The Mystery of Eklund

(Posted 9-22-05 by John F, this post was written by Mike Chen on March 17th, 2005 and appeared on his site. Due to software crash, it's been reposted here in it's entirety)

If you've been hunting for rumors during this whole CBA mess, you undoubtedly know of the mysterious Eklund. For those who don't know him, he's someone who claims to be an 'insider' who worked in the business, made a bunch of money writing, and is leaking info from both sides under his pseudonym on his blog.

His accuracy level is spotty, though he has had some amazing leads. And he's aware of the controversy surrounding his identity - heck, he even sells t-shirts about them (with proceeds going to youth hockey).

My theory? I think Eklund is a self-made genius. I'll tell you one thing, that bit about him being a former Hockey News writer is complete BS - no self-respecting professional writer would ever make the consistent grammar errors he makes. Yes, blogging is a fluid art form, but there are certain standards you naturally adhere to...and he never does. Is he really an insider? Well... I believe Mr. Eklund (taking his name after the former Flyer) originally started his blog just to spread conjecture as rumor. By having a 'secret identity', he was able to play off that he was actually an insider. I believe he gets his scoops from listening to Canadian sports radio and reading a whole heck of a lot, at least in the beginning. I think, sometime around December, people on both the league and PA side started realizing that a ton of people actually read this guy's blog. So they began strategic leaks to him - some honest, some not. He made contacts, kept in touch with some people, and ta-da! One day, Mr. Joe Blow's fun blog suddenly becomes
pseudo-legit - and very, very popular.

Eklund smartly put ads on his site - with the sheer volume of traffic he claims to receive, he probably can't quit his day job, but I bet he can go on a very nice vacation every few months.

It's not a bad strategy, it gets people talking, and hey, some of his scoops have been right. And right now, he's probably living a self-fulfilled prophecy, sitting at home thinking, "I can't believe Bill Daly and Keith Primeau actually bothered to email me! How did it get to this?"

Heck, maybe I should have started doing that when the lockout started. So, when does the NBA lockout start?