Toews addresses sexual abuse scandal again
Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews has yet not reached out to former coach Joel Quenneville, who resigned from the Florida Panthers in the wake of the Kyle Beach sexual abuse scandal.
Toews, who took heat from fans last week when he spoke on the subject, backpedaled during his Zoom interview with the media Wednesday.
"I realize my comments on the whole situation kind of took attention away from Kyle and ... what he actually went through," Toews said. "Obviously I have a lot of history with Joel, but that's not really the point here."
Last week, Toews said he didn't know about Brad Aldrich's May 2010 assault on Beach until the next training camp. Toews voiced his support for former GM Stan Bowman and former VP of hockey operations Al MacIsaac, saying he has "a ton of respect for them as people."
Toews also said: "I don't understand how (forcing them out) makes it go away, to just delete them from existence and that's it - we'll never hear from them again. They're good people."
Toews has now seen Beach's entire 25-minute interview with Rick Westhead, which was televised on TSN.
"I mean it's undeniable - a lot of emotions," Toews said. "As I mentioned the first time I spoke on the subject, definitely my heart goes out to Kyle and what he went through and how tough it must've been to be silent for so long when no one is really hearing you or understanding what you went through.
"I can't change the past, can't undo what happened. I'd just like to know more and more what Kyle feels and what he wants and what he envisions for the future for maybe someone like me in my position, what we can do to make a difference."
Beach's lawsuit against the Hawks is still pending. His lawyer, Susan Loggans, met with the Hawks' attorneys on Tuesday to see if a settlement could be reached.
One step forward ...
Forward Henrik Borgstrom was removed from COVID protocol Wednesday, but the Hawks were forced to place forward Tyler Johnson and defenseman Isaak Phillips in the protocol.
It's been a rough COVID stretch for the Hawks, who finally got Patrick Kane back Monday after he missed four games.
"It's not ideal," said coach Jeremy Colliton. "You want to have your full group and have everyone available. ... Competition and depth just allows you to play the way you want to play, but no excuses here."
He said it
"We're joking that we all need a 10-day vacation and maybe we could do the same thing."
Jonathan Toews on Patrick Kane scoring 3 goals and adding an assist against Ottawa Monday after being in COVID protocol
Slap shots
Heading into Wednesday's game, the Hawks had killed off 31 of 35 power plays, an 88.6% PK rate that ranked fifth. ... The Hawks were tied with Anaheim for second with 10 power-play goals. Edmonton (12) leads the way. The Hawks' 26.3% success rate on the PK was tied for sixth. ... Hurricanes RW Andrei Svechnikov was in an 11-way tie for second with 7 goals in 8 games. Alex Ovechkin (9) has the early lead.