Oh hello there, long time no blog! Today we'll be discussing the Atlantic Division, also known as the 90s-- you had such good memories of it as a kid, but now every time you look at it you think to yourself: what the hell was I thinking?

What also looks good on paper and rhymes with Titanic?
(Incidentally, this movie also came out in the 90s.)

New Jersey Devils
Additions: Cam Janssen, Eric Boulton
Subtractions: Brian Rolston, Colin White

Until last year, everyone still had pretty good feelings* about the Devils.

Ah, the northeast division. Filled with some old friends and some we hardly know. One things for certain: right now, they're teams we hardly see. This should be a fairly competitive division this year due to plenty of off season moves. Let's take a look:

The Montreal Canadien forwards attack Zdeno Chara.

Welcome to the third installment of this year's BHDL Division Previews. Up today is the Southeast Division Presented by NASCAR and Keystone Light.  We encourage you to take a look at our previews for the Northwest Division Presented by State Farm Riot Insurance and the Pacific Division Presented by California's Medicinal Marijuana.

Rod the Bod has retired from playing hockey, but his number will be retired by my All-Ugly All-Star Team.

Hello and welcome all you fine ladies and gents to the second installment of Blackhawk Down Low previews the 2011-2012 season. I’m here to talk about the Pacific division also fondly known around my apartment living room as the “BUT WE DID SO WELL IN THE REGULAR SEASON!” gang.

Welcome to today’s entry in Blackhawk Down Low’s divisional previews. Up today? The hilarious Northwest division. We’ll talk about the one NHL team and four AHL teams that make up this division.

Calgary Flames

Subtractions: Robyn Regher, Ales Kotalik, Adam Pardy, Steve Staios, Tim Erixson
Additions: Chris Butler, Paul Byron

Okay, go ahead and start laughing at GM Jay Feaster. I’ll wait.

Today, Cathal Kelly, a reporter for the Toronto Star blogged that Sidney Crosby should shut down his NHL career now for his health’s sake. The simple reason he gave for why he should shut it down is so Crosby could avoid the risk of living an “invalid’s life” for a game he’s “already conquered.” Not only is this viewpoint misguided and ignorant, it is sickeningly self-serving and desperate pageview seeking.

Firstly, claiming that Crosby has already conquered hockey is ridiculous. Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe are the only two players that I consider to have “conquered” hockey. Gretzky because of his obscene statistical success, growth of the game he caused, celebrity and championship success; and Howe simply because of his ability to play the game longer than anyone else by a score of years all while making an impact. Sure, Crosby has a Stanley Cup, an Olympic gold medal and tons of individual accolades, but I guarantee you if you asked Crosby if he’s satisfied, there would be no way he would agree. Crosby has more goals: multiple Cups, more Olympic success, playing into his 40’s. No one dreams of winning one Cup and retiring at 24. Even though Crosby’s only 24, I do agree with Kelly that his ticket to the Hall of Fame is already punched, but he isn’t anywhere near “Legend” status in my mind. He’s got a ways to go before he hits Gretzky, Lemieux, Orr and Howe level status.

Our good friend Queen Crash is at it again.  After the tragic news of Rick Rypien's passing last week, Alex designed the shirt you see above.  $5 from every shirt sold is being donated to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (that's 100% of the profits).

Honestly, I think its a killer shirt. The default color showing is black, but I personally like it best on the white, green, or light blue shirts.  Whatever you like, you can play around with it on the site.  Just click here to go to the store page.

On a serious note, I just want to comment on the importance of this whole issue.  There's been a bit of buzz lately about fighting and the mental anguish that enforcers go through.  Every time you read a story about a guy like Derek Boogaard or John Scott there's a part that talks about how they're gentle giants.  These guys don't take pleasure in brawling like this.  In his autobiography, Bob Probert said he was terrified when he knew he would have to fight against someone.  But it was their job and their duty to fight.

These guys didn't get paid the monster salaries that we see for NHL superstars.  They're guys who go out every night afraid that if they don't fight, they won't have a role on the team and they'll be out of a job and without a way to provide for their families.  Add in the medical issues of early onset dementia, and these players are literally risking their lives every night on the ice.

So please, remember to thank your enforcer. Their job is not easy.

I love Brendan Shannahan's Research and Development Camp. Its really fun to see all the crazy ideas they come up with to tweak the game. Its cool stuff even if we never see some of these rule changes in the real game. I'll let the videos speak for themselves.

Last night as I pulled into the parking lot before my rec league game, I began my 5-10 minute pre-game parking lot routine: screwing around on my phone. I opened up Twitter and saw the news that Rick Rypien had died at the age of 27.

Shocked, is obviously how I and many others felt. I knew about Rypien’s struggles with depression (which is why he missed most of last year) and that had me reflecting on myself. I've battled with depression for most of my life and I couldn't imagine playing the sport I love as my job yet still take my own life. (Reports have yet to determine if this is a suicide or not, although early reports said it was.)

Believe it or not, BHDL still exists.  I know some of you may have forgotten that since this offseason has been so boring.  There really hasn't been much to write about in the last few weeks, but fear not, hockey season will be in full swing before you know it.

Once the season gets going again, we'll be super busy.  So busy, in fact, that we're looking to add another writer to the site.  Since all of our writers are real people with real lives and real jobs (and I totally swear ChiBlackhawks isn't just a drone we created in the basement of the BHDL offices), we're looking to bring in another person to share in the writing duties.

So if you want to write for BHDL here's what you need:

• A love for all things Blackhawks hockey.
• A desire to write and discuss the Hawks.

That's it! We're not too picky around here.  If you have any of the following skills, it would be a big plus:

• Basic photoshop skills.
• Ideas for weekly features.
• Availability to watch and write about weekend games is huge.
• Original jokes about Patrick Kane.  We're running a little low over here.
• Ability to put a sentence together.
• Passion for creating lists using bullet points.

So if you're interested, send me an email at BlackhawksDL *at* gmail dot com.  We'll give you a tryout on the big stage and you'll be able to see your name published on the interwebz!