It's the start of a brand new era for Editor In Leaf. One of the first websites you think of when wanting something more for your coverage of our Toronto Maple Leafs, has a new Site Expert.
I've already written a couple things for Editor In Leaf, but I thought now would be a good time to more formally introduce myself and let everyone know more of what is going on behind the scenes here. My name is Thomas Williams and I'm the new Site Expert at Editor In Leaf.
It isn't the most perfect time of the hockey schedule to make this change -- there could be more opportune times than in the middle of the first round of what is hopefully a lengthy playoff run from our Leafs. But, we will be seizing this opportunity with everything we have and hopefully providing the coverage you want.
As for more about me, I have been writing about hockey for over 10 years. I got my early start in the blog mines with The Nation Network, primarily writing for The Leafs Nation, Wings Nation, and Canucks Army. After wanting to take the next step, I took Centennial College's Sports Journalism post-graduate program and from there, linked up with Yahoo Sports Canada, where I was able to work with outstanding talents in 2019 and wrote for them all the way up until they closed in December 2023.
In the middle of all of that, I was approached by Steph Driver to start writing for SB Nation -- taking over Hockey Wilderness, the Minnesota Wild site, and writing for Broad Street Hockey. Entrenching myself in both of those communities, I stayed with them through SB Nation letting go of the majority of their NHL team sites and letting them go independent. I still contribute to Hockey Wilderness, but what I am most proud of is my work at Broad Street Hockey as an editor and a writer as the team over there helped one of the most substantial team-specific sites stay afloat and flourish as an independent.
But that's enough about that. I'm sorry I forced you to read my hockey blogging resume in prose. With a familiar face in Steph now as Fansided's NHL Director, I knew I wanted to get involved and once the opening to be a Site Expert for Editor In Leaf came up, I leaped at the opportunity.
I have never left the Greater Toronto Area to live somewhere else. Maybe it makes my life just be in this little bubble, but it guaranteed one thing: That I live and breathe hockey and the Toronto Maple Leafs. My earliest childhood hockey memories were riddled with watching Mats Sundin and as I grew up, wanting to fight anyone that didn't think Tomas Kaberle was one of the best blueliners in the league.
I made stops elsewhere and wrote about teams that I learned about in a professional manner, but now back to writing about the Leafs (and this Leafs team) feels like I'm finally able to relax and let it all out. I am overjoyed to be joining Editor In Leaf and leading a team full of incredibly intelligent fans who put out engaging and thoughtful content about this team.
As for what might be in store on Editor In Leaf in the near future, we will be focused on keeping you informed but also entertained. While we will still aim to give you some of the hard-hitting analysis, there is always time to write something with a little bit more focus on keeping it lighthearted. We can't talk about the power play or how Craig Berube should deploy the lines every single day.
We hope you stick around for the ride. I know that it is going to be a good time. Expect even bigger and better from us here at EIL.
Go Buds.
-Thomas