Emily Kaplan

Emily Kaplan (born May 7, 1991) is an American sports reporter who works for ESPN, covering the National Hockey League, including rinkside coverage for the Stanley Cup playoffs. She is also a panelist on Around the Horn.^[1] She joined the network in 2017^[2] after beginning her career at Sports Illustrated,^[3] where she covered the National Football League.

Kaplan grew up in Montclair, New Jersey. She attended Penn State University from 2009–2013, where she wrote for the student newspaper, The Daily Collegian. She also worked for several professional outlets, including the Associated Press, and Philadelphia Inquirer, during the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal, all while she was still a student.^[4] After graduation, Kaplan had an internship with the Boston Globe, then got a job as a fact checker/reporter at Sports Illustrated. She became a Sports Illustrated staff writer at age 24, earning several magazine bylines before joining ESPN to cover hockey.^{[citation needed]}

In August of 2020, Kaplan and Greg Wyshynski authored a controversial article^[5] critical of the NHL for not shutting down quickly enough in the wake of the Shooting of Jacob Blake. In the article, Kaplan and Wyshynsi relied on the opinions of players who had no knowledge of the facts of the case and failed to acknowledge critical facts of the case that ultimately led to the exoneration of the officer involved in the shooting. No mentions were made of Blake being armed with a knife, Blake continuing to resist arrest despite having been warned and tased, or the fact that Blake was wanted for an outstanding third degree sexual assault warrant.^[6] No updates were made to the article when the officer was later cleared of all wrongdoing by local,^[7] state^[8] and federal officials.^[9]