.

IS asked Lalonde a series of questions related to Beach, the harassment scandal, and the Chicago Blackhawks.

Shawn Lalonde, how close are you to Kyle Beach and thus to the whole case?

- We got up together from Blackhawks' player development system. I lived with him and a third guy in my first professional year after everything described in the report had happened. I would say we are quite close.

- What do I know about this situation? Kyle didn't really talk about it. As he said in his statement, Kyle has gone through what happened in his mind and focused on his dream of getting into the NHL.
- Otherwise, there were only rumors. When Brad Aldrich left the Blackhawks, the atmosphere was strange. At the same time, rumors circulated. Now the research is done and the truth has come to light. Based on the research, Kyle has suffered a lot more than I ever imagined.

How have you felt in recent days?

- It's pretty crazy. Sad. My feelings are diverse. I knew Kyle well for years, even though our careers went in different directions. We lost contact a little. I am very disappointed that someone has had to go through something like this.

A lot of guts were certainly required of Kyle Beach to be able to speak in his own name and voice about his own sexual abuse. What does it say about Beach?

- He said he had been thinking about it every day for the last 10-11 years. He probably didn’t really trust anyone. The reason was Chicago mental coach Jim Gary.

(According to the report, Beach had told Gary about the sexual abuse. Gary, in turn, had told the Blackhawks management, but nothing had happened for three weeks. Aldrich was fired on June 16, 2010 after the Stanley Cup.)

- Kyle probably didn't know who to talk to. He must have suffered tremendously.

- Definitely requires a lot of guts and courage to come up with it in public. The weight must have risen from his shoulders.

- As a guy, Kyle is funny. He was a first-round booking, selected at number 11 in 2008. As a player, he had the opportunity to become Tom Wilson before Wilson.

What was Beach like as a roommate and a person?

- A good and funny person. He liked to keep the mood light. He wanted to become as good a hockey player as possible to get into the NHL.

Beach was a first round booking. Do you think the alleged sexual harassment affected her career?

- That's a good question. I do not know. My view is that it might have made an impact because he has never played an NHL match. No one knows what the truth is. The Blackhawks never raised him from the farm, but kept him in the organization for three years and made him an extension contract for the fourth year. Still, he wasn’t allowed to play a game in the NHL, even though he was a first-round booking.

- Eventually he was traded to the New York Rangers and then his career was over in North America.

When did you first hear about the alleged exploitation of Beach in May 2010?

- The next training camp had some rumors when Aldrich was no longer on the team. They had just won the Stanley Cup. Why wouldn’t they have made a follow-up deal for everyone to win a new pitcher? There were rumors on the move. But rumors are rumors, not facts. I have also learned that.

Beach said the night before Thursday in Finnish time that everyone in the Blackhawks locker room knew what had happened to him. Can it be true?

- I think that's true. Right now, players don’t really know what to say. They don’t want to get into trouble if they knew and did nothing about it. I saw an interview in which Chicago captain Jonathan Toews said he heard about it the following year. Let's be in the gray area. No one wants to take a stand so they don’t get in trouble. They see that many in the organization have been fired. Players are concerned about their own turn. The subject is sensitive.

I ask again. You said Kyle didn’t talk about sexual abuse on the team. You said that everyone seemed to know but didn’t know and that the subject is sensitive. What was the mood like on the team when you returned to practice after the Spring 2010 victory for the Stanley Cup? Did you talk to Kyle about it?

- The atmosphere was condensed around Kyle. The players asked what happened. The majority of us didn’t stay at the NHL training camp for long, so I don’t know what the mood was like afterwards. I do not know whether it was stopped or whether it was still being talked about. We were quickly instilled on the farm.

- Kyle seemed to be himself. Maybe he was trying to stay mentally strong. Maybe he wanted to avoid it, but he seemed to be ok. Maybe he was still in shock or something.

Lalonde Chicago in Blackhawks colors in 2010.
Lalonde Chicago in Blackhawks colors in 2010. PHOTO: DAVE CHINDLEY / ZUMA

The Blackhawks have led to the resignation of prominent figures, including GM Stan Bowman, who led the operation back in 2010 when the alleged exploitation took place. What do you think about the sanctions in the Chicago organization?

- It's not my job to decide what they should do. The organization wants to handle things internally. There are probably a couple more people left who were there in 2010.

- It will be interesting to see what happens to its former head coach Joel Quenneville and then-deputy GM Kevin Cheveldayoff over the next couple of days.

So, Cheveldayoff is currently the head coach of Winnipeg Jets GM and Quenneville Florida Panthers. According to the report, both were aware of what had happened to Beach, but neither did anything about it. Quenneville coached last night. Should he get fired from the Panthers?

