Off Wing Opinion

This story is sure to shake the NHL to its foundations:

Phoenix Coyotes assistant coach Rick Tocchet financed a nationwide sports gambling ring in which about a dozen current NHL players placed bets, authorities said Tuesday.

Tocchet, a former NHL star, was served with a criminal complaint Monday and was expected to travel from his Arizona home to answer charges of promoting gambling, money laundering and conspiracy, state police Col. Rick Fuentes said.

Fuentes said an investigation into the New Jersey-based ring discovered the processing of more than 1,000 wagers, exceeding $1.7 million, on professional and college sports, mostly football and baseball. He declined to identify the NHL players who made wagers.

Wow.

UPDATE: Another view from Deadspin.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Here's some confirmation of something that reader Ben Wright hinted at not too long ago (link from Deadspin):

Action News has learned that the ring could also be linked to former Philadelphia Flyer Mark Recchi - who now plays for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Janet Jones - who is the wife of hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, and the ring could be tied to the crime family of Bruno Scarfo.

Is the next question, "What did Gretzky know and when did he know it?" Who knows where this will lead now. Stay tuned.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Here's a story out of Arizona that combines wire copy with some local reporting from David Vest of the Arizona Republic:

Coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky said Tocchet would be on the bench tonight and that it would be "business as usual."

"Everyone in the world is innocent until proven guilty," Gretzky said. "He's a great guy and a good friend. He's just going through a tough time right now, obviously, and we've got to let it run its course.

"It's a situation that's obviously a concern for the organization at this point."

I bet it is.

More coverage at Vancouver Canucks Op Ed and Igloo.

James Mirtle is home on his couch, but he's still blogging.

More later, that's for sure.

UPDATE: Here's a statement from NHL VP Bill Daly:

NEW YORK -- National Hockey League Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly today issued the following statement regarding allegations against Phoenix Coyotes assistant coach Rick Tocchet:

"We have just become aware of the allegations against Mr. Tocchet and the possible involvement of some unnamed players.

"While we know little more than has been released publicly, we understand that Mr. Tocchet's conduct in no way involved betting on hockey. And, while betting on football or other sports may be the pervasive issue, it in no way justifies poor judgment or otherwise alleged inappropriate conduct.

"With respect to the alleged conduct of the unnamed players, it is difficult to have any comment at this point, although everything we have heard, again, indicates it is not hockey-related. We take this issue very seriously and will monitor the proceedings closely."

Here's Allan Muir of Sports Illustrated:

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman's in a tough spot. One thing he has to remember is that the integrity of the game supercedes everything, and every individual.

Tocchet has been charged. Whether or not he's guilty at this point is not the issue. He has damaged the game. He needs to be suspended indefinitely, today.

And when the six NHLers are named, they need to be suspended for the remainder of the season. Immediately.

Here's a short summary of Gretzky's travails this season.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Lots of new details in this ESPN wire piece. Click here, and you'll go to a Fox Sports story that includes a link to an interview with Gretzky and Mike Ricci.

YET ANOTHER UPDATE: Here's a new twist from TSN:

Even though Superintendent Rick Fuentes of the New Jersey State Police has been quoted as saying the betting was on games other than hockey, Rodgers is not prepared to unequivocally say there wasn't betting on hockey.

"There are many more stones that have to be turned over before we can say that," Rodgers told TSN. "We have a duty to finish exploring."

Sources in New Jersey say the police are not only exploring whether any of the hockey people bet on hockey, but whether any of them may have supplied inside information to aid and abet in the illegal betting operation.

Now gambling on hockey is back on the table. Can you say black eye?

And finally, some words from Jamie Fitzpatrick.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Some other interesting information from Philly native, the SportsProf.

Here's an interesting factoid from the New York Times that gives a better picture of the alleged scale of the ring:

The accusations resulted from a four-month investigation, Operation Slapshot, by the New Jersey State Police. The ring took in more than $1.7 million on 1,000 wagers during a recent 40-day period, said Col. Joseph R. Fuentes, the superintendent of the State Police.

Before, I'd only heard the $1.7 million figure in isolation. But if that was just collected over a period of 40 days, the size of the operation is probably much larger. If you're looking for character witnesses, click here.

BTW: I don't think it's any coincidence that the authorities in New Jersey waited until the day after the Super Bowl to pounce. I'm sure that increased the size of the haul.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 7th, 2006 at 12:52 pm by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.