The Only Expansion Draft Article You Will Ever Need (Part 2)

[SirRupertBarnes 217]

Hello and welcome to part 2 of The Only Expansion Draft Article You Need. In this article @Plate and I will be taking a look at each of the existing VHL teams and who we think they will be protecting for the upcoming expansion draft. We’ve also highlighted a few players who we feel will be the best options made available.

 

Teams will submit protection lists of players eligible to play in S73. That is anyone drafted from S66 to 72, which includes both skaters and goalies. Draft picks cannot be selected directly from existing teams. Any player left unprotected is eligible to be taken in the expansion draft. A team can only lose a maximum of one player (skater or goalie).

 

On the following tables, the names in black are players we project will be protected, along with the best players available shown underneath. TPPS stands for TP per Season. Disclaimer: This does not account for Veteran depreciation, or rapid VHLM growth.

 

If you’d like more information on the expansion draft Plate explains it more in detail on his article.  Also, while you’re there you can check out the other four teams please click the following link; https://vhlforum.com/topic/86966-the-only-expansion-draft-article-you-will-ever-need-part-1/ (Plate's Article)
If you'd like the official expansion article here is the link for that as well.

https://vhlforum.com/topic/85217-season-73-vhl-expansion/ (Expansion Article)

 

Malmo Knighthawks

Projected Expansion List (TPPS): 

C. Adrienne (245), L. Dawson (201), A. Martin (93?), Z. 12 (173), C. Hylands (330), V. Kamarov (298), G. Neal (129?), J. Feriancek (91?)

Best Available Players (TPPS):

C. Smeb (82?), H. Chan (82?), A. Petrovic (81?)

 

Malmo is in a unique situation where they have a few players they would like to protect. Adrienne and Dawson are the obvious choices along with Hylands and Kamenov for your prospects.

Couple that with other future talent such as Z.12, Neal, and Feriancek you have your prospect pool protected. To finish it off strictly by number you have A. Martin and just like that you have yourself a protection list.

 

For an expansion team you aren’t going to get a good prospect out of Malmo. However, if you’re going for cup contention in the first couple years, then you may be able to select one of these guys later in the draft.

 

Moscow Menace

Projected Expansion List: 

V. Pavlov (203), R. Bernard (207), V. Calia (197), A. Letang (363!), L. Brandt (346!), R. Moreau (236), K. Krestanovich (214), C. Newhook (209)

Best Available Players: 

H. Zoiderberg (134), N. Telker (147), O. Lagesson (163), P. Angellini (209)

Moscow has done a great job picking up solid assets, unfortunately for them they have too many to protect. Pavlov and Bernard are two obvious choices that would be protected as they are two stud players in the VHL. The next two easy choices are prospects; L. Brandt and A. Letang. Both of which only have one season in the VHL played and are both well over 300 TPA. Going by numbers now we would protect R. Moreau and K. Krestanovich for sure.

The last two spots are a toss-up here between C. Newhook, P. Angellini, and V. Calia. We opted to go with Calia for the fact that he is a better player currently. He faces less of a risk since if he goes inactive you can still get a roster player for it. Angellini and Newhook are practically identical players so either one of these a solid argument could be made. We opted to go for Newhook and leave Angellini unprotected. 

If you’re an expansion team there’s lots of great options for you to take here, it just all depends if you’re going for a win now or win later build. I have a feeling Moscow’s player may be taken somewhat early in the expansion draft due to the solid options that they have.

 

New York

Projected Expansion List:

 J. Freeman (222), M. Scott (214), A. Burn (212), L. Flowers (207), O. Nolan (187), S. Jensen (232), A. Guy (182), H, Jass (269)

Best Available Players: 

R. Penisson (162), J. Brewit (205), A. Dayne (197), Bacon (176)

New York was a very easy team to decide in our opinion. They have a great roster to go for another strong season so it just makes the most sense to protect the highest rated guys. Plus, on top of that each of their TPPS is above the league average anyway so it doesn’t feel as bad leaving your prospects unprotected. 

 

There are a multitude of great prospects up for grabs here as New York is just unable to protect all of their good players. No choice is a bad one; it just all depends on which role you’re looking to fill.

 

Prague Phantoms
Projected Expansion List:
C. Block (226), S. Perrin (176), W. Stansson JR (159), T. Landry II (329), O. Ohradka (131), W. McPine (164), A. Syreck (146), R. Gee (236)

Best Available Players:
K. Palazzo (111), A. Pearson (108), V. Ligriv (106)

Prague has some good assets on their team but unfortunately they were a .500 team last season. We opted to prioritize some of the prospects over the vets since they’re not in active cup contention right now.

