I was reading a Hurricanes board yesterday, and saw this little gem:

Let me share a story. Back in the summer during the wild free agency and all, I was checking Eklund’s site as often as anyone. I was led to believe that he knew what he was talking about. Until one day back in August that I did something to see how fast it spread and to see where it got. I started a rumor. You may have heard it, I do not know. But it was on Sportsnet Forums (Where I started it) HF Boards, Eklund and Hockey Trade Rumors.com

The Rumor I started was Tampa Bay forward Brad Richards to Montreal for Ryder, Hainsey and a 2nd round draft pick.

Guess where my rumor got to? Say no more than… the famous “Eklund” he had it rated at (E3) as he calls it. The number beside the (E) is always the number of strong sources he has to support the rumor.

As I went on Eklund, to my surprise (Because I thought this guy was for real) Had MY very own made up as fake as fake could be rumor on his front page with a (E3). He went on to say that he had 3 strong sources confirm this trade could and was very well in the works.

I sat there and laughed. Because I knew I made that rumor up, and it was absolutly impossible for him to say “his sources” confirmed it.

From that day on, I have taken every word from Eklund as a grain of salt.

There’s my story.

So I PMed the poster (who goes by the handle Staal12) and asked him if he had links to the threads in question, and here’s what he replied:

(I do not normally post private messages, but I have a feeling he won’t mind)

I can try and find them for you, I’ll look them up now for the ones I can find. The only thing is, is that the Sportsnet Mods deleated my initial post on their forum, I questioned them about it and they said did it by accident. But I can give you the links to where it got to.

Here are some of the links.

http://www.hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=167053

http://www.hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=166884

As you will see in this link, it says is was posted on Sportsnet Forums and that is where this person got it. This was my actual very first and only thread I made about this rumor. This person obviously copied and pasted it before the Sportsnet Mods deleted it.

http://www.hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=166756

From hockeytraderumors.com

http://www.hockeytraderumors.com/article5541.html

From Montreal Canadiens official fan forum:

http://forum.canadiens.com/forum/eng/viewtopic.php?t=3002&highlight=rumours

Here is the main thread from The Montreal Canadiens official forum. Just scroll down, and you’ll see where it begins.

http://forum.canadiens.com/forum/eng/viewtopic.php?t=2596&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=180

Here are a few from the Sportsnet Forums:

http://forums.sportsnet.ca/thread.jspa?threadID=34120&tstart=960

http://forums.sportsnet.ca/thread.jspa?threadID=34115&tstart=975

http://forums.sportsnet.ca/thread.jspa?threadID=34084&tstart=390

Pretty damning, no? And yet Eklund gave that rumor an “E3″ rating and had it up on his website until 28 August, when he posted:

I have removed the Richards trade rumor from the blog after much speculation to its validity. I was very slow to post this at all yesterday even thought many, many folks emailed me with the rumor throughout the day..I did not believe the rumor at all at first. It wasn’t until I got home from Atlantic City last night that I talked to two sources who verified there was something to it. They verified the fact that Tampa and Montreal had had discussions regarding Richards…However did not know the names. I am now going to spend a lot of time today seeing if the names are similar to the rumor that is out there..According to a source regarding this rumor, “This rumour got started on Hockeytraderumors.com, claiming CBC Radio 640 AM in Bonavista was reporting Michael Ryder’s brother was claiming this trade was about to go down. Two problems with this. First, CBC employees have been locked out by management across Canada for over two weeks now, leading to little news coverage, let alone sports news coverage. Second, CBC Radio isn’t heard on 640 AM in Bonavista, but 750 AM.”

This is an interesting case where someone may have invented a rumor from thin air, and stumbled on a player, Richards, and a team, Montreal, that is indeed being thrown around..I will get to the bottom of it…

What’s really funny is that if you do a blogspot search of his blog specifically for Richards trade, you WILL find a link to the removed post (it’s the second link)–but of course you can’t get to the post because Eklund the Fraud deleted it (as he states above–probably one of the only true things he’s ever posted in that blog).

EDIT: I have been given permission by my source to divulge his identity (or at least his carolinahurricanes.com board name), so I’ve edited my post accordingly.