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***hhh81*** · 06-06-2021, 12:45 PM

A short history lesson: Expansion GMs, exposed players, and storylines
By: Henry Hemmert, reporter abroad

I was bored this morning, so I thought I would brush off Microsoft Word to bring you a little media leading up to the expansion draft. Many players have been doing mock expansion drafts lately, including many newer users who might not know some of the history between various players and expansion GMs. I don’t claim to be an expert on either GM (I’m honestly not on the best terms with either dankoa or Acsolap), but I’m hoping a little history might be fun. I’ll go team by team and point out any storylines/relationships I think are worth noting while still in hiding abroad. The Athletic may have fired me, but they can’t stop my journalistic fervor!

Inferno

Atlanta Inferno Inferno

Looking at the unprotected players, there aren’t a ton of storylines of note. There aren’t really any Anchorage (for Philadelphia) or Detroit (Montreal) ties among this group—Acsolap is the former longtime GM of Anchorage and, while never GM of Detroit, @dankoa has been involved with their back room management for a long time. I think the most interesting piece from a storyline standpoint is Simon Takshak @GeckoeyGecko ‘s current player. Geck floats around a lot of different LRs and is known to drive some activity (albeit meme-heavy sometimes). He could be an attractive option to help either team build an active LR culture.

@Acsolap should have more familiarity with this group than dan, solely because Rex Kirkby has spent the last few seasons on the expansion Inferno. Atlanta exposed some intriguing younger semi-actives that could be of interest mid to late for Philadelphia. I don’t expect anyone on the list to be a huge target early on, however. Still, GMs can find some decent value here.

Platoon

Baltimore Platoon Platoon

Another team without a lot of storylines. At one point, Bongo had a former player under Acsolap in Anchorage. He could be an attractive option in the middle of the draft. Ass’ player, Kirkby, also played a long time with the Platoon, but only one player on the unprotected list was his teammate at that time—the veteran Nat Emerson. I’m not sure if Philly would draft a player like that, assuming Emerson may retire sometime soon.

Buffalo Stampede

Something tells me Philadelphia will draft Rex Kirkby, idk what it is. I feel confident in saying the S43 defenseman would go to Philadelphia with their final pick.

Jokes aside, the only storyline is Hippo Passamus is a DET alum, and Dankoa is also a longtime DET guy. Mayuu is majorly a BUF lifer, so I don’t expect he would be looking to stay in Montreal longterm before retiring. Maybe at this point in his career, Passamus is cool with joining an expansion squad. I’m no longer in the active LR in Buffalo, so I know little now. Last expansion, he planned to just retire and recreate if taken by ATL or SEA. Could the same hold true now?

Chicago Syndicate

I got nothing here. Next!

Hamilton Steelhawks

Now here’s a fun one (and honestly 75% of why I’m writing this).

Let’s start with S52 winger SLATT Potts. While he doesn’t have the DET ties, what he does have is some history with dankoa in Texas. Potts started his career with the Texas Renegades from S55-S58, when he was traded to New Orleans. Dan has been pretty consistently a TEX lifer before the advent of Montreal, and likely has a good feel for whether or not he thinks @Rindiee would be a good fit on his new team. If he does, you could see Potts taken a bit higher than expected, just to make sure the HAM picks don’t get locked out. Another person dan could look at is another fellow longtime DET guy, Wen Baters (user @Waters). Waters is also a HAM lifer, so I don’t feel confident how well that would go over. Maybe Waters feels like he’s interested in a new challenge.

Still, I don’t see Waters getting taken for another reason—there are just better players available from Hamilton! The most notable, and the guy who I think will be Philadelphia’s first pick of the expansion draft, is S54 defenseman Bork Lazer. Lazer was a standout defender for Anchorage and is an acsolap draftee. This feels like a 5 star lock to me, and if I had to guess, if he wants it he could be one of the two users most likely to be named Co-GM of Montreal (more on that later). Soulja also has a good player, but I think the storylines aren’t as strong with him as they are from some other HAM options.

Rage

Manhattan Rage Rage

Peter Larson is old, yes; however, he and acsolap are IRL friends. I feel like this is a super likely pick for Philadelphia’s backup goalie for that reason. There’s not a ton of other decent options from MAN (especially with Kastrba and Doskocil’s recent retirements).

I don’t know Piotr Czerkawski all that well—they’ve had a really good career, despite being a rare journeyman (he’s played for 5 teams in 17 seasons). The only storyline I can see is Czerkawski played in juniors for the former Montreal Militia; could a return to the city of Montreal be in order?

New England Wolfpack

I have nothing interesting to share here.

Tampa Bay Barracuda

Also nothing interesting to mention here.

Stars

Toronto North Stars Stars

There are some really solid players in Fudgeson, FNLN, and Johansson available. I don’t know that any of them have strong connections to either expansion GM. Regardless, I think expansion teams will get some solid pieces from the resurgent Toronto team. Seeing First Name Last Name on Philly scoring a game winning goal in Toronto could be fun next season!

Dragons

Calgary Dragons Dragons

Kata Vilde played for Montreal, because his user was the Montreal GM for a long time. With Cale Amundsen taking over the starting job for Calgary, will Vilde want a change of scenery to finish his career where it began? I have no idea. I doubt it, based on the Calgary Dragons culture, but we’ve seen stranger things occur.

