Writing Staff

Alexander Monaghan – NHLHS President

Alexander began this site in October of 2009 and never imagined anyone would care about his views on the greatest sport in the world.  Since then his columns have been featured on Fox Sports, NHL.com, NBC Pro Hockey Talk, Motley Fool, SB Nation and Yahoo! Sports’ Puck Daddy.  He appreciates anyone who takes time out of their day to read our humble offering of a website and encourages you to stay a while!Currently he works for DailyFaceoff.com as their Editor-in-chief, based out of Toronto, Ontario and can be reached at amonaghan@nhlhotstove.com.

David Strehle – NHLHS Managing Editor / Philadelphia Flyers Correspondent

David has followed the NHL closely for over 30 years. He works in a busy courtroom in the Philadelphia area by day, and can be found in the Wells Fargo Center press box covering the day-to-day operations of the Flyers and other NHL news by night. David’s work for NHL Hot Stove has been featured on NHL.com, Fox Sports, and Yahoo! Sport’s Puck Daddy. He is also a contributor to SB Nation’s NHL Scores and More (game recaps), Red Light District Hockey, and The Hockey Guys. He can be reached at dstrehle@nhlhotstove.com, and you can follow him on Twitter – @David_Strehle.

Jeff Quirin – NHLHS Associate Editor / St. Louis Blues Correspondent

St. Louis Blues fan(atic) and hockey blogger on the IL side of the river. After family comes hockey, best way to describe the addiction. I grew up in the glory years of Brett Hull, Adam Oates and Cujo through Al Mac and Chris Pronger. Now 27, I’m loving the new version of the Blues and the new names entering Blues history. After hockey on the list I’m very much into cooking (Food Network addict), reading (sci-fi/fantasy), and gaming (of the video variety).

Brandon Macdonald – NHLHS Associate Editor

Brandon started his time with NHL Hot Stove as the Boston Bruins correspondent, but recently made the jump to Editor-in-chief. A recent graduate from Niagara College in Journalism-Print, Brandon has a passion for hockey and writing about the game he loves. He currently works for Sun Media in Brockville, ON., and has experience interning at The Hockey News. Brandon was born in Brantford, Ontario.He can be reached at bmacdonald@nhlhotstove.com.

Christina Roberts – NHLHS Detroit Red Wings Correspondent

Christina is currently a junior at Oakland University in Auburn Hills, MI. She has been following the Detroit Red Wings since the 2001-2002 season and only recently began to blog about them. She works for Caribou Coffee and has for over three years; all the regular customers know her as “that crazy Red Wings fan who dressed up as Henrik Zetterberg for Halloween.” Her biggest goals in life are to publish a best-selling book and one day work in the Public Relations department for the Red Wings. You can follow her on twitter @franzenmuth or email her at christina.roberts@nhlhotstove.com.

Bill Whitehead – NHLHS Florida Panthers Credentialed Correspondent

Born in eastern North Carolina, Bill Whitehead was fascinated by hockey early on but caught the bug when he moved to Florida. After getting a Master’s Degree in writing, he began covering sports for Scripps newspapers in Florida. He is now in his third year covering the Florida Panthers on a partial basis. When he isn’t covering the Cats, he can be found writing about the Mets in Spring Training and during the Florida State League seasons, plus NASCAR and all South Florida sports. Follow him on Twitter@BillWhiteheadFL and contact him at BillWhiteheadFL@hotmail.com.

Chris Van Deusen – NHLHS Los Angeles Kings Correspondent

Chris can be defined as a die hard Los Angeles Kings fan. Born and rasied in Torrance, California, Chris has followed the L.A. Kings since meeting Wayne Gretzky as a child. Wheelchair hockey and chanting “Go Kings Go” became a common theme for him soon after. Recently he has taken his pride to Facebook where he runs the largest fan page for the Kings. By day Chris works as a copywriter & SEO Specialist for a local design studio, Dogs of Design. As a writer, he enjoys taking his skills to the web. In his spare time he enjoys watching the Kings and growing his web skills. If it’s “geek culture” he is most likely into it. You can follow him on Twitter @TheCrazyWhls.

Dan Berlin – NHLHS Toronto Maple Leafs Correspondent

Born and raised in Toronto, Dan has spent the better part of four decades following the Maple Leafs. Whether attending Leaf games with his dad in the 80’s, taking visitors on tours of Maple Leaf Gardens in the 90’s, or covering the team for a national sports network in the 2000’s, it’s true that Dan bleeds blue. Dan enters his first season covering the historic franchise for NHL Hot Stove, dreaming that perhaps this could be the year the Buds snap their 44-year Stanley Cup drought. When not at the rink, you’ll likely find Dan at a Phish show, playing softball or coaching kids in the finer points of baseball. You can reach him at dan.berlin@nhlhotstove.com or follow him on Twitter @Dan_Berlin.

