NHL Expansion

[josh_cat_eyes]

For the past couple of years there have been rumors swirling around that the NHL was expanding. These were then shot down by everyone saying there is not enough players in the market and all sorts of stupid reasons like that. Well I looked through the free agents, and former NHLers now playing in europe and came up with two NHL quality teams. Now these teams are no cup condenders, but as with any expansion team, they shouldn't be. But with two rosters made from just former NHLers and free agents, I think that says lot for the size of the market. Anyway I am going to stop rambling on and show you these rosters that would actually most likely be better than a real expansion team. I also included a list of players with NHL contracts that would most likely be unprotected by their respective teams if there was an expansion draft.

Also note, Alexander Radulov, Peter Forsberg, and Mats Sundin are not incuded on the rosters for reasons that they may not play in the NHL agian, or will only play for a specific team if they do.

Free Agent Team 1

LW Ladislav Nagy, C Alexei Yashin, RW David Vyborny

LW Mathias Tjarnqvist, C Josef Vasicek, RW Niko Dimitrakos

LW Martin Gelinas, C Alexei Zhamnov, RW Trevor Letowski

LW Andreas Karlsson, C Jozef Stümpel, RW Nikita Alexeev

LW Marcel Hossa, C Mark Hartigan, RW Sergei Brylin

D Oleg Tverdovsky, D Andrei Zyuzin

D Branislav Mezei, D Alexei Zhitnik

D Bryan Berard, D Keith Carney

D Aaron Miller, D Karel Rachunek

G Ray Emery

G Jocelyn Thibault

G Wade Dubielewicz

Free Agent Team 2

LW Brendan Shanahan, C Martin Straka, RW Jaromir Jagr

LW Martin Rucinsky,C Yanic Perreault, RW Tony Amonte

LW Petr Nedved, C Niko Kapanen, RW Petr Cajanek

LW John LecLair, C Jason Allison, RW Martin Lapointe

LW Steve Rucchin, C Bryan Smolinski, RW Mike Johnson

D Darius Kasparaitis, D Jaroslav Modry,

D Ric Jackman, D Dick Tarnstrom

D Joe DiPenta, D Nolan Pratt

D Duvie Westcott, Sandis Ozolinsh

G David Aebischer

G Johan Holmqvist

G John Grahame

Probabilities in an expansion draft:

Forwards:

