Higgins 3,618 Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 From Russia with Love Today a Russian insider named Igor tweeted out a rumor that the Moscow Red Wolves franchise will be folding after Season 51. This news has come as a shock to Russian hockey fans that have been loyal fans of the Red Wolves since they were introduced to the VHLM in S39. The Moscow Red Wolves were a re-location franchise as the Vasteras IK J20 franchise collapsed under pressure from the Anti-Vasteras campaign in the VHL. This time we are told there will be no relocation and that the Moscow Red Wolves will be folding. This news comes as the Moscow Red Wolves currently lead the VHLM European conference with 94 points with 6 games remaining in the regular season. It appears this will be their last chance at a VHLM championship in Russia. The Red Wolves do have one Founder's Cup to their name when they won in Season 45. With this move the VHL will further distance itself from the Russian Federation. The VHL has notoriously had no Russian franchises, despite an expansion in Season 31. The World Cup also removed the Russian team and in their place introduced a World team. The Moscow Red Wolves were supposed to bring in a new era of Russian hockey into the VHL world. We aren't 100% sure why the Moscow franchise is folding but there has been a lot of speculation on twitter today. Some people believe that the western world has been putting pressure on VHL executives to cease operations in Moscow with the Red Wolves and to close their satellite offices in the Russian city. Tensions are at an all time high since the Cold War between the USA and the Kremlin, and maybe the VHL head honchos thought it was best to pull out now. Others believe the VHL has an Anti-Russian agenda and has been trying to pull the plug on the Red Wolves for 10 season now. It also could be because revenue numbers dropped off significantly in S50 in the VHLM and the league is looking to focus on fewer franchises moving forward. The last franchises to fold in the VHLM were the Minot Gladiators and Turku Outlaws prior to Season 43. Da Trifecta and eaglesfan036 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hedgehog337 3,480 Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 The cut off to 6 teams? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solas 1,947 Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 In the end, Vasteras always wins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devise 4,475 Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 21 minutes ago, solas said: In the end, Vasteras always wins. Maybe in the old days of the VHL. But we have now incurred the wrath of Putin, it's all over. If we don't relocate Riga to Moscow in the next few seasons the Russians will destroy us all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kendrick 4,741 Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 Ugliest player there is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordonBombay66 18 Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 Do the team choices here somehow reflect GM's or people from these parts of the world in the league or something? Sorry not meaning to offend but the team location choices all seem strange. The only obvious American team in both junior and major is New York. Minnesota, Chicago, Detroit, even out in California all missing as it's just NY and Seattle for US based teams. No Russia now either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel 565 Posted November 2, 2016 Share Posted November 2, 2016 Russia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Higgins 3,618 Posted November 2, 2016 Author Share Posted November 2, 2016 2 hours ago, GordonBombay66 said: Do the team choices here somehow reflect GM's or people from these parts of the world in the league or something? Sorry not meaning to offend but the team location choices all seem strange. The only obvious American team in both junior and major is New York. Minnesota, Chicago, Detroit, even out in California all missing as it's just NY and Seattle for US based teams. No Russia now either. What? Yukon is totally legit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gooningitup 1,290 Posted November 2, 2016 Share Posted November 2, 2016 Davos to Russia E5? Devise 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLastOlympian07 2,388 Posted November 2, 2016 Share Posted November 2, 2016 can I rebrand Oslo to Moscow so I keep OSL's picks and stuff supposed to be B2B in Season 45 and 46 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluObieZ 1,125 Posted November 2, 2016 Share Posted November 2, 2016 Ill just leave this here. Da Trifecta 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kendrick 4,741 Posted November 3, 2016 Share Posted November 3, 2016 On 2016-11-01 at 4:36 PM, GordonBombay66 said: Do the team choices here somehow reflect GM's or people from these parts of the world in the league or something? Sorry not meaning to offend but the team location choices all seem strange. The only obvious American team in both junior and major is New York. Minnesota, Chicago, Detroit, even out in California all missing as it's just NY and Seattle for US based teams. No Russia now either. Some yes, some no. In Europe the teams were mostly decided on just covering ground everywhere and allowing new members to relate to a country they may be from. In the North American conference they are all over the map. Calgary, Seattle, Toronto and New York all make sense. Quebec is kind of iffy considering it hasn't resulted in a ton of excitement. We'd love to have a California or even team in Arizona but that would be expansion (unless the EU teams came over to NA). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordonBombay66 18 Posted November 7, 2016 Share Posted November 7, 2016 On 11/1/2016 at 8:18 PM, Higgins said: What? Yukon is totally legit Yukon Territories is in Canada. Or are you just yanking my chain? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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