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TheFlash · 04-20-2021, 02:02 PM

**5128 Words by my count**

This week brought the announcement of the Season 60 Expansion Draft, the first since Season 56's draft which saw us welcome Atlanta and Seattle to the league. Two new teams were announced to join the league, making it an even twenty in the league. The names, locations, and staff are to be named later (an active search for the team's inaugural general mangers kicked off earlier this week and will last two weeks) but we do know the details of how the draft will work. Each team will protect 7 forwards, 4 defensemen, and a goalie. Player's drafted in S58 and 59 do not need to be protected and teams can only lose a maximum of two players.

Now that the general rules of the draft are out of the way, let's get to the meat of the article. I'm going to look at each SHL team, and attempt to predict which players they'll protect. After that, I'll look at the unprotected players and try and predict which players will be selected and will make up the two expansion teams.

Note: I won't be highlighting each and every prospect, for time constraint reasons, but I will mention top prospects on teams (high earners that have to be protected) as I think they could be poached by the incoming clubs. (Also a note after finishing, I realized that players with NMC have to be protected. If I left someone unprotected and they have a NMC, that's my bad)

Atlanta Inferno Inferno

Protected:
F- Guy Zheng (S46) 1875 TPE
F- Dick Clapper (S46) 1898 TPE
F- Eko Van Otter (S47) 1993 TPE
F- Patric Twist (S52) 1225 TPE
F- Carlos Brown (S53) 994 TPE
F- Stan Q. Next (S55) 818 TPE
F- Pablo Salvatici (S57) 803 TPE

D- Dominic Montgomery (S45) 1395 TPE
D- Rex Kirby (S43) 1598 TPE
D- Simon Leblanc (S48) 1430 TPE
D- Micheal Withecheck (S56) 1000 TPE

G- Samat Beibitzhanov (S52) 1212 TPE

Unprotected:
F- Manuel Gotze (S40) 1024 TPE
F- Simon Takshak (S54) 869 TPE
F- Josh Dolphin (S56) 696 TPE
D- Brady MacIntyre (S39) 937 TPE
D- Demarcius Smyth (S39) 1087 TPE
G- Mike Hroch (S51) 640 TPE

Atlanta has a bit of a decision to make, with nine active forwards currently listed on their roster and some S57/56 prospects to boot. Leaving Gotze unprotected is simply due to him being a S40 player that is well into max regression. Dolphin I selected as it would give him a chance to avoid the log jam in Atlanta and move onto a team where he had more of an opportunity. Lastly, I chose to leave Takshak unprotected in favour of prospect Pablo Salvatici. He's the number three prospect in his class and looks to be a big part of the team's future when some of their older players start to fade. On defense, I simply chose their two oldest defenders, who also happen to be their lowest on the TPE totem poll (or at least will be sooner than later when Withecheck passes Smyth). Between the pipes, Beibitzhanov is simply the better of the two goalies and makes sense to keep.

Baltimore Platoon Platoon

Protected:
F- Nat Emerson (S45) 1595 TPE
F- Karl Krashwagen (S50) 1945 TPE
F- Ethan Duncan (S53) 1587 TPE
F- Patrick Shepard (S54) 1002 TPE
F- Bryce Mcmahon (S54) 954 TPE
F- Lord Raiden (S55) 1169 TPE
F- Danill Nikiforov (S55) 1187 TPE
F- Lucas Johansson (S56) 836 TPE

D- Luc-Pierre Lespineau-Lebrunette (S51) 1137 TPE
D- Valentin Kalashnikov (S53) 1427 TPE
D- Teddy Murphy (S55) 1121 TPE
D- Tanjiro Kamado (S56) 967 TPE

G- Luca Del Vecchio (S51) 1889 TPE

Unprotected:
F- Bryce Mcmahon (S54) 954 TPE
F- Rob Wright (S57) 727 TPE
F- Victor Fedorov (S57) 578 TPE
D- Adam Friedland (S54) 1004 TPE
D- Zebulon Leavitt (S56) 871 TPE
G- Damien Vertigo (S56) 620 TPE

Baltimore has to make an unfortunate choice here and offers up some of their young players/prospects in the draft. Their core is well established and fairly young as well, so they don't have any older that they can afford to lose upfront. So instead of risking the loss of one of their main pieces, they roll the dice and hope that one of their young players get passed over. On defense, it comes down to needing to protect Kamado, who's one of the top players in his class.

