Victor

A third VHL expansion is taking place in four seasons (or second if you count Malmo and Moscow as one expansion spread over two seasons), which is an unprecedented period of growth in the VHL. I am of course an advocate for this round of expansion as I was the ones in S65 and S66, but I wonder if 12 teams will be where we reach optimum condition. At the moment most VHL teams are running 2.5-3 lines but that talent will be spread out and it might be a while until we can guarantee that 14 teams would be able to do so and remain in good health. In S67 currently, Toronto's shootout voodoo aside, there are 5 teams with 82 or 81 points with four games to go in the season. For the second year in a row, 7 teams went for the playoffs, but like Toronto last season, Davos has fallen short this year. Even with the likely abolition of crossover and simply 6 teams per conference competing for 4 playoff spots, it is unlikely we'll see a playoff race in S68 and possibly for a few more seasons after that. Speculating on next season, it's likely the two expansion teams finish bottom of their conference. The North American Conference might be particularly weak as New York is still in the early stages of the rebuild and Toronto might really struggle to remain competitive after retirements and free agency. It will be up to Seattle to take the next step up (S67 shows they are capable), otherwise the NA will have just two real cup contenders – Vancouver and Calgary. That might cause calls for retaining crossover as depending on how Malmo young squad progresses, there may be five teams competing for four spots in Europe whereas there won't be any playoff race in the other conference. Either way, it will probably be a while since we have 9 playoff hopefuls in a league with 8 playoff spots.

With expansion draft details not yet revealed but speculation being that protection rules will be similar to S65 and S66 and each team will lose an asset, here's a brief overview of how that affects every existing VHL franchise. Calgary – Win now mode means little to lose The Wranglers went old fashioned by accelerating their rebuild to end up where they are now – competing with two lines and basically no prospect pool. Whether it will work out remains to be seen as there is some uncertainty over the future of franchise goaltender Brick Wahl, but on the bright side it means they can protect most of the team. Expect veteran Robert Malenko and/or youngster Cody Smith exposed – they're players Calgary would rather keep but can deal without. New York – Won't notice The good thing about being bottom of the league is not having many valuable assets. New York's attempt to compete bottomed out last off-season and has left them without too many pieces at the moment – they'll probably have to end up protecting some inactive players as they have more slots than core players. That might mean losing a reasonably valuable third round pick, but the Americans have enough of those in S68 and S69 to cope. Seattle – Timing works against them If the Bears were a season behind in their rebuild and about to draft big in S68, they'd have nothing to worry about. Instead they went in on S67 and now have more players from that draft class than there are protection slots. And that's before counting slightly older players like John Frostbeard and Dallas Jones. In the long run, Seattle wouldn't be able to keep this whole team together anyway but it does mean they have to decide who has the most upside now which can be a tough call this early on in players' careers. Vancouver – Should stop drafting so well The Wolves hit a low in the first season after moving from Quebec but have rebounded well thanks to building a new team effectively entirely through the draft. That does mean they have a young, deep team with more actives players than they can keep, as an article by one of their own players clearly shows. There's little more to add to that – Vancouver will need to decide who the most important players are to their continued contender status. Toronto – No impact After this season, Devise has 99 problems, but the expansion draft ain't one of them. Between retirements, pending free agents, and not having made a draft pick since S63, Toronto has nothing to lose and might only 4 players under contract going into the off-season. At the absolute most, they'll have 11, meaning they're probably losing someone like Gucci Garrop or Bolt Vanderhuge. Looks like that S70 3rd round pick is coming into play. Moscow – Probably better off for it Having known about expansion for a while, naturally I've assessed how I'll be affected by it and although there are still a couple decisions to make, overall it's probably a blessing as the salary cap tightens around Moscow... and a few other GMs will probably be thinking along the same lines. Without revealing my game plan, I think the Menace will be able to retain our core players and lose someone who might have been a cap dump anyway. Malmo – Would be happy to avoid but will deal Going into their third season, the Nighthawks will be at a point where they're a young team with more active players than protection slots but they've already been throwing players away before S67 given ice time and cap considerations. Whoever they lose, a Gaudette, a Basaraba Moose, or maybe Dalton Wilcox, will be a piece an expansion team would love to have, but probably one Malmo can deal without. Davos – Is getting real tired of expansions The problem with being in a perennial rebuild, other than obviously not actually winning anything, is also having a deep prospect pool vulnerable to expansion draft raids. Davos already lost Dan Baillie and Jack Lynch in S65 and S66, two of Moscow and Malmo's best expansion draft selections, and will likely have one of their fine S67 prospects (Leblanc, Ligriv, or someone else) stolen this time. Riga – Also resigned to losing a promising young player The Reign have made a living since circa S61 or so off never having to sell the farm by constantly replenishing their roster with younger players. The result? Six seasons straight in the playoffs but also always having more players than expansion draft protection slots. Riga can't protect all their stars (Kastelic, McWolf, Dahlberg) and also all their S66 players, therefore will provide another useful piece for the expansion teams to grab. Helsinki – Potential tough decisions In a league of trying to never enter a firesale, a few franchises are building the old fashioned way, and Helsinki is one of those. This expansion draft catches them at a reasonably good time, where an ageing roster will need some cap balacing anyway so perhaps the Titans will sacrifice one of their loyal servants in order to compete longer. It's a risk though, there's no guarantee Guillaume Fontenette will develop to replace a Jesse Wilson or Bert Meyers to the level of Matt Thompson or Dan Wilinsky, but probably will work out well for Helsinki either way.

