What if James Rose...

[mattyIceman 1,230]

This pops into my head from time to time, and who knows how James Rose's career could've played out had London NOT selected Rose during the S73 expansion draft.

 

The whole plan was for Rose to spend a third season in the VHLM with the Houston Bulls.  Rose was a member with the Halifax 21st along with Timothy Brown and Viktor Mjers and we had hoped to make a playoff run.  GM Dil decided to move the trio onto other teams and collect alot of picks to be competitive for S74.  Sonnet, the Bulls GM at the time, chose to trade for Rose under the impression that he would stay with the Bulls for the S73 season.  The S72 Houston Bulls SUCKED, with a capital S, so it was a gamble to trade picks away.  Sonnet would eventually accept the VHLM Commissioner's position and current GM rjfryman would take the reins at the end of the season, and Rose would still be a part of the Bulls' plans for S73.

 

Titans GM Jubo didn't protect James Rose during the expansion draft.  Newly minted London GM McWolf would take him, and Rose had the opportunity to go up, so he did it.  Had he not been selected, Rose would've likely remained a Titans prospect and would have stayed with the Houston Bulls.  Rjfryman would go on to select great players during the S73 VHLM draft and make some savvy deals to acquire some great talent, like Isabella Campbell, Venus thightrap, Christian Mingle and Markus Schauer, while still having Riley Knight Gee on defense (he was my defense partner for S72).  This Bulls team would go on to the finals that season, but with Rose there, we could have won it all.

You could also go down another alternate path, like what if Rose was selected by Warsaw, Chicago or even Los Angeles.  He did end up spending his career with London, until being dealt to the Riga Reign in the S76 offseason, then recently back to the original team that drafted him in the 3rd round, 26th overall, the Helsinki Titans.  Would Rose have been in Helsinki up until this point in time, is another alternate reality that could be discussed...

 

When James Rose entered the VHL, he was at about 270 tpe, and he scored 21 goals and 60+ points during the S73 season, and he would never get as many goals up until the present time.  Would he have benefitted from another season before going up to Helsinki, or even London?  The option was on the table to stay down, but with the team so new and empty, Rose saw the chance to make a name for himself.  I personally think that Rose's rookie season in S74 with the Titans would have been in a depth role, not getting much ice time or producing much, but maybe the Titans win the championship they came so close to winning.  
 

Here's another alternate reality timeline:  What if MattyIce knew what the hell he was doing at the start of James Rose's career and he gets drafted where he' sitting currently among the Season 72 draft class?  He'd be a first round pick in my eyes, early 2nd round at worst, possibly ending up in Moscow, Malmo, Seattle or Vancouver, and all previous speculation goes out the window, but all those clubs either won championships or came very close, so could he have been the player that helps change history?