The Internet is great for hockey fans. It gives fans the most up-to-date information on their favorite teams, players, content creators, and more.
With that said, finding hockey information wasn’t always that easy. Sure, you could go to NHL.com, ESPN.com, and other national media websites, but those sites weren’t great for hockey fans at the time. There is one site still running today that was able to bring and link to every possible hockey news item, whether it was a trade, draft pick, free agency, team news, and notes, etc.
This is a site that many people in the hockey world use every single day, and it is run by a gentleman who deserves a lot of recognition. That man would be Paul Kukla of Kukla’s Korner.
Paul has been running Kukla’s Korner for a very long time. He is actually considered by many to be the “godfather of hockey bloggers.”
Paul is someone who runs his site 24/7, even during the off-season. He is one of the most dedicated hockey people on the Internet and is someone who helps us find the important hockey happenings every day.
One thing he does well is he helps us find hockey writers from other cities. Sure, we all want to follow our favorite teams, but if we’re going to find out information or interesting nuggets on another NHL club. Paul usually posts a story that links to the article regarding said team or player.
Something else he does well is he cites credible hockey people. He constantly references folks like Bob McKenzie, Darren Dreger, Elliotte Friedman, Lyle Richardson of Spector’s Hockey (I wrote for him for about two years), and many other important folks who know what is happening in and around our favorite sport.
This is something that especially comes in handy during the trade deadline and free agency. Paul does not speculate on what’s going to happen and instead links to folks who might have an idea of what is going on because of the fact that they are around the league every single day.
Whether he believes it or not, I think that Kukla is a very important person in terms of hockey coverage on the Internet. If you are an NHL writer, reporter, agent, or even someone higher up in the game, Paul is a must-follow, whether it is through his site or on Twitter, because of the information he provides daily.
I was lucky enough to blog for Paul from the 2008-09 season through the 2012-13 season under the Goal Line Report. To blog for Paul made me feel like I had made it in the hockey blog world, and while with Kukla’s, I was able to conduct email interviews with a ton of people in the sport, in addition to covering the New York Rangers.
Let’s tap our sticks to Mr. Kukla and his outstanding hockey site, Kukla’s Korner.