Eh you’re still top of the conference plus we play each other twice.

Whoopin yo ass x

Oh no I’m so sorry

Damn

You got some threepeat action to balance it out. At least @jRuutu got something to be happy about. Actually did Calgary even win another playoff series after S47? As in the real Calgary not the Stockholm rip off. Cursed. @eaglesfan036

Best Game 7 until S47.

This hurts. Knew you knew too much to be left free to roam.

It’s over, enjoy the draft lottery

Penalties will kill us.

We have been more north in Sweden in the past... with limited success.

Also Quebec’s expansion buddy back in day was Cologne, so Germany was covered once until it got contracted. Hopefully will be revisited soon, lots of attractive cities there.

Yeah I think geographically Moscow, Riga, and Helsinki are actually very natural rivals (especially given former Russian Empire/Soviet borders). But we all know the one true rivalry is Riga vs Davos anyway. Also bring back Bratislava, they always deserved to be in the VHL.

@BladeMaiden

Eh, still put up decent numbers

Just gonna .500ing our way through the rest of the season lol. Big fights won by Gabella and Komarov this sim as well #dontfuckwithMoscow

Fucking barn burner that

Yeah just players.

Stop rebuilding then.

2 correct answers = 2 capped TPE 1 correct answer = 1 capped TPE Uncapped TPE based on season leaderboard handed out at end of season. Link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSenJ9iUmZbG5f76BCqLxbuIQCxhOW6kGT-qDQbpN8FxQ3EuLw/viewform?usp=sf_link