- Difficult question. I read a quote from the Quenneville quote at the time of the incident: "Stanley Cups are now more important than sexual abuse." That is not the case today. The matter needs to be taken care of when it happens. It didn’t matter if it was the first match of the season or a stand-alone game in the Stanley Cup finals. The accusation is heavy and needs to be clarified.

(According to the report, Blackhawks sports management heard that something horrible had been done to Beach, May 23, 2010. Chicago won the sixth final of the Stanley Cup on June 9, 2010.)

- The NHL is in the wrong place. What if the same thing happened again on Joel Quenneville’s team? What would he say now? That’s when he said sexual harassment isn’t important, it’s about winning games. He still coaches 20-year-old boys. The NHL is in the wrong place.

How would you describe video coach Brad Aldrich, who is suspected of sexual abuse?

- Brad seemed like a nice guy. He was friendly, talkative and welcoming. It’s weird that he was a nice dude, but at the same time he left a special impression. I was in my twenties and maybe I wasn’t thinking about it. Miracle yes. Or creepy yes.

Have you read the report?

- Yes, I went through it.

Were you one of the people interviewed for it?

- Yes, I was interviewed.

What did you say?

- I was asked about things and dates that seem random. I was somewhere in certain places, I was with Kyle, something happened and so on. Strange questions. I think they wanted background information and I don’t think I was able to help them very much.

- I was with Kyle a lot, but not on the days or nights when the things mentioned in the report happened.

When was the last time you contacted Kyle?

- I sent him a message on Thursday morning. I said it takes a lot of guts to tell you about it. I said he was brave. Now he may be able to help other people who have been victims of sexual abuse. Not just in hockey but around the world. Kyle can give them strength and show that the victims also have a voice.

Have you talked about the Beach case with your old playmates? Players who were on the Rockford AHL team or the Chicago NHL team at the same time?

- No. It's pretty quiet.

 

[The Stranger]

Threatening to beat him with a bat unless he performed sex acts wasn’t enough of a criminal act?

By the letter of the law, it may qualify for something like being taken hostage.

In my mind (important qualifier), Beach is leaving that apartment as soon as we wants, bat or no bat.

...but, maybe in his mind, he did actually feel trapped.

In this scenario, yes, he should've went right the police, just like if he thought he was drugged.

 

[TheReelChuckFletcher]

Whitecloud may be an interesting comparable to Ethan Bear. I don't have any doubt that Bear will be slightly more expensive, but a 6x2.75M for a guy that Vegas' 2nd best RHD and has similar metrics and performance to Bear might be a good starting blueprint.

 

[Lempo]

By the letter of the law, it may qualify for something like being taken hostage.

In my mind (important qualifier), Beach is leaving that apartment as soon as we wants, bat or no bat.

...but, maybe in his mind, he did actually feel trapped.

In this scenario, yes, he should've went right the police, just like if he thought he was drugged.

Yes, and never ever playing in the League. That's the difference between rape and sexual abuse, in the first one you get physically forced into sexual act and in the second you get abused to and effectively forced to do it by some non-violent way.

Caveat: legal terminology may vary.

 

[tarheelhockey]

By the letter of the law, it may qualify for something like being taken hostage.

In my mind (important qualifier), Beach is leaving that apartment as soon as we wants, bat or no bat.

...but, maybe in his mind, he did actually feel trapped.

In this scenario, yes, he should've went right the police, just like if he thought he was drugged.

Dude.

Threatening to beat someone with a bat if they don't perform sexual favors on you, and then physically consummating those acts, is a crime. There's no 'letter of the law' to that, it's a blatant and explicit crime.

If this was a woman we'd just use the word "rape" and be done with it. For some reason, because it's a man we're talking about how it "may qualify for something like being taken hostage" and calling it a "bizarro hockey casting couch"? Are you serious?

Regarding the police, Beach immediately went to Paul Vincent who explicitly told management that this was a crime and that the police needed to be involved. Management communicated back to Beach, through both Vincent and Gary, that they regarded Beach himself as responsible for the incident and would not back him up if he went to the police. You really think a 20-year-old prospect is going to hear that from the very top of an Original Six organization at the same moment that they're winning their first Stanley Cup in 49 years, and he's going to go to the police anyway? With nothing but his word, he's going to put himself out there are The Guy Who Ruined A Cup Run? And if he doesn't do that, it somehow mitigates the actions of both the rapist and the people who covered for the rapist?

There are multiple really bad takes in that post. Recommend deletion.

 

[hockeynjune]

Dude.