Buffalo Stampede

Protected:
F- Monkey D. Luffy (S46) 1844 TPE
F- Bobby Sharp (S46) 1807 TPE
F- Matt Kholin (S46) 1860 TPE
F- Aron Hernadivic (S50) 2021 TPE
F- Jaska Seppala (S53) 1513 TPE
F- Steve Harrington (S53) 1605 TPE
F- Alexander Roach (S54) 1408 TPE

D- Augustus Wang (S50) 2031 TPE
D- Nicholas Owen (S51) 1809 TPE
D- Emilla Bergman (S54) 1321 TPE
D- Aumy Jr. (S54) 1301 TPE

G- Elizabeth Doyle (S51) 1788 TPE

Unprotected:

F- Hippo Passamus (S43) 1398 TPE
F- Chimkin Tendy (S56) 808 TPE
D- Rintarou Okabe (S50) 1032 TPE
D- Alexander Selich (S45) 1599 TPE
G- Sergei Potvinov (S52) 290 TPE

This was really tough. A few offerings here that are sure to get scooped up in Passamus and Selich. Two career long members of Buffalo. But the fact of the matter is, if you opt to keep a player like Selich, you give up a young player in Bergman or Aumy Jr, both of whom aren't too far behind Selich in TPE and are just S54s. Same deal with Passamus, if you keep him, you risk losing a player like Roach who is much younger and has already surpassed him due to regression. Both players will certainly get picked up and will add some veteran presence to which ever team they end up on.

Chicago Syndicate

Protected:
F- Daniel Smeb (S46) 1785 TPE
F- Martijn Westbroek (S47) 1772 TPE
F- Gunnar Soderberg (S47) Gunnar Soderberg 1682 TPE
F- Nick Connolly (S48) 1553 TPE
F- Ryan Shepard (S50) 2030 TPE
F- Ryuuji Minamino (S53) 1566 TPE
F- Jean Uhtred Ragnarsson-Tremblay (S54) 1276 TPE

D- Parker Smeb (S46) 1537 TPE
D- Corey Kennedy (S47) 1952 TPE
D- Disisde Dayudie (S50) 1955 TPE
D- Akira Ren (S50) 2072 TPE

G- Mat Smith (S56) 939 TPE

Unprotected:
F- Lallo Selman (S47) 1701 TPE
F- Lassi Suhonen (S55) 841 TPE
D- Jules Watt (S46) 949 TPE
G- Shiqa Vitalievich (S50) 199 TPE

A few recent retirements and some inactives make the decision on who to protect a bit easier on Chicago. Selman gets the axe due to activity, and Suhonen is just simply the low guy on the totem pole and they won’t want to break up their core. Watt gets left available, being that he’s a 46 who’s well regressed at this point. Sixnine doesn’t have to be protected as he’s retired at the end of this season. In net, Soonika is also retired making the choice to protect up and coming S56 Mat Smith a no brainer.

Hamilton Steelhawks

Protected:
F- Aaron Wilson (S47) 1973 TPE
F- Theo Morgan (S47) 1912 TPE
F- Elijah Jones (S49) 2033 TPE
F- Mitchell van der Heijden (S51) 1862 TPE
F- Rikard Hammarberg (S53) 1397 TPE
F- Rotticus Scott (S54) 1352 TPE
F- Devin Basher (S55) 1080 TPE

D- Hugh Jazz (S49) 2011 TPE
D- Samuel Michaud (S50) 2069 TPE
D- Zlatan Ibrahimovic Jr. (S51) 1721 TPE
D- Bork Lazer (S54) 1323 TPE

