Last week, we gave readers a chance to submit questions for Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Joni Pitkanen.  Yesterday, I had the opportunity to pass them on to the big blueliner and after a few serious thoughts, as well as a few chuckles, the Finn was nice enough to answer most of what was asked.    

Pitkanen currently leads all Hurricanes defenseman in scoring with 11 points, (sixth on the team), and is tied with Jamie McBain for a blueline best plus/minus (+4).   Last year he led the entire league in average time on ice and is currently 19th this season.  For the first time in his career, he is on the NHL All Star ballot this year.

After the jump, what you wanted to know about Joni Pitkanen:

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A couple of weeks ago, we started a new feature here at Canes Country called "Fans Want To Know".   This special feature gives fans the opportunity to submit their own questions to be asked to selected players.  The first player we targeted was youngster, Jamie McBain.  In case you missed it, you can check out the questions submitted for him as well as his responses here.

Our next featured player is Tom Kostopoulos, the veteran forward who signed a three year deal with Carolina last offseason.   I was able to meet with him after the morning skate last week Thursday.   Even though the popular ex-Canadien had a couple of interviews with the Montreal press before speaking with me, he didn't seem to mind me pestering him for a few more minutes and it was a very enjoyable interview.  

Thanks again to those of you who submitted questions.  And of course a big thank you to Kostopoulos for his candor and his time.

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For those of you who may have missed this the last time around, here is a chance for you to submit a question which could be asked to a Hurricanes player.  For what most likely will be our final "Fans Want To Know" feature of the season,  we are going to try to catch up with Hurricanes winger, Tom Kostopoulos.

Kostopoulos was originally drafted by the Penguins but has also played for the Kings and Canadiens before signing a three year deal as a free agent this past summer with Carolina.  His 8 goals for the season are just one shy of his career best and his 106 penalty minutes are just seven shy of his career high of 113.  

He does have a career high (plus) +4 so far this season.

Kostopoulos never hesitates to stick up for his teammates and has a team high 10 fighting majors.  He is also well known for his practical jokes.    

This is your chance to ask him a question, what will it be?

Last week we started a new feature on the blog entitled "Fans Want To Know" and we thought that Jamie McBain would be a good player to start this off with. 

There was such a good response to the idea that there were actually more questions than what there was time for, but McBain was nice enough to speak with me after the morning skate on Saturday and I was able to ask him the majority of the questions.  

Perhaps we will have time on another date to finish them up or followup on some of his responses.  A big thank you to those of you who submitted questions and of course thanks also goes to McBain, for being a good sport and taking the time for the interview.

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Have you ever wanted to ask a player a question, but never had the chance?  This could be your opportunity. 

We have an open door policy of sorts here at Canes Country and we are always open to new ideas and suggestions.  Someone mentioned in one of the recent open game threads that it would be nice if members had the chance to ask players questions. 

After a bit of internal discussion, we decided to give that a try and we started a new feature, "Fans Want To Know". 

This new feature will give Canes Country members the opportunity to ask specific questions of the highlighted player.  Simply leave your question or questions in the comment section below and I will ask the player the selected questions after the next practice or whenever circumstances allow it.  (We reserve the right to limit the number of questions and make the final selections). 

Obviously, time is short now as the players will be unavailable to the media in about a week, but we will give it a try until the end of the season and pick it up again next season if we can.

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