AHL, President Howson Working On Developing Players into Better Humans

Trigger Warning : This article touches on things like sexual assault, bullying, homophobia, addiction, and racism.

Over the past year and a half, the hockey world has been rocked with one scandal after another. With each scandal that arose, fans across the hockey world kept wondering what would be done if their league or team was faced with similar situations. So, I sat down with the President and CEO of the American Hockey League Scott Howson to discuss how the AHL handles certain situations, processes they currently have in place, and programs they will be launching this season. 

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In 2016, 14-year old Mitchell Miller of Sylvania, Ohio was charged and found guilty of assaulting Isaiah Meyer-Crothers, a black classmate with a developmental disability. After the Arizona Coyotes drafted Miller in the fourth round of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, the Arizona Republic released an article giving more information about what happened to Meyer-Crothers in 2016. One of those things was the amount of racist verbiage which was thrown Meyer-Crothers way by MIller. Within the article was also an interview with Meyer-Crothers, who was not happy with the fact the Coyotes drafted Miller (nor did they contact Meyer-Crothers before drafting Miller). Shortly after the release of the Arizona Republic’s article, the Coyotes renounced their draft rights to Miller. 

Fast forward to November 4, 2022: the Boston Bruins signed Miller to a three-year entry-level contract. Yet again, no one reached out to Meyer-Crothers or his family to discuss what had happened in 2016 and if any apologies had or had not been received. Outrage and criticism from Bruins players and fans across the NHL rapidly grew. Two days later, the Bruins cut ties with Mitchell. 

Initially the Bruins intended to assign Miller to its AHL affiliate, the Providence Bruins. With this fact in mind, I asked Howson the questions below.

Full Press Hockey : Do you have any comments or statements to make on if Mitchell Miller would have been allowed to play in the AHL if the Boston Bruins had sent him down to Providence? Or if other AHL teams would be allowed to sign him?

Scott Howson : What I was planning to do and what I would have done or will do if it comes up again is I will meet with Mitchell Miller and probably talk to Isaiah Meyer-Crothers, as well. The problem with this for me is I only know what I know from the media, what is said anecdotally. And I would want to know first-hand sort of where he is on his journey to make himself better, what he’s learned, what he’s done to learn, (and) how Isaiah feels about all of it. So, he wouldn’t be eligible right now, but I would want to certainly — if it comes up — to talk to him, meet him, find out more information, and then make a decision from there.

FPH : Would you be able to talk to the Bruins about their investigations or would that be completely separate at that point?

SH: Well, I think it would be separate from the Bruins because I don’t anticipate the Bruins putting him in the AHL any longer. They made themselves quite clear. But if another team came along and wanted to have him in the AHL, then I would want to talk to them and see what they’ve done and see what they’ve learned as well, yes.

FPH : Are there rehabilitation programs or sensitivity training programs the AHL has players go through before and/or after reported incidents of bullying and harassment? 

SH: We do. First of all, I don’t know if you know about the program, but we’re launching the “Respect Group” training that is led by the NHL, Sheldon Kennedy, and Wayne McNeil. That’s designed to prevent bullying, abuse, harassment, and discrimination. Every person associated with our league — officials, players,  coaches, trainers, league staff, employees of our teams — will have to do this 90-minute training session. Then, there will be a follow up.

We’ll have resources in place for a hotline to report and for people to have resources to talk to people that have expertise in some of these issues, but that hasn’t been done yet. What I can tell you is last year we had two disturbing incidents; we had a racial gesture and a homophobic slur. In both cases, we handed down very severe suspensions. In the racial gesture, we gave the player an opportunity to reduce his suspension by going through some educational training on racism through the NHL player inclusion committee. He did that. He did get his suspension reduced somewhat, not all the way down to what it could have been because he didn’t get the training done in time. So, I thought that was really important.

We are a developmental league. People make mistakes and they should be able to learn from their mistakes. This gave both players an opportunity to learn from their mistakes. In the case of the homophobic slur, we hired Brock McGillis who is a former pro hockey player who was probably the first noted player to come out and he went through two or three sessions with the player, as well. So, again, educate, get them thinking about the impact their gesture or their words have, and  hopefully they become better from it.

FPH: When do you think that program might launch for you guys? Next season or it might be a little bit longer? 

SH: No, if it’s not going to launch by the end of this month, it will launch in December. 

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On October 8, 2022, Chad Drown, the head athletic trainer for the Bakersfield Condors was arrested and charged with two felony counts and one misdemeanor related to an attempt to set up a meeting with a minor with the intent to commit a sex action. Upon learning of his arrest, the Condors immediately relieved Drown of his duties.

Below are the questions I asked pertaining to the Drown situation and a “Code of Ethics” in the AHL.

FPH: Has an investigation into Chad Drown been done by the AHL to see if anything else happened while he was working for the Bakersfield Condors? And if anyone who currently works there knew about what was going on before Drown was arrested and then fired?

SH: I think the team was as surprised as you were. It’s a pending criminal matter. So, the AHL did not conduct a formal investigation. We were in communication with Bakersfield as soon as it happened. They did their own internal review talking to players, trainers, doctors, (and) coaches and I can tell you that nobody was even remotely aware of any inappropriate conduct from Chad Drown. I think everybody was just as surprised as you were when it happened.

