In the most benign and charitable of chat parlors, his name evokes antipathy. He is two parts perseverence and puck passion and seven parts self promotion. He’s Eklund, “Ek” . . . ”*-*-*-*” on many serious-minded message boards (they do exist). But he peddles a product on an e-street corner conspicuous for its absence of competition, so he endures.
Once upon a time, he was, genuinely, a touchstone of hockey’s inner circle, our pool reporter during the long pain of the year-long lockout. We weren’t just locked out from our great game, we were locked out from basic news about its status. Eklund personified the passion and ache so many of us felt in that sorry solitude, and like a good intrepid reporter does, he cultivated good, reliable sources. It sure seemed that way. But he confronted a basic dilemma at the lockout’s conclusion: what now? Ever since, he’s struggled to retain relevancy. He’s a Carl Bernstein without a Watergate.
And it is in this latest chapter that he has spawned an enemy’s list (of which we’re not one) (not yet). Accorded a privileged perch within the Professional Hockey Writer’s Association as an acknowledgement of his strong lockout coverage, he chose to pull up the blogger’s ladder, the story goes. There’s no real paper trail for that, just the stunning results and a litany of high-profile hockey bloggers unwilling to buy him a single, flat, warm O’Douls.
Today he is to hockey reporting what Bob Ryan is to Washington weather: chock full of (distracting) congeniality and error. Both persevere through the force of perseverence.
Really I have no axe to grind with Ek. His prose carries all the nutrition of a PopTart, but there is a preservative-free quality to his messages that renders them harmless. If his “Bondra to the Caps (e4)” sets Washington Slovak-stirring hearts aflutter, is it really his fault? He is the People Magazine of Puck; Eklund as Entertainment Tonight. He is, most especially, when it comes to prognosticating on all things Washington Capitals, Dan Rather on Election Night 2000.
If he has relevancy anymore it arrives this week and in the days leading up to the NHL’s February/March trade deadline. But post-lockout, even his work there is meager and a mish-mash of maybe-educated guesswork. If you toss enough non-buttered rumor hotcakes on a wall a few will stick. But none flipped in D.C. have. I’ve never met the man, I have no reason to believe him now a lazy reporter; it’s just that the Caps’ hull is pretty water-tight.
(I love irony. Mischevious irony the more.)
We the puck-crazy in D.C. this summer are so anxious for positive change, but let this file serve as a caution against investing too much faith in the claims of the vitamins contained in PopTarts.
5 Comments
Just curious, not flaming at all, but any reason you all didn’t cover the uni leaks?
as someone who only started reading hockey blogs after the lockout, i’ve always struggled to understand why eklund is so successful. his site seems to work on the principle that if you toss out every possibility that turns up anywhere, eventually some of them will turn out to be right. which isn’t exactly useful, but isn’t deeply offensive either. so i always found the controversy around him a bit mysterious. thanks for providing the much-needed backstory.
I actually interviewed Eklund back in 2005. The experience was instructive.
Great article Eric, thanks for providing the link. I wonder how much money made it to those tsunami relief funds… :-/
I saw a column on sportsnet.ca regarding the curious availability of Alex Auld. As a Ranger fan uncomfortable with Valiquette as a backup, I posted something on Rangerland stating my opinion that Auld would be an affordable alternative to Valliquette. Next day Eklund is reporting Auld to NYR.
I read Kukla, Spector, etc. and nobody else has even a whisper about Auld to NYR. My conclusion is that Eklund scours the net and floats anything reasonable he finds as a rumor.
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