Brad Aldrich's name has reportedly been “X'ed out” on the Stanley Cup

This just in courtesy of TSN's Ryan Rishaug, the Hockey Hall of Fame has reportedly "X'ed out" Brad Aldrich's name from the Stanley Cup. Rishaug reports that it was done while the Cup was having the 2021-22 Tampa Bay Lightning's roster and staff added.

Check it out:

That's a great start.

Does it make a difference? Not really. Is it purely performative. Absolutely. But again, it's a great start.

This man, Brad Aldrich, has been accused of and convicted of some pretty heinous acts and to have his name on the Stanley Cup is an absolute slap in the face to all of us who revere the trophy as the greatest in sport. Aldrich's name never deserved to be on the Cup in the first place, but I'm happy with this solution. If his name was removed from the Cup entirely, rather than "X'ed out" it'd be easier to sweep this whole matter under the rug. As it is, his name will be there with X's over top of it forever for all to see. We won't be able to easily forget about this matter and future generations will have to ask what's the deal? It's up to us to answer that difficult question now.

Again, personally I'm satisfied with this result but there are thousands of fans out there calling for the entire 2010 Blackhawks team to have their names removed from the Cup. There are others who are calling for just former President John McDonough, former general manager Stan Bowman and former head coach Joel Quenneville to have their names removed alongside Aldrich's. To me, I feel that that's taking things a bit far. Did those men fail in their roles as leaders? Absolutely. But, the fact is that they also worked hard to win a Stanley Cup and did so despite making terrible decisions with regards to Aldrich. Unfortunately, the good guys don't always win like they do in the movies.

The Blackhawks won the Cup and, let's be honest, they'd likely have won it with or without Aldrich on staff. Remove that scum bags name from the Cup and call it a day.