Threatening to beat someone with a bat if they don't perform sexual favors on you, and then physically consummating those acts, is a crime. There's no 'letter of the law' to that, it's a blatant and explicit crime.

If this was a woman we'd just use the word "rape" and be done with it. For some reason, because it's a man we're talking about how it "may qualify for something like being taken hostage" and calling it a "bizarro hockey casting couch"? Are you serious?

Regarding the police, Beach immediately went to Paul Vincent who explicitly told management that this was a crime and that the police needed to be involved. Management communicated back to Beach, through both Vincent and Gary, that they regarded Beach himself as responsible for the incident and would not back him up if he went to the police. You really think a 20-year-old prospect is going to hear that from the very top of an Original Six organization at the same moment that they're winning their first Stanley Cup in 49 years, and he's going to go to the police anyway? With nothing but his word, he's going to put himself out there are The Guy Who Ruined A Cup Run? And if he doesn't do that, it somehow mitigates the actions of both the rapist and the people who covered for the rapist?

There are multiple really bad takes in that post. Recommend deletion.

Just quoting so it can be read again and again...well said sir>

 

[the halleJOKEL]

Dude.

Threatening to beat someone with a bat if they don't perform sexual favors on you, and then physically consummating those acts, is a crime. There's no 'letter of the law' to that, it's a blatant and explicit crime.

If this was a woman we'd just use the word "rape" and be done with it. For some reason, because it's a man we're talking about how it "may qualify for something like being taken hostage" and calling it a "bizarro hockey casting couch"? Are you serious?

Regarding the police, Beach immediately went to Paul Vincent who explicitly told management that this was a crime and that the police needed to be involved. Management communicated back to Beach, through both Vincent and Gary, that they regarded Beach himself as responsible for the incident and would not back him up if he went to the police. You really think a 20-year-old prospect is going to hear that from the very top of an Original Six organization at the same moment that they're winning their first Stanley Cup in 49 years, and he's going to go to the police anyway? With nothing but his word, he's going to put himself out there are The Guy Who Ruined A Cup Run? And if he doesn't do that, it somehow mitigates the actions of both the rapist and the people who covered for the rapist?

There are multiple really bad takes in that post. Recommend deletion.

pretty sure aldrich also threatened to torpedo his career if he didn't go along with the situation... in case the physical threats aren't enough

 

[Anton Dubinchuk]

It seems to me that as most stuff that comes out in the hockey world, there’s a nuance here to an important conversation that’s lacking, and there’s a lack of consistency in the way this is being discussed.

Themes to this include:

- How zealously do you pursue a rumor that you’ve heard about someone else?

Storytime: about a month after moving into our old condo, we heard our across the hall neighbors having a loud, screamy marital fight thru the door. Words were said that could’ve been part of just a bad screamy marital fight, or could’ve been part of a much worse, abuse-type situation. We didn’t know them well enough to know what was going on, and were sure we were the only ones who heard. Despite knowing it was almost certainly just a bad, screamy fight, we decided we didn't want to risk it, and called the cops. The cops came, turned out it was nothing, they found us later and embarrassingly apologized, and our relationship with them was ruined until we moved out 3 years later. Very awkward, tough position to be in, and I wouldn't blame anyone for not knowing exactly how to handle it.

Now, imagine you're a player on the team and you've heard this rumor. You don't know all the facts, you do know it's already been reported to management and they have more of the story than you do. What are you going to do? Go report it to management again? That won't do anything. So, if you actually want to be very, very sure that this is taken care of, you escalate until it's paid attention to. But wait! You only know this is a rumor. Kyle Beach hasn't told you about it personally, you've just heard around the grapevine that "some things happened." What if it was consensual? By escalating outside the organization, if you're wrong, you may have accidentally just "outed" someone's very personal life beyond even the confines of the organization. What if it's actually just a dumb rumor? You may have just ruined a relationship with your coach based on just some random thing you heard some guys talking about (keep in mind, the same power dynamics that applied to Aldrich and Beach also applied to some extent Aldrich and any other player in the org). So now you're frozen. And, when the people who are actually in power (the GM, the HR person, etc.) seem to know the full story and seem to not think it's a big deal, well, I don't know how many of us would've actually done anything differently if we were a player.


