I will not watch a single Blues game with Joel Quenneville behind the bench. I truly hope we don't go that route, but supporting his reinstatement into the league is a line I would not cross. He blatantly prioritized winning over protecting his players from a predatory video coach. Instead of owning his mistake and seeking forgiveness, he continues to downplay his role with a farcical version of events that is disputed by the investigation and unsupported by any other person involved.
Joel Quenneville is asking you to believe that he was never told what actually happened and that he'd have done more if only he had known.
This claim strains any slight degree of credibility based on the investigation of the incident.
The investigation confirms that he was in the meeting where Jim Gary informed management what happened. While the exact words used were unclear, multiple sources make it clear that everyone was informed that Aldrich was making unwanted sexual advances toward at least one player and threatening to harm the player's career if he didn't give in.
Quenneville was brought into the meeting after the initial reveal of what happened and claims that 'he was told that an event happened without saying what happened.' he rememebred that it was about 'a coach doing something improper' and can't recall if the coach or player were named.
No one else interviewed describes it the way Quenneville does and no one else gives any indication that anyone was being vague. Multiple sources describe Quenneville as angry, concerned about 'upsetting team chemistry,' and stating that 'they could not deal with this issue right now.' Multiple sources indicated that Quenneville was informed of what happened between Aldrich and the player.
Quenneville is the only person interviewed who affirmatively claims that the meeting ended without a decision about how to handle the situation. Some people don't recall, while multiple sources indicate that the decision was made at that time not to report the issue to HR or legal until after the playoffs.
Quenneville's version is both self-serving AND unsupported by any other person interviewed. His details are directly contradicted by multiple people, including the individual who came forward to management to report the abuse.
But let's briefly concede that maybe he really didn't know what happened in that meeting and was just distracted and full of adrenaline since it took place right after a game.
The following day, Quenneville and Jim Gary (the employee who reported the abuse) had a 10 minute phone call. It was the only time in 2010 that the two of them spoke on the phone. Quenneville claims not to remember what they talked about and speculated that maybe they talked about a family member who had previously worked with Gary.
Really? Does that sound remotely believable?
You get called into an out-of-the-usual meeting, management intentionally keeps you in the dark about the improper conduct alleged by this employee, and then the next day you have a private conversation with this employee where it just doesn't come up? You literally never talk to this employee but just happen to talk to him the next day about an unrelated topic? You don't think to ask him what management didn't want you to know?
Spare me.
I don't remotely believe it. And even if I did believe it, the absolute best case scenario is that Quenneville didn't know because he actively made sure he didn't know because he didn't want the distraction. In the absolute best case scenario, he knew that his video coach was behaving improperly with a player, took steps to actively avoid what that conduct was, and then made an active decision to fully ignore it to focus on hockey.
My opinion of Quenneville is that he is a liar and a coward. I want him nowhere near this organization.
