Panthers Equipment Manager Participates in Reddit Ask Me Anything

Florida Panthers Teddy Richards Ask Me Anything

An Ask Me Anything session on Reddit is always a treat, especially when it’s on a topic that you enjoy. Today, the Florida Panthers head equipment manager Teddy Richards participated in one and as you might expect, it offered some great insight.

One great example to get things going was how Teddy got his start:

Q: How do I get your job?

A: It’s taken me 15 years to get where I am today. I started off being very, very lucky.

Getting a full-time position in hockey is not easy. My hometown was awarded a minor league hockey franchise (SWB Penguins) and I was able to volunteer my services folding towels and emptying garbage cans.

My recommendation would be to get some hockey retail experience (pro shop, etc), because jobs are so limited. Anything that can put you ahead of the curve (no pun intended) will help.

Jobs are so limited, there are so many good equipment managers out there already, jobs are very tough to come by.

Best of luck though

Other questions related to the players on the ice and their usage of equipment. For example, the following question popped up regarding broken sticks.

Q: Which player on the Panthers is most notorious for breaking sticks?

A. Not notorious, but as a big defenseman with a powerful shot, Aaron Ekblad does go through his fair share of sticks.

One of the more interesting responses given by Richards was related to stick pricing for NHL teams. He also shared a bit of information on college teams as well. Here is his response:

$180 is the NHL price, and that’s pretty comparable across the board per vendor. Per league, you could get cheaper prices based on league deals.

Most colleges sign exclusive contracts, they can pay as little as $89 per stick!

I would have never expected a college team to be able to secure sticks for their players as such a low rate.

There is some really great stuff in this AMA, and it’s highly worth the time to check it out. Below you can find a direct link to the thread.

Florida Panthers Equipment Manager AMA

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