G- A Jobin (S53) 1227 TPE

Unprotected:
F- Skao Anazibf (S49) 1212 TPE
F- Alexi Rykov (S50) 902 TPE
D- Guy O’Shea (S52) 1461 TPE
D- Evangelos Giannopoulos (S56) 785 TPE
G- Junior Guarda (S55) 247 TPE

Bit of a tough call up front for the Steelhawks, losing Rykov is easy as he’s inactive, but Anazibf is a hard one. My reasoning for that is he’s already been surpassed by some younger players, and the only other player under him is Basher, who is a high earning 55. Big part of their future. On D, it was a toss up between Lazer and O’Shea, and offering up Giannopoulos allows them to protect their core. Guarda is an inactive backup who is really in no risk of being picked up.

Manhattan Rage Rage

Protected:
F- David Kastrba (S42) 1027 TPE
F- Jax Aittokallio (S43) 1444 TPE
F- Luke Thomason (S43) 1497 TPE
F- Ola Wagstrom (S44) 1657 TPE
F- Luca Veccelli (S50) 1093 TPE
F- Rocco Berni (S53) 1290 TPE
F- Guy LeGrande (S54) 1066 TPE

D- Oliver Cleary (S48) 1876 TPE
D- Jukka Timonen (S53) 1577 TPE
D- Jack Klompus (S54) 1351 TPE
D- Jed Mosley Jr. (S55) 965 TPE

G- Name Redacted (S54) 1164 TPE

Unprotected:
F- Piotr Czerkawski (S41) 1040 TPE
D- Andrej Doskocil (S46) 1218 TPE
G- Peter Larson (S46) 1172 TPE

I believe the Rage will leave a few of their most veteran players exposed here. Czerkawski and Kastrba are both about as deep into regression as you can get, and likely only have a season or two left before they call it a career. They could offer up the inactive Berni, but he's a 53 and would make a quality IA signee for the time being. There's also the chance he comes back and picks up where he left off. On the back end, it's really just a matter of keeping their youth protected VS their vets. Mosley and Klompus will be huge members of their core in a few seasons, and need to be kept. In goal, they keep Peter Larson, a long time member of the Rage, unprotected and start a new era in net. Redacted split games with him last year and is well poised to take over.

New England Wolfpack

Protected:
F- Ethan Price (S53) 1388 TPE
F- Gudmundur Kristjansson (S55) 1160 TPE
F- Alexis Vermette (S56) 871 TPE
F- Calvin Hobbes (S56) 977 TPE
F- Adrian Ayers (S56) 744 TPE
F- Jonathan Granstrom (S57) 799 TPE
F- Bas O'Bigbers (S57) 731 TPE

D- FR Finn-Rhys (S49) 1857 TPE
D- Sven Yxskaft (S52) 1786 TPE
D- Alexander Oscarsson (S55) 1161 TPE
D- Teylora Petrov (S56) 960 TPE

G- Frans Eller (S53) 1552 TPE

Unprotected:
F- Knute Knurtsson (S46) 731 TPE
F- Jakub Bruchevski (S47) 1569 TPE
F- (Clean) Andrei Kostitsyn (S53) 979 TPE
D- James Leblond (S54) 733 TPE
D- Leonids Balzams (S55) 965 TPE
G- Leo Bloomfield (S54) 632 TPE

Now, this was an interesting choice. Knurtsson was obvious choice, he's an inactive 46 who is dropping quickly due to regression/inactivity. Kostitsyn isn't an easy choice, but he's at a fairly low TPE for his 53 status and has some young guys nipping at his heels. The controversial choice I made here was offering Bruchevski up. He's the team's best player, but unfortunately will be going into his 14th season come the expansion draft and just doesn't fit the team's youth movement. On defense, LeBlond has fallen behind in TPE compared to his teammates, and has already been surpassed by three younger defenders. Balzams, it just comes down to being the lesser of the S55 defensemen on the team. Eller is over double the TPE of Bloomfield despite being just a season ahead. Pretty safe choice there.

