All-Expansion Draft Team

[McWolf 3,116]

Dream Teams.

Love the theme this season. I helped pick it, so obviously I do. Better than @GustavMattias' alternative, that's for sure. At first I was going to go all-meme with it, do like a London United alumni team, with literally only Lesieur and inactive fillers, but opted to push it farther and do an all-time best expansion draftees squad, composed only by players that were once drafted in an expansion draft. The players selected on this squad all had an impact on the team that drafted them, I'm not just picking players that were selected and traded straight away, just because that's what expansions are all about. Like that time D.C. selected future Hall of Famer Maxim Kovalchuk.

 

So, a bit of context first, there has been 5 expansions in league history:

- S31; 2 new teams - the Quebec City Meute (now the Vancouver Wolves) and the Cologne Express (now defunct)

- S65; 1 new team - the Moscow Menace

- S66; 1 new team - the Malmo Nighthawks

- S68; 2 new teams - the D.C. Dragons and the Pragues Phantoms

- S73; 4 new teams - the Chicago Phoenix, the Los Angeles Stars, the London United and the Warsaw Predators

 

 

Dan Baillie | LW | 958 TPE @wcats

Selected in S65, from the HC Davos Dynamo

174 G, 226 A, 400 PTS in 432 GP with Moscow

 

Dan Baillie is currently the only player in the history of the league to win a Continental Cup with the team that selected him in an expansion draft. He was selected by Moscow a year after Davos picked him in the VHL Entry Draft, and he stayed with the team up until S70, his penultimate season, during which he recorded career highs with 32 goals, 45 assists and 77 points, as well as winning the elusive Continental Cup. He was an incredibly constant factor in Moscow's offense, scoring between 25 and 32 goals for his six straight seasons with the team.

 

Matthew Materazo | C | 987 TPE @Matt_O

Selected in S66, from the New York Americans

129 G, 125 A, 254 PTS in 288 GP with Malmo

 

Matthew Materazo was once a prized 2nd round steal for a rebuilding New York team, and they elected to not protect him in the expansion draft, for reasons, I guess. That brought him in Malmo, where he played four seasons, scoring at least 30 goals every season. His best season was his second in Sweden, when he scored 36 goals and 38 assists for 74 points, establishing himself as the first star of the Nighthawks.

 

Mikko Aaltonen | RW | 1140 TPE @GRZ

Selected 4th overall in S68, from the Riga Reign

193 G, 228 A, 421 PTS in 432 GP with D.C.

 

Arguably the best selection ever from an expansion draft, the D.C. Dragons got incredible from Mikko Aaltonen. He scored 40 goals in his first season with the team, then 35 for three straight seasons, for a total of 193 in 6 seasons playing in the American capital. He has been the face of the franchise - along with zombie GW, probably - from the moment he was selected up to his retirement following S73. He probably still holds a bunch of franchise records, and it's really just a shame that he was never able to win it all with the team.

 

Radislav Mjers | D | 798 TPE @InstantRockstar

Selected 1st overall in S31, from the Seattle Bears

30 G, 58 A, 88 PTS in 72 GP in Cologne

 

Radislav Mjers only played with the now-defunct Cologne Express for one season, but he produced more in that one season than any other defenseman ever selected in expansion drafts. He led the German franchise in scoring in their inaugural season with 88 points, so there's that.

Paolo Nano | D | 772 TPE @leafsman

Selected in S65, from the Helsinki Titans

46 G, 195 A, 241 PTS in 310 GP

 

This one stretches the rules of this very dream team a bit, as @Victor sent Paolo Nano to the New York Americans midway through his first season with the team, but signed him in free agency the upcoming offseason, basically giving Moscow free value for him. The Italian mobster was literally the only defenseman playing for the Menace in S66 and S67, leading him to score over 60 points in two straight seasons despite his relatively low TPE. In S67, he finished fifth in defensemen scoring in a close race for the top spot.

 

Johnny Havenk Carison | G | 583 TPE @Donno100

Selected in S66, from the Toronto Legion

27 W, .917 SV%, 2.86 GAA in 65 GP with Malmo

 

Johnny Havenk Carison only started with Malmo for a single season, but he makes this all-expansion team because he is the only goalie ever taken in a VHL expansion draft. Yes.

 

Edited October 10, 2020 by McWolf

[wcats 245]

Feeling the love! Thanks for the shoutout! Never knew I was the only player to do it, that's awesome!

Edited October 10, 2020 by wcats

[McWolf 3,116]

33 minutes ago, wcats said:

Feeling the love! Thanks for the shoutout! Never knew I was the only player to do it, that's awesome!

I was surprised too but none of the 7 teams that joined the league since Moscow won a Cup.

[Victor 11,009]

BAILLIE BAILLIE BAILLIE

 

NANO NANO NANO

[Donno100 94]

i'm glad that even after all this time JHC still has relevence.