There’s really no one else with interesting storylines beyond “longtime Calgary guys; won’t want to leave for another team.” Logan Wong comes closest—previous Wongy players were Platoon peeps, so Acsolap and Wongy probably have some history. At this point in the draft, could be worth a flyer.

Edmonton Blizzard

Two great players will get drafted from here; that’s a given with Pepperoni, Truong, and Boivin as forward options. That being said, the biggest storyline is the goalie who got exposed. Due to cap issues (and maybe other stuff?) Scoochie Stratton got traded from Toronto to Edmonton. He had a solid season in net for the Blizzard and must have told them he was hitting FA no matter what, thus they exposed him. Why would he do that?

Scoochie Stratton is one of the best goalies to ever wear the Armada sweater. Acsolap drafted him in S53 at 12th overall, and he went on to be one of the best picks out of that draft and one of the SMJHL’s elite goalies for stretches. I think it’s near inevitable that Stratton is the starting goalie next season for the Philadelphia Forge. Further, if we had to handicap the Co-GM race, @honkerrs is 1000% in the driver’s seat in my opinion. I would be shocked if Stratton doesn’t end up in Philadelphia, whether in free agency or at the top of this draft.

Los Angeles Panthers

TURG TURG is another recent Anchorage draftee during the Acsolap era, taken 38th overall in S54. I could see him, after bouncing around so far in the SHL, finding a home with Philadelphia. While there are other better players, TURG is starting to come into his own and can grow with a young team if Acsolap decides to do the slow build through draft approach (which I expect).

Minnesota Monarchs

There’s almost nothing interesting here. Minnesota’s roster is in a weird spot where most of what they exposed aren’t really relevant or good right now. The one exception is Markus Tegernako, who is a 2k goalie who retired recently. I don’t see either team being able to contend for the Challenge Cup in their very first season, so adding one season of a 2k goalie probably isn’t worth a crazy amount to either of them (or to other teams as a trade chip). Might we see an expansion team take Tegernako, just to trade him back to Minnesota for a late pick?

New Orleans Specters

Rude Sniff (Dude) was a longtime user in Texas during dankoa’s GM tenure. I’m not sure where their relationship stands right now, but it could be a fun reunion. Dude is currently IA, so it may be a moot point.

pride

San Francisco Pride pride

The only thing that jumps out to me is Jarmo Kekalainen; his user @TheFlash ’s former player was goalie Kasperi Braulin, a Platoon prospect and great Vancouver goalie before going IA. Having never been in the Platoon LR, I don’t know what their interactions were like. Maybe they were on good terms and Philadelphia brings the young forward up to have his rookie SHL season with the Forge. If not him, there are at least a few intriguing if not superstar options from the Pride unprotected list. SFP won’t be the last team off the board, at the very least. That’s progress off the last expansion.

Seattle Argonauts

WoZy has been a Detroit guy before—Satoshi Zigzagooney was a Falcon when he started out. I wouldn’t be surprised to see dankoa add the mercurial user and solid defender to Montreal’s inaugural roster. Of any GM, he probably knows what he’s gonna get out of Wozy. Fred Wanesly and Thor Odinson are also DET alums, but would they want to leave Big Daddy Tig’s skree signal to join Uncle Dan in Montreal? They may not have a choice in the matter, at least for a season or two.

Texas Renegades

Ah yes, finally we reach the team I’ve been waiting to write about. Dankoa was TEX GM from S40-S55, a LOOOONG time. His 368 franchise wins tops the franchise record boards. Dan’s current player Kaarlo Kekkonen will be drafted from here, and I would expect dan to target whoever he considers the best option from TEX before Acsolap can freeze him out of another player.

Some might think dan will target White Goodman (user Jearim)—he was his former Co-GM in Texas and, interestingly enough, was a former Co-GM in Montreal before getting a head GM job with Halifax forever ago. His tenure in Texas management ended a bit rocky from what I hear, so I’m wondering if that makes Goodman a hard DND for Montreal.

Two other options I think are interesting are defensemen—Piotr Horvat (@Slowpoke) has been another longtime Texas guy, and they’ve found a lot of success together—both were on the last two Challenge Cup teams for Texas (S36 & S59). I can see dan being super comfortable bringing Horvat into Montreal. The other option (and the one I ultimately think dan will select) is S54 defenseman Joseph Fantobens. Fantobens is a Detroit guy through and through, and my sources tell me dankoa loves the guy. He’s on the younger side, but is still coming into his own as a top 4 defender. He could be a great player for Montreal to build around.

Aurora

Winnipeg Aurora Aurora

It would be weird to see Slip McScruf @Scrufdaddy play for any team other than Winnipeg. Still, he’s a strong defender in the twilight of his career, and a great guy to have around. I don’t know what relationship (if any) he has with either expansion GM, but he’s certainly someone I would consider if I were an expansion GM. Can’t say there’s much else I want to note from Winnipeg right now.

I don’t claim this as an all-encompassing list. There’s likely things I missed, and that’s okay! At the very least, I hope a few newer users find this helpful if they are working on an expansion draft media to build the bank account up a little.