Since this probably won't happen again

Ballhype is a nice promotional site and all, but we have to admit we found this ranking a bit ... shocking (click to enlarge):

Their ranking system is based on outbound links, so it makes sense that our contribution-oriented blog would be grossly inflated in their ranking system. Still, we thought this was shocking enough to share with you since it probably isn't something that will last very long.

The draft? Yeah, it's been kind of a big deal. Sheesh.

We cannot thank everyone who's contributed enough, as well as every blog kind enough to link to us. Please support and follow each re-draft GM's blogs, as well as the ones in our massive sidebar and the ones we carelessly forget to link.

Five Hole Fanatics

Vancity Canuck

Raw Charge

Defending Big D

All Hawks Hockey

Lighthouse Hockey

Strange Deadfellows

Section 303

Wazzupwitchu

Five for Howling

Pensburgh

Storming the Crease

Sacrifice the Body

Battle of California

Royal Half

Life and Times of a Caniac

Scotty Hockey

In Lou We Trust

Sports and the City

Fear the Fin

Sens at Land's End

Hockey Blog Adventure

Bangin Panger

Litter Box Cats

Crash the Crease

JC NHL

Jibblescribbits

We cannot thank you enough. Seriously.

Re-Draft Message Board is up

Since there may be a disconnect existing between myself and a few of the Armchair GMs (if you're reading this and haven't received an e-mail or two yet, check your spam mail or drop me a line at jamestobrien@hotmail.com) we thought it would be smart to announce that we started a quick-and-dirty message board for this re-draft bid-ness:

Message Board

A few ground rules:

1. No porn/awful photos of dead people/creepy personal attacks on others. We figure that isn't necessary, but just in case .... you don't have to be adults just use some common sense. Please.

2. There's a mild safeguard on the PICKS board, but we'd still like to plea with you to keep that section "professional."

3. Don't think we're fun killers, though: feel free to have fun in the General and "Snark" sections. Fun does not equal [insert stuff that falls into #1], though, amigos.

ANYWAY, we're still hashing out some more details but if you're drafting, sign up. If you'd like to observe, the enjoy!

Re-design (again) and the satellite blogs

After receiving an e-mail from Joe, I decided to fiddle around with the blog layout (again!). It's still not perfect - I'd like for their to be a vertical line/border to separate the sidebar and the content plus there is still some wasted space here and there - but my main goal is to make the blog easier to read and navigate.

At some point, I'll venture out and find the "perfect" design in some google search. But my question is, what do you think? Vote in a poll and leave more specific answers in the comments.



OK, now that we have that out of the way, there's been a lot of mini-blog activity so let me try to direct you to the good stuff.

Cornelius continues his great work for the Boston-Carolina blog. In particular, he provides a comprehensive look at everything that is going on in the Boston and Carolina blogospheres (Tailgate in the Gahden). Great stuff.

Rob provides not one, but two fantastic previews of the Washington-Pittsburgh series from a Capitals perspective. I'll try to provide some Penguins perspective of my own too, but for now his "Five Questions" and Series Preview should give you an ample amount of reading material.

Finally, the Anaheim-Detroit blog continues to buzz with activity. Check out Joe's Five Keys to the Series (which also includes the time-honored battle of a man's mind and heart).

Fantastic stuff from the satellite blogs. Hopefully, this design will work for everyone. Feel free to be brutally honest, as this is all still a work in progress.

Canucks lower the broom on the Blues

Even Pavel Bure must be impressed.

While I was putting together plans for my trip to witness the Battle of California (plane leaves Wednesday!), the Canucks completed the first sweep in Vancouver's franchise history after beating the St. Louis Blues in overtime.

Our Blues-Canucks correspondents were all over it.

For Sha Sha from Vancity Canuck and The Hockey Bay, we'd love for you to stay aboard for the probable "Vancouver vs. ?" blog. We'd hate to say goodbye to Laura though, so how about this: drop us a line if you'd still be interested in contributing to Cycle like the Sedins' playoff coverage. (jamestobrien@hotmail.com) Even if you want to take a hockey vacation, we'd love to have you back for more Blues stuff next year!

Not sure what the plan is (in person recaps? James in Cali posts? Drunken tearful poetry?) but I'll probably post something about my California trip. It might be a cross-post or I might write weird stuff here. You're just going to have to wait (with baited breath, naturally).