Tampa Bay Barracuda

Protected:
F- Tom Fiddler (S50) 1840 TPE
F- James Ronlain (S50) 1503 TPE
F- Micheal Fitted (S50) 1805 TPE
F- Zoltan Topalo (S53) 1444 TPE
F- Dwight Knight (S54) 1417 TPE
F- Panda Panico (S54) 1221 TPE
F- Justin Keahi (S54) 1243 TPE

D- Jakob Hamr (S50) 1297 TPE
D- Ambacas Cuddles (S53) 1431 TPE
D- Colin Lambert (S55) 1174 TPE
D- Igor Victory (S55) 1110 TPE

G- Phillip Weaver (S56) 887 TPE

Unprotected:
F- Aleksander Kozlov (S56) 966 TPE
F- Vladmir Petrov (S56) 972 TPE
D- Elwulf Jericson (S54) 878 TPE
D- Joorgustraad DuBolk (S55) 1102 TPE
G- Tobias Lindeman (S50) 221 TPE

This was a really tough one, and not one that I’m really that comfortable with to be honest. Tampa has a really young team and has a lot of players that are earning really well. I chose to make their two youngest players, Kozlov and Petrov, available due to not wanting to split up the core that they have now. The other option could be to offer up Ronlain, as he’s about to hit regression and isn’t as big of an earner as his other S50 teammates. On D, Jericson simply because of the gap between he and his teammates, and DuBolk because someone has to be picked!

Toronto North Stars Stars

Protected:
F- Mika Kandinsky (S48) 1858 TPE
F- Bobby Lane (S50) 2121 TPE
F- Ruslan Zaporozhets (S51) 1637 TPE
F- Rhys Pritchard (S52) 1736 TPE
F- Taylor Johanasson (S53) 1330 TPE
F- Liam Slate (S55) 1222 TPE
F- Ryu Jones (S55) 1213 TPE

D- Adam Barron (S50) 2132 TPE
D- Ursin Zimmermann (S50) 1815 TPE
D- Luffy Richard (S54) 1000 TPE
D- Ryosuke Sato (S54) 1401 TPE

G- Harry Carpet (S47) 1907 TPE

Unprotected:
F- First-Name Last-Name (S50) 1480 TPE
F- Danny Marston (S52) 1524 TPE
D- Delver Fudgeson (S49) 1468 TPE
G- Monty Montgomery (S50) 173 TPE

So Toronto has some young players here they really need to protect in Slate and Jones. They are number three and five respectively in their draft class, and are poised to be stars (pun not intended) in the league. They’re losing (potentially, remember that exposing a player doesn’t guarantee their selection!) two quality forwards here, but they need to keep their youth safe. On defence, they only need to protect one as Meszaros has announced his retirement and won’t be around for the draft. Fudgeson is just into regression and will end up being surpassed by the younger defensemen on the team.

Calgary Dragons Dragons

Protected:
F- Barry Batsbak (S46) 1794 TPE
F- Esa Parmborg (S47) 1923 TPE
F- Boris Poroshenko (S47) 1485 TPE
F- Joseph Weston (S50) 1730 TPE
F- Mats Marner (S54) 1330 TPE
F- Zdenko Beranek (S56) 803 TPE
F- Luukas Lilja (S57) 761 TPE

D- Brennan Kennedy Jr. (S46) 1923 TPE
D- Kaspars Claude (S48) 1940 TPE
D- Chris Goodname (S55) 945 TPE
D- Sachimo Zoidberg III 949 TPE

G- Cale Amundsen (S54) 1046 TPE

Unprotected:
F- Steven Moyer (S43) 1250 TPE
F- Mikael Choybuk (S44) 1112 TPE
F- Maxime Bouchard (S45) 1314 TPE
D- Otis B. Driftwood (S40) 929 TPE
D- Leopold Lockhart (S45) 1162 TPE
G- Kata Vilde (S41) 1196 TPE

I think this is the oldest team I’ve come across. A bunch of players deep into regression, Calgary is in need of a shot of youth in their lineup, and I’ve chosen to protect their younger players, including prospect Lilja, and expose their most veteran players. Same deal on defence, Driftwood is heading into his twentieth season and Lockhart isn’t far behind him. In goal, Amundsen is very close to passing Vilde and is thirteen seasons his junior.