Todd Marchant ANH

Brad May ANH

Marty Reasoner ATL

Stephane Yelle BOS

Chuck Kobasew BOS

Peter Schaefer BOS

Tim Connolly BUF

Craig Conroy CGY

Wayne Primeau CGY

Patrick Eaves CAR

Matt Cullen CAR

Scott Walker CAR

Ben Eager CHI

Andrew Ladd CHI

Andrew Murray CBJ

Alexandre Picard CBJ

Manny Malhotra CBJ

Mike York CBJ

Toby Petersen DAL

Steve Ott DAL

Jiri Hudler DET

Darren McCarty DET

Valtteri Filppula DET

Kirk Maltby DET

Aaron Downey DET

Marc Pouliot EDM

Rob Schremp EDM

Gilbert Brule EDM

Wade Belak FLA

Anthony Stewart FLA

Gregory Campbell FLA

Derek Armstrong LOS

Marc-Andre Cliche LOS

Brad Richardson LOS

Kyle Calder LOS

Owen Nolan MIN

Eric Belanger MIN

Pierre-Marc Bouchard MIN

Robert Lang MTL

Tom Kostopoulos MTL

Georges Laraque MTL

Mathieu Dandenault MTL

Steve Begin MTL

Jordin Tootoo NSH

Radek Bonk NSH

Scott Nichol NSH

Jerred Smithson NSH

Jay Pandolfo NJD

Dainius Zubrus NJD

Mitch Fritz NYI

Jeff Tambellini NYI

Jon Sim NYI

Colton Orr NYR

Dan Fritsche NYR

Blair Betts NYR

Fredrik Sjostrom NYR

Shean Donovan OTT

Chris Kelly OTT

Dean McAmmond OTT

Arron Asham PHI

Glen Metropolit PHI

Scott Hartnell PHI

Riley Cote PHI

Brian McGrattan PHX

Steve Reinprecht PHX

Garth Murray PHX

Todd Fedoruk PHX

Jeff Hoggan PHX

Ken Klee PHX

David Hale PHX

Maxime Talbot PIT

Matt Cooke PIT

Eric Godard PIT

Mike Zigomanis PIT

Jody Shelley SJS

Devin Setoguchi SJS

Jeremy Roenick SJS

Jay McClement STL

Keith Tkachuk STL

Dan Hinote STL

Cam Janssen STL

Jeff Halpern TBL

Chris Gratton TBL

Gary Roberts TBL

Brandon Bochenski TBL

Ryan Craig TBL

Matt Pettinger TBL

Adam Hall TBL

Jamal Mayers TML

Boyd Devereaux TML

Mark Bell TML

Ryan Hollweg TML

Bates Battaglia TML

Taylor Pyatt VAN

Darcy Hordichuk VAN

Michel Ouellet VAN

Jeff Cowan VAN

Chris Clark WSH

Matt Bradley WSH

Donald Brashear WSH

Boyd Gordon WSH

Michael Nylander WSH

Defencemen:

Bret Hedican ANH

Steve Montador ANH

Mathieu Schneider ATL

Aaron Ward BOS

Mark Stuart BOS

Teppo Numminen BUF

Toni Lydman BUF

Jim Vandermeer CGY

Joe Corvo CAR

Brent Sopel CHI

Aaron Johnson CHI

Christian Backman CBJ

Niklas Grossman DAL

Doug Janik DAL

Brad Stuart DET

Andreas Lilja DET

Chris Chelios DET

Brett Lebda DET

Steve Staios EDM

Ladislav Smid EDM

Nick Boynton FLA

Jassen Cullimore FLA

Noah Welch FLA

Matt Greene LOS

Denis Gauthier LOS

Tom Preissing LOS

Martin Skoula MIN

Marc-Andre Bergeron MIN

Francis Bouillon MTL

Patrice Brisebois MTL

Mike Mottau NJD

Andy Greene NJD

Paul Mara NYR

Dmitri Kalinin NYR

Christoph Schubert OTT

Luke Richardson OTT

Alexandre R. Picard OTT

Ossi Vaananen PHI

Steve Eminger PHI

Hal Gill PIT

Mark Eaton PIT

Darryl Sydor PIT

Brad Lukowich SJS

Doug Murray SJS

Alexei Semenov SJS

Jay McKee STL

Carlo Colaiacovo TML

Jeff Finger TML

Mike Van Ryn TML

Jonas Frogren TML

Nolan Baumgartner VAN

Shane O'Brien VAN

Rob Davison VAN

Goaltenders:

Manny Fernandez BOS

Nikolai Khabibulin CHI

Fredrik Norrena CBJ

Dwayne Roloson EDM

Jason LaBarbera LOS

Jaroslav Halak MTL

Martin Gerber OTT

Antero Niittymaki PHI

Chris Mason STL

[Brass]

How do you know these players would leave their contracts and chance to win in Russia? Also, Boston would never expose Chuck Kobasew to an Expansion Draft. Same with Mark Stuart. They are really high on those 2 players.

[raysox]

aaahahah I once made a 12 team football league with free agents

but are we gonna make concepts for the teams?

[josh_cat_eyes]

aaahahah I once made a 12 team football league with free agents

but are we gonna make concepts for the teams?

Probably not, but i put it here cause its technically a concept.

How do you know these players would leave their contracts and chance to win in Russia? Also, Boston would never expose Chuck Kobasew to an Expansion Draft. Same with Mark Stuart. They are really high on those 2 players.

I just picked players that in my opinion could go. I am not saying that they all would or could. And I am not suggesting that the players leave Russia, but rather that if there was 2 more teams lets say, then the players may not even be in Russia.

[randyc]

John LeClair? Really? Don't think.

[Blitz]

True, you could "field" a team or two... but the odds of those teams ever being competitive with a handful of once-decent players mixed with a majority of "has beens" & "never was's" is pretty slim.

It's wishful thinking to think that guys like LeClaire, Ruccin, Zhamnov etc... are still even capable of playing at the NHL level.

This might work in the AHL, or KHL, maybe even a season or two in the bigs.... But nobody wants to pay NHL tix prices to watch Oleg Tverdosky & Joc Thibault... and trading for talent becomes almost impossible.

Just can't see it working.... Nice thought though....

[aci]

True, you could "field" a team or two... but the odds of those teams ever being competitive with a handful of once-decent players mixed with a majority of "has beens" & "never was's" is pretty slim.

It's wishful thinking to think that guys like LeClaire, Ruccin, Zhamnov etc... are still even capable of playing at the NHL level.

This might work in the AHL, or KHL, maybe even a season or two in the bigs.... But nobody wants to pay NHL tix prices to watch Oleg Tverdosky & Joc Thibault... and trading for talent becomes almost impossible.

