The Blackhawks moved to terminate Corey Perry’s contract Tuesday after an investigation concluded the 38-year-old veteran forward committed workplace misconduct.
But while that sentence sums up the situation on the surface, the tumult, confusion and collateral damage inflicted by the Perry saga over the past week on an organization still desperately seeking stability is far more difficult to sum up.
“It’s been a tough couple of days,” Hawks general manager Kyle Davidson said several times over the course of a nine-minute news conference Tuesday, struggling to restrain his emotions.
The Hawks were first informed last Wednesday in Columbus of the allegations of misconduct, Davidson said, and thus immediately scratched Perry from the lineup against the Blue Jackets.
They investigated the allegations over the past six days, moving “through the process as quickly as we could in order to run a responsible investigation,” and ultimately substantiated the allegations, Davidson said.
The team said in a statement that Perry violated the team’s “internal policies intended to promote professional and safe work environments.”
Davidson said he met with the Hawks’ remaining players Tuesday to explain his decision but did not give them any more details about the misconduct than those he shared publicly.
“I’m very confident in the locker room and their resilience,” he said. “Obviously it’s a tough day, but we’ll continue to communicate with the players and we’ll go forward.”
Perry was placed on unconditional waivers, which will allow the Hawks to officially terminate on Wednesday the one-year, $4 million contract he signed over the summer after a trade from the Lightning. After 19 seasons and 1,273 career NHL appearances — including 16 with the Hawks this season — his career is almost assuredly over.
But the fallout on the Hawks, a franchise whose reputation around the hockey world remains severely dented by the Brad Aldrich sexual assault scandal, is not over.
Davidson said he believes the new misconduct-reporting processes the team has implemented over the past two years made a positive difference in this situation, and every indication is the Hawks acted promptly and appropriately in every way while handling it.
The fact the team now finds itself embroiled in yet another controversy — a controversy unlike any seen elsewhere around the NHL in recent memory — will do no favors to its wholehearted efforts to restore its reputation and dig out of the hole created by the previous regime’s errors, though.
“More than anything, it reinforces the resolve we have to change the culture and make sure we’re doing the right things,” Davidson said. “[We’re] upholding our values and making sure we continue to build a culture of accountability.”
Perry had been brought in to mentor Connor Bedard and the Hawks’ number of other young players this season. While many Hawks fans still disliked Perry from his days as a pest and enforcer for the Ducks, he was well-liked by teammates and coaches during recent stops with the Canadiens — where now-Hawks coach Luke Richardson was an assistant coach — and Lightning.
Davidson said Perry’s actions this fall “certainly didn’t mesh with the background” the team received on him last summer.
Another alarming aspect of the controversy — the aspect that seemed to be affecting Davidson most — involved egregiously false rumors disseminated on social media Monday and Tuesday.
“This does not involve any players or their families, and anything...or anyone that suggests otherwise is wildly inaccurate,” Davidson said. “Frankly, it’s disgusting.”
He said he couldn’t provide clarity any sooner than he did without disrupting the integrity of the investigation, but the degree to which the rumors spread unabated in the meantime seemed to have truly shaken him.
“What’s gone on has been very disturbing, and I feel like I’m wearing it,” he added. “I’m carrying that. It’s just tough to see. Yeah, it’s tough to see.”
