Hearing the Music Through the Noise: The Value of NHL Insiders
We crave behind-the-scenes scoops, but when insiders report, are we getting truth or spin? Here's how agents, teams, and insiders shape the narratives fans eat up.

Whether the topic is sports, politics, or pop culture, we have become a culture that is obsessed with drama, with rumors, with knowing what's going on behind-the-scenes with our favorite (or least favorite) organizations, celebrities, or politicians. Insiders give us the opportunity to catch glimpses, to satiate that desire. But how much of what they feed us is about giving us good information, and how much is about generating content? And how are we supposed to know the difference?
Insiders (at least in sports) are broken down into two main groups. You've got your NHL Insiders like Elliotte Friedman, Kevin Weekes, Dave Pagnotta, and Emily Kaplan; and your Team Insiders (or Beats) like Vince Mercogliano, Mollie Walker, Larry Brooks, Peter Baugh (not to be confused with Pete Buttigieg, Joe, who is a completely different person). The two groups serve very different purposes and have access to different information which impacts the potential accuracy of what they're sharing.
That's a lot of word salad I just tossed at you right there, so let me try to clean it up.
NHL Insiders
Strengths: News that impacts the NHL as a whole, tracking down specific stories that impact more than one team. They also often get a heads up from people within the league office when there's a trade or signing that has been registered, but not yet publicly reported by individual teams.
Weaknesses: In-depth analysis of any one specific team.
Beats
Strengths: Observation-based reporting and in-depth reporting on a specific organization.
Weaknesses: Any evaluation or rumors concerning teams that they're not directly responsible for covering.
Seems simple right? C'mon gang, you know that anything that seems this easy isn't going to be this easy.