Expansion Primer - GMs and Locations

[Sullvino 289]

VHL News

August 13, 2019 

 

Earlier this week, VHL league executives announced that the league intends to expand by two teams in Season 68. The team names, locations and expansion draft official rules are still in the process of being finalized, but this announcement is a historic moment in VHL History. The league expanding from 10 teams to 12 teams will provide the community with the most teams ever in a VHL season. Expansion in any league is a sign of strong health as a whole and this will provide more players with the opportunity to play in the VHL and also play more meaningful minutes. The VHL has seen a bit of saturation in terms of able-bodies in the league, so increasing the league by a couple of teams will only provide more players to have an impact on a team. Quite frankly, in a sim league, everyone wants their player to succeed, play more minutes, produce more points etc. This move will certainly give more flexibility in that regard. The rest of this media spot will outline the two newly appointed general managers and potential locations for the franchises.

 

The New Kings.

The league announced yesterday that @diamond_ace and @Enorama would be the new General Managers of the expansion teams. I'm not going to sit here and pretend I know a ton about the members and their players, but at face value these seem like two strong choices. Diamond Ace has been a member since September 2013, approaching his six calendar year anniversary next month. His most recent player was the S67 draft prospect Kefka Palazzo, who was drafted 20th overall by the Seattle Bears. The defenseman was having a very strong year for Minnesota in the VHLM. A quik search in the leagues history and I didn't see any HOF players from diamond, despite the longevity. Regardless, this choice provides the new expansion team with a veteran and experienced member who will try to take them to the promised land. The second GM appointed was Enorama, who recently celebrated his one year anniversary as a member of the VHL. Enorama has had one player in the VHL, S63 1st Overall Pick Ryan Kastelic. Kastelic played his entire career for the Riga Reign putting up 379 points in 351 games played. He has been a rock solid TPE-earner throughout his career, ending up with 1290 which is a tremendous accomplishment. Despite not being in the league for as long as Diamond, Enorama appears to be a very good member and someone that can lead an expansion team effectively. 

 

Possible Landing Spots?

The North American and European conferences both currently have five teams each. The logical thinking for these expansion teams is that we'll add one team to each conference (genius, I know). Starting with the North American conference, we have three Canadian teams (Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary) and two American teams (Seattle, New York). The logical thinking here is that the new expansion team will be in an American market to make it an even three and three (double genius, I know). After all of this extensive research and thinking, in my opinion I think a new VHL team in Texas (Dallas, Houston) would make a lot of sense to round out the North American Conference. Shifting over to the European conference, we have representation in Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, Russia and Latvia. I really have no idea where this team could go, as for the most part the major international hockey markets are covered in this conference. Could we add a Czech or Slovakian team? Definitely possible. In my opinion, I see it reasonable to add a team from Germany (Frankfurt, Berlin to name a few). The options are endless with either one of these franchises, but the main takeaway from all of this is that the VHL is in a great spot right now and everyone should be excited for the future. 

 

-Sullvino

 

 

[diamond_ace 3,111]

I've been here way longer than 2013, that's just when we switched hosting sites. Also, no hof players, but I'm already a hof builder. The article for that can give you any other history about  me you'd want to know

[Sullvino 289]

4 minutes ago, diamond_ace said:

I've been here way longer than 2013, that's just when we switched hosting sites. Also, no hof players, but I'm already a hof builder. The article for that can give you any other history about  me you'd want to know

 

thanks for the info and best of luck!