About a month ago, Scott Mullin penned a piece titled “Welcome To The New Rat Trick”, in which he revealed that he would be taking over as this website’s new editor.

There’s a Part Two to The New Rat Trick, as I will be joining Scott as a co-editor as soon as possible, and am excited to help build this site into the best place for Florida Panthers coverage.

About me

I am a student at the University of Central Florida, who is currently studying statistics and sociology while playing ACHA DIII hockey. I was born and raised in South Florida, and have been a Panther fan for as long as I can remember (Literally, as long as I can remember. I was born in 1996, the same year that the Cats went all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals; my mother actually had to stop going to the playoff games while she was pregnant with me because of the excitement in the arena).

I have written for Litter Box Cats and Along the Boards in the past, and currently write for Hockey Prospectus and Today’s Slapshot, as well as here at The Rat Trick. Advanced statistics feature heavily in my work, and it is my goal to eventually work for an NHL team.

Site plans

Me and Scott have several plans for The Rat Trick, as we feel that this website has the potential to be the Internet’s go-to hub for Florida Panthers coverage.

For starters, we’ll be bringing more quality staff writers on board. The goal is to bring quality, unique content to our readers everyday of the week. We won’t just focus on game previews and game recaps; we’ll be rolling out player features, editorial pieces, prospect articles, and more. If you’re interested in writing for The Rat Trick, just reach out to me (@shane1342o) or Scott (@scootmullin) on Twitter, and we’ll take it from there.

Next is amping up our coverage of the team’s prospects, especially those playing in the AHL with the Portland Pirates. In this season alone, Connor Brickley, Quinton Howden, Rocco Grimaldi, Vincent Trocheck, and Alex Petrovic have made the jump to the NHL after spending time with the team’s AHL affiliate. Prospects such as Kyle Rau, Michael Matheson, and Sam Brittain are currently developing as players in the AHL, and we want to bring our readers coverage of the prospects that could end up being the future of the team.

Finally, we’ll also work on making sure that The Rat Trick is accessible to our readers. We want to hear from you; feel free to leave comments on our articles, or reach out to us on social media. Whether you have a question, comment, or just want to talk about hockey, we’ll be sure to get back to you.

As the site grows and develops, we’ll look into making more changes, additions, and tweaks. As mentioned before, we want The Rat Trick to become the best place on the Internet for Florida Panthers coverage.

I look forward to the covering the rest of the season (which hopefully will go well into April), and am excited to get started. As Scott closed off in his introduction piece…

Life is good, but it’s beautiful when the Panthers are playing great hockey. I think we’re about to see some great hockey, and I’m excited to write about it.