There’s a passage from renowned author and Santa Cruz resident Jonathan Franzen’s “Purity” that has stuck with me. About halfway through the novel, Leila, a journalist, weighs the pros and cons of the profession in the digital age.

“The irony of the internet is that it’s made the journalist’s job so much easier. You can research in five minutes what used to take five days. But the internet is also killing journalism. There’s no substitute for the reporter who’s worked a beat for twenty years, who’s cultivated sources, who can see the difference between a story and a non-story.

“Google can make you feel very smart, but the best stories come when you’re out in the field. Your source makes some offhand remark, and suddenly you see the real story.”

The latter part of that quote is, to me, what makes this job most enjoyable.

It’s easy to recall, for example, getaway day at the end of the Sharks’ tumultuous 2014-15 season. Joe Thornton, when asked about coach Todd McLellan’s future, quipped: “Todd said he has to talk to his family. Maybe he should talk to this family as well in (the dressing room).”

If you weren’t covering the Sharks regularly you might not have thought anything of that remark. To those of us who were around both Thornton and McLellan for several years, though, the message was obvious: the two had had enough of each other and one of them had to go. McLellan and the Sharks parted ways a few short weeks later.

The Athletic has come along at a fascinating, and, I would argue, opportunistic time in the profession. It’s been just two years since that “the internet is killing journalism” excerpt I noted above was penned, but as many Silicon Valley residents know well, things tend to evolve pretty quickly around these parts. Already, you can sense that real journalism of the digital variety is gaining steam, and The Athletic is positioning itself to lead the way when it comes to sports.

You won’t find any non-stories (to reference that Franzen line one more time) on this site — just in-depth reporting by journalists that have either worked their beats for years, or offer a unique view that is different from what you’re used to seeing in traditional media outlets.

If you’ve spent any time here or are already a subscriber, you’ve seen not only the cleanliness of the layout, but the incredible lineup of talent that’s been assembled both locally and across North America. Founders and Bay Area guys Alex Mather and Adam Hansmann have also put a priority on hockey coverage, which, for selfish reasons, I’m thrilled about (and hopefully you are too).

In fact, I would argue that the site’s commitment to hockey is best represented by how they plan on covering the Sharks. Let’s be honest, in an area that features a basketball team on the cusp of being labeled a dynasty, a three-time World Series champion baseball team, and two NFL football teams, the Sharks are rarely at the top of the sports page.

Even when the Sharks made a memorable run to their first-ever Stanley Cup Final in 2016, the majority of Bay Area sports fans would tell you that their most vivid memory from that June was the Warriors blowing a 3-1 lead to Cleveland. To many, the Sharks-Penguins Stanley Cup Final series was just something that was on between basketball games.

But instead of treating the Sharks like the red-headed stepchild of the local sports scene, The Athletic has not only brought me on full time, but plans to have longtime former beat writer David Pollak and prospect guru Zachary DeVine weigh in, too. And that’s just locally. Nationally, Pierre LeBrun is one of the most connected hockey writers there is and has broken numerous Sharks stories throughout the years, while the site also has a number of writers that look at the game through the analytics viewpoint.

You want Sharks coverage? You’ll get it here, even if the team isn’t likely to drive subscriptions like some of the other local options. That should tell you all you need to know about the invigorating direction this company is headed, and it’s a big reason why I’m so pumped to sign on.

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Personally, this will be the seventh season that I’m covering the Sharks, having arrived in the Bay Area late in the summer of 2011 following a cross-country drive from Philadelphia.

My journey to becoming a beat writer was a little different than most, but I wouldn’t change any of it. It’s been a hell of an enjoyable ride.

It started with the AHL’s Philadelphia Phantoms (who were under now-Los Angeles Kings coach John Stevens) when I was their assistant director of public relations, and eventually that led to me taking over the Philadelphia Flyers website, where I handled content. Back then it was a one-man show. Now most NHL teams have at least half a dozen employees working in their digital department.

In Philly, we were one of the first official team websites to travel someone (me) for the express purpose of producing articles and video. I was at every Flyers home game, the practice rink, or on the team charter to cover road games, offering me a unique view of how an NHL club operates. It is a perspective that most media members don’t ever get to experience. I did for eight seasons.

Still, when I got the call to move across the country and cover a team in the Sharks that, frankly, I didn’t pay all that much attention to when I lived back east, it was intimidating. Sure, I had the Center Ice package while I was living in Philly, but staying up for games that ended at 1 a.m. local time wasn’t usually on the agenda.

When I got here to San Jose, my biggest fear wasn’t whether I would be able to handle the beat. I knew that I had a firm grasp of the game and extensive knowledge of how the league worked. I did as much research on the Sharks as I could, and considered myself prepared.

Still, one thought kept running through my head, especially when I was in front of a camera. If I put myself in the shoes of a longtime Sharks fan and saw this East Coast transplant appearing on my screen, I would ask, “Who the heck is this guy to tell me what I should think about the Sharks?”

But as time went by and I got more comfortable, I came to realize that there weren’t a whole lot of hockey writers in the area that were regularly offering their opinion of the team, and that was new to this audience. While there were some well-regarded and brilliant columnists that would show up from time to time, there wasn’t someone who was around the Sharks every day that was willing to editorialize so frequently.

Some didn’t like it. I get it. I was an outsider that was often direct and forthcoming and called it how I saw it, and that wasn’t really a style employed by some of my on-camera co-workers, either. I was doing something different, but I wasn’t going to change anything.

I hope that most of you that have followed my work over the past six seasons with the Sharks have come to appreciate that approach, and you’re exactly the kind of readers that I believe will get the most out of subscribing to The Athletic. I can assure you, too, that I’m not going to philosophically change the way I cover the team. The difference now is I’ll get to spend more time on stories that I believe are important and compelling, and less time on mundane injury updates or cut-and-dry game details (let’s face it, if you want to know what happened in a game you didn’t see, you’re finding the video highlights online somewhere).

I’ll frequently offer my opinion and my analytical takes on the Sharks. I plan on doing more robust mailbags. I’ll be diving into the comments section, too — which, in a truly revolutionary development, appears to be civil and engaging.

I hope you’ll come along with me and join The Athletic community.

(Top photo: Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)