Longtime Sportsnet broadcaster and agreed-upon good dude Jeff Marek went M.I.A. after the first night of the NHL Draft, and no one knew why, or if they did, they weren't telling. A month after the draft, Marek confirmed he'd left Sportsnet, but it remained the biggest mystery of the offseason. Now we've got answers. Some of them, anyway.
Katie Strang and Dan Robson of The Athletic reported Thursday morning that Marek ran afoul of the league by leaking upcoming draft picks. A reader's first instinct might be That's it? Adrian Wojnarowski does that all the time. But it's more complicated than that.
Also under the Sphere that evening working the draft was Mark Seidel, a former NHL scout with the Minnesota Wild who for the past five years worked in scouting and player personnel roles with the Ontario Hockey League’s Barrie Colts. He also runs his own scouting service, branded the North American Central Scouting Independent Bureau (not to be confused with the NHL’s Central Scouting Bureau) and has occasionally provided draft content for ESPN.
Seidel and Marek have known each other for years, according to two people with knowledge of their relationship. Seidel has made multiple appearances on podcasts with Marek, including to talk about prospects in advance of the annual draft.
In Las Vegas, Seidel correctly predicted several picks on X, which prompted concerns that Marek had informed Seidel who those teams were picking.
The Athletic
The NHL caught wind of this—it's not clear how—and informed the Nevada Gaming Control Board, a due diligence because draft picks can be wagered on (though not close enough to the actual selection for it to have been possible at Nevada-licensed sports books), and Sportsnet made the decision to terminate him.
Where things get tricky is how Marek obtained the info on upcoming picks. He was part of the broadcast team for Sportsnet's draft coverage, and the NHL's television partners are told about upcoming picks a minute or two before they're announced. This is to give the network time to prepare video and graphics packages for that prospect. It makes sense, and it's common practice across sports. So it's a slightly different situation from Wojnarowski tipping NBA Draft picks, because Woj is reporting out his information from front offices and agents, where Marek was getting the info directly from the league for a specific purpose, and leaking them to a friend. It's also not the same thing as, say, Frank Seravalli tipping basically the Kraken's entire expansion draft—there's a difference between having a source and being one.
None of the involved parties alleged that any actual inside betting took place here. Marek purportedly was leaking to Seidel so that the latter "could better prepare and offer analysis of those selections." (There's also the implication that he'd been leaking to Seidel, who'd previously accurately tweeted out draft picks ahead of time, for years.) If Marek is guilty of anything, it's having a dumb-ass friend who can't keep his mouth shut.
Is that a fireable offense? If you're a viewer or listener who likes Marek, no way in hell. If you're an executive at Sportsnet, a league partner being leaned on by the NHL to take action, apparently so. And they're the only ones who have a vote.