- What does being a "star player" or a "captain" really mean

It's bugging me that we are saying that 22-year-old Toews, 21-year-old Kane, and a more veteran 26-year-old Keith should forever have their legacies tarnished for not doing something more, but 33-year-old Brent Sopel and 31-year-old Nick Boynton are on the record as saying "everyone knew" and that's somehow fine and it's ok that they didn't do anything to help. It's a very "hockey brain", "200 hockey men" type of thing to just assume that it should've been Toews or Kane to speak up because they're star players. At the end of the day they're kids in their early 20s just like Beach, and if it's true that "everyone knew", and they knew beyond a doubt exactly what happened, you'd think the bigger fault is on the more mature, older players who have a better sense of that not being typical or ok. In reality, though, every player was probably in the same boat. People knew something happened, didn't know what, it's a sensitive topic and if the people who are in charge know, better not to insert yourself into the personal situation of someone else you don't know that well.


- What stock do we put into individual recollections from 11 years ago?

This is a tough one. Obviously we have to investigate now because we can't time travel to back then, but peoples' memories generally have a way of becoming caricatures of themselves over time. Based on the reports, it sounds like Aldrich and Beach have completely different testimonies of what happened that night (of course this is expected), but then there was a 3rd party there that night that gives a testimony that contains elements both in line with and contradictory to both Aldrich and Beach. To be very clear, I'm not even entertaining the notion that Aldrich didn't do anything wrong, but my point is that if the details of a night like that can be misconstrued, imagine how the more subtle details of it all can be changed due to faulty memory. What exactly was reported to HR? Beach says he told everyone the details of what happened exactly as he just told the investigators recently. And yet (from the report itself): "None of the participants recalled being told about the type of clearly non-consensual sexual conduct that is described by John Doe in his lawsuit or was described during John Doe’s interview with us." Do we think that's a black and white bald-faced by everyone else? Or do we think there's a possibility that in the heat of horrific moment, a scared, confused 20-year-old didn't mention the more graphic details for fear of embarrassment/humiliation? And then, through a game of telephone, what is it exactly that Q hears about all of this? Etc. Just one of many examples, but the further these things get from the actual date of it all, the more the gray tends to turn to black and white depending what "side" of the judgment you find yourself on.


I'm not excusing anybody of anything, anymore than I'm accusing anybody of anything. I am concerned when stuff like this comes out how everyone acts like anyone who was involved in any part of the organization and didn't do anything is a massively complicit villain (when you can probably think of many, many situations where you've heard rumors, 50% of which were probably in high school about some kid you only sort of or barely knew, in which you actually did nothing yourself because you didn't feel it was your place). In reality, there were probably a few people who failed massively and deserve the full brunt of the blame for dropping the ball, a few more people who failed minorly to be the adult in the room when the people who could've done something didn't, and a lot of people who felt like if the people in group 1 and the people in group 2 weren't concerned, then getting involved might cause more harm than good.

 

[Anton Dubinchuk]

(This is worth a read in this situation for anyone wanting to blame players: Bystander Effect. Although, in this case, since management actually was notified, it's like seeing someone dying on the side of the road next to an ambulence and choosing not to help.)

 

[tarheelhockey]

I'm not excusing anybody of anything, anymore than I'm accusing anybody of anything. I am concerned when stuff like this comes out how everyone acts like anyone who was a part of any part of the organization and didn't do anything is a massively complicit villain (when you can probably think of many, many situations you've heard rumors about yourself, 50% of which were probably in high school about some kid you only sort of or barely, in which you actually did nothing yourself because you didn't feel it was your place). In reality, there were probably a few people who failed massively and deserve the blame for dropping the ball, a few more people who failed minorly to be the adult in the room when the people who could've done something didn't, and a lot of people who felt like if the people in group 1 and the people in group 2 weren't concerned, then getting involved might cause more harm than good.

I can buy that when it comes to the players, for the reasons you describe above. You would hope that the bonds between teammates would be strong enough to support a player through this, but Beach wasn't a regular Blackhawk and I assume the IceHogs' season was already finished when this happened, so he was something of an outsider without a team really standing behind him. It's asking a lot of those guys, while they are in the process of a Stanley Cup run, to also overcome all those reasons not to get overly involved.

Management is a different story. It's pretty explicit in the evidence that this incident was covered up so as not to distract from a Cup run. Covered up at the time it happened, then covered up again during the process of getting Aldrich out of the organization (directly resulting in the future rape of a minor, which cannot be forgotten or forgiven), apparently covered up again in terms of the HR paper trail mysteriously going "missing", and finally covered up one last time by circa-2021 lies that nobody knew about it at the time. That stuff is egregious and should be treated as full culpability in a conspiracy to facilitate rape.

 

[Anton Dubinchuk]

I can buy that when it comes to the players, for the reasons you describe above. You would hope that the bonds between teammates would be strong enough to support a player through this, but Beach wasn't a regular Blackhawk and I assume the IceHogs' season was already finished when this happened, so he was something of an outsider without a team really standing behind him. It's asking a lot of those guys, while they are in the process of a Stanley Cup run, to also overcome all those reasons not to get overly involved.

