[The Athletic] Jeff Marek was let go because of allegedly leaking draft selections

[krutovsdonut]

this announcement seems more likely to be theatre in response to marek threatening legal action. marek is in a position to show how much leaking goes on to show it is widely condoned by sportsnet and the nhl and not a valid basis for firing him, so they are pulling out the nevada gaming board stuff. it's nonsense though. nobody can place bets on draft picks a couple of minutes before they are announced because bookies are not idiots.

when all is said and done, this will not really be about the fact he was leaking this information. the issue will be who he was leaking it to. it will turn out he was helping sportsnet competitors scoop sportsnet reporters. most likely it will turn out he was helping his future employer given his contract is up (or at least that was how sportnet saw it at the time).

 

[Voight]

This brings some much needed clarification.

Made no sense that Marek was being let go, hes great. Then there were the reports that he was at the draft one until he wasn't and that seemed fishy.

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

If you work a job and as part of that job you get 'need to know' access to privileged information for a specific purpose and then you pass that information on to outside parties...then you better not get caught because if you do, you're gonna get fired (and potentially sued/charged depending on the nature of the information and the advantage gained from having it).

It looks like what Marek's action didn't cause a ton of harm to anyone, but forwarding this info to your buddy so he can get a leg up on social media is pretty unethical.

 

[Marc the Habs Fan]

No I don't believe so, I'm pretty sure the Seattle expansion draft was basically the first thing Seravalli covered once he jumped ship to start his own thing at Daily Faceoff.

Yup, Seravalli went to daily faceoff in June 2021 and the expansion draft was in July: Daily Faceoff

Comparing a 1 team expansion draft where Seattle had to register their picks like 8 hours before the TV show to announce those picks to a 32 team draft with teams having a few minutes on the clock is also a very different situation, not sure why people are comparing the 2.

 

[DJJones]

I still don't know what he did wrong. Don't they all do this?

Like how did Pronman beat the live results everytime?

 

[Mirka the Turka]

Gambling should be illegal, especially sports gambling.

 

[SA16]

It happened in Vegas, that's part of why it's all happening

I have zero doubts that if the draft was in Minnisota, or Ottawa, or any other city in the league, nothing is coming of it.

The Nevada Gaming Commision were involved, so someone in the gambling world was upset by some of the things getting out before they happened, whether people had the ability to use that or not.

One thing I see causing a big ruckus is It was essentially announced that Sennecke was going 3rd overall to the Ducks shortly before the draft, can't remember by who, but sportsbook betting was still open. He was a very big longshot prior to this

Senneck was sitting at +600 or something close 2 hours before the draft, and then shot down to -150 shortly after that was announced. That is an absolutely gigantic, gigantic liabilty for Vegas and sportsbooks, should people get on the line quickly, whether many did or not I have no clue.

The draft, and the way it is monitered, will be changing in this new gambling landscape. The draft being in Vegas just highlighted that by a significant margin.

It's harder to bet in Vegas than other states because it's more difficult to sign up on the mobile apps.

It's not a gigantic liability because it's a low limit market that not many people even bet into.

 

[Darcy Tucker]

ah, well they're almost as bad.

No they're not.

 

[minimal]

Honestly, ESPN really ought to pick him up. I can find him rather annoying at times, but he's in the top tier of hockey pundits/broadcasters.

As for the leaking, yeah okay whatever man. Shit leaks all time time. I can understand the contractual/proprietary elements, but this happens in literally every major sport. Yet another instance where hockey differentiates itself from the other big 4 in dumb way.

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

I still don't know what he did wrong. Don't they all do this?

Like how did Pronman beat the live results everytime?

If you're a reporter and league/team employee X gives you this information without authorization, they are the ones who risk getting fired, you're doing your job as a reporter. If you're working in the media and you're given information officially by the league for a particular reason in your job and then you leak it to someone else, you're the one in the position of that league/team employee and you risk getting fired.

To put it in basic terms - if your buddy works for a company and he tells you all about their new upcoming product, he's the one taking a risk and breaking company rules. You can't get fired for then telling other friends about it, after all you don't work there. But if you tell your friends about stuff that you found out on your job that's meant to be confidential, you're the one breaking those rules and may get fired. It's really pretty simple.

 

[Marc the Habs Fan]

The fact Seidel deleted several of the tweets from draft night is pretty telling too...

 

[Three On Zero]

A league that so heavily pushes gambling once again finds itself in a predicament due to gambling. Shocking I tell you.

 

[DJJones]

If you're a reporter and league/team employee X gives you this information without authorization, they are the ones who risk getting fired, you're doing your job as a reporter. If you're working in the media and you're given information officially by the league for a particular reason in your job and then you leak it to someone else, you're the one in the position of that league/team employee and you risk getting fired.

To put it in basic terms - if your buddy works for a company and he tells you all about their new upcoming product, he's the one taking a risk and breaking company rules. You can't get fired for then telling other friends about it, after all you don't work there. But if you tell your friends about stuff that you found out on your job that's meant to be confidential, you're the one breaking those rules and may get fired. It's really pretty simple.

