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Heading into tomorrow's contest, I wanted to do a feature that I had meant to do with the St. Louis Blue but just flat out forgot to get it out in time. I had wanted to do a five question survey for each of the teams in the Central Division to give some of us Wings fans a little more insight into the other squads. I think it's a pretty good way to learn more about a team and what to watch for when the teams square off.

Anyway, this first segment is with Matthew Dirt, the "Head of Cyber Division" over at the SBNation Blackhawks' site Second City Hockey. Matt was kind enough to take time out of his schedule for us so hopefully you'll do the same and read what he has to say. Also, keep comments respectful.

1. Nikolai Khabibulin was a strong point for the Blackhawks last year. Will Cristobal Huet be able to fill that void or is the gameplan similar to the Red Wings last year of trying to just outmuscle a team offensively?

SCH: That's without a doubt the biggest question many Hawk fans are asking. As we've been trying to hammer home though, Huet's numbers (2.53, .909) weren't terribly far off from Khabby's (2.33, .919). Khabby had the better year but was far from phenomenal. Very similar, Huet had stretches where he was brilliant, but he can also be maddening. In the long run though, I think Huet should be able fill-in just fine. The Hawks have improved defensively with the addition of John Madden and players like Dave Bolland and Andrew Ladd improving their defensive games. Of course, the true strength of this team are the forwards - so we'll try to just outscore you most nights too. Hopefully they can do a better job of that than they did last spring.

2. Everyone in Detroit knows about Marian Hossa leaving for Chicago but Tomas Kopecky's departure was substantially less "loud". How well has Kopecky fit in the offensive plans so far and what type of expectations do people have for him?

SCH: Kopecky hasn't really done much so far to make an overall impression with the Blackhawks other than being "that other Detroit guy". The biggest thing he add is the ability to fit in at center if needed since the Hawks are fairly thin in that spot. Right now Kopecky is skating on the 4th line, which along with Ben Eager, makes for a pretty damn good 4th line. So far with the Blackhawks though, Coach Q has changed up the lines about as often people make a Patrick Kane/Cabbie joke.. so we'll see how long he stays in that spot and what his overall role will be.

3. Who is the most underrated player on the Blackhawks? In the same thought process, who is the most overrated player?

SCH: There's a few players who might be a bit underrated but we'll see how long that lasts. I mentioned Ladd and Bolland earlier, partly because I think they're two huge pieces to this team. They both played on the same line last year with Havlat on the wing. Bolland had a great year, signed a big contract and now has to go about proving that he's a #2 Center behind Toews. So far he's a great shutdown player who can come up with a big goal when needed. Ladd is the same way on the left wing. This year I expect him to focus much more on his defensive role and really frustrate other teams' stars. With all the talk about the offensive firepower - these two don't get much credit but for the Hawks to win, these two really have to live up to our expectations.

As for the most overrated - I think that might be Kris Versteeg. He was certainly an amazing surprise last year but faded out once other teams started really paying attention to him. His performance in Game 4 of the Hawks/Wings series was just shameful and I'm not sold on him the way I was in the first half of last year. A lot is being made of Dustin Byfuglien too but ask any Hawk fan and they're probably still skeptical of him. He was crucial late last season and of course in the Playoffs (Luongo still isn't the same...) but all of us are keeping an eye out for him to revert to the lazy, sloppy and disinteresed player we saw for most of last year. If he's turned a corner and is actually going to play hard all year (and so far he has 3 points in 2 games)... you'll quickly learn to hate him.

4. Which player is under the most pressure to perform well this season? A lot of people from the outside would suggest Brian Campbell but insiders might see someone else.

SCH: Campbell certainly has a lot to prove to many Hawk fans who were unhappy with his play last year but plenty of others realize he filled his role pretty well (leading the defensemen in points, helping to greatly improve the power play and filling in the spin-o-rama we've all missed since Savvy left). As I said above, Buff certainly has to prove a lot but he's so oblivious I'm not sure he really feels any "pressure". Although Havlat didn't do much in his three years here, he became absolutely adored by many in his final year - so Hossa will have some pretty big skates to fill in a few fans' eyes. And of course you may have heard of all the fun Patrick Kane got into during his summer vacation.

5. How is the front office situation following the fiasco of the summer?

SCH: All quiet on the Western Madison Ave Front. With the fiasco with the RFA contracts, the sudden and poorly timed firing of GM Dale Tallon and the PR nightmare of one of their brightest young stars beating an older working man... there isn't much room for things to get worse. So far though, Tallon's replacement, Stan Bowman, has been pretty quiet since there hasn't been much to do for him yet. Of course there's plenty of fans already reading dreading the doomsday that will be the expiring entry contracts of Kane, Toews and Duncan Keith - so I'm sure we'll hear plenty from these clowns soon. Winning forgives just about anything in professional sports though, so hopefully they'll just focus on that.

BONUS! Do people in Chicago still hate Niklas Kronwall for the hit on Martin Havlat, even following Havlat's disgruntled departure?

SCH: Yup - Still hope that someone knocks him into next week. It was technically a clean hit, I know, but I still hate him.

Once again, thanks to Matt for taking part in this and hopefully it gave you some insight to the 'Hawks. 

Our next installment of Behind the Blog features Dirk, SBN's newest hockey blogger. He runs our Nashville Predators blog, On the Forecheck. Even if he is a Preds fan, it's a fantastic read from the former Michigander and I particularly enjoy his statistical analysis and the fresh perspective it gives me on hockey. Dirk took the time to answer ten questions about himself, his blog and the Nashville Predators for Behind the Blog.

Q.1 - On the Forecheck just came to SBN last week, but you've been blogging since July 2005. Why did you start blogging and how did you find your way to SBN?

Actually I started writing online about hockey back in the mid-1990's, for sites like In The Crease and e-Sports, it's just that back then we didn't call them blogs. We had awkward phrases like "webzine", and such. I took a break for a few years when I moved to Indiana, but in 2005 I relocated to Nashville and decided to take up the hobby once again using the free blogging platforms that had become available. It's all about sharing my view of the game, and enjoying the conversation with with other fans, either directly within the comments of a post, or through a series of pieces at different blogs that all push the same issue forward.

The partnership with SBN came about pretty recently, James Mirtle was looking to round out his coverage and was kind enough to offer me the Predators gig.

I'm sure this one will touch off a few nerves! I'm a lifelong Red Wings fan, having attended my first game as a kid at the Olympia, and going through the bad pre-Yzerman days all the way through the good times of the Scotty Bowman championships. Since moving to Nashville, however, and particularly since the ownership transfer, I've been nothing but impressed with the Predators organization, and I can now say that I'm a Preds fan first and foremost (as opposed to the infamous Pred Wings, other ex-Michiganders down here who still pull for Detroit first).

There's simply nothing like the spirit around a team that is battling to break new ground and create some history, just as the Wings did in the late 90's to shake off decades of disappointment. This Nashville team is trying to carve out their own niche, under some very trying circumstances. The salary dump that Craig Leipold ordered before selling the team undid years of effort on David Poile's part, but the team has continued to outperform widespread expectations of failure.

I'd been interested in this sort of thing for a long time; back in college, one year (1990, maybe) I tried to catalog characteristics of every Red Wings goal scored that year, recording things like where the shot came from, what kind it was, etc. on 3x5 cards. The problem, of course, is how to work with that data (basically, I couldn't do anything useful with it).

Leaping ahead to 2005 when I started getting back into it, by then NHL.com provided lots of raw information that could be downloaded, parsed, and loaded into spreadsheets, which made all of my work possible. I think there's definitely a future for advanced statistical analysis within the league (and I bargain it's already used more than is publicly discussed). The stakes are simply too high to ignore it completely.

Q.4 - What's one change would you like to see the Predators make whether it's on or off the ice?

I'll give you one of each. On the ice, get a proven playmaking center to give the team three lines with some offensive punch. Off the ice, sign David Poile to a new multi-year contract. When Leipold put the team up for sale, he went to working on a one-year deal.

Since I've got three kids (6, 6, and 5), and my oldest son just started playing hockey, "free time" is a pretty sparse commodity. My wife and I do like to find the worst possible 70's horror movies streaming on Netflix, however. We're watching "Devil Times Five" as I write this, and it's wonderfully awful.

I think the Preds will be here, continuing to make progress. The new ownership has the right approach towards building the fanbase, by investing in and enrolling the season ticket holders to get the word out, and reaching out to the corporate community with a message of value that they can provide, not one of "support us or we're leaving" as the previous regime used. Combine that with the general trend whereby Nashville is among the faster growing big cities in the country, and I expect that, absent some miracle run to the Stanley Cup Finals, the Preds will grow their business at a rate slightly above the NHL overall for the next several years. If the league revenues grow by 2-3%, the Preds might grow by 4-5%, something like that. It'll never be an elite NHL market considering its size, but shooting for 20th-25th in the league is a reasonable target.

It's about 50/50; I'm a partial season-ticket holder, and I also enjoy media credentials on occasion.

I can't see him doing anything to jeopardize the team heading into next season, so I'd be very surprised to see him deal a player under contract going forward. Given that limitation, I'd expect something like a depth prospect and/or a mid-round pick for a lesser-name rental forward who can help the attack.  

Current: Probably a tie between Evgeni Malkin (unbelievable on-ice vision) and Alex Ovechkin (the most determined goal-scorer I've ever seen).

Retired: Steve Yzerman; a sensational talent who learned over time that talent alone doesn't cut it, and grew into one of the great all-around players ever.

There are so many; Hockey Analytics, Irreverent Oiler Fans, Lowetide, etc. I've got about 200 hockey blogs in my RSS feed, and the great thing about today's hockey blogosphere is the diversity of opinion and style that continues to develop. Just when you think all the bases have been covered, new voices keep coming out of nowhere, and that's a very good thing indeed.

This week's Behind the Blog features Dominik, the blogger behind Lighthouse Hockey. LH is the SBN go-to blog for all things New York Islanders. He took some time to answer our questions about him, the Islanders, and his blog.

Q.1 - Lighthouse Hockey just came to SBN in October. Why did you start blogging and how did you find your way to SBN?

I started an Islanders blog for the 2007-08 season, partly to see if I could stick with it and partly because, frankly, the Islanders needed more coverage. Turned out the Islanders had decided the same and started their "BlogBox" program around the same time. I didn't apply because I knew, being out of town (in St. Louis), I wouldn't be at the games to ask questions. But it was great to see them pursue that channel; there are a lot of great, distinct voices in the Isles blogosphere as a result. It's a fun group.

After last season, I determined I didn't like the template I'd been working under. So I quit the network I was blogging on and created a Blogspot home for "Islander Frontier," just to keep scratching that itch. But I've always loved SBN's user interface and the way it can build passionate, thoughtful communities. So I knew if I could "get the keys" to an SBN site, I'd be eager to give it a go.

In a word, my dad. The Islanders and Blues were my first exposure to hockey and the first game I saw in person. When I was a tot, my dad religiously watched any hockey on TV he could find. The Isles were in the middle of five consecutive trips to the Stanley Cup finals. Hard to imagine now, but at the time, local televised games in St. Louis were rare. That meant almost as many Islanders games (playoffs were easier to find on TV) as Blues. I'd come into the living room and see what my dad was watching and imitate playing the sport with his cane. Sensing a potential convert, he'd tell me stories about old Blues and (ex-Blue) Al Arbour's Islanders.

Who says they won't win it this year?! No, from the beginning, I've tried to look at this season as both Year 1 of rebuilding and as a lab experiment. They've been "getting by," squeaking into the 8th seed for too many years now. The mistakes of Milbury had never been adequately cleansed. They simply had to start over, take their lumps (both in losses and in 1st-year coach mistakes), groom young assets like Kyle Okposo and Josh Bailey, test unknowns like Frans Nielsen and Jeff Tambellini -- figure out what they have going into Year 2 of this overdue process.

They also had to see if Scott Gordon's aggressive forechecking system can be implemented now and for the future. See if internal or external pressure pushes him to adjust it for his sub-par roster, or see if he could just focus on drilling it into the heads of the players who will be here a while. That experiment's been a mixed bag, partly because of our ridiculous injuries. But this is the best time -- a season of low expectations, starting over -- to experiment and fiddle with things to set up the future.

I'm mostly happy with the GM and coach: I think they have the right idea about how to build a successful, entertaining team in today's NHL. Some off-ice issues are beyond their control, like their arena redevelopment and the NY media's game of "pretend hockey isn't here." I do wish Garth Snow weren't so secretive with things like injury info, and I wish they would just change back to their original uniform design and stick with it for all eternity.

I write in a lot of different styles for different audiences. I play a lot of hockey still, and I play drums quite inadequately. My wife and I try to travel, eat, drink and be merry whenever possible.

Like I mentioned above, my dad had a lot to do with it. He was a Czech immigrant to St. Louis who adopted the Blues when the NHL expanded in 1967. He was always "loyal" to every good Blue who was traded away. So he told me to pay attention to Arbour's Islanders, too (Arbour was a former Blues player and coach). Still, when we played Stiga table hockey, and we labeled and traded our guys with the numbers and names of real players -- and even kept stats on their Stiga performance -- he'd only let us use Blues players. He was a confusing man.

Blogging-wise, I'm able to think about the Islanders more rationally than I am the Blues. Both clubs have been through a lot in the last decade or so, but I find I'm able to look at the current Isles club more objectively because I'm not surrounded every day by pundits and fans who have shared all the same pains. The Blues ... I was a season-ticket holder as Bill Laurie bought them, inflated their payroll, then chopped their knees out from under them when he realized he couldn't get an NBA team. I'm surrounded by fans who never recovered, and by others who expect those mistakes to be corrected overnight. There's a lot of raw wounds there.

Basically, I don't want the emotional history of every mistake of past regimes to cloud my current observations on a team, and I find that's much easier to do with the Islanders since I live outside the market.

Hardly at all, thanks to the distance. I of course catch them in person every time they're in or near St. Louis. So it's almost all Center Ice feed for me. The first live NHL game I attended was a December 1988 8-0 Islanders loss in St. Louis. Talk about mixed emotions.

I found out about it on the bottom line ticker on TV., and I fell out of my chair. Couldn't believe it. I thought we were done with absurdly long deals after the Yashin fiasco. It had Charles Wang's handwriting all over it. In both cases, I see what Wang was after: a franchise identity, some long-term stability, an outward sign that people are here to stay. In the DiPietro case, there was also the likelihood of his salary ($4.5M) eventually becoming a bargain rate for a #1 goalie, which is a defensible idea in theory.

But bargain rate or not, you know a very active, butterfly goalie is not likely to play to 40 without some injuries and without serious decline. You know whenever that decline happens, it's going to be an awkward transition to who ever becomes the new #1. If I ran a business, I wouldn't tie myself to 10- or 15-year deals to guys whose productivity depends on their body's limited peak time window, and whose professional happiness depends on success and whim. But I don't run a business.

Today, I don't feel too much better about it thanks to DiPietro's hip and knee surgeries -- those started earlier than I expected. Modern medicine is great; maybe he's fixed and "good as new" for the time being. But today's butterfly goalies succumb to hip issues all the time. I'd never make a 15-year bet on any one of them -- whether he's Patrick Roy or Patrick Lalime -- making it to 40 as healthy, NHL-caliber goalies.

That is so hard. I loved that Mike Bossy took repeated abuse and just kept on scoring. It's one thing to be a physical force who can fight. It's quite another to say, "I can take anything you dish out, and I'll still put up 60 goals." That said, I loved Bryan Trottier, I loved Brian Sutter in St. Louis, I loved Doug Gilmour before a, ahem, "controversial personal matter" got him booted out of St. Louis. The nostalgic picture of a hockey player to me is Bobby Nystrom, flying down the wing with locks flowing like streamers and mustache steering the way, doing anything his team needed him to do. Currently, it's hard not to love how Trent Hunter plays this game.

I love the spirit and the community that the guys at Pension Plan Puppets have built. And what first introduced me to SBN was when the MLB Cardinals blog, Viva el Birdos, moved to SBN. It was started by a Cardinals fan who lives in Colorado, and from Day 1 it was a great example of how someone could run a passionate, smart, analytical blog about a team from outside that team's locale.

Obviously, Lighthouse Hockey is nowhere near either of those. But my hope is that with SBN tools and by setting a tone and a consistent presence, it can become a fun, reliable place where Islanders fans can run with the interactive tools and take over the conversation.

It's another segment of Behind the Blog and this week, we get to hear from Travis aka OdinMercer. He blogs about the Phoenix Coyotes over at Five for Howling for SBN. His always humorous take on the team makes for a great read so be sure to head over there and check it out!

Q.1 - Five for Howling just came to SBN this month. Why did you start blogging and how did you find your way to SBN?

Well, I started out small helping moderate a lightly trafficked Coyotes message board and doing the occasional post there. Then I started contributing to my friend Onyx's site Coyotes Hip Check. Frank D from Pensburgh approached her about moving over here since she was about the only game in town in terms of Coyotes blogs at the time, but she built her site from the ground up and while she liked the setup over here, liked doing her own thing. She mentioned that I might be interested and things just went from there. I like blogging because it lets me express my fandom in a way that's intelligent (mostly) and funny. I got into it simply because there wasn't anyone writing about my team. While places like Toronto and Detroit have a glut of coverage, we have a beat writer that only writes about home games. I wanted people to at least know about my team.

Q.2 - When and why did you become a Phoenix Coyotes fan?