Just can't see it working.... Nice thought though....

That may be true, but a mix of non-NHL players and an expansion draft would work well. The roster slots on other teams that would be freed up could be filled by the non-NHL players listed, or by younger players.

The real problem with the NHL expansing right now is that there are too many bad markets already, not that there aren't enough decent players. A couple weaker players on each team doesn't dilute the game. A lot of new teams would, but the league could handle two extra teams, as far as gameplay goes.

[aci]

Why don't we turn this into a contest where people suggest an expansion team, based on city, nickname, logos, jerseys, etc?

[shrapnell]

this is a forum for concepts... as in logos... and uni designs... I don't see any here.

If I want to read about fantasy hockey ideas I'll go to a fantasy sports forum in the meantime would you please refrain from posting this inappropriate stuff here?!

[Korbyn]

this is a forum for concepts... as in logos... and uni designs... I don't see any here.

If I want to read about fantasy hockey ideas I'll go to a fantasy sports forum in the meantime would you please refrain from posting this inappropriate stuff here?!

Who died and made you Chris Creamer?

[aci]

this is a forum for concepts... as in logos... and uni designs... I don't see any here.

If I want to read about fantasy hockey ideas I'll go to a fantasy sports forum in the meantime would you please refrain from posting this inappropriate stuff here?!

Who died and made you Chris Creamer?

Thanks lol. Some people seem to like pretending they're all-powerful. It's very annoying.

[capn89]

this is a forum for concepts... as in logos... and uni designs... I don't see any here.

If I want to read about fantasy hockey ideas I'll go to a fantasy sports forum in the meantime would you please refrain from posting this inappropriate stuff here?!

Who died and made you Chris Creamer?

Sounds like someone must have Chris creamed in his cheerio-s this morning.

[Riot!]

I agree with aci. We should turn this into a contest. If we do, I have an idea I would love to share.

[aci]

I'm not sure if we need permission to start a contest or not, I'm pretty new to the forum, but if someone starts one up, I'll gladly participate. I can think of at least 8 cities that could handle NHL teams, and probably another 10 that a guy like Gary Bettman would actually consider even though they couldn't, so it could get pretty interesting.

[crashcarson15]

I'm not sure if we need permission to start a contest or not, I'm pretty new to the forum, but if someone starts one up, I'll gladly participate. I can think of at least 8 cities that could handle NHL teams, and probably another 10 that a guy like Gary Bettman would actually consider even though they couldn't, so it could get pretty interesting.

I'm almost positiveb you need permission, and no on the CBJ giving up Manny and Backman. Sorry.

City ideas:

Hartford

Quebec

Winnipeg

Kansas City

Houston

Milwaukee

Hamilton, ON

Seattle

San Diego (maybe because of the lack of BKB team)

Louisville

Las Vegas (why not, right!)

[aci]

I would add these cities to your list:

Portland, OR

Cincinnati, OH

San Antonio, TX

Halifax, NS

Kitchener, ON

Baltimore, MD

Oklahoma City, OK

Albuquerque, NM

Sacramento, CA

Cleveland, OH

Virginia Beach, VA

Omaha, NE

Tulsa, OK

Colorado Springs, CO

Rochester, NY

Arlington, VA

Boise, ID

I'm not saying many of them are likely, but if Florida can get two hockey teams, any of these places can get one.

[Korbyn]

Whatever happened to the NHL in 2028/29 series?

[broncos711]

this is a forum for concepts... as in logos... and uni designs... I don't see any here.

If I want to read about fantasy hockey ideas I'll go to a fantasy sports forum in the meantime would you please refrain from posting this inappropriate stuff here?!

Who died and made you Chris Creamer?

Ohhh snappp!

[rams80]

I believe you do indeed need permission to have a contest.

Oh, and

[shrapnell]

this is a forum for concepts... as in logos... and uni designs... I don't see any here.

If I want to read about fantasy hockey ideas I'll go to a fantasy sports forum in the meantime would you please refrain from posting this inappropriate stuff here?!

Who died and made you Chris Creamer?

Thanks lol. Some people seem to like pretending they're all-powerful. It's very annoying.

Thanx for the compliment. I didn't know expressing an opinion made one all powerful...

Any fantasy sports nerd can come up with the same-old-same-old drivel that's been on this thread so far... I frequent this forum for the originality and the talent that people display in their CONCEPTS. Haven't seen any here yet!!! Maybe you guys don't understand what a logo or uniform concept is... maybe it's just a little too over yer heads...

Threads like this are just a fraction above spam, and they soil the forum...