Person behind Jeff Marek’s firing from Sportsnet finally revealed!

When the scandal broke earlier this summer, fans only got bits and pieces from what happened in Las Vegas and Jeff Marek’s exit from Sportsnet. It was reportedly tied to him allegedly sharing confidential draft information to another party and on Wednesday, we found out who that person was.

Former Barrie Colts Director of Scouting Mark Seidel appears to be one of the people involved in the Marek’s firing from Sportsnet as he posted on Wednesday that he too was just recently fired from the OHL franchise.

A recent report by The Athletic stated that Seidel was involved and his post on Wednesday only seemed to confirm the information:

Following the first round of the NHL Entry Draft back in June, Marek went silent. His social media was shuttered, podcasts stopped updating and his daily radio show was nuked. A few days of wild speculation later and Marek confirmed online that he was in fact out of a job at Sportsnet. Katie Strang and Dan Robson then published an article for The Athletic that revealed what went down at the Draft and why Marek lost his job, stating that Marek was accused by the NHL and the Nevada Gaming Control Board of feeding insider information regarding draft selections to outside parties, who then leaked it on social media before it was officially released.

In his post, Seidel does not go into his relationship with Marek or give any details on the scandal that took place at the end of June. He shares his deep involvement in junior hockey and scouting. He only spoke briefly about his frequent job changes before finding some stability with the Barrie Colts, and now he gets the opportunity for a new challenge.

It is not the first time, however, that Seidel has landed in hot water. After struggling with addiction issues, he also received a cease-and-desist letter from the NHL for ranking draft prospects, which he still continues to do on his X account.

At this summer’s draft, amidst the scandal around Marek, Seidel’s social media activity caught the attention of both the NHL and Nevada gaming regulators, and an investigation was launched. It has looked into the possibility that Seidel could have given information to illegal betting groups in an attempt to help them make money.

With his firing by the Barrie Colts and his relationship with Marek, it has become clear that something smells funny and we will have to keep an eye on this whole situation.