On May 7, 2021, a former Blackhawks player accused former video coach from 2008–2010, Brad Aldrich, of
sexually assaulting him in May 2010 during the
2010 playoffs, initially staying anonymous under the moniker "
John Doe", alleging that Aldrich also threatened him physically, emotionally, and financially after an off-ice assault at Aldrich's apartment. John Doe filed a lawsuit against the Blackhawks for failing to adequately address Aldrich's wrongdoings or to file
police reports. According to a months-long independent investigation by law firm
Jenner & Block that was sanctioned by the team, on May 23, 2010, the same day the Blackhawks finished a four game sweep of the top-seeded
San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference Finals to clinch their spot in the finals for the first time since 1992, Blackhawks executives held a meeting about the sexual assault claims and decided they would not address them until after the Stanley Cup Finals and not risk messing up team chemistry. The matter was not discussed again, and on June 14, five days after Chicago won the Stanley Cup against the
Philadelphia Flyers in six games, the Blackhawks human resources director gave Aldrich the option to resign or face termination if John Doe's claims turned out to be true. Aldrich chose to resign and was permitted to participate in postseason celebrations, according to the investigation findings. He then went on to work for
University of Notre Dame (where he previously worked from 2006–2008) and later
Miami University. He resigned from his position at Miami University in November 2012 after he was accused of sexual assault there, and was convicted of having sexual contact with a minor in September 2013 while serving as a high school assistant coach in
Houghton, Michigan in March 2013. As a result, Aldrich is accused or convicted of sexual assaults in connection with coaching jobs at the NHL, college, and high school levels. He served nine months in prison, being released in June 2014, required to register as a sex offender in the state of Michigan and serve five years of probation, which concluded in January 2019. On October 27, 2021,
Kyle Beach gave an interview on
SportsCentre confirming that he was John Doe, and spoke about his experiences with the Blackhawks organization after the fact. In the fallout of the investigation, on October 26, 2021, the Blackhawks announced that general manager and hockey operations president
Stan Bowman and senior vice president of hockey operations
Al MacIsaac, the two remaining executives from the 2009–10 team, resigned. The Blackhawks appointed
Kyle Davidson to serve as the team's interim general manager. The NHL also fined the Blackhawks $2 million for "inadequate internal procedures and insufficient and untimely response in the handling of matters related to former video coach Brad Aldrich's employment." Quenneville, who was by then the head coach of the
Florida Panthers after being fired by the Blackhawks on November 6, 2018, for unrelated reasons, resigned from that position with the Panthers on October 28 after meeting with NHL commissioner
Gary Bettman. Blackhawks owner
Rocky Wirtz also requested that the engraving of Aldrich's name be redacted from the Stanley Cup (which was eventually granted days later as the
2020–21 Tampa Bay Lightning were added). The Blackhawks reached a confidential settlement with Beach on December 15. The second case filed by the former Michigan high school student was dismissed on December 27. On February 3, 2022, Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz refused to address the controversy and became aggravated during a town hall meeting. CEO Danny Wirtz, Rocky's son, offered to explain what the team is doing to move forward to prevent future abuse from occurring at another meeting. That same day after the town hall event, reports surfaced about three more lawsuits potentially coming by a John Doe 3, a former student at Miami University whom Aldrich assaulted in November 2012; another former Blackhawks prospect from 2010 referred to as "Black Ace 1", who claimed no physical assault ever happened between him and Aldrich but was on the receiving end of inappropriate text messages from him; and former Blackhawks assistant/skills coach from 2008–2011 Paul Vincent, who claimed the Blackhawks management blacklisted him from the organization for alerting them about the allegations and pressuring them to respond to Aldrich's misdeeds in the May 23, 2010 meeting. The Blackhawks reached an undisclosed out-of-court settlement with "Black Ace 1" in September 2025. On November 5, 2023, another former Blackhawks prospect filed a negligence lawsuit against the team for suppressing his complaints of sexual harassment and physical threats of violence from Aldrich in May 2010 during the 2010 playoffs. On July 1, 2024, the NHL announced Bowman, MacIsaac and Quenneville, would be reinstated into the league and allowed to sign contracts with other teams. Bowman was hired as general manager of the
Edmonton Oilers on July 24, succeeding
Ken Holland, who resigned from his role earlier in the 2024 off-season. In March 2025, Bowman filed a motion to quash a subpoena for his
deposition in a second sexual assault lawsuit related to his time at the Blackhawks, arguing that he was not properly served the subpoena and lack of jurisdiction because of his Canadian citizenship and current residence in Edmonton. On May 8, 2025, Quenneville was hired as head coach of the
Anaheim Ducks, replacing
Greg Cronin. ==Schedule and results==