Last expansion for a while?

[Victor 10,845]

A third VHL expansion is taking place in four seasons (or second if you count Malmo and Moscow as one expansion spread over two seasons), which is an unprecedented period of growth in the VHL. I am of course an advocate for this round of expansion as I was the ones in S65 and S66, but I wonder if 12 teams will be where we reach optimum condition. At the moment most VHL teams are running 2.5-3 lines but that talent will be spread out and it might be a while until we can guarantee that 14 teams would be able to do so and remain in good health.

 

In S67 currently, Toronto's shootout voodoo aside, there are 5 teams with 82 or 81 points with four games to go in the season. For the second year in a row, 7 teams went for the playoffs, but like Toronto last season, Davos has fallen short this year. Even with the likely abolition of crossover and simply 6 teams per conference competing for 4 playoff spots, it is unlikely we'll see a playoff race in S68 and possibly for a few more seasons after that.

 

Speculating on next season, it's likely the two expansion teams finish bottom of their conference. The North American Conference might be particularly weak as New York is still in the early stages of the rebuild and Toronto might really struggle to remain competitive after retirements and free agency. It will be up to Seattle to take the next step up (S67 shows they are capable), otherwise the NA will have just two real cup contenders – Vancouver and Calgary.

 

That might cause calls for retaining crossover as depending on how Malmo young squad progresses, there may be five teams competing for four spots in Europe whereas there won't be any playoff race in the other conference. Either way, it will probably be a while since we have 9 playoff hopefuls in a league with 8 playoff spots.

[Rayzor_7 741]

My hope is a 8 team playoff with 4 missing playoffs. and god please keep the crossover

[Victor 10,845]

19 minutes ago, Rayzor_7 said:

My hope is a 8 team playoff with 4 missing playoffs. and god please keep the crossover

I'm torn because on one hand, Moscow could very realistically finish 5th in Europe next season but easily make the playoffs in the NA. On the other hand, putting aside team allegiances, I don't know how much I care about the 8th or 9th best team in the league making the playoffs as ultimately they're not gonna win the cup.

[Matt_O 897]

NA could really stink next year. The new expansion team. New York. Seattle might be ok, but I doubt they will be real contenders. Vancouver? I don't even know. Calgary could have a cake walk to the first seed

[Motzaburger 1,590]

24 minutes ago, Matt_O said:

NA could really stink next year. The new expansion team. New York. Seattle might be ok, but I doubt they will be real contenders. Vancouver? I don't even know. Calgary could have a cake walk to the first seed

Depends where MGS is tbh

[STZ 5,339]

Having legitimate playoff races where a team misses the playoffs unintentionally is something I’ve never experienced in VHL

[eaglesfan036 4,595]

I agree I think 12 is a good number for now. Why not have 6/12 make the playoffs and momentum of this commy shit?