The Choices Made

There are times in every NHL Entry Draft where a team makes a pick that has everyone scratching their heads about what that team saw that others didn't. It's often a case of those teams having one scout who has done a ton of homework on that player or has extremely reliable information about that player that allows the team to move him up the draft rankings. All of this goes to show how much uncertainty is built into the draft, but tonight's 31st selection wasn't about scouting or a GM following a scout's hunch. It was simply a GM who put business before humanity in what has become an all-too-common theme in the NHL.

This paragraph will be the only time his name appears in this article, but the Montreal Canadiens selecting Logan Mailloux in the first round of the 2021 NHL Entry Draft is one of the dumbest, most ill-conceived, most ignorant picks in the history of the NHL Entry Draft. And this includes Buffalo drafting a player who didn't exist. Yes, it ranks lower than that moment simply because Marc Bergevin, apparently, chooses not to follow simple instructions and chooses not to read the room.

The player named above was convicted this past season while playing in Sweden of distributing a sexual photo without the victim's consent, and he paid a fine of an undisclosed amount as an admission of guilt to this criminal act. These two things need to be remembered before I go any further because this article will be difficult to read if we don't frame this that he was accused of a crime, convicted of a crime, and admitted that he committed a crime. In short, the player-named is a criminal.

Just days ago, the player-named asked that he be removed from all draft lists by all 32 NHL teams in a statement he posted on social media that read, "Being drafted into the NHL is an honour and a privilege that no one takes lightly. The NHL Draft should be one of the most exciting landmark moments in a player's career, and given the circumstances, I don't feel I have demonstrated strong enough maturity or character to earn that privilege in the 2021 draft."

It takes some self-awareness to admit in opting out of the draft that he doesn't have the maturity or the character to play in the NHL, but the question has to be asked if this would have happened had the media not revealed those criminal charges and his guilty plea days before the player issued the statement. If this had never been brought to light, I doubt the player would have issued such a statement at all because this should have happened before The Athletic broke the story.

With a number of NHL teams quickly removing his name from their draft boards, there seemed to be a glimmer of hope that the NHL was taking things seriously regarding sex crimes after the controversy in Chicago broke and now this player's past crime. And then Marc Bergevin went ahead and flushed all that hope down the toilet with the nationally-broadcasted 31st pick of the 2021 NHL Entry Draft.

I cannot state this enough: he was accused of a crime, convicted of a crime, and admitted that he committed a crime, and Marc Bergevin made him a first-round pick in the NHL. Apparently, the NHL is unlike any other employer in that anyone convicted of a sex crime can still be employed. With all this talk about character and how important it is at the NHL level when it comes to winning, I'm almost expecting Bergevin to announce that he signed Brendan Leipsic as well.

You can try to make the case for him paying a fine in Sweden as the end of this story, but there's still a woman in Sweden whose life has been destroyed by having her picture and name shared in an online chat among the players on the hockey team for which the player-named played. There is still a woman in Sweden trying to piece her life back together after finding out she had her name, information, and picture shared without her consent. And there's still a woman in Sweden waiting for a real apology for what the player-named did rather than a heartless text that requires very little realization of the impact he caused in her life.

At what point do we stop reducing criminal activity to "mistakes" and actually ask society to hold these people accountable for their crimes? Yes, the legal system is woefully terrible when it comes to punishing those who commit sex crimes, and we're all likely aware that society blamed the victims for far too long rather than seeking justice for what the accusers did. There is nothing wrong with taking the moral high ground here and saying, "Dude messed up bad, got caught, and was punished, but he still needs to make things right."

His statement asking not to be drafted was a first step in making things right. He still needs to apologize and prove that he'll never do something like this ever again before he ever gets the privilege of playing in the NHL. Period. End of statement.

I've seen too many people on social media tonight yapping about how righteous it must be to ruin a kid's career with "cancel culture". Every time I read that, it infurtiates me more because consequences of one's actions is not "cancel culture".

People who have morals didn't choose to share her photo. People who know this is wrong didn't choose to put her photo into a group chat. People didn't choose to ruin a woman's life through their actions. It was one person who chose to do this, and the consequences of his actions should be felt for as long as it takes for him to prove that this crime will never happen again. If that costs him a lucrative NHL hockey career, so be it. That's the cost of making the choice he did.

Of course, this whole controversy would have never happened has Marc Bergevin simply used common sense and not drafted the player-named after he specifically asked not to be drafted. By doing so, however, Marc Bergevin will now face scrutiny like he's never faced before. He employs a criminal. Worse yet, he employs a sex offender. And all he had to do was choose someone else.

He asked not to be drafted. Marc Bergevin chose to ignore that.

He asked for more time to show he's changed and matured so teams could re-evaluate him. Marc Bergevin chose to ignore that.

The NHL, it seemed, was willing to let the player-named not be picked this season after his criminal activity was revealed and his plea to allow him to show the world he's changed. Marc Bergevin chose to ignore that too.

At the end of the day, there's a woman in Sweden who awaits a real apology, not some text message, from a player whose career should have been seriously questioned after he chose to destroy her life. Marc Bergevin's choice to draft this player will forever be a stain on his legacy, and it's bleeding into the fabric of the Montreal Canadians because of his choice not to read the room.

Actions have consequences. Someone not named Bergevin needs to answer for the choices made by Marc Bergevin tonight because I'm having a really hard time understanding, in light of all that's swirled around Bergevin regarding the Blackhawks' sexual abuse investigation, why this pick was allowed to happen. Marc Bergevin and his staff chose to pick the player, but ripples of this choice will reach further down the line than just the GM's office because there likely should have been discussions surrounding the player-named long before we reached this point.

This is a dark day for the NHL, and these are the consequences of the choices made tonight.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice.