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Doggy

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Oct 11, 2011
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Terrible news for us 32 Thoughts podcast fans

That sucks. I enjoyed him on 32 Thoughts

They haven't put out a new pod since the end of June. Kind of wild.

Was a good ~2x/week hockey news podcast, but if it's over there are other ones out there. Not sure what Marek did but his role at SporsNet has continued to diminish the last few years.

I am reading an article on The Athletic. Marek was among the people who would know the draft picks 1-2 minutes before it was announced on-air and he was tipping off a friend (a former NHL scout who has his own scouting service and has recently done scouting and personnel work for the OHL Barrie Colts). No accusation the friend was using it to gamble and make money (actually sounds a bit unlikely) but the friend was posting the picks on social media before the official announcement which allowed him to brag about his genius in predicting the draft perhaps undeservingly boosting his hockey bonafides.

In any case, it was a no-no by Marek and Sportsnet had to shut him down if it was going to keep its relationship with the NHL in good standing.

Perhaps this sucks for Marek fans and bummer it happened to a well liked, accomplished and talented hockey personality but he probably should have known better. I assume he knows what he did was wrong because he agreed with Sportsnet to simply go away quietly.
 
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ThirdPeriodTurtle

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Not odd at all. Assuming that the mains thread and the article has it correct, Marek got the info directly from the NHL/broadcasting company, and then told it forward before it was officially announced. That's just a no-no in any professional industry, distributing confidential information like that. And if you then add the betting considerations (somebody could be profiting/the rights-holders or their partners would be losing out), it's just a clear cut case of fireable offense (if not more!).

The difference to e.g. Seravalli (no idea about NBA/NFL), as far as I understand, is that Seravalli got the info indirectly, i.e. it was leaked to him or he did investigative/journalistic work or whatever. He wasn't under contract with the informant(s).

Such a shame if this is what happened, I really enjoy(ed) listening to Marek. But he should've known better. I don't understand how he apparently didn't.

(I can sort of understand the part of "providing an old friend with info so he can better prepare for the announcements, just like the broadcast crew" angle, but when there's already been clear evidence from prior years that said friend has leaked the info publicly before the announcements and even gloated about that, I'm running out of excuses for Marek to have continued this practice...)
 
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DarkandStormy

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Apr 29, 2014
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Not odd at all. Assuming that the mains thread and the article has it correct, Marek got the info directly from the NHL/broadcasting company, and then told it forward before it was officially announced. That's just a no-no in any professional industry, distributing confidential information like that. And if you then add the betting considerations (somebody could be profiting/the rights-holders or their partners would be losing out), it's just a clear cut case of fireable offense (if not more!).

The difference to e.g. Seravalli (no idea about NBA/NFL), as far as I understand, is that Seravalli got the info indirectly, i.e. it was leaked to him or he did investigative/journalistic work or whatever. He wasn't under contract with the informant(s).

Such a shame if this is what happened, I really enjoy(ed) listening to Marek. But he should've known better. I don't understand how he apparently didn't.

(I can sort of understand the part of "providing an old friend with info so he can better prepare for the announcements, just like the broadcast crew" angle, but when there's already been clear evidence from prior years that said friend has leaked the info publicly before the announcements and even gloated about that, I'm running out of excuses for Marek to have continued this practice...)

According to a publicly available document from the Nevada Gaming Control Board on requirements licensed books must adhere to regarding wagers on the NHL Draft, “acceptance of wagers which involve a specific player must cease 24 hours prior to the start of the first round. Acceptance of all other wagers must cease prior to the start of their respective round.”

There's no gambling implications, unless someone is finding a place that will take a wager ~20 seconds before a pick is made.

I meant odd for a few reasons. As you noted, why would Marek consistently feed the picks to a friend. A handful of times wouldn't raise as much suspicion, but *every* pick?

Also, you'd think Sportsnet would have a written policy about this. The article notes they're notified of the picks a couple minutes ahead of time for graphics, getting cameras on the draftee, etc. If they don't want the pick "leaked" they should have a written policy on it. This sounds more like it was, "hey, you shouldn't have done that, now you're fired."
 

ThirdPeriodTurtle

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There's no gambling implications, unless someone is finding a place that will take a wager ~20 seconds before a pick is made.

I meant odd for a few reasons. As you noted, why would Marek consistently feed the picks to a friend. A handful of times wouldn't raise as much suspicion, but *every* pick?

Also, you'd think Sportsnet would have a written policy about this. The article notes they're notified of the picks a couple minutes ahead of time for graphics, getting cameras on the draftee, etc. If they don't want the pick "leaked" they should have a written policy on it. This sounds more like it was, "hey, you shouldn't have done that, now you're fired."
Yeah I don't know how long those gambling sites keep open. I can't remember how it was on the sites I use, it certainly wasn't 24 hours but probably closed one hour before the event started.

