Two controversies surround Chicago Blackhawks winning NHL Draft Lottery

Some have felt the Chicago Blackhawks should have been stripped of multiple first-round draft picks as proper way of dishing out justice.

Here is the thing, all the key players, except owner Rocky Wirtz who claims he never knew about what happened to Kyle Beach, are no longer with the team.

After Wirtz’ tirade at a midseason town hall, the chairman has not been heard from again. His son, Danny Wirtz, is now the team president and making efforts to improve the team’s image (even if they tend to fall short like what happened on Pride Night). General manager Kyle Davidson is trying to clean up the roster mess Bowman left him.

It would not make much sense to punish the team by taking away future draft assets for something that happened 13 years ago. That kind of punishment would be levied against Danny Wirtz, Davidson, and head coach Luke Richardson. All three had nothing to do with the Kyle Beach scandal, but they would take the punishment and not the key bad actors they replaced.

If Bettman really wanted to hand down a proportional sentence, the punishment to fit the crime would be to strip the Hawks of the 2010 Stanley Cup title. That is why the cover-up happened in the first place. The team’s leadership feared a possible distraction as the Hawks tried to win their first cup in 49 years and that is why they tried to make Beach’s situation go away.

Plus, the NHL allowed the Chicago Blackhawks to conduct their own investigation. Bettman should have had the league investigate what happened and not Jenner & Block–the law firm hired by the Hawks.

It would be hard for Bettman to go to one of his bosses like Wirtz and just take away picks after the Blackhawks paid for a report that does not paint them in the best light.

Plus, forfeiting picks would punish players that were in elementary school when this scandal went down. Connor Bedard was about to turn five when this whole situation happened.

It is true the organization got off with a slap on the wrist from the NHL. What happened to Kyle Beach will forever make the 2010 Stanley Cup run seem dirty. The dirt should be on that cup and not on this year’s No. 1 pick.