Based purely on numbers it’s easy to protect all of the players in the blue or white. Ohradka was the only fringe pick in our books since he is a bit of a vet and his TPPS is below the league average. However, we felt he was the best option out of the remaining players to protect.

Prague is able to protect their prospect pool well enough. The only teams’ really interested in taking one of these guys is a GM looking for a vet presence to win now.

 

Riga Reign
Projected Expansion List:
L. Tate (214), G. Eagles (195), P. Marleau (174), P. Tallinder (216), G. Saskamoose (196), K. Oferson (322), Pengu (383!), D. Mann (292)

Best Available Players:
C. Past (118), R. Busser (128), J. Jones (222), B. Wyman (213)

Riga is in a pretty great spot overall with some solid VHLer’s along with some great up and coming prospects. Even though they’ll lose someone it really won’t hurt all that much.

Most of the protected players are self explanatory. Leaving Past unprotected could be a bit controversial, but we felt it was the right choice. He’s headed into his final season and his TPPS is below the league average.

No matter who picks a player from Riga they’re going to get a great VHLer either now or in the future. None of the players available are bad choices and an argument could be made as to why each of them is the right one.

 

Seattle Bears
Projected Expansion List:
R. Funk (217), S. Greene (211), H. Hogan (204), B. Sunqvist (185), A. Stark (178), O. Omdahl (252), O. Vikingstad (326), Uhtred (272)

Best Available Players:
R. Marsh (385), T. Brown (351)

Seattle has a huge problem here in this expansion draft. They have too many good players to be able to protect them all. Almost all of their players are above the league average for TPPS which is just insane.

We opted to protect the vets since Seattle just came off a 47 win season and will be looking for redemption next season. They’re in a good place to contend and can sacrifice a prospect to be able to do that.

The two best prospects on Seattle we initially protected. We felt it was better to commit to cup contention rather than the future. If either Marsh or Brown are left unprotected they will be the #1 pick in the expansion draft.

Toronto Legion
Projected Expansion List:
J. Hextall (242), E. Killinger (363), K. McDagg (129), J. Gainer (276), A. France (224), Z. Anigbogu (214), M. Mac (191)

Best Available Players:
F. Elmebeck (118), G. Gutzwiler (120), J. Blaze (126)

Toronto has some decent on their roster that are well above league average. Fortunately for them they’re able to protect all of them so the expansion won’t bother them too much as some other teams.

There’s not too much to deliberate about for them so we pretty much just went strictly off of TPPS here. There’s a couple players that arguments could be made for but we felt these were best for the team’s future.

There are a couple options for expansion teams to consider though. Elmebeck, Gutzwiler, and Blaze are pretty solid options depending on what your needs are. Each of them are in different stages in their career so one of those players are bound to fill a need on any team.

Vancouver Wolves
Projected Expansion List:
J. Downey (260), B. Louth (260), J. Spyro (244), J. Proto (278), A. Su (479!), G. DiGiannantonio (410!), Kungkok (401!), G. Stallion (308)

Best Available Players:
M. Tocco (145), G. Manzer (180), S. Dan (180)

Vancouver has a solid prospect pool and we strongly believe they should protect that as much as they can. In terms of TPPS they have some absolute studs such as; Su, DiGiannantonio, Jungkok and even Stallion.

I feel for this team you pretty much just have to protect the highest TPPS players. They do want to prioritize their prospects, however, there are a few players that are just too good to leave exposed.

Unfortunately for Vancouver they just can’t protect everyone. There are some great pieces up for grabs here including; Tocco, Manzer, Dan, etc. The draft will hurt Vancouver a little bit but they have such a good pool they’ll be fine in the long run.

 

Thanks for taking the time to see who we projected would be available. This was quite a bit of work but a blast to make. Thank you to @Plate for teaming up and taking on this project as well as putting the time into making the spreadsheet for all the data we used. Are there any choices we made that you disagree with? Let us know in the comments below! If you could drop a like as well that would be much appreciated. Make sure you read the part he posted as well v.i.a the link at the top. 

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[a_Ferk 761]

Woah you guys really went all out. Nice job SRB 

[Victor 10,597]

This is good shit.

[diamond_ace 3,106]

7/8 correct for Prague's list - obviously there's more we'll know about internally than you guys but that's pretty solid

[SirRupertBarnes 217]

Claiming part 2 week ending July 26th

[SirRupertBarnes 217]

Part 3 claim week ending Aug 2