Judge orders unsealing of NHL executive’s emails

[kerriffic]

"A U.S. judge in Minneapolis has ordered the National Hockey League to unseal a series of emails sent to and from NHL executive Colin Campbell, emails Campbell had asked the court to keep secret because they would embarrass him and hurt the NHL’s reputation.

A group of more than 100 former NHL players are suing the league, alleging league and team officials knew or ought to have known about the links between head trauma and long-term cognitive problems but failed to act to protect players – all the while profiting from the violence of hockey.
The league says players could have put "two and two together" and done their own research about the long-term effects of repeated concussions."

http://www.tsn.ca/judge-orders-unsea...mails-1.426134

Rick Westhead
@rwesthead NHL exec Campbell emails to be unsealed include references to people as “king rat” “little sh**head” and “di**head"

NSFW!

Thoughts? I wonder which Official he is referring to.

[AC]

Well Mike Milbury is a little ####head.

[TheScorpion]

"colorful or crusty language"?

Are we sure this isn't a Down Goes Brown parody?

[kerriffic]

Agree about Milbury, surprised he would think that about Mackenzie. I'm sure there is alot more that the NHL doesn't want to come out.

[Trailer Fire]

I'm pretty sure they were emails to MacKenzie and Milbury. Not about them.

[cam_wmh]

[AC]

Originally Posted by Trailer Fire

I'm pretty sure they were emails to MacKenzie and Milbury. Not about them.

Yep you're right. That's what its suggesting.

[kerriffic]

Travis Yost@travisyost
Ah, there it is. Campbell called Ottawa's Gerry Townend a 'freaking idiot'. pic.twitter.com/6TB2AelKp8

[mikephoen]

If calling someone a 'freaking idiot' is the best they got from these emails, I don't think their court case will go that well.

[Five-hole]

I find it funny that Campbell thinks he has a reputation that could be ruined.

[calumniate]

This won't be pretty! There is a link to a longer list of his emails in another thread, though a lot of it is blackened out.

[kerriffic]

Originally Posted by mikephoen

If calling someone a 'freaking idiot' is the best they got from these emails, I don't think their court case will go that well.

I think it's just bad optics for an executive of the NHL to be referring to team employees in such a light. He did supposedly say more about others using "colourful language" if you read the nsfw tag on the first post.

Anyways be interesting to see what come out. I'm sure Bryan Murray is getting his crack forensics squad right on this!

[browna]

Fairly certain there will be some juicy internal email banter that probably will be personally embarrassing to a number of executives as they discuss in their own internal circle (as would be at any company's internal email strings). Probably on a number of topics, including, but not limited to, concussions.

Sure, concussions were not treated the same, or regarded the same by fans, team doctors, coaches, players or execs (team and league) as they are 10 years ago, let alone 30 years ago. It takes some time for that re-education for occur, especially from an ex-player who played in the 70's and 80's, and execs who are used to pushing players back into the lineup.

But by using some colorful adjectives from a league executive who's talking to a colleague, both who may or not be fully educated on the issue, doesn't really advance the case or act as some smoking gun. It's not as if the league was encouraging headbutting contests. Or, less extreme, discouraging players from wearing helmets and protecting themselves etc.

Banging ones head on the ice, or boards, or whiplash from a legal or illegal hit, is part of the game. So is banging ones knee, ankles, wrists. Players know all those risks of injury the first time they get hurt on the ice at the age of 7 or 8. Claiming ignorance of that years later doesn't fly IMO.

Bottom line, sounds like the press wants this to happen more so they have some documented dirt on various NHL and Team Execs (in the name of "the public wants to know") that make for a salacious story as some sort of potential shaming campaign.

Those as part of the concussion lawsuit are hoping that the embarrassment of league people sounding ignorant (at best) or juvenile/discriminatory (at worst) in internal conversations, is enough for the league to guiltily add a couple "0's" onto the end of the cheque the plaintiffs are expecting.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Five-hole

I find it funny that Campbell thinks he has a reputation that could be ruined.

Yeah. On one hand you could dig up emails from plenty of high ranking officials and likely find some embarrassing stuff but the thing about Campbell is that everyone knew well before this that the guy was a total clown so nobody is really surprised at all that he conducted himself this way as an employee of the NHL. The sooner the league rids itself of dinosaurs like Campbell the better it will be.

[CampbellsTransgressions]

Heh, five years later and my username is relevant again.

[MarkGio]

Maybe someone could help me out with the legal stuff. Why wouldn't Campbell delete these emails? I mean, outlook has settings where it automatically removes emails after so long.

[Passe La Puck]

Originally Posted by MarkGio

Maybe someone could help me out with the legal stuff. Why wouldn't Campbell delete these emails? I mean, outlook has settings where it automatically removes emails after so long.

Well he could be too dumb. But to be serious, probably saved on the email server. I doubt the NHL follows any rigorous protocols but for a lot of businesses the emails must be stored on the server by law for record keeping. So if you delete the email it just goes into the archive, you don't see it but it's still on the server.

[Huntingwhale]

Honestly, why do people need to read other people emails, as if it's some secret people think they are entitled to? Mind your own bees wax.

[MBates]

Originally Posted by Passe La Puck

Well he could be too dumb. But to be serious, probably saved on the email server. I doubt the NHL follows any rigorous protocols but for a lot of businesses the emails must be stored on the server by law for record keeping. So if you delete the email it just goes into the archive, you don't see it but it's still on the server.

This...and several US jurisdictions treat spoliation (destruction of or failure to preserve evidence) when there is pending or anticipated litigation very seriously. Courts can make findings against you in the lawsuit if you are found to have deleted emails that were relevant.

Not to mention, the thing about emails is you can delete your copies but not the ones that everyone else in the string has sitting in their inbox. Then you get the absolute worst of both worlds...you get caught trying to delete them and everyone gets to see what you tried to hide when the person on the other end of the conversation produces them.

[MarkGio]

I wonder if the emails could tell us about other things, such as collusion, expansion, leveraging for arenas, CBA negotiations, Olympics, etc