Again, keep your eyes on those side bars for mini-blog activity as well. There's a lot of fun stuff going on in our satellite blogs.

Keep enjoying the playoff hockey, kids.

Our two newest additions

We're proud to announce our two newest editors:

The infamous Rudy Kelly from Battle of California fame is covering the Penguins-Flyers series.

Penguins-Flyers blog

And frequent contributor Laura from Wazzupwitchu will cover the Blues-Canucks.

Blues-Canucks blog

The Boston - Montreal blog is still up for grabs and we might also need some help with New Jersey-Carolina. Drop me a line if interested. (jamestobrien@hotmail.com)

A few quick notes

Joe's already started in his new space, with post-game thoughts on Detroit vs. Columbus. Make sure to check it out.

Also, you can find all of the fantastic entries in the "Five Questions" series in the Special Sections now. We know there were a lot of posts going up at the same time, so that section can let you catch your breath, gather yourself and read all the GREAT contributions from some great bloggers.

Things are going to be a bit closer to normal on the main blog now that we have those great guest contributions under some semblance of control. I have a few ideas for running features and will know better soon. Obviously, though, there will be regular updates to point you to good stuff at our satellite blogs.

Although this is subject to change, we have Joe for Detroit-Columbus; Clare from All Hawks editing Chicago-Calgary; Abel covering Washington-NYR; perhaps Michael covering New Jersey-Carolina.

Would you like to edit Pittsburgh-Philadelphia, Vancouver-St. Louis or Boston-Montreal? Would you like to help out with the other satellite blogs? Drop me a line at jametobrien@hotmail.com.

Let me also remind you that it's a GREAT idea to send me and the editors your blog posts (at least the ones you think are above average). This is a growing stage for the satellites so it's a great opportunity to publicize your blog.

Quick hits

OK, there's a LOT that's going on right now so keep your refreshing instincts keen. Outside the blog I need to buy plane tickets to California and pay my taxes, but inside the blog there's a crapload going on, too.

Check out the sidebar for the posts that are up so far, but I'll put up some fancy little intro's for those who need a little taste of what's in the mini-blogs. We might have a friend of the blog cover the Chicago/Calgary series but there's still a few left if you'd like to jump on board.

In the mean time, check out Bangin Panger for our reverse guest posts in the "Onus" series. Also, Vance put up a great little post about blogging that is worth reading.

By the way, with all that's going on I haven't been able to keep the blogroll current. Please e-mail me if you'd like to be included.

Finally, it sounds like Spade in Victor Hell of Battle of California commenting fame will be joining me for Game 4 of the BoC, so that's one big relief. Hopefully he'll be kind and leave my bulbous gut out of any potential cartooning.

Great news and a unique opportunity

Retiring the Sleek logo ... although we might have something up our sleeve next year ;)

Before we get into the playoffs news, one quick order of business:

We were able to get a team blogger for every playoff team to contribute a Hockey Orphan! Great stuff, everyone. Clearly, it's part of my diabolical scheme to slowly fool people into thinking CLS features great writing by getting great writers to contribute! Mooouhahahaha.

ANYWAY, all cackling aside, thanks a bunch to all the Hockey Orphan contributors. Read all the entries.

***

OK, now onto the playoffs.

We've been shooting for the stars a lot here at CLS lately, but this might be the dumbest cockamamie-est scheme yet. Every playoff series (except the Battle of California) gets its own "satellite" blog!

There will still be plenty of goings-on here at the mother ship, but for those of you who want to get really in-depth, the series specific mini-blogs will be the place to go. Right now, they're infants but they will hopefully grow far out of control.

In fact, this might be a unique opportunity for a lurker to evolve into a contributor. We're looking for "editors" for each series mini-blog, so if you think you have the chops drop me a line at jamestobrien@hotmail.com.

