How I Became a Rangers “Insider” And Got My First Scoop
Nowadays there are hockey people who make good bucks by essentially doing virtually nothing and they are called “insiders.” (The Maven can think of better things to call them; but not now.)
The trick for these “insiders” is to know almost everything before almost anyone else and then tell everyone else that Manny Cotman will be traded whenever. Stuff like that and if you like stuffing, tune in to Ellotte (Spelled Right) Friedman.
This 54-year Toronto lad is “The Insider’s Insider” and if he can’t tell you when Connor McDavid will re-sign with the Oilers, nobody can; with the possible exception of Mrs. Lauren Kyle McDavid, and she’s not talking.
Because Friedman is so good at what he does, you have to figure that at least 2,315 NHL pipelines are directly connected to his itsy-bitsy cellphone.
But I got news for you and Sir Friedman: The Maven was 60 years ahead of Elliotte; and that goes for Kevin Weekes, Darren Dreger and any other of the “current” insiders.
In 1965 I was Rangers beat writer for the New York Journal-American, Hearst’s flagship evening broadsheet, having followed award-winning Dave Anderson into that role.
During those glorious NHL Original Six years, the expression “insider” didn’t exist, except that my sports editor Max Kase did run an appetizing gossip column called “Briefkase, so that must have made him the first of the species.
As for The Maven, my job was to write up Rangers games, pre-game stuff and trades when they were announced. I didn’t think much of getting a scoop or beat as we called them until I met an American Hockey League writer named Charlie Barton.
