State of the Blog 2015: Change is Coming!
By Rhys Jessop
8 years agoAs we enter August, hockey season is rapidly approaching. Summer camps are well underway, and before you know it, rookie and training camps will be starting up too. As we don’t have a lot of “down time” left in the offseason, it’s a terrific time for us at the blog to take a look at how we’ve done this past year, and plan for the future.
We have some changes to announce to our roster, so join us after the jump for what you can expect to see here at Canucks Army in 2015-2016!
A look back
First off, I want to thank each and every one of our readers and writers for helping make 2014-15 easily the most successful year in Canucks Army’s history. We saw our largest total growth ever in readership last season, and broke four million pageviews for the first time ever, smashing site traffic and popularity records all along the way.
I’m quite confident that Canucks Army is now one of the most vibrant, active, and largest Canucks communities on the internet, so I’ll take this opportunity to say thank you.
Thank you to our writing staff, who I believe are some of the most keenly insightful, thoughtful, and talented individuals out in blogdom right now, and thank you to the readers, who have helped us by reading, sharing, and discussing what we’ve had to say in this rather interesting time in Canucks history. Canucks Army wouldn’t be where it is today without any of you.
We may be happy with how last year went, but we’re far from satisfied. There’s always room for us to get better, and we’re laser-focused on doing just that. To do this, we’re addressing our needs on a managerial level – I am stepping aside as the active Managing Editor of Canucks Army back into the analyst role I am more comfortable in. In my place, we’re bringing in the one and only Jeff Veillette (@JeffVeillette) to improve our news coverage, back-end organization, and how we interact with you, our fantastic readers.
So without further ado, I’ll turn the floor over to Jeff so he can share his vision and what he is going to bring you this upcoming season:
The New Guy
Hey everybody! My name is Jeff, and if you read all the sites on our network, you probably already know me from my work on The Leafs Nation. I know what you’re thinking; a Toronto guy taking over Canucks Army doesn’t make a lot of sense, but I’ve followed the Canucks for the bulk of my life as well. Pavel Bure is my all time favourite player, the West Coast Express means more to me than any line the Leafs have ever assembled, and when Alex Burrows eliminated the Blackhawks in 2011, I literally ran out of my house screaming in excitement (probably not the best thing to do in the middle of the night, by the way).
I’d like to thank Rhys for making this transition such a smooth one, and Thomas Drance for giving me the opportunity to take the reins here. As a member of the network and a frequent Canucks Army reader, I’m beyond excited to be managing, in my opinion, the most talented writing staff of any hockey outlet on the planet right now (sorry, TLN). This group have legitimately changed the way I see the sport, and I know I’m not the only one who feels that way.
The goal for this year is to put out as much content as possible for you readers, while still maintaining the creativity and out-of-the-box thinking of the staff. We want to make this a site that you come back to not just for the quick update on a news story, but for the additional perspectives to help mould your own viewpoints. We also want to dig even deeper on our prospects that make the professional jump, and get more engaged with you, our readers, on social media. After all, the conversation shouldn’t just stop at the bottom of an article.
It’s going to be a crazy road ahead for the Canucks. It’ll be frustrating at times and confusing at others, but it’ll always be entertaining and we’re going to do our best here at the Army to keep that entertainment going when you stop by the site. We can’t wait for what’s ahead!
The long road ahead
So, there you have it. Jeff will be transitioning into his new role through the early part of this month, and will have fully taken over the managerial duties here at Canucks Army by the time preseason training camp begins. We’re all very excited for this change, as we feel it will allow everyone on the blog to play to their strengths and produce the very best product we possibly can. All the things you love and/or love to hate about us are going to remain consistent going forward – we believe this transition is going to help us keep doing what we do best.
So, once more, thank you to all of you for making 2014-2015 the most successful season in Canucks Army history by such a massive margin. Here’s to hoping 2015-2016 is even better.
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