Alright so whose getting fired for reporting it to all the guys who clearly knew ahead of time

 

[LOFIN]

He was busy trying to ruin the lives of the Canadian women's soccer team for doing something every team in the world does.

Kinda curious, how no other team has been caught doing the stuff that Canadian soccer has been doing. Especially considering how France is on red alert for terrorism, and looking for any suspicious activity.

 

[Voight]

It happened in Vegas, that's part of why it's all happening

I have zero doubts that if the draft was in Minnisota, or Ottawa, or any other city in the league, nothing is coming of it.

The Nevada Gaming Commision were involved, so someone in the gambling world was upset by some of the things getting out before they happened, whether people had the ability to use that or not.

One thing I see causing a big ruckus is It was essentially announced that Sennecke was going 3rd overall to the Ducks shortly before the draft, can't remember by who, but sportsbook betting was still open. He was a very big longshot prior to this

Senneck was sitting at +600 or something close 2 hours before the draft, and then shot down to -150 shortly after that was announced. That is an absolutely gigantic, gigantic liabilty for Vegas and sportsbooks, should people get on the line quickly, whether many did or not I have no clue.

The draft, and the way it is monitered, will be changing in this new gambling landscape. The draft being in Vegas just highlighted that by a significant margin.

The NGC closed bets on NHL first round picks 24 hours before the draft, so I dont't see why anyone in the gambling world would be mad.

Also... damn I wish I knew about the Sennecke pick beforehand

 

[BondraTime]

The NGC closed bets on NHL first round picks 24 hours before the draft, so I dont't see why anyone in the gambling world would be mad.

Because sportsbooks, online, were open up until the draft started

Sennecke's line went from ~+600 to -150 less than an hour prior to the draft, after it came out that the Ducks were taking Sennecke

 

[Bruins4Lifer]

Pretty dumb move by Marek. It's one thing to give your buddy the tip early so he can have an analysis tweet prepared for when the pick is announced (like the league does for Sportsnet), but to know he's using them to give off the appearance that he is some brilliant draft prognosticator is different.

I don't think this is any huge scandal, but I honestly can't blame Sportsnet for parting ways with him over this.

 

[Voight]

The Athletic is trash anyways. Marek can and will find a better employer.

He didn't work for The Athletic, he worked for Sportsnet.

 

[David Suzuki]

All the more reason for the draft and official NHL events to never be held in that soulless desert.

 

[Static]

Well no, I actually have an open mind.

Some things he reports on I think aren't any sort of real issue and other things are.

I am fair to him based on the quality of his work. I am not a fan of a journalist where I back anything they say. I judge them on their work. He has some good journalism and then some activism.

He reports facts! If you don't like the facts he is reporting, there is an inherent bias of yours informing that feeling! This isn't a dude popping out opinion pieces.

 

[Voight]

this announcement seems more likely to be theatre in response to marek threatening legal action. marek is in a position to show how much leaking goes on to show it is widely condoned by sportsnet and the nhl and not a valid basis for firing him, so they are pulling out the nevada gaming board stuff. it's nonsense though. nobody can place bets on draft picks a couple of minutes before they are announced because bookies are not idiots.

when all is said and done, this will not really be about the fact he was leaking this information. the issue will be who he was leaking it to. it will turn out he was helping sportsnet competitors scoop sportsnet reporters. most likely it will turn out he was helping his future employer given his contract is up (or at least that was how sportnet saw it at the time).

The guy he leaked it to runs a n independent scouting service and works for the Barrie Colts, I suppose Marek could work for either but seems somewhat unlikely. He knows a lot about prospects and the CHL leagues but at the end of the day he isn't a scout.

 

[krutovsdonut]

The guy he leaked it to runs a n independent scouting service and works for the Barrie Colts, I suppose Marek could work for either but seems somewhat unlikely. He knows a lot about prospects and the CHL leagues but at the end of the day he isn't a scout.

ok that is weird.

 

[Tawnos]

Alright so whose getting fired for reporting it to all the guys who clearly knew ahead of time

There has been speculation about people getting fired for leaking information before, but I've never seen it confirmed. I read some things about it being a factor in the Rangers long-time medical trainer getting fired a couple of years ago. Like I said, it was never confirmed so I'm not saying it's what really happened. I just wouldn't be surprised if someone in an org was providing unauthorized leaks had been fired after being discovered.

But that's the thing, too. Most of the rumors and leaks we hear about are things that were authorized to be leaked for various reasons. In this case, Marek was likely explicitly bound by the league's agreement with Sportsnet to not leak the information they were giving him.

 

[PanniniClaus]

If he indeed did this, it is a fire able offense. I wonder if the relationship was starting to deteriorate anyway, and this maybe accelerated the impending breakup. It's still not great for the reputation.

 

[sxvnert]

Hope the kickbacks were worth it.