Former Blackhawks Coach Paul Vincent Details Alleged Player Abuse by Brad Aldrich

Former Chicago Blackhawks skills coach Paul Vincent provided details to investigators about the alleged sexual abuse of players by former Hawks video coach Brad Aldrich during an interview with the Jenner & Block law firm on Saturday.

Vincent provided a copy of his video interview with Jenner & Block, which was hired by the Blackhawks to handle the investigation into allegations the NHL organization attempted to cover up the alleged abuse, to TSN's Rick Westhead.

He said defenseman Nick Boynton, who played for the Hawks from 2009 through 2011, provided him with the initial information in May 2010 and then he spoke with the two alleged victims.

"They explain to me what happened," Vincent said. "I didn't need all the details. I knew that it was wrong. They told me that [Aldrich] had tried to touch their penis, wanted to touch their penis. That's all I needed to know. I said, 'It's not my spot. I'm not a police officer anymore. I will go to the proper people.'"

He said he passed the information to two other team employees, sports psychologist James Gary and director of security Brian Higgins, and was then summoned for a meeting with several members of Chicago's front office the following day.

Vincent told investigators president John McDonough, general manager Stan Bowman, vice president of hockey operations Al MacIsaac, Gary and one other individual he couldn't recall were involved in the meeting, where he repeated the players' allegations against Aldrich, per Westhead.

"I come in and Al MacIsaac says to me, 'What do you know?'" Vincent said. "I said, 'The same thing I told [Gary and Higgins].' And with that, Al MacIsaac did most of the speaking. He said, 'We've got it handled. You are assuming something happened and we're going to look into it. You don't need to look into it anymore.'"

He also urged the executives to take the information to the Chicago Police Department, but noted that suggestion was pushed aside by MacIsaac.

"That's when MacIsaac said, 'You don't need to worry about this. We'll take care of it...you can leave now,'" Vincent said.

The Hawks allowed Aldrich to remain with the organization for the remainder of the 2010 NHL playoffs, which culminated with them winning the Stanley Cup in June of that year, before he was fired.

Two lawsuits have been filed against the organization.

One by a high school player who alleges Chicago gave Aldrich a recommendation to coach at his high school after he left the NHL team and the player was then sexually assaulted by Aldrich in 2013. Aldrich was sentenced to nine months in jail and five years of probation for that offense in 2014.

The other lawsuit was filed by one of the former Hawks players who said he was sexually abused by Aldrich.

Chicago's lawyers have asked the courts to dismiss both of the lawsuits, per Westhead.

"We take this very seriously," Bowman, who remains the team's GM, told reporters in July. "I take this very seriously. But we have to let the process play itself out. That's where things are today. We're going to let this play itself out."

MacIsaac also remains in Chicago's front office. McDonough was fired in April 2020.