Ranking My Most Attractive Expansion Team Destinations

[eaglesfan036 4,585]

For this exercise, we are going to pretend that next season I magically become a free agent, and the only teams I am able to sign with are Moscow, Malmo, Team Diamond Ace, and Team Enorama. I will be ranking these teams in terms of the order I would most likely want to sign with them, taking into consideration overall team name and logo, general managers, and the roster overall. 

 

1) Moscow Menace:

 

I love the overall concept of a team called the Moscow menace, and the fact that @Victor runs the team after years of being the league dictator is a nice touch. Additionally, Victor is one of my favorite members on the VHL so it would be a lot of fun to play with him. While Victor may not be among the greatest VHL GMs of all time, I know at minimum he is a competent GM who can make teams competitive. Looking at Moscow's actual roster, they finished 5th overall and 2nd in the EU Conference this past season. They consistently are among the top scoring teams in the league which as a skater would be very fun to play for and maybe bump Gritty's point totals. Their main concern is defense / goaltending, as they have a combination of an aging Roger Sterling and a young Owen May. If May can start earning tpe at a faster rate or if Moscow can find a top starting goalie, they should be a pretty solid team.

 

2) Team Diamond Ace:

 

While the VHL has yet to announce what team @diamond_ace will have, I am instantly drawn to his team for the same reason I usually signed with him in the VHLM - I am a fan of his GMing. He is one of the nicer and more respectable guys on here, and we have a lot in common with our team building philosophies. Both of us were top 5 VHLM GMs, have GMd the Calgary Wranglers before, and overall followed a similar career arc. Additionally, we both get annoyed when people don't know the difference between your and you're. The downside to his team though would be first year expansion teams usually get off to an understandably slow start. 

 

3) Team Enorama:

 

The VHL has also yet to announce @Enorama's team, but I am drawn to him for a different reason than the other two above. While I have a long and great history with Victor and Diamond Ace, I have not had much interaction with young Eno. However, he may become the next big thing, as he seems extremely active and certainly worthy of this post. It could be a lot of fun playing for someone with the enthusiasm and freshness that comes with GMing a team for the first time. The downside to this though is I am unsure of his GMing abilities, and it is already difficult to get an expansion team competing quickly.

 

4) Malmo Nighthawks:

 

On a team design level, I had never even heard of the city of Malmo until the expansion team was announced, and don't really feel any sort of connection to Malmo or why they are even called Nighthawks. Also, while I know @Advantage has been a great GM in the past, I'm not quite sure what he is doing with the team currently, as they finished in 2nd to last place and have a ton of question marks. On a personal level, while I can get along fine with the Advantage/Devise/Jericho clan, I wouldn't consider them among my top or favorite VHL members by any stretch (and somehow Devise and Advantage always wind up on the same team). 

Edited August 19, 2019 by eaglesfan036