Working title... an update on what this site is

Everyone reading this is awesome

Sean Shapiro

Oct 31, 2022

When I first launched this substack I tried to be transparent. I didn’t know what was going to happen or what form the site would take.

I still don’t have a final plan, but heading into November, I have a much better idea of what the immediate future holds for my career personally.

Starting this week, I will be the new associate editor at EP Rinkside, the editorial arm of Elite Prospects. I will also be a new twice-weekly co-host on a Dallas Stars podcast hosted by Audacy, which is in partnership with Dallas-area radio station 105.3 The Fan. I am also a twice-monthly contributor for Dallas Stars coverage at D Magazine.

What does and doesn’t this mean for the substack?

To avoid burying the lede, this substack isn’t going anywhere. In fact, it’s only going to get better with some more definition in my life. In fact, I’m going to encourage you right now to subscribe for $7 a month.

While I’m working some other roles and picking up freelance work, this substack has become a passion project that I’m going to continue. I’m having fun again as a writer, I’m happier as a person, and part of that has been the freedom to write what and when I want with this platform.

For example, I wanted to write about Marc-Andre Fleury’s skates, so I did.

Shap Shots

While many goalies are now wearing "ski boots" Marc-Andre Fleury is still rocking antiques

DETROIT — Neither goalie played on Saturday, when the Detroit Red Wings beat the Minnesota Wild 2-1. But watching from the bench, the footwear of Alex Nedjelklovic and Marc-Andre Fleury told a story. Nedjelklovic, 26, is part of a growing group — roughly a fourth of NHL puck stoppers — that are using Bauer KONEKT skates. The KONEKT skates starting showing up in NHL locker rooms last season, first with most notable Bauer clients — including Andrei Vasilevskiy — before becoming more common after several NHL goalies tested the skate in the offseason…

a year ago · Sean Shapiro

I wanted to write about Finland’s weird and wonderful national sport. So I did.

Shap Shots

Explaining pesäpallo "Finnish baseball" with Olli Määttä

Full disclosure, I’ve wanted to write this story for a while. Ever since I went to Finland in 2019, and heard about pesäpallo — AKA Finnish baseball — I’ve asked Finnish NHLers about the sport, and the answers have been less than thrilling. Many have been very well, Finnish, in their response, downplaying any enthusiasm about Finland’s national sport…

a year ago · 12 likes · 6 comments · Sean Shapiro

I’ve also found there is an appetite for instant, game-based thoughts and observations on this substack. Most of those game pieces will be based off the Dallas Stars or Detroit Red Wings, the two fandoms most represented by the readership, but we also have the freedom to have fun with anything.

The podcast experiment has also gone well. The short, micro podcasts on topics seems to work for both my time and my listeners. Any topic you want to hear about or think we should discuss in that format, I’m all ears.

Shap Shots

A farewell to the Dallas Stars DENIS system?

Listen now (18 min) | There are too many hockey podcasts. It’s an over-saturated market and if you don’t have an established podcast now, in 2022, it’s probably too late. Most podcasts are also too long, it’s the biggest entry-point issue for me. When a podcast is an hour or 90 minutes long, I start to worry about being able to commit to listening to the entire thing, so rarely even start…

Listen now

a year ago · 21 likes · 7 comments · Sean Shapiro

Thanks again for reading. Special thanks to those who have become paid subscribers, and frankly gave me some of the encouragement I needed during a difficult time in my life. Let’s keep having fun with this.

-Sean