I became a fan as soon as they moved from Winnipeg and made that awesome kachina coyote logo. Even when I was young I liked hockey. I would go to Phoenix Roadrunners games, who were then in the IHL, and watch the games even though I really didn't know much about the game when I was younger. I knew that I had fun watching it though. As a side note, those games used to be pretty full here, and while there's more sports competition now, anyone who thinks hockey can't find fans in the desert is loco holmes. I simply transferred my fandom to the new NHL team in town.

Q.3 - The Coyotes are just one spot out of the playoff picture. Do you think your team will make the playoffs this season and what do they need to do in the next 50 games to get there?

Well, as of Sunday when I'm writing this, the Yotes have climbed into 7th in the West. I think if the young kids keep improving and Bryz stays near his current form they'll not only be in, but they'll be dangerous to anyone that faces them. They have a bad habit of playing to the level of the opponent, and when San Jose, Pittsburgh and even your Wings came to town, we got points off of all them. Over the last six games we're 4-0-2 because our goaltending has kept us in games and we've played like a hungry team. If we can stay hungry when the games get tougher towards the end of the season we'll still be in the picture. We just can't fade like we did last year.

Q.4 - What do you hope to achieve with your blog over the next year?

I want to be the first or second place that Coyotes fans check for news about the Coyotes. I want to continue to improve my writing and create better access to the team or staff so that I can get real stories and not just what the team releases on its own website. I want to create a fun place for fans to talk and create a big community. I also want to make more Onion style pieces like the Montreal relocation story I made a couple weeks ago. Also, more LOLcats... Maybe.

Editor's Note: Yay for more LOLcats!

Q.5 - When you're not obsessing over the Coyotes, what do you like to do in your free time?

I like to play video games, create goofy images in photoshop, chase the cats with remote control cars, spend time with my wife and read books. I'm also an elementary school teacher, I paint and take photographs and when I have time and supplies I like to do printmaking.

Q.6 - Are you a big sports fan in general or is it primarily the Coyotes? If you follow other sports, what teams do you enjoy watching and why?

Well, I like other sports okay, but really hockey is the only one where I'll just turn on a game even if it's not my teams. I root for the other Phoenix area teams with the exception of Arizona State University, but only because I went to University of Arizona so I have to hate ASU. I think it even says that on the fine print of my diploma. If the Phoenix teams make the playoffs I'm always interested simply because it doesn't happen much, except for the Suns. Other than that I have some weird thing with World Cup that I have to watch it when it comes around. I don't know why. I never watch any other soccer, and couldn't tell you any players, but World Cup I'll stay up ‘til the wee hours to see.

Q.7 - Do you attend many Phoenix games or do you primarily watch games on TV?

I go to all home games. I actually have season tickets. I'm the one. (Just kidding, there are actually many, many STHs.) I sit in the cheap seats, but I'm almost always there, and if away games are on TV I avoid making other plans.

Q.8 - The Coyotes are a fairly young team. Which young player excites you the most with either their current playing ability or the potential to blossom in the future?

I can only pick one? Too bad, I have two. Everyone knows about Kyle Turris and he'll be a special player one day, but my current favorites are Mikkel Boedker and Enver Lisin. Boedker has been pretty amazing already and as his confidence increases he's just going to get better. He is fast and has out of this world puck control skills. He'll circle the entire zone over and over looking for a shot or pass, and on the defensive end will take pucks away without the opposition even realizing it. Enver Lisin is also a speedster, hmm... wonder if I just like that in a player. If he can get on the break he's gone. He draws a ton of penalties both because the other guys intentionally grab him so he doesn't speed off or because they're simply to slow and accidentally hook him. It always helps to leave the other guys shorthanded.

Q.9 - Who is your favorite hockey player (current or retired)? Why?

I have to go with our Captain Shane Doan. I know everybody likes the guy, but he's been great for our team. He leads them on the ice, and off is so great with the fans. Half the time they end up pulling him out of the signing events halfway through because he won't stop talking to fans and the line gets backed up. He's a great hockey ambassador and I can't think of anyone I'd rather have wearing the C for our team.

Q.10 - Is there any hockey blog or website that you look to for inspiration?

Other than Winging it in Motown? Hmm... Pension Plan Puppets has a great community and I hope I can generate something similar on my site. I love places like Four Habs Fans, Melt Your Face Off and even sometimes the PensBlog because they all love hockey, but also have great senses of humor and don't take the hockey insanely serious. Basically anywhere that has a good mix of fun and hockey will get me to read.

This week's Behind the Blog features Nathan who is the brains behind Hockey Wilderness, the SBN Minnesota Wild blog formerly known as The State of Hockey. Please come by next Monday for the next installment of Behind the Blog.

Q.1 - SBN had a Minnesota Wild blog back in August 2007, but changed hands and names in September 2008 (if I understand correctly). Why did you start blogging and how did you find your way to SBN?

My good friend Jesse is the manager over at Twinkie Town and I've been an active member of his blog since before the big move to SBN. When he moved to SBN, i found what was then The State of Hockey, and wrote a few things here and there but it wasn't a very active community. During this offseason I decided to try to do my part to have some sense of community around Hockey Wilderness. I started by posting the ten big questions for the Wild this offseason that Michael Russo (the Star Tribune's beat writer for the Wild and host of Russo's Rants) posted, answered them from my perspective and was hoping to get some conversation going. Well, after the fourth or fifth, FrankD from Pensburgh dropped me a line and asked if I would be interested in taking over. He spoke to Blez, and I took over shortly after.
 
This is actually my first foray into sports blogging, my other blog endeavors have either been for work, or based around food & wine, books and film. Frankly, this is much easier, since for the most part, I'm reacting to what's going on rather than coming up with original content on original ideas.

I was 15 when the North Stars were stolen by Norm Green to Dallas. Until that point, the North Stars were my second hockey love. (The Minnesota Golden Gophers will always have the sentimental top spot in my heart.) When the Wild came back on October 6, 2000, and the state fell once again in love with the NHL, I followed suit. A friend and I spent a ridiculous amount of money that year to get a 1/4 season ticket 7 rows off the ice in the corner the Wild shoot at twice. Those 11 games were the start of something special. Yeah, we only saw two wins and two ties but it was an entirely different feel than the college game. We also had season tickets for the Gophers, but the NHL game is so much faster that I was drawn to it. At that point, I drifted toward following the Wild much more closely than the Gophers, and it's been that way since.

For a non-situation locally, it's an enormous situation nationally. The Gaborik issue has really fallen off the radar in the press here in the Twin Cities. He's become an affter thought in the recaps and coverage of the Wild. The team has really won the PR battle. Gabby has become the enemy, wanting too much money, and with his ongoing groin issues, people don't see getting much of a return on him if any at all. Personally I'd like to see him get healthy, play out his contract and re-sign with the team. However, that's a pipe dream at this point it seems. Ron Salcer has become the Scott Boras of the NHL in town here, and at this point the fans are willing to move Gaborik for a bag of pucks and some new sticks for Mikko Koivu. It's now Koivu's team, he's the face of the franchise.
 
Now, if Gaborik's not healthy, I don't see them getting much for him at all at the deadline. I didn't like the Montreal trade. I don't see Higgins fitting in, and Halak's a non-factor. This team doesn't need goaltending at all. The fear is that Risebrough will pull a Bill Smith and get prospects for Gaborik much like Smith got in return for Johan Santana. If it were up to me, Gaborik would be moved for one second-liner and two prospects or a prospect and a draft choice. However, he HAS to be moved to the Eastern division. He has much more value in the East. Maybe with a team like the Bruins or Canadiens. Of course, before Burke took over in Toronto, I would have said he would be a good fit there, but now he won't fit Burke's "style."

Hockey Wilderness is actually in a pretty interesting position. SBN is better than a typical blog because of the ability for interaction amongst the users. With the users being able to create their own content in addition to commenting on content created by others, it's much more Web 2.0 than most blogging platforms out there. I think that positions us well to develop an actual community rather than one voice speaking to many. However, there is a dearth of Wild blogs out there right now, and many of them have avid readership. My goal is to develop a community, not just build readership (we've added 42 members since I took over in September). Twinkie Town has really grown into a great community here at SBN, and that's my model. Right now we have three people adding content on a weekly basis. I'd like to get something closer to 10-12 by the end of the season, with the majority being developed in FanPosts and FanShots. If you look at Pension Plan Puppets, they have an incredible community. PPP and Chemmy have done excellent work over there and now their community members create far more content on a weekly basis than those two do, which I think is the ultimate key here at SBN. 

Depends upon one major factor: Marian Gaborik. If Gaborik comes back healthy and plays out the season, they are still the favorites to win the division. No other team in the Northwest is impressive right now, including Vancouver. If they move Gaborik for talent that can step right in and add scoring, they will be in there at the end. If they add prospects only for Gaborik, they'll fight for a playoff spot. If nothing changes at all, and they go on like they are now, they'll stick around in the 6-8 battle and have another first round exit. If they have another first-round exit, the front office will hear it from the fans. Unfortunately there are so many fans on the waiting list for season tickets, that it isn't going to matter until they fail in the post-season for another few years.

I am a huge TV and movie fan. I have 33 shows on the TiVo season pass (though not all in season at the same time, and a couple are being canceled in January; DAMN YOU ABC!!!!). Aside from that, I read voraciously, love to cook and every Saturday and Sunday morning my wife and I watch the English Premier League games on Fox Soccer. We love to watch English football (though we're a divided household, she supports Chelsea and I'm a Manchester United fan since 1998). This was a tough summer with England not being in the European Championships, but it's only two years until World Cup 2010 in South Africa, and England will be back with a vengeance. Other than that, we work to travel. We try to take at least one European vacation a year. Next on our list is Brussels and Bruges.
 
Oh, and I love to play hockey. I played in a Wild Adult league until I blew my MCL and meniscus a couple years ago. Since then I haven't gotten out nearly enough. However, if someone is looking for an out-of-shape, immobile forward with decent touch and above average passing, let me know! I'm available. 

It's hard to get a ticket to the Wild, but I go when I can. That being said, I'm really lucky that the Wild has all but a couple games televised. Covering the pre-season was tough, having to rely on the radio, though our radio guys (Bob Kurtz and Tom Reid) are second to none. I wish out TV guys were half as good. They're just brutal, talk over the referee announcements and PA announcements of penalties and goals. It's irritating to cover.

If you would have told me that they would have the most November wins in team history, be in second place in the division and Marian Gaborik had only played two games, I would be happy beyond belief. However, looking back on it, they should have at least two more wins where they blew the games late in the third period, and the lack of offense cost them three times.

Biggest surprise thus far has to be Antti Miettinen. I don't think anyone expected this kind of performance from him.

Biggest disappointment has to be Gaborik, or the lack thereof. Fans are still wondering if the team and he are really telling us the whole story. is he really hurt, or is this some kind of punishment for not signing or refusing a move?

Neal Broten. Hands down. Broten is a Minnesota legend. State title at Roseau, Hobey Baker, Gold Medal, Stanley Cup. 

Hockey blog? Has to be Russo's Rants for information. The guy is fantastic, and has a huge Wild following. That being said, Pension Plan Puppets, Japer's Rink and Pensburgh do a great job of providing excellent information developing community and keeping everything civil.

Oh, and I hear that James Mirtle guy isnt' bad either.

This week's Behind the Blog features the great duo of PPP & Chemmy, who are the brains behind Pension Plan Puppets, the Toronto Maple Leafs blog here at SB Nation.

PPP: I started blogging shortly as the Oilers' miracle run to the Stanley Cup Final after being introduced to the world of blogs by the Oilogosphere. Reading The Battle of Alberta, Covered in Oil, Black Dog Hates Skunks and Mc79Hockey (among others) opened my eyes to another way of following your team. My buddies and I always tossed e-mails around after Leafs games and I love to write so I figured it was a good creative outlet.

