Report: It appears that Jeff O'Neill is out at TSN

For fans who may have noticed the recent absence of former NHL forward Jeff O'Neill on TSN 1050 radio, the reason why has just been announced.

Minutes ago, a Bell Media spokesperson confirmed to The Athletic that O'Neill is "on leave" from the network, but no further details were released. O'Neill, who missed several of last week's shows, was not on today along regular co-hosts  Bryan Hayes and Jamie McLennan as the show returned to the air following the weekend. Additionally, attempts to reach out to O'Neill have been unsuccessful. 

O'Neill has worked with the network since 2013.

During today's Ovedrive broadcast, hosts Hayes, McLennan and contributor Frankie Corrado finally addressed O'Neill's absence from the show this past week... kinda.

To be fair, they didn't offer up much of an explanation.

“He is OK,” Hayes told the listening audience. “All we can say is that we appreciate the messaging. We appreciate the concern. We wanted to let you know that the ODog is on leave, and that’s as far as we’re going to go with it. But the show’s going to continue.”

Hayes suggested Corrado would be on the show “more going forward.”

“The ODog is on leave right now,” said Hayes. “He’s OK. He’s getting messages from people. He’s seeing all this kind of stuff. But that’s as far as we can go. That’s what we’re going to leave it at – that the ODog is on leave.”

“We’ve got lots of stuff to talk about,” said McLennan. “Everyone’s thinking of him. So we’ll address it moving forward.”

A veteran of 821 career National Hockey League games with the Hartford Whalers/Carolina Hurricanes and Toronto Maple Leafs, O'Neill scored 237 goals with 259 assists for a career total of 496 points.