CHICAGO — The Blackhawks dressing room was alive with chatter, chirps and chuckles on Tuesday morning as players filed in following the morning skate. Seth Jones and Connor Murphy talked excitedly about their old buddy Patrick Kane signing in, of all places, Detroit, reporters mingled amiably and the mood was upbeat all around.
Some 12 hours later, Ice Cube’s “Check Yo Self” — the team’s victory song this season — was blaring from the locker room and the Blackhawks were all smiles again after a gritty 4-3 victory over the Seattle Kraken in which they got three goals from the bottom-six and killed off 63 seconds of a five-on-three late in the third period.
In between, though, the Blackhawks went through an emotional wringer, with general manager Kyle Davidson telling them that Corey Perry was no longer their teammate following a “workplace” incident. As he did with reporters later in the afternoon, Davidson withheld most of the details of what actually occurred that warranted Perry’s dismissal.
“It’s stunning, to be honest with you,” Nick Foligno said. “We all care about Corey. But we understand that there’s a standard we’re going to be held to. … So it’s a really hard day for all of us and it’s hard when you don’t have all the details to comment fully. But you care about the person and we care about this organization, and they’re gonna do what’s best for all of us and we have to know that and understand there’s a standard we have to get to.”
Seth Jones called Perry “a brother,” and deemed it “a tough situation.”
“We don’t have any details of what happened, but I know the organization wants to keep a (level of) conduct here, and (make it) a place where we hold each other to a standard,” Jones said. “I guess that was broken.”
The Blackhawks essentially fired Perry on Tuesday, six days after exiling him. He was less than two months into his only season in Chicago, yet the ramifications of the Perry saga — on the ice, in the dressing room, in the front office, in the minds of hockey fans around the league — will be felt for some time. Perry will be a mere 16-game blip in the annals of Blackhawks history, but his presence loomed large, and his absence looms larger.
You could see the toll the last few days took in Davidson’s reddened eyes as he took questions from reporters seeking answers he said he wasn’t permitted to give. You could feel the weight of what transpired in the catches in Davidson’s voice. That you couldn’t hear the facts of the situation beyond generalities was undeniably frustrating, and fed warranted criticism of a franchise that has miles to go before it ever gets the benefit of the doubt in delicate and damning situations. It will take years of doing the right thing for the Blackhawks to regain that lost credibility, but Davidson insisted the Blackhawks did this by the book — the new book, the one being written by himself and owner Danny Wirtz and president Jaime Faulkner and head coach Luke Richardson.
“I think more than anything, it reinforces the resolve we have to change the culture and make sure we’re doing the right things,” Davidson said when asked if this undercuts the work the organization claims to have done to improve the workplace culture following the revelations of the Jenner & Block report in 2021, which shed light on the Kyle Beach sexual-assault allegation and subsequent cover-up from 2010. “Upholding our values and making sure we continue to build a culture of accountability. That’s my thoughts.”
Kyle Davidson's full opening statement: pic.twitter.com/Qn8xKonDzI
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) November 28, 2023
These are the facts as presented by Davidson: An incident involving Perry was brought to the team’s attention in Columbus last week. It was reported. The Blackhawks immediately removed Perry from the team and started an internal investigation. The investigation was conducted swiftly, and the results indicated that Perry had “engaged in conduct that is unacceptable, and in violation of both the term of his (contract) and the Blackhawks’ internal policies intended to promote professional and safe work environments,” according to a team statement released earlier in the day. Perry was promptly put on waivers for the purposes of terminating his contract.
It all happened in less than a week. Given how low the bar has been set for the franchise in recent years, it can easily be seen as encouraging. There was a problem. Someone felt empowered enough to report it. The team quickly addressed it, and did so with zero tolerance.
Questions remain, of course. The Blackhawks certainly could have good reason to withhold key details of the incident, this being a workplace incident and an internal personnel matter. Identities may need to be protected. But obfuscation fuels speculation, and social media was uglier than usual as Perry’s mystery absence lingered over the weekend. For at least 24 hours leading up to Davidson’s press conference, that speculation ran rampant, with a particularly salacious and preposterous rumor going around that involved the family of 18-year-old Connor Bedard. Call it either media illiteracy or willful ignorance or just plain mean-spirited “fun,” but a small Twitter/X account with no credibility managed to convince countless people that this rumor was true. Davidson was visibly upset about the rumor. But Perhaps a more pointed statement about why Perry was away from the team could have quashed it much sooner.
Davidson seemed to acknowledge that.
“Over the last 24 hours, what’s gone on has been very disturbing,” he said, fighting back tears. “And I feel like I’m wearing it. I’m carrying that. It’s just tough to see. Yeah, it’s tough to see.”
For Blackhawks management, this was yet another test, a chance to prove their newly stated values are more than just PR. They failed in 2010, failed again in 2021 when the Jenner & Block report came out, and failed yet again during last spring’s Pride night fiasco. Maybe they got this one right. Maybe one day we’ll find out. For now, they’ll have to continue to take the slings and arrows from a highly skeptical hockey world and hope that someday, hindsight will be kind to them.
For Perry, his storied career — a Stanley Cup, a Hart Trophy, 18-plus seasons dating back to the days of the old Mighty Ducks of Anaheim — is now in doubt. He wanted to play into his 40s. He was the Blackhawks’ third-leading scorer and clearly still had some years left in him, with a real chance to burnish his borderline Hall of Fame credentials. All of that is now up in the air, his reputation perhaps forever altered, his career perhaps over.
For the Blackhawks players, the blow is more emotional. Davidson moved quickly to replace his scoring punch, sending a fifth-round pick to Vancouver for former first-round pick and 21-goal-scorer Anthony Beauvillier during the hours between his press conference and puck drop against Seattle on a day that seemed like it would never end. But Perry was brought in to be more than just a depth scorer and a net-front presence on the power play. He was brought in to be a team dad, a leader, and a mentor to Bedard, who is the most valuable person in the entire Blackhawks organization. Perry was supposed to show Bedard how to be a pro. And as loathed as “The Worm” is by fans across the league, his teammates in Chicago adored him, as they did in Anaheim, as they did in Dallas, as they did in Montreal, as they did in Tampa. He chatted up the rookies, he led by example, he spoke up during team meetings, preaching “brotherhood” and “accountability.”
Then he threw it all away, leaving his brothers in the lurch, unaccountable for his own actions.
That’ll hurt. That’ll linger. That’ll leave a mark in Chicago — and hardly the kind Davidson had hoped he’d leave.
(Top photo of Corey Perry and Connor Bedard: Melissa Tamez / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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