Column: Chicago Blackhawks management under the microscope again after waiving Corey Perry for alleged workplace misconduct

Notorious NHL villain Corey Perry was described to Chicago Blackhawks fans in July as “probably a guy you hate to play against (but) love to have” on the team.

“That’s how we hope it’ll play out,” Hawks general manager Kyle Davidson added.

Long story short: It did not play out that way.

Davidson acknowledged as much Tuesday when he waived Perry for what the team called “unacceptable” conduct that violated the standard NHL contract and the team’s internal policy regarding a “professional and safe work environment.”

Davidson gave few details of the alleged workplace misconduct when he addressed the media later in the day, but called speculation spreading across the internet “wildly inaccurate” and “disgusting.”

The announcement marked the sudden end of Perry’s career with the Hawks, a brief and mostly unmemorable stint for the 38-year-old veteran brought in for his supposed leadership skills.

Whether it’s the end of Perry’s NHL career remains to be seen.

Would any team touch him after this incident?

Only a few weeks ago, coach Luke Richardson said Perry’s strong play defied his age.

“I think you’re going to have to kick him out of the league,” he said. “I don’t think he’ll ever leave willingly. He’s not ready to go yet.”

Who knew Richardson might have been prophetic?

Perry’s relationship with Richardson when they both worked in Montreal in 2020-21 was a factor in the Hawks’ decision to sign the veteran to a one-year, $4 million deal. Along with Nick Foligno, Perry was supposed to “solidify the culture” in the locker room in the post-Patrick Kane-Jonathan Toews era.

But instead of being a role model for Connor Bedard in his rookie season, Perry lasted only 16 games and will be remembered in Chicago only for the mystery surrounding his quick exit.

In the aftermath of the mishandling of sexual assault allegations against video coach Brad Aldrich in 2010 — which resulted in the league fining the Hawks $2 million in 2021 for “inadequate internal procedures and insufficient and untimely response” to the allegations made by former player Kyle Beach — the Hawks made widespread changes and hoped to wipe the slate clean and start over.

With the departure of President John McDonough, along with the forced resignation of general manager Stan Bowman and the exits of various lesser-known employees, the new management team headed by CEO Danny Wirtz and president of business operations Jaime Faulkner vowed more transparency.

“We must and will do better,” Wirtz said after the bombshell Jenner & Block report was released in October 2021. “What the Chicago Blackhawks do off the ice is equally as important as anything we do on it.”

Wirtz took over as chairman after his father, Rocky Wirtz, died in July. Davidson was named GM after an interim stint in 2021-22 and has been put in charge of the rebuild that now centers around No. 1 draft pick Bedard.

The Perry situation was the Hawks’ first real post-Aldrich challenge, and they didn’t handle it well.

After letting Richardson stonewall the media for a few days with no updates whatsoever, Davidson tiptoed around Perry’s absence in a news conference Saturday, saying it was a “team decision,” while the front office began what it called an in-house investigation into Perry’s alleged misconduct.

With the Hawks not revealing anything and Perry’s agent saying he left for a “personal” matter, some were eager to speculate online about what happened. With no accountability to worry about, someone came up with a theory too vile to mention, and the trolls took it from there.

With social media fueling the speculation, Davidson said Tuesday he was “wearing it” for being so evasive with the media. But he still wouldn’t get into the actual misconduct that’s alleged, saying it’s “an individual personnel matter.”

Signing Perry was a gamble that didn’t work out, and Davidson will wear that one too. But it wasn’t the first time the Hawks signed a player to fill the role of villain and hoped he’d be a positive influence in the locker room. Back in the summer of 1994, they signed former Detroit Red Wings enforcer Bob Probert, who had been booed every time he stepped onto the ice at Chicago Stadium, to a four-year, $6 million deal.

Probert had been expelled “for life” by the NHL in 1989 after being convicted of cocaine smuggling before being reinstated a year later. Bob Murray, then the Hawks director of player personnel, told me before the signing: “Hawks fans would love to have him. Any fans would. He’s the type of player that when he’s against you, you hate him, but when you’ve got him, you want him.”

Hawks executives come and go. Only the cliches remain.

The league suspended Probert before the start of training camp to undergo rehab for substance abuse, and he eventually sat out the lockout-shortened season. But he lasted seven years in Chicago and earned the respect, if not the unconditional love, of Hawks fans.

Davidson struck out on the Perry signing, bit the bullet and moved on. It’s hard to say if it was the right move without knowing what Perry did, but the Hawks have good reason to have a low tolerance for bad behavior. They need to regain the trust of fans, and this was another misstep on that long and winding road.

Now Foligno will have to assume an even bigger role as the sage old man of the rebuild, willing to utter harsh truths to teach this young Hawks team how to play the game the right way.

We’ll never know whether fans skeptical about the Perry signing would’ve warmed up to him as the season went on. Richardson and the players talked him up as a leader imparting his wisdom to the kids, but Perry wasn’t around long enough to make a lasting impression.

At least they know what not to do after watching Perry’s image self-destruct in the blink of an eye.