1. How many players have won the Scott Boulet Trophy multiple times? (Credit and 1 uncapped TPE to @Jubo07) A ton tbh, 18 repeat winners in 66 seasons, including quite a few 3+ time winners, as well as record 5-time winner David Smalling, with Scott Boulet, Leeroy Jenkins, Lord Karnage, and Matt Thompson just after him on 4. Thompson of course is still in the running for the all-time record if he gets 2 more in his last 2 seasons. Almost all multiple time Boulet Trophy winners are in the Hall of Fame, but not the lesser known Peter Payne (S10, S11) and John Sleeman (S50, S52). The latter had to retire early as he was Quebec's GM, while the former was just a bit mediocre tbh. 2. Which franchise had the longest wait between winning their first Continental Cup and their second? (Credit and 1 uncapped TPE to @FrostBeard) Technically, could argue for Cologne who never won a second Continental Cup, but the wording made that as clear as possible that it was not an option. Vasteras' famous 25-season wait for a second cup to go with the one they stole in S1 is the stuff of legend, beaten by their unfulfilled quest for a third. Quebec and NY had some long slumps as well after their 1st cup but recovered eventually. 2 capped TPE goes to: FrostBeard @FrostBeard Sharkstrong @Sharkstrong Esso2264 @Esso2264 Edustava @Edustava gorlab @gorlab Beketov @Beketov nethi99 @nethi99 Walter Fizz @Walter Fizz Oilmandan @oilmandan Poptart @Poptart Chillzone @chillzone Joubo @Joubo Quik @Quik Jtv123 @Jtv123 frescoelmo @frescoelmo enigmatic @enigmatic DizzyWithLogic @DizzyWithLogic AndrewWarren13 @AndrewWarren13 DoktorFunk @DoktorFunk VanCanWin @VanCanWin SidTheKid87 @SidTheKid87 Green @Green Big Mac @Big Mac Snussu @Snussu Jubo07 @Jubo07 Patpou22 @Patpou22 Zeno @Zeno HenrikZoiderberg @HenrikZoiderberg DMaximus @DMaximus Beaviss @Beaviss philliefan @Philliefan trevmi @trevmi Jbeezy76 @Jbeezy76 Tbeez99 @Tbeez99 73MPL4R @73MPL4R rjfryman @rjfryman Mr_Hatter @Mr_Hatter Cornholio @Cornholio Tuktukthegreat @TukTukTheGreat Psanchez55 @Psanchez55 Velevra @Velevra Matmenzinger @Matmenzinger Dalton Wilcox @Dalton Wilcox ItsMcLovin @ItsMcLovin Elmebeck @Elmebeck Telkster @Telkster DilIsPickle @DilIsPickle sjs88speed @sjs88speed Ace @Ace Motzaburger @Motzaburger Bushito @Bushito Hulkhogan @HulkHogan GustavMattias @GustavMattias Fire_In_Babylon @Fire_In_Babylon NumberJ5 @NumberJ5 Matt_O @Matt_O MexicanCow123 @MexicanCow123 Juddy @Juddy MMFLEX @MMFLEX Brrbisbrr @Brrbisbrr TheLastOlympian07 @TheLastOlympian07 .sniffuM @.sniffuM Frozen Block @Frozen Block jRuutu @jRuutu cody73 @cody73 Psyduck77 @Psyduck77 Enorama @Enorama DollarAndADream @DollarAndADream McWolf @McWolf Kyle @Kyle Tate @Tate bluesfan55 @bluesfan55 Renomitsu @Renomitsu TacticalHammer @TacticalHammer FerdaJets @FerdaJets Jaku @Jaku GRZ @GRZ Liberty_Cabbage @Liberty_Cabbage FonziGG @fonziGG Thranduil @Thranduil Kekzkrieg @Kekzkrieg studentized @studentized dylanjj37 @dylanjj37 metaltoday @MetalToday hedgehog337 @hedgehog337 incitehysteria @InciteHysteria Sixersfan549 @Sixersfan549 street @street Rayzor_7 @Rayzor_7 hewasajazzman @hewasajazzman Donno100 @Donno100 Bruins10 @Bruins10 wcats @wcats Josh @Josh mmarcoux98 @mmarcoux98 aCrypticPancake @aCrypticPancake Gscx420 @Gscx420 BladeMaiden @BladeMaiden Omgitshim @omgitshim Infernal @Infernal sebster03 @Sebster03 CowboyinAmerica @CowboyinAmerica Dominus89 @Dominus89 Kylrad @Kylrad Uphillmoss @uphillmoss AcousticKazoo @AcousticKazoo eaglesfan036 @eaglesfan036 Hughjas_ @HughJas_ Smarch @Smarch elrune1988 @elrune1988 MacH @MacH leafsman @leafsman JeffD @JeffD 1 capped TPE goes to: @Steve @STZ

Fair, I knew I didn't need to doubt your knowledge of Czech naming customs.