 

As for the name, the short version is that the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan has, amongst its vast, vast, vast holdings, a few billion dollars worth of property in the city's centre. So the joke between a friend and I developed, as word of the Edmonton fan crushes grew, that they kept the Leafs good enough to make the playoffs and win a round of two to keep the fans happy but not so good that they win the Cup because the city would be razed to the ground in a celebration. Surprisingly when I explained that to Pat Quinn he didn't hang up the phone and thought it was kind of funny.

 

Also, I am a huge fan of alliteration.

Chemmy: I first wrote for Pension Plan Puppets as a guest editor during the 2008 Entry draft, while PPP (the person) was off gallivanting across Europe. A combination of the enormous boost in traffic to his site from all of my adoring fans, combined with the buyout of the namesake of my old blog (The Darcy Tucker Fan Club) resulted in PPP asking if I wanted to come on board. Obviously, I accepted.

PPP: I became a Leafs fan when my family started moving to Canada from Colombia in the 1970s. Team affiliations in the football loving world tend to get passed down from father to son if the son wishes to be fed, housed, and clother so it was pre-ordained that I'd be a fan of the buds more than a decade before I was born. Not that I would change it for anything in the world. 

When did I realize that I was indeed a Leafs fan? Tough to say. It might have been when I was seven and spent an entire morning in Florida trying to figure out if the Leafs had beaten the Blues in their playoff game (they had not, thanks Bester). It probably coalesced during the Spring of 1993 during that magical run that ended one Kerry Fraser rip-off job away from the Final (that they would have won with no doubt).

Chemmy: I grew up in Hartford, as a Whalers fan. My coach was a huge Leafs fan and nick named me "Felix" after Felix Potvin. The Leafs were my second favorite team from about 1992 until the Whalers left Connecticut. I wasn't going to root for a team that deserted me, so I bumped the Leafs up a spot to #1.

PPP: Some, always unnamed, website makes a living off of selling rumours to gullible visitors. However, the usual path that these stories take involves the media making baseless speculation, fans chatting about whether it would be a good idea if it were true, the media then reporting that Leaf fans are exchanging wild rumours (without mentioning that they initiated them) and then opposition fans jumping in - completely clueless of the chain of events mind you - and projecting their shortcomings and insecurities on Leafs fans.

 

The best rumours I have actually heard from semi-reputable sources are completely unprintable because they usually involve a player's wife or overzealous female fans. On the hockey side, the craziest one my friends and I believed (because dammit, things were desperate) was that the Leafs would actually be able to follow through on JFJ's plan to poach a big-ticket UFA like Luongo during the summer of 2006. Of course they were all locked up long before July first.

Chemmy: I don't follow rumors much, I liked the Mathieu Schneider and Bobby Ryan to Toronto for peanuts rumor recently though.

PPP: The main goal is to continue the growth of the site. Visits and page views have grown each of the last five months, we have a great core of commenters and contributors, and I got to interview Pat Quinn. Chemmy and I have some great ideas to keep the momentum. Basically, we want to keep the site growing in every sense while maintaining the sports bar vibe and feel that had made the site as popular as it is now. The community makes running the site a tonne of fun so making sure that any growth keeps an eye on that truth.

Chemmy: This is going to sound canned, but I'm hoping to grow the community. The first thing I did as a guest editor on the site was to start doing things to increase our rank on Google. In the future I'd like to start getting the word out in Toronto to people who may not be incredibly internet savvy.

I think our site is a great place for Leafs information that isn't as obnoxious as the mainstream media's take, but without an overwhelming air of homerism. PPP and I are huge Leafs fans, and I think that comes through on the site, but I think we do a decent job of admitting that there are things the team does well and things it doesn't. Unlike Cox, Berger, et al., we present those things without being insulting to our readers.

Q.5 - The Maple Leafs made some changes this summer including a new coach in Ron Wilson. Do you think Toronto is a better team now and what are your thoughts on the new coach?

PPP: For the last two and a half seasons (the LA game in January prompted a harsh realization) I had been able, as it wont of most fans that seek to put a positive thing on developments, to convince myself that the Leafs had in fact made the necessary moves to first stay in the playoffs and then overcome the two point gap and then end the heartbreak of missing the playoffs by a solitary point. However, last year the wheels fell off and the Leafs are much stronger for it having happened.

 

Ron Wilson, while not necessarily the coach that will get a team over the hump, is the one that will build a team up from scratch until they are the kind of team that the Leafs have shown that they can be. He makes them outwork, outhustle, and outskate the opposition. There are some bright spots that will develop in the next two or three seasons like Mikhail Grabovski, Nikolai Kulemin, Luke Schenn that go along with guys like Nik Antropov, Niklas Hagman, and Tomas Kaberle to give the Leafs a good core going forward.

 

The Leafs might not improve in the standings come April but given a full year of learning Wilson's style of play and his systems I don't think anyone will be able to say that they have not improved in a long-term sense.

Chemmy: Toronto is definitely a more exciting team, and a younger team. I think this year's Leafs will finish about where they did last year, but the team got considerably younger and has some bright young stars in Schenn, and Grabovski. The Leafs need to keep stocking the cupboard, but as long as the Leafs continue to ice a team as exciting to watch as the 08-09 Leafs, I don't think anyone will mind.

Ron Wilson has done a good job so far in my eyes, though it's a bit perplexing that MLSE hired him as a defensive minded coach and the Leafs have the second worst PK in the league.

PPP: I am an obsessive reader. I tend to use a book as a launching pad to others whether they are by the same author or a related one or based on the same topic or event.

 

I also obsess over Liverpool. They are my second love. I meet up with almost complete strangers on Saturday to watch the Reds play.

