The Nation Network is pleased and proud to announce that our Editor in Chief, Thomas Drance, has stepped down to take a position with the Florida Panthers. 

Since joining the Nation Network as a writer in 2011, Drance rose through the ranks within our team until eventually being named Editor in Chief in February of 2015, a role he excelled at before accepting the position of Vice President of Communications and Public Relations with the Florida Panthers.

In his time as Editor in Chief, Drance pushed the Nation Network forward in terms of quality of content, growing the writer base, as well as the expansion of the Network itself. Thomas was integral to the negotiations and additions of both BlueJaysNation.com and WingsNation.com to our stable of sites, as well as overseeing the Nation Network as traffic swelled to over 160 million page views per year.

Having a team member leave the Nation Network for an opportunity with an NHL team is not new to us. This trend is something that we’ve seen before and we wear it like a badge of honour. We could not be happier to support Thomas with his new opportunity to work for a National Hockey League team. In our industry, working for an NHL team is viewed as the pinnacle of success and we are thrilled to see Thomas Drance get the chance to live out that dream. His hard work, dedication, and attention to detail will serve him well in his new role and it is an opportunity that is well deserved. 

The Nation Network will remain committed to building and maintaining the best collection of free content on the web, and that includes continuing the fine work and ideas conceived by Thomas Drance. Effective immediately, the new Editor in Chief of the Nation Network will be Mike Gagnon, a longtime behind-the-scenes member of the Network who has extensive experience in team building, social media, and content generation.

Read the official Florida Panthers release on Thomas Drance’s new role here.