TSN emails part of documents unsealed in concussion case

A series of email exchanges between members of the media and NHL executives were included among the 297 documents unsealed by U.S. federal court and recently made public.

Ten email chains between TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie and NHL senior executive vice-president of hockey operations Colin Campbell were disclosed. Another seven between TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger, Campbell and commissioner Gary Bettman were included.

The messages raised questions integral for information gathering, but also included opinion and occasional coarse language.

No message sent or received by McKenzie or Dreger was from more recent than 2009.

In an April 28, 2009 message, McKenzie referred to Anaheim Ducks forward Corey Perry as a “dirty bastard” after a questionable hit on Jonathan Cheechoo during a playoff game and wrote “if I were playing against him, I might kill him.” McKenzie asked Campbell, “Are you sure you can’t give him a game?”

McKenzie said Wednesday, “I have known for some time that it's possible a number of my emails could be made public. That has caused me many sleepless nights as well as a great deal of discomfort, embarrassment and regret.

“I obviously did not anticipate at the time that what I believed to be private correspondence would end up in the public domain. Yet I also have, for some time since then, fully recognized the perils of using company email as it pertains to privacy, or lack thereof.

“I obviously have to take full responsibility for the emails I've written. That said, I don't feel the need to publicly address or comment on any of the specifics within those emails, other than to say I've taken the necessary step in the past months to make amends, so to speak, with anyone who I feel was impacted negatively by these emails and I will continue to do so, as required. Beyond that, I will have no comment.”

An excerpt of two of McKenzie’s exchanges is below:

In an April 25, 2006 exchange with Campbell, Dreger inquired about the possibility of supplemental discipline for Flyers defenceman Denis Gauthier during a first-round playoff series against the Buffalo Sabres. Dreger was not working for TSN at the time.

“I’d whack him!” Dreger wrote to Campbell. “In light of his recent suspension, he’s disrespected the league, the game and his team.”

Dreger said Wednesday, “Emails I wrote – one of them a decade ago – have recently become public. They were written in the course of doing my job. I wrote them, I own them.”

An excerpt of two of Dreger’s exchanges is below:

Five other members of the media - TSN’s Pierre LeBrun, NBC Sports’ Mike Milbury, NBC Sports executive producer Sam Flood, the Toronto Sun’s Mike Zeisberger and The Hockey News’ Adam Proteau - also each had one correspondence.

The messages were disclosed by court order as part of the ongoing concussion litigation between the NHL and more than 100 former players. They were first obtained by CTV’s W5 and posted in a searchable database for public and fan consumption on Wednesday by The Globe and Mail.