And I play soccer twice a week with some cousins and friends. Mondays is pickup fun and Thursday nights we play in a men's league which means that it's serious business. Or at least the psychos we beat each week think so.

Chemmy: I play men's league hockey on a bunch of teams which eats up a lot of my time. When I'm not reading, writing, watching, or playing hockey I like to cook, read, play video games, drink, travel, and make my own beer.

PPP: When Bryan McCabe's shot got past Arturs Irbe to knot the score at 1 in that game the roar was deafening. I almost landed in the row in front of me and I couldn't hear my uncle speaking beside me. The loss was crippling but I wouldn't have changed it for the world.

 

As for other crazy things, I haven't really had the chance to do anything too insane mostly because the Leafs' haven't won. In 2004 if they had of made it to the Final I would have grabbed the next flight home from Copenhagen but JR ruined that plan. I guess I'd have to go with driving to Montreal last December during a massive snowstorm against the advice of everyone and then getting stranded when the highway was closed. The Leafs lost but we got a free day off to play in the snow and eat St. Hubert's so it was a worthwhile layover.

Chemmy: In the playoffs in 2003-2004, a guy I'd never met before said he had an extra ticket to game seven, Senators at Leafs. The puck dropped in ten hours and I was in Boston. I called Air Canada, credit card in hand, and found out that they wouldn't sell me a ticket to fly to Canada the day of the flight. 

Aside from that, I drive up to Toronto once a year at least to catch a Leafs game, and I go see them whenever they're in Philly, New Jersey, New York City, Long Island, or Boston.

PPP: I don't think so for a couple of reasons. The first is the obvious one that MLSE likely wouldn't allow a team to locate in the city. While it could end up making a good profit from a team in its territorial area I don't think that they would allow it in the city proper.

The other reason is the Sabres. They have a large base of fans in Southern Ontario plus a number of Leaf fans as season ticketholders. A new team in the area would definitely hurt what is already a financially weak team.

 

Would it be a financially viable team? Absolutely. There is no doubt that there would be enough corporate and fan support in the area. As a Leafs, another team would constitute one more fanbase of jumped up fans thinking that they have any standing to rip on Leaf fans. It would simultaneously free the bandwagon of the worst fans that the team has and give me three or four close road games for me to travel to where I can see the Leafs play without having to fork over a kidney.

Chemmy: It would make a lot of sense to put another team in the golden horseshoe. As a Leafs fan, I really hope it happens, and I hope the other team is really good. It would light a fire under MLSE's chairs to really build and ice a contender, and hopefully a second team would reduce demand for tickets just a little bit so that Leafs fans could see more than one game a decade.

PPP: This was easily the toughest question. When I was little my dad loved Wendel Clark so he was my favourite and to a large extent I think a lot of Leafs Nation longs for a player that was such a complete specimen of awesome. Down Goes Brown has done a great job of chronicling why Wendel Clark is basically a deity for Leafs fans. Obviously Dougie was riding shotgun with Wendel from 92-94 when the Leafs were threatening to shut anti-Leafs fans up forever. 

 

On the current team Nik Antropov is my favourite player just because I've waited so long for his potential to finally be met. I'll probably get a jersey of his over Christmas.

 

But my all-time favourite is Mats Sundin. He has always been one of the classiest players in the league, an ironman, and a consistent offensive threat. Even during the last few years when it would have been easier for him to leave or to give up he hit the ice every night knowing that he was the only offensive threat for the team and would spend the entire night targeted by the opposition.

 

He never backed down even though refs never gave him the protection it gave other stars which allowed opposition defence's to climb all over him and hack him to bits. Throughout that he not only showed up every night but in the most crucial moments. I'll never forget game one of the 2001 playoffs sweep against the senators when Sundin scored the OT winner in game 1 and my friends and father joined the partisan Leafs crowd in the Corel Centre in delirium. And of course, his 500th goal could not have been scripted any better.

 

This drawn out off-season has hurt me and a lot of fans mostly because we loved him so much. Even as the knuckle draggers in Leafs Nation and the anti-Leafs crowd (read: every other fan in the league) slammed him for not being a leader or other dog-whistle slams for being European my admiration for Sundin grew. If he leaves I'll hate him for a while but only because I loved him so much.

Chemmy: Felix Potvin is probably my favorite, he's the reason I'm a Leafs fan, but I also love Wendel Clark and Dougie Gilmour. I love Mats Sundin and Alexander Mogilny. I love Mahovlich and Salming and Sittler. Belfour and CuJo. The Leafs have a ton of history, and a ton of really inspiring players, it's hard to pick one or two or ten.

PPP: I would say that the Battle of Alberta, as I've mentioned before, is an example I try to follow. They are informative, passionate, and funny in turn when needed or all three at once. They've also been the gateway site for a lot of the great work that other Oilers fans and Gabriel Desjardins have been doing in terms of advanced statistics so what little I am able to figure out and apply to the Leafs I owe to them.

Obviously, the larger SBN sites are also a bit of an inspiration but another site is The DailyKos run by one of the co-founders of SBN (not to be a brownnose). The community that they have developed is both enormous and passionate and for the most part intelligent. They have managed to maintain the overall quality of the site despite ridiculous growth so they serve as a template for me going forward (hopefully).

I wouldn't mind Puck Daddy's traffic either.

Chemmy: Down Goes Brown, He Score, He Shoot, and Bitter Leaf Fan are the three that come to mind. They're all incredibly well written, and I love working with all of them. I would also say Pension Plan Puppets, which in combination with the Battle of Ontario is the reason I started blogging.

This week, we talked to Joe at Mile High Hockey to learn more about the overlord of the evil Avalanche empire. As I mentioned last week, this is a weekly series that I brought over from Behind the Jersey and a new BTB will be posted every Monday.

Q.1 - You started Mile High Hockey back in July of last year and you blogged at In the Cheap Seats before that. Why did you decide to start blogging about the Avs?

