Blackhawks Owner Requests Aldrich's Name Be 'X'ed Off Stanley Cup

CHICAGO — Chicago Blackhawks owner and CEO Rocky Wirtz has sent a letter to the NHL officially requesting that former video coach Brad Aldrich’s name be removed from the Stanley Cup, according to a letter obtained by a Canadian sports television network.

In the letter, Wirtz wrote to Hockey Hall of Fame chairman Lanny MacDonald and asked that the league consider “X’ing out” Aldrich’s name from the Stanley Cup, which the Hawks won three times in five years starting in 2010, TSN reported on Friday. A 107-page investigative report outlines how the Blackhawks front office chose to ignore sexual abuse allegations against Aldrich made by a former prospect who was identified this week as Kyle Beach.

"The names of some of hockey's most talented athletes appear on the Stanley Cup. But so does the name 'Brad Aldrich' whose role as video coach made him eligible for the engraving. His conduct disqualified him, however, and it was a mistake to submit his name. We are sorry we allowed it to happen,” Wirtz wrote in the letter.

“While nothing can undo what he did, leaving his name on the most prestigious trophy in sports seems profoundly wrong."

The Hawks have been fined $2 million by the NHL for their mishandling of the allegations. Former general manager Stan Bowman resigned earlier this week when the report was released by the Chicago law firm Jenner & Block. And Thursday night, former Hawks coach Joel Quenneville resigned from his coaching job with the Florida Panthers after meeting with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman.

Aldrich declined comment on the matter when reached by The Associated Press this week. Aldrich was convicted of sexually assaulting a high school hockey player in Michigan in 2013 and spent nine months in prison. He is now registered as a sex offender. However, before resigning from the Hawks in 2010 following the Stanley Cup victory, Aldrich was paid a $15,000 playoff bonus, received a championship ring from the Hawks and was allowed to take the Stanley Cup to his hometown for a day, as could other members of the organization.

“The Stanley Cup is an evolving piece of art, it always has been,” Wirtz wrote, according to TSN. “Names have been engraved and then changed for years. Taking a stand on the unforgivable behavior of Aldrich should include erasing his name from the Cup.

“Out of respect to each and every player who sacrificed to earn their place in history and on the Stanley Cup, our request is based on principle and our moral belief that a convicted sex offender does not belong on the Stanley Cup.”