Marian Hossa now finds himself in the middle of Blackhawks scandal

Yesterday the Chicago Blackhawks announced that they are postponing Marian Hossa Legacy Night, which was scheduled for Tuesday, November 8th. The team was set to honor Hossa in a pre-game ceremony, but in a public statement the team admitted that given the circumstances surrounding the organization that now is not the time for a celebration.

From the Blackhawks' official website:

The Chicago Blackhawks and Marian Hossa will be postponing Marian's Legacy Night to a to-be-announced later date (originally scheduled for Tuesday, November 9). After further discussion between Danny Wirtz, Jaime Faulkner and Marian, everyone agreed that this is an important time for our organization to reflect rather than celebrate. Marian and the club's leadership team all know we must build back our community's trust as we ensure accountability within our organization following Kyle Beach's courage in coming forward. Our new leadership team is committed to upholding our values and always working to better this organization and our game as we move forward.
 
There is no better embodiment of those values, both off and on the ice, than Marian Hossa, and we congratulate him on his upcoming Hockey Hall of Fame induction.

As for Hossa himself and his involvement with the investigation into Kyle Beach's allegations, well... like all members of that team Hossa now founds himself at the center of controversy. In a statement Hossa claims to have no prior knowledge of Beach's excuse, but does indicate that he participated in the third party independent investigation of the 2010 Blackhawks, which of course Hossa was member of. In any case, here is Hossa's full public statement on the matter:

Given recent events, I wanted to start today’s press conference by addressing Kyle Beach.

First, I would like to say that it is hard to imagine what Kyle has had to go through. I sincerely hope he will be able to find the strength and support he needs to move forward from these horrific events as best as possible.

I support the actions taken against those who knew about all this and were able to do something about it, but did not. 

Personal responsibility in these types of situations is important.

Now that I have been made aware of the seriousness of Kyle’s abuse, I felt it was important for me to express my support for Kyle and acknowledge the courage it took for him to come forward, even though I was unaware of any of the details disclosed  in the report, as I told the investigators during my interview with them.

I do believe the time is now for the NHL and NHLPA to fully review all existing policies and procedures and consider establishing a more effective strategy to always encourage the reporting of incidents of abuse, which also only works if players and team personnel are educated on how to recognize and react to these types of situations.

Hockey is important, but it can never be more important than the people in it. Hockey must recognize by its actions that our focus needs to always be on the wellbeing of the young people who play our game. That is the most important responsibility we have.

Out of respect for Kyle, I will not be commenting further on this matter.

Marian Hossa