is it really that unbelievable that they didnt know?

Yes.. read the report

When multiple players come out admitting the team knew it’s hard to believe a couple of the “leaders” happened to not know. It’s even more unbelievable that Keith claims he didn’t even know who the John Doe was until he came out.

I’m willing to roll with this line up even tho it hurts the team and paying a price for something the organization has no part in. Sends the right message to the fans and the league. I just feel as if by playing him any further we are sending the same message that team success is more important.

in sports you still have cliques of people. the lockerroom isnt one unified group where everyones best friends. your higher end players still hang around with higher end players. Youre lesser players/ahl callups/fringe roster players typically hang out together. It wouldnt shock me if some of those fringe guys knew from hanging around with the black aces or whatnot and the upper tier players didnt know. It also wouldnt shock me if they did know and are lying about it.

Players were chirping about it on the ice at practice three years later. Get out of here with thinking the captain and leaders of the team didn't know

you have no idea WHEN the players found out. this is all media driven. Were you in the locker room? were you part of those discussions or part of those practices/chirps? probably not right? so then how do you KNOW AS FACT that the leaders knew about it during the playoffs. believe what you want to believe i guess.

Why are you so passionate about defending them? Even if they were to not know during the playoffs, the fact that people on the team were still talking about it in 2014 must mean it was pretty publicly known. The fact that they claim they didn't know about it until this summer is such blatant bull****

The captain of the team admitted finding out at the beginning of the following training camp…

It’s going to take patients for crap to role downhill but is it possible that Keith’s contract be terminated. Not for his involvement or knowledge it’s the continuation of the lie. That’s the part that doesn’t sit well with me personally. I can accept he knew and can accept he didn’t do anything while not right there was numerous people above him that knew and did nothing that are directly accountable and the league is dealing with that first and by all accounts really laying down the well deserved hammer to the best of their ability. Once that’s done tho is it possible to circle back to the individual players?

kane and toews said they knew the following offseason, i dont know what keith said. Chicago got rid of Aldrich (albeit not the way they should have handled it at all...) in june after the playoff run. Im sure the team wasnt like "attention everyone if you didnt know Aldrich sexually abused one of our players and has been let go because of it." Im also very sure kyle wasnt strutting around the locker room like "yeah this guy made me do stuff." were there rumors probably, do i expect the entire team to know about it... no. Not to mention what the hell are toews, kane, and keith really gunna do? best they can do is advocate for the guy through the proper channels, they arent gunna sit out during the stanley cup to send a message. The report shows that higher ups knew about it. If kane/toews/keith went to upper management about it and was like this isnt cool. upper management could have simply said we are handling it and thats the end of it. whats the difference if they knew or not. what are they gunna do about it.

AFTER aldrich was off the team though. what more is he going to do. and how much did he find out? did he find out that management covered it up? or did he find out beach was assaulted.

Maybe say something so Beach could get help with actually prosecuting the guy??? Could have prevented the sexual assault of a minor too. Him just being off the team wasn't the extent of punishment necessary, can you not see that?

Kane did not say he knew the following offseason. He claims he did not know until this past week. He is a POS and did nothing to try and help. This is unacceptable and idk how to help you understand that.

The rest of this post is from an article in the athletic

Kane said he didn’t know John Doe was Beach until Wednesday.

"Very courageous for (Beach) to come out and let his name be known to the world after everything he went through," Kane said. "I wish back then we could have done some different things, knew about some different things, maybe we could have helped him."

Beach followed the proper channels though. Like okay, realistically speaking toews and kane do the same thing. Upper management just says its not our problem any more and thats the end of it. They cant go and slander someone. Beach should have pressed charges when it happened. I dont know why you guys think that kane and toews (The employees) really have any say at the end of the day. Captains or not they really dont have THAT much pull. How does them acknowledging it any sooner get the guy prosecuted? Were they there with beach when it happened? step out and look at it completely unbiased here. anything said to them would simply be hereseay in a court of law. Thats why idk why you guys are so up in arms. what would you have expected they had done if they HAD actually known.

kane also physically assaulted someone where charges were pressed but i didnt see chicago fans demanding something happen when that news broke. You really trust that guys character lmao

It's not only on the players but maybe don't tolerate their teammates bullying people over it, when it is clear management isnt doing enough, speak up for your brothers. That is your locker room, your teammates should respect one another. They should have each others backs. Its about being a decent human being and helping those who are going through painful situations instead of bullying them over it. It's not all about what they could have done on the legal side. Think about the human side. Imagine it were your brother or your son, what would you want Kane, Toews, Keith to do? certainly not ignore the situation and lie about when you found out about it!

Also, they DID know, so cut the crap with the hypotheticals

I hear what you are saying but I'd rather he retired, even mid-season. That way cap recapture penalties apply to Chicago and Edmonton gets commensurate cap relief, which is much better than terminating his contract.

My question is, why wasn't Keith interviewed for the report? They asked every player for an interview but Keith has said publicly that he wasn't interviewed. Did he refuse, or something else?

He said he declined to be interviewed because he felt like he had nothing to add to the report, based on his claim that he knew nothing about what had happened.

Keith is a liar; he knew as did Toews and Kane. The NHL should void all of those contracts. I can't believe the mismanagement of this from the onset. Even more incredulous, is allowing this abuse to completely destroy an 11th overall pick and still not have the fortitude to correct their actions. Disgraceful.

I can forgive towes and even give him a ton of credit and respect for not following the same denial path as Kane and Keith. Towes admitted knowing about it. Biggest issue I have with the players involved is continuing to lie at this point it’s unbelievably disrespectful to Kyle and the message he’s trying to get out there. I don’t care soo much that the players didn’t act or even the teasing that’s absolutely not right but right now each of the players has the opportunity to admit it and stand behind Kyle and those that aren’t I don’t want to see wearing the jersey I cheer for.

if you werent there dont speak as if it were fact. all im saying. you have to give benefit of doubt. and bullying happens all the time, i was bullied, nobody stuck up for me when it happened the only choice i was presented with was to press assault charges since it was actually physically happening to me... not going to ruin kids lives because i was getting beat up in high school, i bullied someone else mentally not physically, but nobody stuck up for him. thats the nature of bullying. Do you know the nature of the bullying, no you know what was said and to who, how much did anyone know of the ordeal? maybe all toews/kane/keith knew was that it happened. maybe they didnt know every minute detail. maybe they were told otherwise by other people like i said you dont know so why are you crucifying them over something they are saying.

My question is why did he really want out of Chicago? Timing of investigation timing of the trade way it all went down I’m sorry he’s already in my eyes to be full of bs to use his son as an excuse on top of this matter I can’t help but to see it that way and I’m fully on board telling him to stay home not attend a single oilers event game or practice or charity event nothing that involves the oilers organization.