But the rest really just sounds like Marek made a mistake that he's been making for years, i.e. leaking every pick to his friend. And I would bet (krhm) that Sportsnet in fact has those policies in place already and it's been in Marek's contract for years.

I would be surprised if confidential information is not defined in almost all of the employment contracts of everybody on this board. Most people just don't care/know/remember/understand.

I would also not be surprised if Sportsnet did not know Marek was leaking the picks until this year. when the investigation was brought up against them. Maybe somebody did and turned a blind eye, or maybe there were personnel changes, but this sounds like it probably went pretty high up the chain in Sportsnet so it got more eyeballs and something needed to be done, i.e. Sportsnet fires the offender and cleans their hands. Had the investigation not happened I doubt this would've gone down, so that part is probably true. It doesn't remove the wrongdoing on Marek's part though, he simply should not have done what he (allegedly) did.
 

majormajor

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Jun 23, 2018
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I think Oilers keep Holloway but let Broberg go...4.5m for him is nuts

That sounds reasonable to me. It's hard to say because it's still unclear whether Evander Kane will be on LTIR.

He's absolutely wrecked, more dinged up than many players who ended up on LTIR, but I don't know how that is all negotiated. My sense is that a player can pass a physical if he wants to, or fail one. And he has to want to go on the shelf. It seems like teams that have used LTIR in the past have had this worked out with the player in advance, and it doesn't seem like the Oilers have that foreknowledge.
 

Viqsi

"that chick from Ohio"
Oct 5, 2007
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Somebody check on Viqsi, are we sure she's here and not actually Doug Armstrong ruining Stan Bowman?

What a move by the Blues.
nervous_hide.gif


Can't take credit. Admittedly, I'm less sold on Broberg mostly because I think he was being propped up by Ekholm and there's no Ekholm equivalent in St. Louis.
 

majormajor

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Jun 23, 2018
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nervous_hide.gif


Can't take credit. Admittedly, I'm less sold on Broberg mostly because I think he was being propped up by Ekholm and there's no Ekholm equivalent in St. Louis.

You're thinking of Bouchard. Broberg played with Nurse and I think Kulak.
 

Doggy

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Oct 11, 2011
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This could be big if it creates an escape from staying in the CHL until they are 20 if they aren’t ready for the NHL but even bigger if it allows top CHL players an opportunity to grow in the NCAA.
I see this hurting the USHL. On the flip side it could allow more NCAA programs to improve and maybe even some new schools jumping into the game because the pool of players would improve.
 

Iron Balls McGinty

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Aug 5, 2005
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I see this hurting the USHL. On the flip side it could allow more NCAA programs to improve and maybe even some new schools jumping into the game because the pool of players would improve.
It absolutely hurts the USHL and the CHL if players could go the NCAA route and get paid. Maybe not a huge amount but the top players could go NCAA for a year or 2 and NHL team could perhaps use the NCAA as indirect feeder teams. Imagine if the CBJ could somehow have drafted prospects play at OSU for a year or 2 versus continuing to be stuck in a league they are ready to move out of like the junior leagues. OSU boosters foot the bill for a year before the player then gets to go to Cleveland instead of forcing them to stick in junior until they finish their eligibility.

It certainly seems to give more flexibility on prospect development.
 

koteka

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Jan 1, 2017
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It absolutely hurts the USHL and the CHL if players could go the NCAA route and get paid. Maybe not a huge amount but the top players could go NCAA for a year or 2 and NHL team could perhaps use the NCAA as indirect feeder teams. Imagine if the CBJ could somehow have drafted prospects play at OSU for a year or 2 versus continuing to be stuck in a league they are ready to move out of like the junior leagues. OSU boosters foot the bill for a year before the player then gets to go to Cleveland instead of forcing them to stick in junior until they finish their eligibility.

It certainly seems to give more flexibility on prospect development.

The downstream impacts on NCAA hockey are fascinating. Boston, Detroit, the Wild have several NCAA programs near them. Some teams, like Buffalo and Detroit have college teams near he NHL and AHL franchise. We obviously have our team less than a ten minute drive from OSU so we could even have apartments for our guys near NWA with our own nutritionist, etc. on hand.

Meanwhile load of teams from Carolina to Tampa to Dallas to the west coast don’t have teams near them. Does Arizona State become a hockey power with California teams and Vegas sending kids there? Do new NCAA teams start up at University of Washington, UCLA, and the University of Illinois and the Big Ten grows as a hockey conference? Do smaller schools like Lindenwood in St Louis become relevant?
 

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