Expansion: What's up and Where we headin'?

[Donno100 94]

 

 

The expansion draft. So many questions to be asked about everything and everyone involved, but of course, there are past examples to look to. We can presume that each team will get to protect 6 or 7 players, perhaps even less, with the most recent prospects from the last one or two seasons being exempt, so expansion teams should have some decent players to pick from. Guys who have been buried in the lineup, who could be adequate top-line forwards or defensemen. And a backup goalie or two might get a chance to shine of course, always a logjam in goal. Still, every team more than likely will have enough spots to protect their biggest stars, especially if GMs don't count toward the protection slots.

 

The toughest decision will be who to leave out from the list other than the obvious names for each VHL club. There will likely be many close decisions on teams, especially stacked teams. Expansion always hits the top clubs much harder than the bottom tier and rebuilding clubs, or even the middle of the pack teams. The players who are selected more than likely will have had no intentions of leaving their teams; it always comes as a shock to find out you've been left exposed. GMs will be faced with the tough task of getting unwilling players on board even if they make smart selections and massaging some sorely bruised egos. Speaking of the GMs, let's take a look at our new managers.

 

@diamond_ace and @Enorama.Two GMs at the helm for these new teams, I honestly don't know about the GM history of these two (If they have any.) so expansion team results may vary. But while of course, you expect the expansion teams to struggle out of the gate, they could surprise everyone and pull a Vegas. To see one of the two expansion teams in the playoffs wouldn't be shocking at all. The VHL is a league that does not have an abundance of North American teams. So that opens up the possibility of having a team in the USA since there are only two American clubs; cities such as Chicago, Denver, Atlanta, and LA, are among possibilities for major US cities. Adding something exotic like an Asian or Australian team would really differentiate the VHL too; I would love to see a Tokyo team or a Sydney team for instance as it would really shake up the International game.

 

Overall, it's a good thing to be expanding for the league. If you're not expanding, you're not growing, and if you're not growing, you ain't showing. then that signals the league's demise. While it's tough to come to terms with losing players to new clubs after working to build a roster, it's important to remember at the end of the day that the health of the VHL is the most important. There's new members joining our ranks and enough players that there needs to be more room for them to get the playing time they deserve. There will be more competition, and who knows, perhaps someday in the distant future, after many more expansions, the league could be as big as the NHL, perhaps even bigger...

Who knows what the future will hold. We'll just have to sit and wait on the expansion train to come and see what's up in the league's climate.