Bill Guerin was previously the deputy GM in Pittsburgh. (Photo by Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
The wife of a former coach for the Pittsburgh Penguins organization is preparing a sexual assault lawsuit against the organization and former deputy general manager Bill Guerin.
Erin Skalde, who is married to former Wilkes-Barre Scranton assistant coach Jarrod Skalde, is expected to file a lawsuit in Rhode Island alleging that Clark Donatelli, the former head coach of the minor league Daughter of the Penguins, she sexually abused during her stay on a team road trip in Providence in 2018.
Skalde will reportedly name Guerin, who is currently the general manager of the Minnesota Wild, as well as Penguins owners Ron Burkle and Mario Lemieux as defendants.
A press conference is expected to be held on Tuesday.
When the incident was first reported last year, Jarrod Skalde said he was told to keep quiet about Donatelli’s alleged abuse after reporting it to Guerin and management seven months after the incident. He said he was fired for complaining again to the team about the incident, which prompted the Skaldes to file a lawsuit in Pennsylvania last November after violating Pennsylvania’s whistleblower laws.
Guerin abandoned the penguins in the period between the alleged attack and Skalde’s release.
Erin Skalde claims she was inappropriately touched by Donatelli after a dinner in Providence when the two were briefly alone and again in the back seat of a ride with Jarrod in the front seat.
In the first lawsuit, filed in November, the Skaldes sought compensation for “physical and emotional pain and mental suffering and loss of income”.
The second lawsuit against the Penguins comes at a time when the NHL is grappling with the aftermath and backlash of a sexual assault cover-up within the Chicago Blackhawks organization in 2010. Several members of the Blackhawks senior management have lost their jobs, and the organization was fined $ 2 million after an independent investigation found members of the club ignored allegations that a former video coach had former prospect Kyle Beach was sexually assaulted before he was allowed to quietly leave his position and continue to harass others.
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