When people on both sides of an issue are unwilling to comment on what exactly is at play, rumors start to fly. And those rumors often start to take on a life of their own, perhaps especially on social media sites or message boards where they can be discussed either anonymously or jokingly with minimal risk of legal consequences.
The latest case where this has come up is with the Chicago Blackhawks and Corey Perry. There, the team announced that they were waiving Perry for “conduct that is unacceptable” (and violating both team and league policies) Tuesday. And that led to team GM Kyle Davidson having to say in a press conference that this had nothing to do with the widespread social media rumor of Perry having a sexual relationship with teammate Connor Bedard’s mother:
“This does not involve any other players or their family members.”
Kyle Davidson on the Corey Perry situation. pic.twitter.com/wsNRnNAIC6
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 28, 2023
#Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson says he can't reveal any details, says it is a "workplace matter."
“This does not involve any player or their families, and anyone that suggests otherwise is wildly inaccurate and it’s frankly disgusting.”
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) November 28, 2023
Kyle Davidson saying Corey Perry's contract termination was about a "team incident" and was a "team decision."
"The most I can disclose is that we learned about it when [the Blackhawks] were in Columbus."
Wouldn't say if the matter involved a team/organization employee
— Kristen Shilton (@kristen_shilton) November 28, 2023
Kyle Davidson says #blackhawks management was notified of "possible misconduct" involving Corey Perry last week before he was pulled from the lineup. An investigation led to today's decision to terminate his contract.
Davidson calls it a "workplace matter."
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) November 28, 2023
Kyle Davidson on Corey Perry Situation: “It’s been a tough couple days.”
Adds it’s a “workplace matter” and law enforcement is not involved.
— Joshua Clipperton (@JClipperton_CP) November 28, 2023
The spread of this particular rumor was certainly enhanced by the approach that both the team and Perry have taken to this point, though. This started with Perry being an unexpected healthy scratch last Wednesday in a road game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, and very little comment since.
The main comment on both sides came Saturday. That saw Davidson saying in a press conference that “he’s away from the team and will remain so for the foreseeable future,” that the decision was “coming from the organization’s end,” and “that’s all I’m able to provide.” Meanwhile, Perry’s agent Pat Morris put out a statement later Saturday that “Corey Perry has stepped away from the Chicago Blackhawks to attend to personal matters. Corey and his family appreciate privacy at this time.”
Obviously, the non-specific comments there did not stop the rumors. In fact, they perhaps intensified them. And that had this particular rumor discussed to the point where several hockey reporters felt they had to specifically refute it. One example of that came from Phillip Thompson of The Chicago Tribune Tuesday:
Heard from Blackhawks sources that rumors that Corey Perry parted from the team because of involvement with Connor Bedard’s mother is “100% false.”
— Phillip Thompson (@_phil_thompson) November 28, 2023
An even more vocal refutation, with added editorial comment, came from Daily Faceoff reporter and columnist (and, since 2019, president of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association) Frank Seravalli. On Tuesday, before news of Perry being waived broke, Seravalli described this as “the worst rumor in all of sports” in the headline of a video clip, and called it “f****** bull****” and “absolute bull****”:
It’s certainly understandable for reporters to be upset about the wild spread of misinformation, maybe especially when that misinformation comes with potential reputational costs for multiple subjects. And it’s notable to see reporters like Seravalli and Thompson pushing back on that particular rumor even before the team officially did. However, it’s also worth mentioning that neither independent reporters nor the team have yet provided anything on what actually is going on with Perry and the Blackhawks, with Davidson’s description of it as a “workplace matter” rather than criminal about the only substantiative note so far.
With anything involving team and league policies and investigations, there are obviously limitations on what clubs and players can officially announce (as well as potential penalties for improperly announcing something). And that has likely led to the terseness on all sides here, and the speculation that’s begat. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Really, this sort of situation is perhaps the best use case for the anonymous source. If one side or the other could give at least a hint as to what this is actually about, even through several intermediate layers if necessary, that would go a long way to forestall the farfetched kinds of speculation. There are many problematic things that could be covered by these “team and league policies,” but it seems like there’s a good chance that whatever is at play here isn’t near the worst scenarios imagined under those policies (which have to cover a whole lot). And that’s especially true with the discussion of this as “workplace” rather than “criminal.” Both the Blackhawks and Perry might be served well in the long run by at least pointing the public in the right direction, even if they can’t be seen to publicly do it.
It’s worth noting that this is far from the first case of strange vagueness in Chicago pro sports this year. In the NFL, Bears’ defensive coordinator Alan Williams officially “decided to step back to focus on his health and family” in September. That came around reports the FBI had raided the team’s facilities at Halas Hall (not officially shot down yet) and Williams’ home (later shot down). Then, this month, the Bears fired running backs coach David Walker because their “standards were not met,” with a source telling ESPN’s Courtney R. Cronin that was about workplace behavior (but not specifying further).
So the Chicago sports scene has plenty of experience with this kind of vague talk. But the Perry discussion is proof yet again that being vague isn’t necessarily helpful for anyone. It certainly can be mandated by league policies, especially around thorny issues. But even there, there’s a case for getting at least the area of actual discussion out, even through several layers of removed leaks. Reporters and the team shooting down one particular much-discussed rumor has its merits, and hopefully kills that one, but it doesn’t rule out any other bad possibilities. And until someone provides some level of clarity on what is actually at issue, it seems likely the unfounded rumors will continue to spread.
[Sportsnet on Twitter]
