Why was a beloved hockey broadcaster pulled off the air?

As 18-year-old Montreal Canadiens draft pick Michael Hage searched for words to honor his father, who had died in a swimming pool accident a year earlier, Sportsnet broadcaster Jeff Marek placed his hand on Hage’s arm, helped him move his microphone up so he could be heard and then put a reassuring hand on Hage’s back as he held back tears.

“The whole hockey world is cheering for you,” Marek said. “You know that, right?”

That moment from Sportsnet’s live broadcast of the 2024 NHL Draft in Las Vegas was widely praised for its tenderness — a warm, empathetic gesture by Marek, 55, a veteran broadcaster who over a 30-year career had endeared himself to television and radio audiences.

Marek’s affable, beer-with-a-buddy demeanor and encyclopedic knowledge of hockey made him one of the sport’s most beloved and widely respected voices. He had worked his way up from an entry-level radio station gig to hosting the “The Jeff Marek Show” every day at noon on the same station where he got his start and for the last 13 years was one of Sportsnet’s signature talents.

He ran against type in the usually staid broadcast culture, with full-arm tattoos, and he wore jeans and T-shirts when he wasn’t wearing a suit for Sportsnet broadcasts. Before landing as a full-time hockey analyst, Marek hosted a popular professional wrestling radio show in Toronto. Yet he was so talented, so beloved, that former Sportsnet president Scott Moore, who hired Marek in 2011, viewed him as a potential future host of “Hockey Night in Canada,” the sport’s iconic Saturday night broadcast.

But draft night — June 28, 2024 — would be Marek’s last appearance for Sportsnet. He was absent from the post-draft taping of “32 Thoughts,” the popular hockey podcast he hosts with Elliotte Friedman. Then the following week, Marek missed the final two episodes of his daily radio show, before a summer hiatus.

Those absences didn’t garner significant attention, but Marek also went dark on social media. On July 9, one fan wished the broadcaster happy birthday on X but got no response from Marek, known for his friendly engagement. Another user commented on Marek’s unusual silence. “Jeff Marek of 32 Thoughts has completely disappeared from the face of the earth since the evening of the draft,” wrote @NHLJackManning on July 23.

A few Marek fans had intuited something was amiss, and they were correct. In July, Sportsnet quietly parted ways with Marek.

It was the kind of move that normally would have warranted a public statement, but the reason behind it led both parties to choose silence. Marek had come under scrutiny from the NHL during the first round of the draft for allegedly revealing to a friend which players teams were drafting moments before those picks were publicly announced, according to league and media industry sources. The NHL shared concerns about the situation with the Nevada Gaming Control Board, which probed further, according to multiple sources briefed on that investigation.

A spokesperson for the Nevada Gaming Control Board, when asked about the matter, said in a statement provided to The Athletic:

“As a law enforcement and regulatory agency, the Nevada Gaming Control Board does not comment on whether it is, or isn’t, investigating particular persons or entities.”

The NHL and Sportsnet both declined to comment on the matter. Marek did not respond to requests for comment.

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The draft has long been an event where Marek stood out given his decades of experience reporting on junior hockey. In Las Vegas, Marek was a key part of Sportsnet’s live broadcast and its pre-draft coverage, possessing a keen understanding of how to balance informing the audience while keeping them entertained. In one pre-draft podcast with Friedman, he was ebullient, ribbing his podcasting partner about a fashion mishap earlier in the week, sharing stories about cheekily named “hockey dogs” and predicting (incorrectly it would turn out) that the Anaheim Ducks would select prospect Zeev Buium with the third overall pick.

The NHL’s decision to host its annual draft at the Sphere — a futuristic orb-like arena at the Venetian resort in Las Vegas — made the 2024 draft seem bigger, the spectacle of it ramped up. It was also slated to be the last centralized NHL Draft, with the league allowing teams to draft from their home bases next year.

On the first night of the draft, Marek sat at a clear desk next to the main floor, where team executives and scouts conferred before making their picks. Throughout the broadcast, he interviewed each newly drafted player.

As part of Sportsnet’s crew that night, Marek was privy to the draft selections before they were publicly announced. This is common practice for broadcast rightsholders. The production truck is notified of the pick approximately one or two minutes before it’s made so that graphics can be prepared, video clips readied and cameras trained on the player about to find out he has been selected.

That was why Sportsnet cameras were in the perfect position to capture the memorable reaction from Beckett Sennecke, whose stunning selection at No. 3 by the Anaheim Ducks prompted him to stand up, bewildered, before uttering “Holy f—.”

Moments later, Marek spoke to Sennecke about his teary-eyed parents, overwhelmed by his selection.

When Hage went No. 21 to Montreal, Marek delivered one of the night’s signature moments and it highlighted his ability to make interview subjects comfortable.

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 nearly five-hour broadcast ended around 8:15 p.m. local time, and Marek was scheduled to leave Las Vegas that night on a red-eye flight. But before he left, at least one NHL official approached Marek about wanting to speak with him.

