Former NHL GM calls out teams for tampering in free agency.

A former National Hockey League general manager is speaking out about what he perceives to be a growing problem in the league, one that most hockey fans have begun to pick up on as well.

On a recent episode of the NHL Wraparound podcast, former New York Islanders and New York Rangers general manager Neil Smith called out the team's in the league for what has become rampant tampering in the lead up to free agency on July 1st.

"I was out at the NHL draft in Las Vegas, talked to a lot of hockey people, and they tell me that the tampering with the upcoming free agents is just rampant in the league," said Smith.

There are of course rules in place to prevent this kind of thing from happening, rules that Smith does not believe are doing the job of preventing teams and agents from tampering.

"There's ways to get around the tampering rules by talking to the agents through a third party or whatever you want to do," said Smith.

Smith also believes that there is no action being taken on the part of the league, and no complaints forthcoming from the teams in the league, due to the fact that every team in the league is guilty of doing the same thing.

"The problem... there isn't a whistleblower in the league because everybody is doing it," added Smith.

So if everyone is doing it, why is it a problem at all? Smith believes that the team's making deep runs in the Stanley Cup playoffs are left at a considerable disadvantage as a result of the tampering occurring while they are still actively playing meaningful NHL games.

"The hole that puts them in as far as preparing for the draft and preparing for free agency... you can't tell me that all the plethora of players that were signed on July 1st, that they negotiated with, and came to an agreement with, and signed a contact with that team on that day," said Smith.

Smith is of course incredibly well connected in hockey circles from his time as a former president, general manager and scout in the NHL, and if he is hearing complaints from those within the NHL it could mean that the league itself will soon take action to address this ongoing issue.