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Jeff Marek: under investigation for revealing advance picks in last draft

 Christopher Brown
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Jeff Marek: under investigation for revealing advance picks in last draft
Credit: Capture d'écran / Screenshot
The last time we saw Jeff Marek publicly on Sportsnet was during the first round of the draft, over a month ago.

Since then, he hasn’t hosted the latest episodes of his radio show , nor has he participated in the 32 Thoughts podcast, which he normally hosts every episode.

There had been rumours that he was no longer employed by Sportsnet, and the principal interested party confirmed this last week.

But even so, something wasn’t quite right. Why hadn’t Sportsnet announced anything about the journalist, who was much appreciated by the Ontario station’s listeners?

Well, now we have the answer.

Katie Strang and Dan Robson, who work for The Athletic, wrote a lengthy piece this morning(I recommend you read it) about why he left without fanfare.

Following the first round of the 2024 draft in Vegas, Marek is under investigation by the NHL, which has reason to believe that the journalist told a friend about the upcoming picks minutes before they were announced publicly.

What you need to know is that a broadcaster like Sportsnet learns about the picks a few minutes before the public. So when the player is announced, everyone is ready to cover the selection properly.

But of course, no one can say this publicly. This is only done to improve the quality of the on-air product, not to make the selection public before it’s official.

If Marek is in trouble, it potentially means that the information passed on by the journalist has been used for something big. After all, if he’d just said that to a friend who doesn’t have the Internet (that’s just one example) and doesn’t do anything with the info, it might not have made any difference.

One might think that for the NHL to investigate, there must be some money involved.

And the other part of the story is that the Nevada Gaming Control Board is also involved. So it’s safe to assume that there’s a betting angle to it.

One man who is suspected of being the one receiving the messages is Mark Seidel. The Athletic raised the name of the former Wild scout, who has a good relationship with Marek.

Seidel has his own platform for talking about prospects (North American Central Scouting Independent Bureau) and if The Athletic raised the name of the man who had several good “predictions” on Twitter at the draft, it’s probably not by chance: people think he was the one receiving the info.

He’s deleted several tweets since, and he’s made “I recommend you bet on such-and-such a player being drafted” jokes in the past. We wonder if he was using the info to better prepare himself… or if the presence of the Nevada Gaming Control Board really means something.

One of his recommendations in 2022 was to put money on Cutter Gauthier just before the Flyers’ pick. Has Marek been talking to him for years? Did Seidel bet on this or just tweet it as a joke?

In fact, he’s deleted several tweets recently.

It’s worth noting that people who have worked with Marek say he’s not the type to gamble or promote gambling on air. But this story has raised questions about his integrity.

From a guy who’s been in the business for so long, let’s just say it’s a surprising story. The revelations from The Athletic(I’ll relay the text here) came as a surprise this morning.


Overtime

– Attention all interested parties.

– A new challenge for Grant McCagg.

– Names to keep an eye on.

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