The cost of a Cup

 The Chicago Blackhawks remain one of two winless teams in the NHL this morning, a tumble from grace that is all too appropriate. Joel Quenneville's team, on the other hand, owns the best record in the league, sitting atop the Eastern Conference with a 6-0-0 record and 12 points.

So I suppose sometimes the karma works and sometimes it doesn't, the way Old Lodgeskins' magic did in "Little Big Man."

This upon the report that went off like a nuclear device yesterday, revealing that, in 2010, Quenneville (then the the coach of the Blackhawks instead of the Florida Panthers) and the rest of the Blackhawks front office protected an accused sexual predator because, well, they had a Stanley Cup to win. 

The accused scuzzbucket, Brad Aldrich, was the team's video guy, and he was allowed to continue his duties and hoist the Stanley Cup after the Blackhawks won it, and ride in the parade, and generally be treated like a key member of the team's family. Because, well, the Blackhawks had a Stanley Cup to win, and it would be a "distraction" (Quenneville's word) to take seriously the word of a player who said Aldrich assaulted him and threatened his career on the eve of the Final.

The Blackhawks never did take the player's word seriously. They never did actually investigate the incident, which was followed by another that Aldrich assaulted an intern shortly after the Blackhawks won the Cup.

I guess that was his way of celebrating, the sicko.

The Blackhawks did nothing about any of it. What they did instead was allow Aldrich resign quietly -- after which he went up to Michigan, where in 2013 he was convicted of criminal sexual conduct involving a high school student, and did nine months in the Graybar Hilton for it.

I think if I were the father of that high school kid, I'd be ready to lay the lumber to the head of everyone who was in the room for that infamous meeting. A nice crosscheck to the Chiclets sounds about right.

I also think they should haul that 2010 Stanley Cup banner out of the rafters and burn it. It's forever soiled anyway.

I also think the punishment for this needs to go beyond the resignations of president of hockey operations Stan Bowman and senior director of hockey administration Al MacIsaac, the only two 2010 execs who remain with the organization. I think the other brass who were there -- Quenneville, John McDonough, Kevin Cheveldayoff and Jay Blunk -- should be hitting the bricks, too, from wherever they might be gainfully employed at the moment.

Let 'em eat resumes, by God. Let 'em discover the real cost of a Stanley Cup, seeing as how there was apparently no price they wouldn't pay for one.

You know what, though?

I don't think it will happen, especially in Quenneville's case. After all, he's got his team atop the league right now. 

And, like the 2010 Blackhawks, the Panthers have a Stanley Cup to win.