Pat Svoboda on Expansion

[StamkosFan 72]

Pat Svoboda was asked by reporters about the recent announcement of adding two expansion teams, and offered his opinion. "Well, of course, it's going to be even tougher to get into the playoffs with more teams we have to deal with, to fight for signings and prospects. Riga will probably lose some players and that will be tough, I just really hope I'm not the one on the chopping block. I think it will be good in a way though too, because lots of young players weren't getting a lot of ice time and were sort of getting stuck in the bottom six for too long, that makes nobody happy especially once your career is a bit established. It might make us older teams able to breathe a bit more because the cap was getting tight, everyone has to take minimum because there's just not enough money to go around with all the people you have signed. These two teams might not be good at first, but as with all young teams, they eventually develop into star clubs, so we will have to keep an eye out for them and we definitely have to take them seriously. The first rule of any game is to never underestimate your opponents, so we have to be mindful of that," said Pat Svoboda.