The Hockey News

I STARTED READING THE Hockey News more than a half-century ago when I was six years old. In 2009 and then again in 2014, I had met with the then-owner of The Hockey News, Transcontinental, to see if they would sell it to me, but we were not able to come to terms. Then in 2015, The Hockey News, along with a portfolio of other magazines, was sold off to Quebecor’s TVA Publications. In 2018, and on my third attempt, I acquired The Hockey News. What came with the acquisition was the iconic brand, an incredible archive spanning seven decades, a dedicated and loyal base of subscribers and the very best sports journalists and editors in the world. Clearly a foundation was already there to build upon, however there were obvious…

THE 2019 MONEY and Power and Influence issue’s gatefold cover featured Gary Bettman, Don Fehr and Rene Fasel on the front cover and Gennady Timchenko, Zhou Yunjie and Billy Ngok on the foldout portion of the gatefold cover. In 2020, the Vegas Golden Knights’ entry into the NHL put Bill Foley and James Murren on the front cover and Rocky Wirtz, Craig Leipold and Ted Leonsis on the foldout portion of the gatefold cover. Seattle’s entrance into the league in 2021 influenced the decision to have David Bonderman and Jerry Bruckheimer on the front cover and Tod and Tim Leiweke on the foldout portion of the gatefold cover. The most recent cover was for 2022, and after repeating wins of the Stanley Cup, Tampa Bay’s Jeff Vinik and Steve Griggs owned…

W. GRAEME ROUSTAN: I want to talk to you a little bit about the Seattle story. Because over the past two or three years, it’s really been front and center, the ownership team, the team itself, the arena and everything that has gone into it. But I’d like to start with Tod Leiweke, if you don’t mind. Now, you all started with a clean slate up there, a blank canvas. And so you were able to put a team in place that was really a diverse and a very inclusive team. And it got a lot of attention. And I know Tod very well. And I know that was his intention. How has it been? You’ve had a couple of years now to have experienced that. How has that experience…

W. GRAEME ROUSTAN: Let me ask you about when you were hired five years ago. It was a different era, different time. There were different challenges. The world has changed in the last five years. Can you sort of just touch upon how your role has evolved from five years ago to today? KIM DAVIS: I think the most interesting part is that if you look at my title – social impact, growth and legislative affairs – there’s no mention of diversity, equity and inclusion. And that was purposeful. When Gary (Bettman) and I talked about me joining, I said to him that I didn’t want diversity in the title, because I’ve wanted us to begin to think about diversity as part of the DNA of how we operate the business.…

W. GRAEME ROUSTAN: I want to talk to you about the business side of your organization. The NHL came out with a Diversity and Inclusion Report. What is it that you are all focused on over there? As far as the diversity, equity and inclusion issues that we all have to face today? VALERIE CAMILLO: Well, first and foremost, it is integral to everything we do, we don’t look at it as a standalone, we’ve taken the values in the perspective of DEI, and we’ve integrated them into the organization in a lot of different ways. And from the perspective of day-to-day, how we’re living the values of DEI. The first and foremost thing we’ve done is we’ve diversified our workforce. And so, we’ve added in not only diverse employees with…

W. GRAEME ROUSTAN: The first thing I’d like to get into here is Kim Davis. Kim Davis is on the cover of this issue of The Hockey News along with Samantha Holloway and Valerie Camillo. But Kim was hired almost five years ago today. In the past five years, could you have imagined when she was hired today the amount of work and effort that she’s put in? GB: More importantly, the impact. And the answer to your question is I had very high expectations, and she has exceeded all of them. She has been not only a breath of fresh air, but the expertise that she brings, not only to the legal office, but our clubs have come to rely on her as somebody who really has the expertise. And…