It is Thanksgiving in the Eklund house, and I thought I would take
advantage of this slow rumor week (too much Turkey being eaten by the
GMs) by reflecting and looking forward. To my Canadian Friends,
pretend it is October. You guys are are more polite and say thank
you earlier every year. I love Canadians!



I have been at this for about a year now.



www.hockeyrumors.blogspot.com started as a blog for and by friends who
knew a little more about the lockout and now we are a full fledged
website with so many friends in this business it blows me away.



My first thanks goes out to the fans of the best sport there is.
Thank you for embracing me and baring with me through some crazy days
and some technical glitches. The Website is just over two months
old and the amount of traffic is astounding. Thanks for your
patience over the last few weeks especially. There is much going
on behind the scenes right now at Hockeybuzz. Very exciting
stuff. Big stuff that will allow us to get more inside info to
you than ever before. I can't wait to share some of this with you
all.



I want to thank the fans of the sport for all of your emails. I
read them all, and the hockey knowledge of my readers blows me
away. I thank those of you who have lent your financial support to this
project. It helps, believe me it helps. From your $10 for emails
during the lockout to those of you who have bought season tickets on Hockeybuzz, it all helps.



I want to thank all of my sources. The many players, gms, coaches,
owners, folks at the PA , folks at the NHL, journalists, and the many,
many people who lost their jobs last year. Some came back, some moved
on.



I want to thank my bloggers, who have worked their tails off because
they simply believed in this project: Stan Fischler who really is
one of the most interesting and solid people I've met. Tim
Panaccio who has a passion for the sport that few share, and who has
always been there for me. Howard Berger for his Berger Fixes that get
all of Toronto paying attention. Kevin Gibson, who will be the next
great Canadian hockey writer. Andy Strickland, who I knew was
going to be a superstar within 5 minutes of meeting him and has really
scooped everyone on the Blues situation. Dan Russel, an absolute
legend who first had me on his show and now writes incredible stuff
that is eaten up by all, especially the fans of Vancouver (the largest
group of fans from any one team I have). Sunaya Supurji, my OHL
Blogger, whose sense of humor and dedication to the OHL continually
amazes me. PJ Stock, whose humor and honesty makes him the most
requested blogger and his future is brighter and brighter. Adam
Poirier, one of my hockey fantasy gurus, a real star in the making. I
get requests for Adam to do radio shows, and his rankings are my
personal favorite. Dan Wallace, the best fantasy hockey manager I have
ever known and a guy I have watched more hockey games with than anyone
on the planet. Kevin Greenstein, who has been a good friend and a
huge help, not to mention a guy who sees the hockey world in a unique
way. Jeremy White, another obvious future star in this biz.
Garth, my buddy who gets info and knows more people, and writes from
such a hilarious perspective it just slays me. Paul McCann, who has
brought us inside the surprising Predators with his tireless work
ethic. Bob Sturm, another guy who has had me on the radio, and
tuly amazes me with his perspectives. Kevin Lee, who is another
absolutel star that you will hear more from in the upcoming days
around here. Rick Sadowski and Ross McKeon who are taking us
inside the Avs and Sharks and have lent a great deal of class to the
site. Thanks to Tuck, my Cartoonist and Charlie Teljour for bringing
new comedy and helping us remember not to take this whole thing too
seriously...And to all my new bloggers whose talent is obvious and I
look forward to hearing more and more.......One of the top 5 most
important people...asdf...The man who developed what I feel is the
best fantasy hockey game on the internet today and to whom I owe more
than you can imagine! The guy is a genius when it comes to this
stuff..



Thanks to my chat buddies, especially my moderators. As soon as I'm done doing business, I'll be all yours!



Thanks to my podcasters: John Buccigross, Alan Hahn, Darren Pang,
Darren Dreger, Rob Kerr, Keith Jones and Stan Fischler. We have only
touched the surface with what we will be doing there.



I want to thank the all radio stations that have me on, especially
Elliot Price at Team 990 in Montreal, Rob Kerr at Fan960 in Calgary,
Pet Weber in Nashville, and Jim Rome.



Thanks to Scott Morrison, Darren Dreger and Dan Kim at Sportsnet
who have given me space to rant to all of Canada once a week.



I want to thank all the folks at Eklund's Hockey LLC, Tom Laidlaw and
the guys at Next Shift LLC. Next Shift is such a great concept
helping hockey players invest, I will be writing a story on them soon,
and Tom is just the man. If I could have one person to trust in
the world of hockey it would be Laidlaw.



I want to thanks the people at Avericom for getting the site up so quickly. Rick, Pete, Jose, Michelle.



I want to thank the folks at Pucksource.com who have created a great site that is pushing hockey on the internet to its limits.



Finally I really just want to thank the hockey world for letting me in
and understanding what I am trying to do here. This is about fun,
and escape from reality. When we didn't have the sport last year
we all learned what it means to each of us. I am a lucky guy, and
I know it.



Have a great day, and bring on December with and all the trade rumors you can shake a stick at!

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