Anaheim Ducks: Thanks for the ride Ducks Nation, it’s been fun

As of midnight tomorrow, the best Anaheim Ducks fansite, Pucks of a Feather, will be “under new management.” Before I go, there are some acknowledgments, etc, I’d like to make.

I took over Pucks of a Feather on February 17, of this year. At that time, PofaF had been fairly dormant for more than a year. I thought the Anaheim Ducks fans deserved a bigger voice. FanSided’s NHL Director Chris Headrick gave the opportunity to lead the site and I’d like to think I have justified his faith in me.

Some of you might have been familiar with my work covering the Ducks on another site. Others learned about us on social media or by word of mouth. Regardless of how you found Pucks of a Feather, you got to us. That is the most important thing.

More from Pucks of a Feather

• Who could the Anaheim Ducks consider presenting offer sheets to?
• Is Pierre-Luc Dubois on the cards for the rebuilding Anaheim Ducks?
• Making the case for the Anaheim Ducks to trade with the Edmonton Oilers
• Anaheim Ducks might benefit tremendously by trading John Gibson
• How close are the Anaheim Ducks to becoming contenders again?

Through the hard work of our contributors and the loyalty of our readers, we restarted Pucks of a Feather’s engine and got the car back on the road. Greg Johnson posted our first article on that day, it was about defenseman Marcus Pettersson’s debut as an Anaheim Ducks player. I followed that up a day later with an editorial titled “Welcome to the Show Ducks Fans.” In it I wrote:

Our goal is simple. Pucks of a Feather wants to be the place where you, the Ducks fans, come for comprehensive coverage of your team. To reach our goal, we are putting together a staff who are passionate about the game of hockey… Things you can expect from us:

Expert analysis
Compelling features
Interesting opinions
Breaking news
A little bit of fun mixed in

I believe we accomplished those goals. Actually, I know we did. Over the last six months, we have broken almost every readership metric Pucks of a Feather ever had. As a matter of fact, our average reader totals in that time span are better than the best month the site had prior to February 17, 2018.

Best Staff in the Biz

The thing I’m most proud of however is the staff we have. Greg, Tucker Muse, and I kicked things off six months ago, but since then we have almost tripled the number of people providing content to Pucks of a Feather. Ducks Nation has been able to enjoy the thoughts and insights of Greg, Blake Navarro, Jacob Robles, Ciara Durant, Chris Bushell, Kenny Marcial, and Eddy Jones.

They have brought a variety of viewpoints to the table and the numbers show our readers have enjoyed what their work. Whether they were doing an article about Corey Perry, a top five list, or a report on the Ducks prospects, they put forward their best effort.

I’ll never be able to express how grateful I am to each and every contributor, for all they have done to make us a success. I have learned so much from them.

A New Day Breaking

Pucks of a Feather will be left in good hands. Ciara and Chris are the new site experts. It would be very hard to find two people who both love the Anaheim Ducks and enjoy sharing their thoughts than Ciara and Chris. I feel very good about turning the keys over to them and I’m excited to see the direction they take this car.

As for me, I’m headed for a new challenge, the rebuilding of FanSided’s Seattle sports site, Emerald City Swagger, tomorrow. I’ll still make occasional contributions to Pucks of a Feather because I will always be part of Ducks Nation.

I thank you all for your support these past six-plus months. It means the world to me.

LET’S GO DUCKS

-Ed Stein