Skip to main content

Ryan Suter, Live on Stage

I just wanted to pop up a pointer to a nice article by John Glennon (Predators beat writer for the Tennessean) in this month's USA Hockey magazine, about the development of Ryan Suter into a regular, productive NHL defenseman.  While occasional miscues drive some fans to fits and have them musing about what he might bring in trade, it's worth remembering that Suter just turned 23, and is currently in only his 3rd NHL season.
Ryan Suter in USA Hockey Magazine article
Suter on stage at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville
In spite of a few setbacks (such as the Brendan Witt trade in 2006 that cost him playoff playing time), Suter's improved each year so far, and looks to be a capable top-four defenseman for years to come.  Assuming GM David Poile locks up this pending Restricted Free Agent in a new contract, he'll be a key player in a deep, talented Nashville Predators blue line corps that already has Dan Hamhuis, Marek Zidlicky, Greg de Vries and Greg Zanon locked up through next season (Hamhuis and Zidlicky are signed through 2009-10 as well), and as the cherry on top, it's expected that Shea Weber will be signed, too.  Just as in the 80's with his Washington Capitals teams, Poile has stocked his cupboard full of quality defensemen, even in spite of having to trade former captain Kimmo Timonen in last summer's salary purge. 

Popular posts from this blog

My goals for 2011: Make sports blogging pay off

In my never-ending quest to figure out a model for making what is currently my hobby & passion into something bringing in at least a side income, I've decided to set a couple goals for myself to complete during the rest of 2011. Simply put, I plan to publish two products over the next few months, which I hope will provide real value to hockey fans, and that they'll be willing to pay for. Will it succeed? Will it fail? The only way to know is to put my nose to the grindstone and get these two things done (I'll keep the details under my hat for now). The important thing to note is that these efforts are in addition to anything I'm doing over at OTF . Taking away what we're doing over there and asking people to pay for it is a surefire lose-lose all the way around, because if there's anything we've learned over the last few years, it's that people love to read about sports, but only for free. I'm also optimistic about Hockey Gea...

Social Media, Internet Marketing, and Real, Paying Customers - it really works!

Applying the basic tenets of internet marketing (SEO best practices and social media network building) have helped me grow the readership and engagement over at On The Forecheck tremendously in recent years, but lately I've been wondering if those same techniques could be applied to small- or medium-sized local businesses, to help them drive real, tangible business results. I'm talking about not just drawing idle hockey fans looking to a blog so they can muse over line combinations, but helping businesses connect with potential customers in ways that otherwise wouldn't occur. Recently, I was able to help make just such a thing happen, and it shows just how great the opportunities are for small, local businesses which may not have the resources or skills available to extend their brand effectively on the internet.

Celebrating a milestone month

I've been remiss in providing regular updates on my quest to turn this whole sports-blogging hobby into at least something of a significant side income, if not a career, but good news has a way of prompting action. That, and I've been heads-down busy working on a few different fronts to push things forward...