Expansion process

[DangerGolding 222]

Theme week task

 

Expansion in sim league is a sure-fire sign of success and with the announcement of two more VHL being added to the fold it’s a great sign of consistent growth. Let’s have a speculation on what kind of process happens when it’s decided that expansion will happen.

 

Selection of GMs

One of the most important parts of a new team is who’s in charge, there’s a variety of way that this choice can be made, you can look at VHLM GMs as they’ve plied their trades in the minor and shown they can be relied upon to handle all aspects of a team and are ready to step up to the big leagues. You can take a look back at older previous GMs that have stepped down in the past that might be ready for a return to management, or you can gift the place to an active up-and-comer that has shown the willingness to become a part of the managerial staff through either community interaction or aiding newer members.

 

Team Identity

The new GMs will be consulted on the branding for their prospective new teams, a location with hockey pedigree/attractive branding is usually a good start but there’s additionally the argument to break new ground and start a franchise in a new population center to spread the reach of the VHL. Important considerations will be the design of the logo, the colours and the mascot/team name. It should ideally be identifiable and unique in the league along with allowing the team to complement the branding with a catchy slogan and tagline to define the franchise.

 

Expansion Draft

Team’s need players and expansion teams don’t have the luxury of years of drafts picks, they need to fill out a roster in a single off-season. An expansion draft is the answer to that, in all likelihood the league will flip a coin to determine which of the two teams gets first pick in the expansion draft and the existing teams will get to protect a set number of players each, now it’s tough to say how many players the league management will allow to be protected. I would guess teams will get to protect around 5-7 players depending on how generous the league wants to be to the new teams. 5 would let the teams be immediately around a mid-level team with great depth but lacking some top-tier talent unless they snag a top free agent. More protections will but the expansion teams in lower down and they’ll be building before any success is likely to come.

 

Draft Picks

Apart from the number of protections the biggest question mark is how the new teams will be assigned draft picks in the first draft. Obviously the team that finished bottom this season would feel very hard done by if the top pick was taken away from them and given to an expansion team so it’s a interesting dilemma which the league will have to face as it’s in the league interest to have competitive expansion teams that can start to build a fanbase in their new homes.

 

515 words, claimed for theme week w/e 18/08