2007: A Year in Review
As 2007 winds to a close, it’s time to do the obligatory year in review post. This review includes the big Red Wings stories as well as the more popular BTJ posts over the year.
- Behind the Jersey: No. 19 was opened to the public on July 30th. To date, almost 16,000 pages have been viewed at BTJ19. Not too shabby for a fan site dedicated to No. 19.
- BTJ had a steady increase in visitors and page viewers during the year with a noticeable increase from last year’s numbers.
- Sports Business Daily named BTJ one of the top ten NHL blogs.
January 2nd
The biggest day for BTJ in 2007 was just the second day of the year when BTJ favorite Steve Yzerman saw his retired jersey reach the rafters of Joe Louis Arena. BTJ thoroughly covered the event with a general recap and photos and a media roundup.
The blogosphere took notice of my hard work and sent thousands of readers to BTJ on January 3rd.
Interviews
Thanks in part to people visiting/linking BTJ for the Yzerman coverage, I was able to interview Michael Sarner of In the Crease, Adrian Dater of Blood Feud, and I did private and off the record “interviews” with Eric Adelson at ESPN the Magazine and Derrick Luck at Lucky Sports Management (he even sent me this). In April, I interviewed Michael McKinley of Hockey: A People’s History.
Trade Deadlines & Contract Signings
Ten days before the 2006-2007 trade deadline, the Red Wings signed Tomas Holmstrom to a three year contract extension worth $2.25 million per season.
Despite heading to Chicago for the Wings-Blackhawks game on the day of the trade deadline, I covered the three way trade dealing Jason Williams to Chicago and the trade with Florida that sent Todd Bertuzzi to Detroit. Following the game, I compared the United Center with Joe Louis Arena.
Just before the playoffs, Pavel Datsyuk agreed to a seven year contract extension worth $46.9 million.
The opening of the unrestricted free agent signing period began with a bang as Mathieu Schneider and Todd Bertuzzi headed west for Anaheim and Brian Rafalski joined the Red Wings.
Shortly thereafter, restricted free agent Jiri Hudler signed a two year deal with the Wings. Later that week, goaltender Dominik Hasek (aka Skeletor or the Crazy Czech) re-signed for another year. GM Ken Holland continued his busy week by signing former Red Wing Dallas Drake for just $550,000.
In late October, Kris Draper signed a three year contract extension worth $4.75 million.
Just earlier this week, the Wings extended Nicklas Lidstrom’s contract for two more years at a slight discount of $7.45 million per season.
Playoffs
BTJ extensively covered the Red Wings journey to the Western Conference finals in the 2007 playoffs. From the first round defeat of Calgary to the close series with San Jose to the team’s loss to Anaheim in the WCF, BTJ talked about the games and collected roundups from around the blogosphere. A good, bad, and ugly review concluded the Red Wings run.
Last season, I worked as a game night intern for the Plymouth Whalers (OHL) so when I could, I kept BTJ readers updated with their playoff hopes. I was fortunate enough to watch my team win the OHL Championship.
NHL/Red Wings business posts
As a Sport Management major at University of Michigan, I find myself drawn to discussion regarding business decisions made by the NHL as well as the Red Wings. Some of my more popular posts included discussions on these topics.
Jan. 29 - Business Decisions in the NHL
April 27 - Analyzing Red Wings ticket sales
May 6 - A look at TV ratings
May 9 - Wings compete for attention
July 23 - A look at season ticket waiting lists
November 25 - Revenues, payrolls, & winning in the NHL
Misc. Posts
BTJ celebrated the tenth anniversary of the March 26, 1997 showdown at the Joe, which resulted in an invitation to talk about the game on NPR.
BTJ also honored a much more tragic ten year anniversary.
I conducted a Detroit sports blogger roundtable discussion in June and you can view the discussions for part one, part two, part three, part four, and part five.
Between my spring and summer term classes, I visited Columbus for the NHL Draft and posted my photos and experiences from the weekend.
The most commented post was the one where I announced the Wings selected me as one of their PR interns. Aside from the Yzerman retirement ceremony, this was surprisingly the most popular BTJ post this year. USA Today’s sports blog even mentioned it.
Previewed the 2007-2008 season and how it might play out for the Red Wings.
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