Edmonton Blizzard

Protected:
F- Tony Pepperoni (S43) 1672 TPE
F- Julio Tokolosh (S46) 2076 TPE
F- Jon Forty-One (S48) 1955 TPE
F- Jean-Paul Boivin (S49) 1650 TPE
F- William Hartmann (S53) 1514 TPE
F- Daniel Laforest (S54) 1376 TPE
F- Kyle Sutton (S54) 1177 TPE

D- Karlstrabe Scholz (S46) 1982 TPE
D- Erben Kasius (S53) 1142 TPE
D- Johnny Shuffleboard (S55) 1077 TPE
D- Axel Foley (S55) 1221 TPE

G- Scoochie Stratton (S54) 1229 TPE

Unprotected:
F- James Truong (S46) 1453 TPE
F- KnockedOut ByOvechkin (S56) 913 TPE
D- Prince Devitt (S49) 1022 TPE
G- Keisuke Suzuki (S55) 270 TPE

Edmonton has a few older players that are into regression, but they’re their top players, so losing them isn’t really an option. Truong is the exception among his veteran counterparts, as he’s a few hundred below those around him. ByOvechkin is maybe a risky one to expose, but as I said, I don’t think they can afford to lose one of their older players for him. On defence, Devitt is just behind his fellow defenders and is into regression.

Los Angeles Panthers

Protected:
F- Jimmy Slothface (S46) 1895 TPE
F- Michael Fox (S46) 1472 TPE
F- Austin Roenick (S47) 1550 TPE
F- Vorian Atreides (S50) 1931 TPE
F- Jimmy Wagner (S53) 1559 TPE
F- Long John Donair (S56) 961 TPE
F- Grape Fruit (S56) 938 TPE

D- Mathias Seger (S46) 1809 TPE
D- Keith Lee (S52) 1709 TPE
D- Elias Kierkgaard (S54) 1191 TPE
D- Jonas Kahnwald (S56) 1038 TPE

G- Knox Booth (S49) 1779 TPE

Unprotected:
F- Philipp Winter (S43) 1472 TPE
F- Barrett Blackwood (S48) 1437 TPE
F- TURG TURG (S55) 855 TPE
G- Richard Majors (S54) 273 TPE

LA currently has ten forwards on their roster with the recent signing of Blackwood the trade for Roenick, so three offerings are needed here. I went with Winter, simply because he’s deep into regression and is being passed by some of his younger teammates, Blackwood, and TURG because he’s the low man on the TPE totem pole. Some tough moves, but when you’ve got ten forwards, it makes it all that much harder. On D, McCarthy just announced his intent to retire, so no need to offer up a defender as they only have the five on their current roster. They do have a few good S57 defensive prospects that could get selected in Jari Heikkinen (631), Sean Gaetz (786), and Jimmy Jimmy (628).

Minnesota Monarchs

Protected:
F- Phineas Gold (S50) 1933 TPE
F- Cal Labovitch (S52) 1734 TPE
F- Asctepius Perseus Flitterwind (S55) 1225 TPE
F- Alex Marshall (S55) 966 TPE
F- Rock Strongo (S56) 1017 TPE
F- Rikki Petrov (S56) 706 TPE
F- Kynwyl Pearce (S56) 824

D- Collin Gibbles (S46) 1802 TPE
D- Thomas Bathory (S47) 990 TPE
D- Slimey Snail (S54) 861 TPE
D- Arsene Leclerc (S57) 802 TPE

G- Markus Tegernako (S50) 1930 TPE

Unprotected:
F- Mika Mayfield (S45) 1434 TPE
F- Jmac NCheese (S52) 849 TPE
D- Perry Morgan (S46) 989 TPE
D- Tony Ford (S47) 1129 TPE
D- Noah Tedla (S48) 797 TPE
G- Separa Borro (S53) 436 TPE