Actually, I didn't blog for In the Cheap Seats.  My first hockey blog was called "Dear Lord Stanley" and it started in March 2007 as an Avs blog but shifted to a more general focus once Mile High Hockey got going in July of 2007.  I started blogging about the Avs because I love the Avs and love to read myself type.  It was a no-brainer really.  And I'm deluded into thinking I represent the perspective of your average reasonably-informed Colorado hockey fan, and therefore other people would relate to me and read the blog..  So far so good, I guess.

WIM Editor regrets the error. I clearly wasn't thinking when I asked the question. My bad.

Q.2 - When and why did you become a Colorado Avalanche fan?

I became an Avalanche fan because they moved to Colorado and changed their name.  When I was a little kid (around age 12), I started following hockey and picked the Quebec Nordiques as my favorite team.  We didn't have pro hockey anywhere near where I grew up, so I just picked the team that I thought had the coolest uniforms.  I stuck with them and when they moved to Colorado I became an Avs fan.

Q.3 – What are your season predictions for the Avs?

I hate predictions because everybody else makes them and makes a big deal about them.  Personally, the Avs are so good in some respects and so bad in others that they really could finish anywhere between third and eleventh in the West.  If they suffer any injuries like they did last season, they're sunk.  If they stay healthy and other teams stumble a bit, they could do really well.

Q.4 - What do you hope to achieve with your blog over the next few years?

I'm not sure a person can achieve anything with a blog, but I know what you're asking.  I don't have any journalistic ambitions (I'm in law school), and I don't really want to get hired by the team, either.  Honestly, I just want the quality of the posts to remain high and the quality of the comments and member participation to keep getting better.  The blog is a community, and I'd just like to see it keep growing and stay positive.

Q.5 – If you had to predict the two teams who would make it to the Stanley Cup Finals this year, who would they be?

 I predict the Islanders and the Blue Jackets.

Q.6 - What do you think was the biggest move the Avs made over the summer?

The Avs didn't actually make any moves that could qualify as big, really.  On the personnel front, it was mostly just a few bangers they picked up, and some prospects they re-signed.  Probably the most significant change has been behind the bench, because Tony Granato's system of play and his coaching style are totally different than Joel Quenneville's.  Granato likes the all-out offensive onslaught.  Coach Q was a trapping coach.  We're seeing the difference already in that the Avs are leading the league in goals scored but also barely winning because of too many goals allowed.

Q.7 - Joel Quenneville left as head coach and Tony Granato is now on board. What was your initial reaction to the new head coach and what do you think of the decision now?

I was very glad when the Avs declined to renew Quenneville's contract over the summer because I hated his coaching style and hated the effect it had on the players.  He lost the locker room at some point and had absolutely no idea how to deal with injuries in the playoffs.  That said, rehiring Granato as top dog wasn't my first choice by far.  I think the Avs really screwed up by not interviewing former Red Wings assistant coach Todd McLellan, and San Jose scored a major coup by picking him up.  Already we're seeing dominance from the Sharks.  But Granato did okay in his first try as Avs coach, and so far I'm generally pleased with his work.  I love the old-school offense he's got going, but I do think his defensive weaknesses are already evident.  The Avs are getting scored on a lot, and it's not just because Peter Budaj is less-amazing than Patrick Roy.  His defense has let him down a lot, and that's the coach's fault.  Also, while the power play is better now than under Quenneville, the penalty kill is worse.

Q.8 - If you could change one thing about the NHL to increase its marketability in the US, what would you do and why?

No offense, but I hate this question.  I hate it every time it comes up and every time people waste energy trying to answer it.  For as dumb as they are, most Americans can't be suckered into watching something they really just don't care about.  They didn't grow up playing hockey, and they have trouble following the action on the ice because they don't know what to look for or have any concept of the history of the game.  You can put lipstick on a pig but it's still a pig, right?  To most Americans, hockey is a pig no matter how you dress it up.  Is that a bad thing?  Personally, I don't think so.  I've always enjoyed the cult status hockey has among its U.S. fans, and I enjoy the fringe feel to it.  I think the league should stop wasting time trying to spread itself thinly all over the place and instead focus on building up the images of the teams in the cities in which they already reside.  Get the seats full, and then worry about who in Oklahoma is watching a Coyotes game on Versus.  Quit pandering to people who don't care, and pander to those who already do.

WIM Editor's Note: No offense taken and I enjoyed the unique response to that question.

Q.9 - Who is your favorite hockey player (current or retired)? Why?

This is the easiest question ever.  Joe Sakic is my favorite hockey player of all time, now and forever.  I know Wings fans will argue that Steve Yzerman was the greatest long-time captain of any team, but I think Sakic takes it hands-down.  He's an amazingly talented class act, and his steady, quiet leadership is a model for others to follow.  Also, he scored 100 points at age 37.  How many points did Yzerman score at 37?  Look it up, Wings fans.

WIM Editor's Note: I won't go there, but I do admire and respect Joe Sakic more than any other Avalanche player (and all of them combined). He is fantastic player and captain.

Q.10 - Is there any hockey blog or website that you look to for inspiration?

I have a few favorite hockey blogs, of course.  I've always liked Greg Wyshynski's voice, and Puck Daddy has been a really great project for him.  He's kind of a kindred spirit in sarcasm, and I try to emulate his excitement for and perspective on the game, if not his actual voice or personality.  I also really look up to Dirk Hoag at the Forechecker, simply because he's a statistics wizard and I never was.  I always admired the number-crunchers.   I also admire Bill at Abel To Yzerman.  Even though he loves the most horrible, despicable waste of a franchise in hockey history, he's the most passionate blogger on the web.  The Red Wings aren't a hockey team, they're the blood in Bill's veins.  He lives for that team and dies with that team, and his rage-filled obsession with them is really infectious.  He does great work, even if it's misguided.

Overall I pretty much just try to keep things interesting and let my own personality peek through here and there---the reason people read particular blogs is because they can relate to the authors, and I think there's enough optimistically cynical people like myself out there that I can maintain a decent audience.