You can tell it's almost hockey season when the yearbooks start showing up in the mail.

I've been a big part of the McKeen's Hockey team in terms of putting together their annual for years now, and while it's always a lot of blood, sweat and tears in July and August, the result is worth it. While many of the other magazines have large media companies backing them, McKeen's is coming to you straight from the publisher Iain Morrell's basement in Mississauga, and he works tirelessly to compete with some of the big boys. The depth of the information in this thing is always amazing, even to someone working on some of the writing.

In my (biased) opinion, this is the best annual out there every year for a hardcore fan of the NHL. If you're interested, you can order them online here or pick them up at the stores listed for quite a bit less. We certainly appreciate the support.

I hope to have some excerpts from the magazine as part of season previews throughout September, so stay tuned for that. (By the way, McKeen's picks Alex Ovechkin as the league's leading scorer this coming season.)

Also of note for Maple Leafs fans, I was part of another annual this year in contributing a feature article about Brian Burke's rebuilding plan to Maple Street Press' inaugural Maple Leafs Annual. Down Goes Brown has the details on that one.