Here are the mini-blogs in need of an editor:

Calgary vs. Chicago

Detroit vs. Columbus

Pittsburgh vs. Philadelphia

Vancouver vs. St. Louis

Here are the mini-blogs that currently have an editor, but would be more than interested in having some extra help:

Boston vs. Montreal

Washington vs. New York Rangers

New Jersey vs. Carolina

(And again, we're not touching Anaheim - San Jose because Battle of California and Fear the Fin are all over that like Hitchock on a deep dish pizza)

Afternoon Cycle: Brodeur and Friends

• Before we get to the meatier portions, CLS must acknowledge its namesakes when they are in the news. In case you were unaware, the Sedin twins are at some sort of impasse with the Vancouver Canucks when it comes to twin contract extensions. (Spector by way of Puck Daddy)

The Sedins are more than a novelty act, but my feeling is that the pairing should probably knock a million off their asking price if they want to continue to be a package deal. And it would be wrong if the two were split up. Wrong and foreign. Like a pair of male ginger twins dancing at your bachelor party.

Two three-year contracts for $5.5 million per year strikes me as a reasonable compromise. I mean, they only have one digestive system anyway, right? RIGHT?

• Things might be a little light on the contributor front for the next week or so. Chris Kontos is going on a wild'n'crazy five week adventure, our other contributors are possibly kidnapped in a trunk somewhere and the Next Decade team process will be pushed to the summer.

Hopefully my limited brain power can produce a few worthwhile posts in the meantime. Please don't leave me. This world is cold and lonely.

• With an malnourished inbox, the quest for the best Brodeur clips will just have to amount to what I've come across so far. However, if you stumble on this list and feel your work is missing simply drop me a line and it will probably be updated. Probably.

Perhaps the most comprehensive Brodeur study was made by friend of CLS Joe Pelletier. He did a great job of breaking down Brodeur's career against the work of his best contemporaries Patrick Roy and Dominik Hasek.

Eyes on the Prize featured an amusing take on the Brodeur vs. Roy debate: "Ten Things Martin Brodeur will never have on Patrick Roy."

James Mirtle picks Roy by a hair at From the Rink.

John from in Lou we Trust points out that while career milestones are nice, the goal for this season is for the Devils to raise their fourth Cup. He also makes the point of saying, "what good is a 2.00 GAA if you only win 20 games a season?"

Much like ESPN following Barry Bonds until he broke Hank Aaron's home run record, NHL Network will follow Brodeur until he slides above Roy for the all-time wins record. At this point, I love NHL Network to the point that if it beat me up, I'd be back the next day with sunglasses to mask my black eye and a fresh "I fell down the stairs" excuse. Yup, it's my umbrella.
Whenever someone quits an online NHL 09 game early so my team cannot record a shutout, my message is always a snarky "Stay Classy." Apparently, Frozen Fiend shows that you can use the term in a non-derisive fashion. Go figure.

The New York Times hockey blog rightly questions Greg Millen's strange statement made right after Brodeur tied Roy's record: "You think this isn't a hockey market?" Finally, the Montreal Canadiens show that hockey can work in Montreal, the NASHVILLE of CANADA! Seriously, though, what was Millen thinking? People rioted in Montreal after they won a first round series. Hopefully Millen was drunk.

Maybe the "but he has shootout wins!" argument would matter more if this was Brodeur's retirement tour, but MB will probably pad his record pretty comfortably as long as he remains durable. Can we please stop with this argument unless he retires with less regulation wins? Please?

Lastly, the Program has some Brodeur videos for your viewing pleasure.

In the rear view; on the horizon

What a week. Like a lot of bloggers, it seems like we are still sort of recovering from the trade deadline. And we would argue that we stood shoulder-to-shoulder with some of the big boys when it came to our trade deadline coverage.

Let's take a step back and look at some of the people who contributed:

• "The Forechecker" one of the hockey blogosphere's most popular number crunchers.
• The always entertaining Chief from Abel to Yzerman.
• Another great contributor from Kuklas Korner, Bethany's Hockey Rants.
• We had three posts from the impressively growing Atlanta Thrashers blogosphere and four entries from Pittsburgh Penguins bloggers.
• The Pacific division post was covered completely by my homies at SBN, including my BoC mates Earl Sleek and Rudy Kelly.
• There were two great posts from the guys at Bangin' Panger.

Really, it was an amazing experience as the hockey blogosphere keeps confirming itself as a wonderful community bursting with talent. We were able to cover every NHL team except: the Edmonton Oilers.

We never would have guessed that Oilers blogosphere would be the only side we didn't hear from. Is Cycle like the Sedins too goofy and rough around the edges for the highfalutin Edmonton bloggers? Did our e-mails just get banished to Junk Mail Damnation? Did the Oil bloggers see our e-mails, roll their eyes and do the "jacking off" hand motion? Perhaps we'll never know.