The league was concerned about the potential misuse or dissemination of insider information, league and media sources said. Gaming industry experts said that draft “leakage” and “tipping” is relatively common. Possessing what’s deemed “insider information” is not inherently problematic; only if that information is used as a means of financial gain does it become an integrity issue. 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.”

League and media sources said that Marek gave Seidel a heads up on the picks so that Seidel could better prepare and offer analysis of those selections on social media. Professional sports leagues are known to monitor social media during live events such as drafts; it is also common for leagues to partner with external integrity and compliance firms to monitor social media activity.

When contacted by The Athletic, Seidel declined to answer questions on the situation, including why he deleted a number of social media posts he made on the night of the draft.

During prior drafts, Seidel showed a knack for predicting picks just before they happened, delivering those scoops on his X account. The wording in those posts were often couched, appearing to be an insider’s intuition. “Philadelphia and Cutter Gauthier were made for each other … I’d lay money on him,” he tweeted during the 2022 draft, nailing the Flyers’ pick just before it was announced.

In the 2020 draft, he predicted or heavily insinuated the first 12 picks correctly. Leading up to the event, he sent out a tweet highlighting that he had correctly predicted the top of the first round in other drafts.

Asked about picks he predicted at earlier drafts, Seidel did not answer.

Four people close to Marek, who declined to speak on the record because of the legal sensitivity of the situation, said he is not known to gamble. Two of those four said he has, on multiple occasions, expressed an aversion to promoting gambling on air. On his eponymous radio show, his producer generally handles the betting segments.

One source briefed on the draft night situation said that no gambling impropriety was discovered or any intent for Marek to gain financially from what happened.

However, because Marek was alleged to have shared proprietary information with someone outside the company, and given the company’s partnership with the NHL — Sportsnet has two years left on a 12-year deal as the league’s national rightsholder — the network was in a difficult position involving one of its most prominent broadcasters.

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As speculation about his prolonged absence from the airwaves persisted, Canadian sports media commentator Jonah Sigel broke news of Marek’s departure last week. That same day, a Sportsnet spokesperson confirmed he was no longer with the company.

The next day, Marek addressed his departure on X, though he did not publicly share the reasons behind it. (Multiple sources said Marek signed a confidentiality agreement prior to exiting the company).

“After 13 great years at Sportsnet, I’m moving on,” he wrote. “It’s been an incredible journey and I’m thankful to have worked alongside so many great people and played a role in bringing sports and hockey news to fans across Canada and the world. More to come soon.”

The news of his departure prompted an outpouring of support from within the hockey and sports media community, with many lamenting Marek’s departure and sharing anecdotes of how he’d endeared himself to his audience — including encouraging messages he’d sent to one listener as they battled cancer — and mentored young journalists and others starting their careers in hockey.

Nick Alberga, who now hosts the “Leafs Morning Take” on The Nation Network, said he didn’t know Marek well when Marek offered up his name as a potential host for Sportsnet’s “Hockey Central Saturday” in 2017, helping him land a spot on the weekly syndicated show.

“That essentially got my foot in the door,” said Alberga.

At Sportsnet, Marek’s absence is already being felt. He had a reputation for championing producers and technical staff, and for welcoming new voices onto his many shows.

“Jeff is a great advocate of diversifying the voices that talk about the sport,” said Dave Cadeau, the former director of programming at Sportsnet Radio. “He really appreciated the value that it can bring to the conversation.”

Moore recalled meeting Marek for breakfast in Toronto before hiring him for the first time while Moore was an executive at CBC.

“As soon as I met him, I thought this guy is going to be a quirky star,” Moore said. “He wasn’t your standard ‘Hockey Night in Canada’ anchor type. He’s got a little bit of an edge to him, a little bit of character to him.”

Moore later hired Marek at Sportsnet and made him one of the network’s marquee talents.

“I know he’ll do well in whatever his next triumph is,” said Moore, who is now chairman of Uninterrupted Canada and CEO of the 2025 Invictus Games.

After Marek addressed his departure on Friday, Friedman, his longtime podcast partner, wrote on X: “Life throws curveballs at you. I will miss being his teammate, and thank him for being a tremendous co-pilot to our 32 thoughts podcasting voyage — which will continue.”

Friedman, when contacted about the details of Marek’s departure, declined to comment.

Sportsnet has yet to name Marek’s replacement on the podcast or who might fill his roles on television and radio.

In a 2012 newspaper profile, Marek noted the odd trajectory of his career. His first job was working at a graveyard. He postponed a planned Ph.D. in English to take an entry-level job at TheFan 590 — the network that would become Sportsnet radio.

“It’s been kind of an accidental career,” Marek told the Stouffville Examiner, shortly after being hired by Sportsnet. “It’s been a little surreal and bizarre. … And I’m thankful for that.”

— The Athletic’s Corey Pronman contributed to this story.

(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic)