NHL Broadcaster Reportedly Fired For Leaking Draft Picks To His Buddy

If you're a hockey fan, the name Jeff Marek likely rings a bell. Until recently, he worked for Canada's Sportsnet and was a major part of the network's coverage of the National Hockey League, and specifically the NHL Draft.

Late last month, Marek — who had been absent from TV and his podcast and had not posted on social media since July 9 — announced that he was leaving the network.

That surprised a lot of people, which led to widespread speculation over what could have caused such a well-liked and respected broadcaster to leave his longtime network, but now, a report from The Athletic suggests that Marek's departure has to do with him allegedly leaking draft picks to a friend of his at this year's NHL Draft at the Sphere in Las Vegas.

According to the report from Katie Strang and Dan Robson, Marek drew some raised eyebrows at this year's draft when they became suspicious that he was leaking which players teams were going to pick before they were officially announced.

Of course, Marek would be aware of this information because the networks that broadcast the draft get a heads-up about which player will be selected so that graphics and highlight packages can be cued up.

However, it's alleged in the report that Marek communicated this information to Mark Seidel, a friend of his and former scout for the Minnesota Wild who now runs a scouting service. 

When Seidel began correctly predicting picks on X — even more unusual since this year's draft had some surprises — the league got suspicious.

Jeff  Marek (Left) has been a major part of Sportsnet's NHL coverage for more than a decade. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)

The league has since brought the incident to the attention of the Nevada Gaming Control Board, but it doesn't appear that the info was used for gambling purposes, especially since NGCB's own rules on NHL Draft betting are that "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," per the report.

The Athletic cites league and media sources who say that Marek contacted Seidel so that the latter could prepare his analysis of the players being selected.

The NHL has not commented on the alleged incident, nor has Marek.

If it's accurate, it's a shame to see a great broadcaster make a dumb mistake like that.