I am in no way as talented as Richard Riehle in any way shape or form due to his portrayal of character Tom Smykowski in the 1999 film. Office spacebut I feel like Tom Smykowski right now as I read the news reports that Dillon Dube, recently acquitted of sexual assault, has signed a PTO contract with the Springfield Thunderbirds led by the St. Louis Blues. Let’s drop the facade that the NHL has any moral standing, because the Blues are the latest team to abandon any moral virtue in exchange for another player with mediocre talent on their depth chart.With Dube signing the deal today, all five men accused of sexual assault who gave testimony alleging they were involved in the questionable activities in the London hotel room in 2018 are now back in professional hockey. Two of the players play in Europe, while three play under the tutelage of NHL teams, so spare me with your holier-than-thou rhetoric about how these men’s lives will be affected by the allegations. None of them “suffered”.
The image on the right shows the statement the Blues released today regarding the signing of Dube, and I want to drop the most obvious point I can make: if you have to publicly justify signing a player, you’re already on the wrong side of history. No one is debating whether they have been acquitted of the crimes they are alleged to have committed, but the testimony given in the courtroom in London, Ontario and the information released since the conclusion of the trial, most notably in Rick Westhead’s book We breed lionsnow seriously makes me wonder why I follow this sport. Today’s signing underlines that.As has been stated several times on this blog, an acquittal does not mean that there is no guilt. It is the correct term to describe the prosecutor’s inability to remove all doubt that a crime was committed. It in no way proves innocence. Again, the testimony given in the London courtroom and the information released since the end of the trial make it very clear that up to ten men were in a hotel room with one drunken woman, and that the five accused men all participated in sexual acts with the victim whose consent to allow these acts still appears highly questionable.
A week ago, it was the AHL’s Chicago Wolves trying to put out a fire after the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes signed Cal Foote to a deal and assigned him to the Wolves. Wolves general manager Wendell Young was to tell quickly Front office sports that the decision to sign Foote was not a Chicago Wolves decision, but they now have to live with those consequences. For those who may not be aware, the relationship between the Wolves and Hurricanes is frosty at the best of times, but Young went into full deflection mode when it came to the heat this signing would bring and we already know that the Hurricanes snubbed two of the other released players.
The Vegas Golden Knights made a statement when they also signed one of the exonerated players, including the sentence: “We remain committed to the core values ​​that have defined our organization since its inception and expect our players to continue to meet these standards in the future”. I’d like to see what those core values ​​mean, because if the text messages between the players that Rick Westhead included… We breed lions are true (and there is no evidence to suggest they are untrue), the Golden Knights’ core values ​​appear to ignore abhorrent behavior before they joined the team.
Three teams have issued statements about three players who have yet to acknowledge their role in the alleged assaults and have so far shown no effort or effort to become better educated and informed about how their actions have long-lasting consequences for the victims. The Blues, with Dube on their payroll, now employ an alleged rapist, a domestic abuser whose partner dropped charges (Lucic), and a player who shares private photos of others without their consent (Mailloux). Two of those players, before joining the Blues, recognized the damage they caused and invested their time in becoming better people, which continues to this day.
None of the players involved in the 2018 alleged sexual assault have acknowledged causing harm, none have sought further information and education, and none of the teams that signed the players have forced them to seek that help or made it a condition of their contractual employment. When I say that, my question to those teams, players and general managers is simple:
What the hell is wrong with you guys?!
I hear some of you saying, “But Teebz, what about second chances?” which would be a valid argument if any of these five men had earned a second chance by working to become better people. Until that happens, you will not be eligible for a second chance just because the prosecutor in London failed in his argument. As I have made clear, the testimony and evidence in that trial, which was both permitted and disallowed for legal reasons, shows that these five men were in the hotel room, committed acts that the victim has no memory of consenting to nor acknowledges that she would consent to, and walked away because the prosecution failed to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. They didn’t work. They didn’t earn anything.
Let me take that last point and make it clearer: the prosecutor not doing his job is not exonerating these five men, not making them innocent, nor giving them a free pass to continue their lives as if this were a minor inconvenience. These men showed a distinct lack of leadership and empathy, a wide variety of poor decision-making skills, an attempt to cover up their actions and silence the victim, and did nothing when it came to accountability other than blaming the victim, and did nothing to educate themselves on how their actions have far-reaching consequences. Do all of these combined actions guarantee a second chance to play NHL hockey? If you nod yes, you are officially part of the problem. End of story.
These teams, this game, and society as a whole will not get better with these men on it if they are not willing to take responsibility and learn how to be better people. This is not about hockey, but about breaking the culture that hockey instills in these young men, removing responsibility and imposing false confidentiality as they are constantly told they are untouchable. Hockey is just a background detail when it comes to making these guys better people. You don’t get a second chance if you haven’t shown that you have changed. That’s how life works.
But not in the NHL, where morals and good corporate citizens mean nothing. Winning is everything and winning breeds winning, so morality and being good community partners fly right out the window. Men with the weakest moral integrity are welcomed with open arms and celebrated as if they were some kind of savior for franchises willing to sacrifice decency for a possible victory.
And don’t come at me and accuse me of sitting on a pedestal raining down moral judgments on everyone else. I am just as flawed and broken as anyone else, but I and the people around me hold myself accountable when it comes to making decisions that impact others because society teaches us and requires that ability. If I do something wrong, I don’t cover it up and try to silence the people affected. I was taught and taught the lesson that taking responsibility and bettering yourself means more to today’s society than the original moral outrage. By doing that work, second chances are earned and given.
But not in the NHL where second chances are given if you can prove you have an above-average slapshot or can make a butterfly in the crease. You don’t even have to feel remorse that a woman’s life was completely changed by your actions or the actions of your friends while you stood there watching them and cheering them on. All you have to do is prove that you can score a few goals, save a few pucks and help a team win hockey games, and someone — maybe Kelly McCrimmon or Doug Armstrong or Eric Tulsky — will give you a second chance without questioning any moral distaste you may have shown.
This sport is a complete joke, and I’m really starting to get tired of it.
Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!
#sport #complete #joke