Eller Campaigns for Copenhagen VHL Franchise

[Ace 85]

 

One of the most appealing things about the VHL to European players like Frans Eller is the presence the league has in the European market. So many top tier sports leagues find themselves as North American-centric, and European fans are either forced to watch and follow on delay, or in incredibly inconvenient hours of the day. The VHL saw this void in the sports market, and filled it with intelligence and expertise. Frans Eller has been quite vocal of his support of this strategy, but he'd like to go one step further - expansion in his home town, Copenhagen, Denmark.

 

Time for some raiding and pillaging!

 

The Pagans uniforms will predominately be red and white, echoing the crisp colors from the Danish flag. The plan is to slowly build up to contention, and depending on expansion rules, pick up on players that would have value around the league and then sell them to the highest bidder for additional futures assets. This strategy has a higher chance at long term success, but it won't be without of its growing pains. Fans cannot latch themselves onto the new franchise and expect success right off the bat, they have to become invested in the grassroots approach of the management of the front office. Get a prospect that you like, latch onto them, and watch them develop in the VHLM until they're ready to make the jump to Copenhagen and make their impact known in the VHL. Now, how would the expansion work? Would each franchise have the opportunity to protect five forwards, three defensemen and a goalie? Or just seven players? There's a bunch of different options that the Head Office could consider, and each of them offers a unique set of circumstances and opportunities for the incoming expansion franchises. 

 

 

One of the other top tier hockey leagues, the Simulation Hockey League, opted for these rules for their most recent expansion for their 46th season. 

Teams must submit a protected list of 7 F, 3 D, 1 G or 8 S, 1 G. All players drafted in the last two seasons (S44/S45) are automatically protected. These protection slots cannot be traded.

If a team elects to expose an FA and that player is drafted by an expansion team, that player will be unable to return to the team that exposed them for one season. The expansion team will hold RFA rights to that player for one season. If the rights to this player are traded by the expansion team, they lose their temporary RFA status.

Each team will lose two players to the expansion draft.

GMs, Co-GMs, and players with NMCs/NTCs must be protected unless they are willing to waive.

 

Those two franchises have been relatively successful after this process only three seasons in. There was, however, legitimate backlash on how easy it was for them to contend. The New Orleans franchise made the Challenge Cup Finals in their first season. I wouldn't advise the VHL to put a franchise in a position to contend that quickly, as it can leave a bad taste in the mouths of GMs that have been working very hard at climbing back out of the basement. 

 

No matter what happens, Eller has his firm support behind the Copenhagen Pagans making a triumphant arrival to the VHL.