Patrick Powell – NHLHS NHL Correspondent

Born and raised in the Philadelphia area, Patrick is a self described “rabid hockey fan.” His favorite announcers are the late great Gene Hart and ESPN’s Gary Thorne. He holds a bachelor’s degree in biology, and he works in the financial sector by day. He served as the beat writer for his high school alma mater’s hockey team and had the opportunity to cover a state championship game in 1997. His wife and daughter put up with his hockey obsession.

Stephanie Lee – NHLHS San Jose Sharks Correspondent

Stephanie currently lives 2 1/2 hours away from San Jose, in Citrus Heights, CA. Steph wasn’t born into the game of hockey, more like she stumbled upon it in 1998. After living in Phoenix pre-lockout, she shows some loyalties to the city and team as they were her only hockey fix during high school. Steph has become quite knowledgeable on players in the NHL and what teams they are on. Give her a last name and 90% of the time she’ll give you first name and what team. Recently, Stephanie has taken to Swedish players, most notably Douglas Murray and Niclas Wallin. But don’t let that fool you into thinking that Stephanie doesn’t know anything about the game.  Twitter – @OhMySwed3 Email - stephanie@nhlhotstove.com.

Laura Astorian – NHLHS Atlanta Thrashers Correspondent

Laura is a freelance blogger for both the St. Louis Blues and the Atlanta Thrashers (I’m from StL, but live in the ATL) over at my site, Thrashing The Blues.  I also write a weekly feature over at St. Louis Game Time called “Tuesdays With Hildy,” which tackles hard hitting issues such as which team Blues fans need to hate more – Detroit or Chicago, and more broad hockey topics like if the plus/minus rating is useful and such. She has been following hockey for about 20 years, falling in love with the game during the era of Hull and Oates, and continuing her obsession even after moving to Atlanta, which, at the time, had no hockey team. You can only play NHL ’94 and survive on FedExed hockey card packets so long, so thankfully the NHL decided to approve a team down here in 1997. She’s been attending Thrashers games since that first one against the Devils – a 4-1 loss – and have enjoyed watching the team go through their growing fits into the youth driven squad they are today. She can be reached at lastorian@nhlhotstove.com.

Christian Arnold – NHLHS New York Islanders Correspondent

A hockey fan from the first time Christian stepped into an NHL arena, he accidentally turned his love of the game into a prospective career in media. He started blogging about hockey and the New York Islanders in my spare time when he was 16 years old. The site was picked up by the Bloguin Network only 5 months after initially starting his blog and from there things have only gotten better. Since then he has covered an AHL Calder cup playoff game between the Bridgeport Sound Tigers and Hershey Bears, interviewed several people in the hockey media, covered a number of New York Islander home games during the 2010-2011 NHL season and interviewed many members of the current New York Islanders roster.He is currently in my freshman year of college at C.W Post, Long Island University majoring in Journalism and is also a member of the campus radio station, WCWP 88.1 fm. There I host a weekly hockey radio program called The Power Play every Tuesday from 5-6 pm on www.wcwpsports.org. Email me at ChristianArn312@aol.com and follow me on Twitter @isleshockeyblog.

Cassie Villa – NHLHS Boston Bruins Correspondent

Born and raised in Boston, Cassie has always been an avid fan of Boston sports, especially the Bruins. For Cassie, there is nothing better than attending a Bruins game at the TD Garden. She has always loved writing, and what better thing to do than combine that with her love and interest for NHL hockey. Cassie currently attends Suffolk University in Boston and will be graduating in May with a degree in Public Relations. You can follow Cassie on Twitter @CassVilla

Shahbaz Syed – NHLHS Calgary Flames Correspondent

Growing up in the hockey hotbed of Calgary, Shahbaz has been following the Calgary Flames since Lanny McDonald first lifted the cup back in 1989. Being a self-described ‘Hockey Fanatic’, Shahbaz has an avid love for the game and being a goaltender himself, has an keen eye for reading the game and scouting players. He also has a particular interest in the medicine behind hits to the head and subsequent concussions. Shahbaz will be graduating from Medical School in May, 2012 and hopes to go on to a career in Emergency Medicine.