From what I gathered, the police, it was a bit of a sting and they set him up and he fell into that and now he has to deal with the criminal matters. I talked to Bakersfield right away. If not that night, the next morning, and they informed me of their decision that they were going to terminate him. Like I said, they did their own internal review to make sure that nobody was aware of it and that nobody had been harmed. And our information right now is that nobody was remotely aware of it.   

FPH: Is there a code or contract of ethics that teams, players, and staff in the AHL must adhere to?

SH: We do have a policy in our governing documents. It’s on harassment, abuse, and discrimination. Our clubs are obligated to have one as well. That policy came in, I’m gonna say Elaine, in the last 12 to 14 months we put that policy into our governing documents. We thought it was really, really important to do that and get in front of it and make sure our teams and our players and everybody associated with the league were aware that it is codified.  

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In May 2021, Kyle Beach, former player of the Chicago Blackhawks, filed a lawsuit with sexual assault allegations against Brad Aldrich, former video coach for the Blackhawks, taking place in May 2010. This lawsuit led to an independent investigation of the Blackhawks by Jenner and Block LLP. At the conclusion of the investigation, it was discovered that John McDonough, Stan Bowman, Joel Quenneville, Jay Blunk, and Kevin Cheveldayoff were present for a meeting on May 23, 2010 to discuss Beach’s allegations against Aldrich. The investigation report went on to say that both McDonough and Quenneville wanted to focus on the Stanley Cup Final. They then waited until June 14, 2010 to report the incident. 

At the time, Beach was on the Blackhawks roster as a black ace called up from its AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs. With this in mind, below are the questions I asked Howson about being able to report both on-ice and off-ice incidents in the AHL.

FPH: Since the news of Brad Aldrich sexually assaulting Kyle Beach became public, have any programs been put in place to allow those playing in the AHL to report both on-ice and off-ice incidents between them and coaches, staff, or other players?

SH: That’s going to be part of the “Respect Group” launch. There is going to be a hotline. There is a current hotline right now. It’s operated by an independent third party. You’re not calling the NHL. There is that available. I’m pretty sure the PHPA offers assistance to their players as well on certain matters. And there are programs available. RIght now, it’s the NHL hotline, and that will be reinforced and made very publicly available when we launch Respect, which again I hope is in the next two to four weeks.

FPH: Will this program allow the AHL to advocate for players in the ECHL or the NHL if something were to happen and then they do get sent down and you guys find out something happened to them down/up there? 

SH: The NHL and the ECHL, we are all going to be part of this program. I think the NHL is going to be a little separate. I’m not sure the same hotline is going to be used; that’s still to be determined. I think anything that happens in one league will be handled by that league. So if a player was in the NHL and there was an issue and then he got sent down and then he reported it, the NHL would want to handle that. It’s the same as if he was in the AHL and got sent to the ECHL and then he reported; the AHL would want to handle that.   

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Below are the rest of the questions from the interview where I focused on other programs the AHL has for their players and staff. We also talked about if there are any pros and cons to creating processes, programs, and initiatives when the bulk of your players are on contracts with another league.

FPH: Are there league-wide classes or trainings for things such as proper use of social media, financial help, nutrition, racism, homophobia, consent & sexual assault, drugs & alcohol, and sensitivity in general? If not, has an idea like this been considered before?

SH: A lot of that. I’ve been on the team side and like nutrition & social media, a lot of the teams do that themselves every year in training camp. I’ve been part of that with the Edmonton Oilers. So, the league doesn’t have a formal social media, nutrition; the teams like to handle that themselves.

What we do have is a performance enhancing and substance abuse program. The players are required to take part in training camp and sign off that they have understand both. There is a performance enhancing piece of it where they aren’t allowed to take steroids or drugs that will help them perform. It’s very detailed. There is testing in the AHL. Again, we partner with the NHL on this. So, there is random testing in the AHL, so our players do get tested both on a team-wide basis and an individual basis. Then, there is a substance abuse testing program that identifies players that might be at risk with high levels of certain drugs, and there’s help for them to enter into counseling or programs so they can get the help that is needed. No form of punishment on the substance abuse; that’s more of a help element. Performance enhancing, if someone is doing drugs, we had one really the first month of my job we had an incident my first month of the job and that person did get suspended for a bit. So, that’s more of a punishment deterrent thing as opposed to substance abuse, which is more help.

FPH: So it sounds like a lot of the programs you want to launch are based on helping and molding them to be better humans — not just saying you are done and not letting them play the rest of their lives, but saying like we’re human and we make mistakes and build upon it and be better. Is that correct in my assessment?

SH: For the most part, we’re all advocates of mental health and these are a lot of times young men or young employees that need help. We want to try and support that, yes.  

FPH: What pros and cons are there to create processes, programs, and rules league wide when a good number of players have their contracts through the NHL?

SH: Really not many pros and cons. We get lots of cooperation. The NHL is very supportive. We all try and work together because these are really important issues.  The NHL has been very supportive; like this Respect Group program was brought to us by the NHL. It was an initiative that Gary Bettman got very passionate about, and it’s not just the AHL. It’s the ECHL. It’s the Canadian Hockey League. It’s colleges. He wants the whole hockey ecosystem to be trained in these things so we don’t have these numerous incidents that we’ve had. There’s really no pros and cons that I can think of; we all work together. Obviously, what goes on in our league we have to deal with and what goes on in other leagues the other leagues deal with.

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