Zeitgeist: Internal NHL email leak includes correspondence about a "Nigerian Prince"

Tuesday night's posting at the Toronto Globe and Mail of internal NHL emails regarding an ongoing concussion lawsuit sent shockwaves through the hockey world. Outsiders were made privy to sometimes contentious, occasionally callous and often grammatically-challenged private messages between some of the league's highest ranking officers and some members of the media, revealing the NHL's thoughts on head injuries and fighting.

The 297 documents are a mountain of information, but one entry - obtained by Lighthouse Hockey via one of our anonymous sources within the NHL -  was left out of the Globe and Mail's searchable database. That's probably because it has almost nothing to do with any pending lawsuit or head injuries, and because it seems to be the kind of off-the-cuff interaction between co-workers found anywhere. Nevertheless, it presents a fascinating glimpse into how NHL big wigs conduct themselves behind closed doors.

The email chain spans from November 2011 to July of 2013, and was started with an unsolicited message sent to NHL vice president Colin Campbell from a "Thomos Dah," who claimed to have to inside track on an unclaimed inheritance once belonging to a Nigerian prince.

What follows is a rambling, combative and brutally honest exchange between men at the heart of a billion dollar industry and the annoying spam emails they get like the rest of us. Responses on the chain include those from Campbell, commissioner Gary Bettman, then-Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke, then-head of player safety Brendan Shanahan and venerable hockey reporter Bob McKenzie.

The full conversation is below in PDF form. To best follow the chain, scroll to the bottom and start there. But beware: it may change how you feel about the people running NHL going forward.

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This is fake. It is not real. Or, put another way, it's as real as any Nigerian Prince email has ever been.