Management is a different story. It's pretty explicit in the evidence that this incident was covered up so as not to distract from a Cup run. Covered up at the time it happened, then covered up again during the process of getting Aldrich out of the organization (directly resulting in the future rape of a minor, which cannot be forgotten or forgiven), apparently covered up again in terms of the HR paper trail mysteriously going "missing", and finally covered up one last time by circa-2021 lies that nobody knew about it at the time. That stuff is egregious and should be treated as full culpability in a conspiracy to facilitate rape.

Yep. While I tend to not be as harsh on, well, anything, as some are, 95% of the sentiment in my post was based on people going after players for not doing more, which I'm seeing a lot on Twitter and elsewhere.

 

[Svechhammer]

Everyone involved, and everyone who knew about it needs to be blacklisted from the league, and really, the sport. If there was a way to remove names from the Stanley Cup, they should act on that as well.

Beach was raped.

The Chicago Blackhawks deemed their run to the Stanley Cup Finals more important than taking the rape of one employee by another. A rape that occurred because of their working relationship with the Chicago Blackhawks. And they buried it so that they could win the Cup.

There is no 'good people on both sides' with this case. There is no grey area. One employee was coerced into sexual acts by another with threat of employee reprimand and long term career sabotage by a superior, and when the organization found out, they not only did nothing, but buried it because of the Cup.

Blacklist them all.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Yep. While I tend to not be as harsh on, well, anything, as some are, 95% of the sentiment in my post was based on people going after players for not doing more, which I'm seeing a lot on Twitter and elsewhere.

Let's be honest here, when it comes to Twitter and the internet in general, we know what that a lot of that vitriol is really about. Some of it is well intentioned but a lot is just sports fans being sports fans.

 

[Anton Dubinchuk]

Let's be honest here, when it comes to Twitter and the internet in general, we know what that a lot of that vitriol is really about. Some of it is well intentioned but a lot is just sports fans being sports fans.

"tAkE tHe WhOlE tEaM oFf ThE cUp"

Yes, I'm sure "Kyle Beach's well-being" and "justice" and only those two things are what's on your mind when making a suggestion like that!

 

[Nikishin Go Boom]

Tulsky is being mentioned as a person worth pursuing in Chicago for GM

 

[Svechhammer]

Tlusty is being mentioned as a person worth pursuing in Chicago for GM

Jiri Tlusty? That's not a name I've heard in a very long time.

If you're talking about Tulsky, good luck. That's basically the one guy in the front office that Dundon will pay to keep around.

 

[Nikishin Go Boom]

Jiri Tlusty? That's not a name I've heard in a very long time.

If you're talking about Tulsky, good luck. That's basically the one guy in the front office that Dundon will pay to keep around.

Whoops went way back and way “Samsonite” on that one. I may have to quit today.

 

[Canes]

Tlusty is being mentioned as a person worth pursuing in Chicago for GM

I assume you mean Tulsky but good luck to them both if that happens. Probably would turn out a lot like the Chayka Coyotes unless he's paired with a strong hockey ops/team president with lots of connections. But even then it probably wouldn't turn out much better than current Leafs.

 

[Navin R Slavin]

Now, imagine you're a player on the team and you've heard this rumor. You don't know all the facts, you do know it's already been reported to management and they have more of the story than you do. What are you going to do?

Well, what you're absolutely NOT going to do is skate after him in practice and taunt him with homophobic slurs based explicitly on those rumors. Which at least one player allegedly did.

That's the shit that needs to get handled on the player side. To me, that speaks to an on-ice culture problem. Nothing to be done about it now except acknowledge the depth of the problem, and if possible/feasible, name and shame any offenders and burn their reputations to the ground.

 

[Navin R Slavin]

If you're talking about Tulsky, good luck. That's basically the one guy in the front office that Dundon will pay to keep around.

Quants make bank, and a guy like Dundon knows it. If he regards Tulsky as part of the secret sauce, it would take a Brinks truck to get him out. There's no salary cap for front office hires.

 

[Svechhammer]

I assume you mean Tulsky but good luck to them both if that happens. Probably would turn out a lot like the Chayka Coyotes unless he's paired with a strong hockey ops/team president with lots of connections. But even then it probably wouldn't turn out much better than current Leafs.

And from what I've read about Tulsky, I don't even know if he wants to handle the full array of responsibilities that a GM handles, and is content with being the analytics expert. I think he'd already be our GM if he wanted it.