(That being said, no hard feelings. The door is wide open for Oilblogospherebloggers in the future. We're just kind of surprised that the Oilers were the only team not covered.)

There might be one more trade deadline post comparing the predictions/"if they were the GM" posts to what actually happened, but don't quote us on that.

Right before our massive trade deadline special, we announced the final All-Decade team roster.

We're going to take one more spin-o-rama around the All-Decade subject and publish a series of posts that debate who will be on the Next decade team. Hopefully, you'll appreciate it for what it is: a purely speculative, fun debate. The idea is still in its infant stages, so drop me a line if you'd like to be involved.

Next week should include more typical features like the Morning Cycle, Dance Partners, perhaps a Hockey Orphan entry and the usual weekly fare.

Things are going well here at Cycle like the Sedins, but we're always looking for more great contributors. If you feel like your skills are bigger than just your team related blog or simply want to get in on the fun, drop me a line at jamestobrien@hotmail.com. No promises that you'll become a regular, but Chris Kontos dropped me a line and now he's kicking ass with routinely superior postings.

Anyway, stay tuned CLS-ers. Should be another fun week of hockey blogging and rebel rousing.

With a heavy heart ...

There's been a nice little run of great news for the blog, but today was a bit of a sad day.

As most can see from looking at the monthly posts in the right sidebar, 2009 (and February in particular) has seen a flurry of activity. Many things contributed to that, but one of the biggest factors ended up being my job. Which ended today.

My job forced me to get up at 6 a.m. to be in the door at 7:30 a.m. Since things were slow, it gave me a solid 6-8 hours to read my favorite blogs, e-mail people for guest posts and come up with ideas like the All-Decade team.

Now, it's not like I got fired. It was essentially a temp job. So it's not like this is the first steps in some sort of downward spiral. But in the next two weeks it means looking for a job and then finding one that, in all likely hood, will not give me the same golden opportunity to stay on top of the things.

But there's no turning back now. Maybe it means more late night posting. Maybe it means leaning on guest posts and contributors. Whatever the case may be, Cycle like the Sedins will go on.

Like my heart.

Rolling out the welcome mat

Considering the fact that the All-Decade Team was featured on Puck Daddy yesterday, it's probably safe to say that there are more people "new" to Cycle like the Sedins than usual.

Since we're an accommodating bunch, here's a quick roadmap of CLtS.

The Special Sections found in the sidebar on the right should be very helpful.

Included is:

An "About" section that features a self-depricating imaginary FAQ

A listing of every All-Decade Team post (keep in mind, Greg Wyshynski's picks are one of many great contributions)

The complete "Bertuzzday" series that is currently in hiatus. Highly recommended, though, since the series lampoons some of the lowest moments in NHL history.

Also included are all the site's guest posts, the still-in-progress Hockey Orphan feature and some other good stuff.

If you want to inquire about contributing to the blog, my e-mail address is:

jamestobrien@hotmail.com

Any questions, concerns about the blog?

Site redesigning

For the last few months I've been a bit bothered by the blog's layout. Mainly, the thing that bothered me was the text. The general rule should always be "black font, white background" or the reverse. It also seemed like the text didn't have much breathing room.

This probably won't be the last change, but is this an improvement? Or should I go back to the old way? Would really like to know what you think.

Seen Stamkos? Kinda ... the news cycle!

Donald Trump and the Buffaslug: two of modern media's worst creations

Going into his first season, Steve Stamkos was not quite getting Crosby-Tavares hype nationally but that didn't stop the Tampa Bay Lightning from diving into street team style marketing campaigns usually reserved for crappy avant-garde rock groups.

For those of you who are newer to hockey and the Collective Bargaining Agreement, there are two milestones that determine how long an NHL rookie stays with a big club: 10 and 41 games. If a player exceeds 10 games, it takes a year off of his entry-level contract which essentially means that said player can be part of a Kevin Lowe RFA offer sheet lollercoaster wicked fast. Reaching a player's 41st game might not be quite as huge as the first ten games, but if a rookie hits that mark then he will be an unrestricted free agent even sooner.

If restricted free agency is like a Funhouse, then unrestricted free agency shows shades of Arkham Asylum.

Going into the season, the Tampa Bay Lightning PR people were asking: "Seen Stamkos?" but now Tampa Bay's bizarro world front office might be asking themselves if they should "Send Stamkos?" down to the minors.

(Because we haven't Seen Stamkos on the scoresheet yet this season.)

• Speaking of Stamkos, Barry Melrose probably is missing Bristol, Connecticut these days. When the Kings made the SCF, it was on the back of Wayne Gretzky's heroics. It's always been a question of how much the famous Mullet had to do with that run, but either way he hasn't lead an NHL team since before the last two lockouts.

The splashy, brash style of the Tampa Bay Lightning drew Mark Cuban comparisons, but so far things are looking more like a Dan Snyder free agent orgy of stupidity.

• From the "rare bit of good news" file comes the fast start by the Buffalo Sabres. Don't get me wrong, watching a player adorned in the Buffaslug raise the Stanley Cup would be pretty shameful, but a tortured city like Buffalo deserves the occasional bit of happiness.

Besides, their awful jerseys sell like hot cakes and they play a fast-paced, exciting brand of hockey. What's not to love?

Oh right, the Buffaslug.

• The Alex Cherepanov saga just keeps getting worse. It's a shame that so little was learned from Jiri Fischer's near-death situation.

• This weekend was a bizarre one for the NHL: Saturday featured 15 games including all 30 NHL teams while Sunday was The Day the NHL Stood Still.

What did we learn? Apparently the NHL and NFL are a bit scared to go against the World Series.

• The shock waves of the Edmonton Oilers - Dave Berry fiasco are still being felt throughout the hockey blogosphere. Here's a sober and educational take from Off Wing Opinion/NHL Fanhouse's Eric McErlain. Mr. Plank also came thru with a rare dissenting opinion on the matter with "A Dark Day for Ice Cream Sandwiches."

• Finally, a bit of blog business. Since my interwebs access is flailing, Bertuzzday's original intended subject will be changed but it should feature the first poll of this blog's young existence.

This blog currently isn't living up to my original plan of multiple contributors "cycling" so I'd like to throw a faint wail into the hockey blogosphere abyss: would you like to contribute to Cycle like the Sedins??

If so, send me an e-mail at jamestobrien@hotmail.com and let me know if you have any hockey blogging experience.

Later suckas.

Work in Progress

The blog is up and running. From my end, I'll be posting at least once a day (unless the satanic demons at Time Warner Cable fuck up my interwebs).

I'll also be tinkering here and there to make the premise of the site (having various contributors "cycle the figurative puck" on different issues) a little bit more obvious. Along the way, feel free to e-mail me if you'd like me to link your blog. Naturally I'd like you to do the same if that's the case.

(jamestobrien@hotmail.com)

Also, e-mail me if you're intrigued about hockey orphan. This thing really is my baby - I'm even resisting a leaving a baby in a basket at a doorstep pun as we speak.

Christ.

Anyway, my goal's to give people a reason to come back a few times a day. There's already a few things planned once things get rolling*:

• A "News Cycle" that I'll be updating several times per week to take the temperature of the hockey blogosphere. E-mail me if you fine folks find anything the world needs to see. Other contributors, if you're struggling with when to write ... don't. This is definitely the "Wild West" stage of CLS so have at it.
  

But if there's anything I'd love a hand with it would be posting noteworthy blog entries and news events of the day/week.

Keep in mind that the aim of this site is not to cover every bit of news, but the News Cycle should be fun/an agonizing chore. Let's hope for the former.

• Once a week, I'd like to profile a must-see/interesting/bizarre blog. I'll start off with the obvious juggernauts but soon enough will expand to blogs I've probably never heard of before the feature. So, again, e-mailing is smart with this. Naturally, hockey related is good but I'm never against the broadening of my horizons (just stay away from my anus).
  

• Not going to tell you what my Tuesday special is, but it is both awesome, slightly insulting and puntastic. (Prado, if you spill the beans I'll kick you off the blog. That's right, Jack!)

• Also planning another weekly/bi-weekly/whenever she can write it column from my pal Deirdre. Perhaps obscurely mentioning her on a hockey blog will grab her attention?
  

So, again, for anything that fits on this list or whatever else, please e-mail me at jamestobrien@hotmail.com.

*This is my clever way of being non-committal.