How the last expansion teams were built [1/2]

[Hybrid1486 577]

So it seems the VHL is once again looking to grow with the addition of a ninth franchise in Moscow, and more likely to follow if this run is a success.

 

On that note, now would be a good time to explore what happened the last time the league moved beyond eight teams, way back in Season 31. Interestingly, after this season neither team will exist in the form it was created in, as the Cologne Express were the victims of contraction a few years ago and the Quebec Meute will be moving to Vancouver and dropping their French name and the associated racist undertones that apparently nobody (myself included) caught until a few seasons ago.

 

So what will the new squad look like? In order to see how Victor's team might turn out, let's take a look at how the last expansion teams were built at their beginnings.

 

GM Players
It's important to note that the GM Player rule was still about 20 seasons away from implementation for the last expansion, so the newly-minted general managers had to go about acquiring their players the old-fashioned way. Koradek flipped the first overall pick in the S31 Entry Draft for the rights to defenseman Alexander Valiq, while Kendrick nabbed forward Kameron Taylor second overall. While Victor won't have to deal with that, he will be hoping to replicate the Hall of Fame careers of both Valiq and Taylor.

 

Expansion Draft
The S31 Expansion Draft was an uneventful...event. The Express picked Radislav Mjers and Abraham Sander, while the Meute selected Nikolai Chershenko. Cologne got two seasons out of Sander and one out of Mjers, while Chershenko was sent to Calgary before ever playing a game for Quebec. The remainder of the draft saw the new teams take a few second-round picks from the older squads. None of the players selected with those picks amounted to anything, and Quebec ended up trading both of the S33 seconds they acquired anyway.

 

Entry Draft
Aside from the aforementioned selection of Taylor and trade for Valiq, both teams had a second first-round pick later on. Cologne selected goalie David Poulin eighth overall, while Quebec went with Sergey Brovalenko tenth. Interestingly, Poulin made his VHL debut with Quebec in S33, while Brovalenko was traded to Cologne midway through that same season.

 

By far the best player to come out of that draft for either team was Cologne's second-round pick, Reggie Dunlop. He was a point-per-game forward for Cologne at his peak, and he even won a Continental Cup near the end of his career (albeit with Toronto).

 

Rounding Out the Roster
The most consequential player on the Express for their first season that I haven't mentioned already was forward Vladimir Boomchenko, a veteran who had spent a few seasons with Calgary before joining Cologne for their first season.The remaining skaters were a loose lot of cast-offs who didn't make much of an impact. Kendrick signed S28 draftee Jehova to play in net after his rookie deal with Riga came to an end.

 

Koradek was able to swing an interesting piece his way early on in the form of rookie forward Roberto Martucci. He would turn into a point-per-game player for a few seasons and was a key part of the team's Continental Cup win in S35. The same could not be said for any of the other skaters, although Lars Strundman put forth a solid effort in the inaugural season. The Meute relied mostly on their stock goalie for the first year, although they did get 28 games from former first overall pick Matthieu VanCoughnett, who was playing out the final season of a disappointing career.

 

How Did They Do?
Both teams finished in fourth place in their conferences, but they had two very different seasons. Quebec fared as most expansion teams do, winning 16 games and finishing with 36 points, kept out of last by a tanking Toronto squad. Things were much more competitive in Europe, where the last-place Vasteras team would have qualified for a playoff spot in North America. Cologne finished with a 34-31-7 record, good for 75 points and only five points out of a playoff spot. They weren't eliminated by Helsinki until the third-last day of the season.

 

That said, Quebec had the hot hand moving forward. Behind Valiq and his brothers (who would join the team later on), the Meute made the playoffs in S32 and won a Continental Cup three seasons later. Cologne wouldn't win their first (and only) Cup until ten years later, when Thomas O'Malley and Martin Brookside led them to the top in S42.

Edited January 29, 2019 by Hybrid1486

[Fire Tortorella 2,653]

How dare you call my first player a castoff!

[Hybrid1486 577]

41 minutes ago, flyersfan1453 said:

How dare you call my first player a castoff!

I'm sorry, I thought all you Gows were Gows early on

[Fire Tortorella 2,653]

5 minutes ago, Hybrid1486 said:

I'm sorry, I thought all you Gows were Gows early on

 

I was...Jim. Was signed as an inactive free agent by Seattle and traded to Cologne 3 days later, when it just so happened I came back to activity.

[Hybrid1486 577]

37 minutes ago, flyersfan1453 said:

 

I was...Jim. Was signed as an inactive free agent by Seattle and traded to Cologne 3 days later, when it just so happened I came back to activity.

That was S32

[Victor 11,043]

Probably fair to say neither really could do much with the hand they were dealt. Hope I don't need to rely on rogue free agent goalies to compete.

[diamond_ace 3,114]

VanCoughnett was my goalie for the S23 Ottawa cup winners. Sad that the VHLM Cup was probably the highlight of his career.

 

[TheLastOlympian07 2,388]

Review

This was a nicely written info piece on how the last VHL teams were built. It is exciting times in the VHL as we have expanded by 2 teams again in the past two season to reach 10 teams once again. I wonder how Malmo will be built.