The majority of the Monarch's forward core is S55/S56, so it's not surprise that they'll try and protect that group by offering up a few older players. Mayfield is a serviceable player, but is a 45 and makes sense to let go due to that. NCheese is one of the lowest earners on the team (inactive as well) and is the obvious choice here. On defense, Leclerc is a 57 but is the future of this team, and needs to be protected due to his 57 status, so three d-men will be up for grabs on the Monarchs. I went with Morgan, Ford, and Tedla. All three are inactive (at least in Ford's/Morgan's case, they're active but haven't updated in almost a year). This is made even easier by the fact that all three are into regression and are being surpassed by younger, up and coming teammates.

New Orleans Specters

Protected:
F- Nicolaj Muller III (S47) 1111 TPE
F- Slatt Potts (S52) 1119 TPE
F- Mack Daddy (S55) 976 TPE
F- Slava Petrov (S56) 807 TPE
F- Valtterri Kauppinen (S56) 895 TPE
F- Xavier Doom (S56) 869 TPE
F- Vlatislav Malik (S57) 808 TPE

D- Lyle Odelein III (S48) 1977 TPE
D- Bradley Barkov (S53) 854 TPE
D- Connor Hutton (S55) 1108 TPE
D- Vilv Tuga (S56) 656 TPE

G- Jon St. Ark (S57) 792 TPE

Unprotected:
F- Lil' Manus (S43) 944 TPE
F- Oliver Cloutier (S46) 1239 TPE
F- Kenny Creller (S51) 1061 TPE
D- Oliver Klozoff (S46) 774 TPE
D- Darnell Johnson (S48) 903 TPE
G- Olli Saarinen Jr. (S52) 973 TPE

This is just a case of letting inactives go, and keeping the active players safe. A few of those IA players happen to be the older players on the team, so it works out nicely. New Orleans has five forwards that are S55-S57, all between 800-1000 TPE. These five are their future up front and need to be protected, especially S57 Malik who is tied for tops in his class. In goal, the team has had Saarinen as their goalie, but he has been inactive for nearly three months, so it's time to start the Jon St. Ark era in New Orleans. Ark is the top goalie in his class and looks to be a future top goalie in the league. It could be a tough year for New Orleans, so you might as well let the kids play.

San Francisco Pride pride

Protected:
F- Henrik Lekberg Osterman (S50) 1966 TPE
F- Sven Svenson (S53) 1521 TPE
F- Walton Stromberg (S55) 1167 TPE
F- Yngve Simonsson (S56) 888 TPE
F- Patrik Money (S56) 775 TPE
F- Daedalus James (S56) 754 TPE
F- Kev Kevens (S56) 898 TPE

D- Poopity Scoop (S44) 1165 TPE
D- Alex Petrenko (S51) 1646 TPE
D- Rikard Berg (S55) 1186 TPE
D- Nathan Thomas (S55) 932 TPE

G- Nicolae Antonescu (S55) 1117 TPE

Unprotected:
F- Jeff Brogen (S43) 997 TPE
F- Niccolo Livius (S54) 720 TPE
D- Fleetway Super Sonic (S55) 656 TPE
G- Geezus Kryyst (S42) 690 TPE

After years of mismanagement, San Fran's fortunes are finally looking up. They've got the youngest team in the league (don't quote me on that) and the new management have worked hard to bring in the young talent. They'll protect that core that they've built, and offer up a few of the veterans they have on the team. Brogen and Kryyst are both nearing the end of their careers, so that only makes sense. Losing one of the toughest players in the SHL in Livius might leave some of their talent vulnerable to other tough guys, but they can't risk losing one of their high end young guns. The Pride also could protect S57 defenseman Ruggs McOoooh, a player who is closing in on 800 TPE and looks like he'll be ready to make the jump, if not next season, the season after that.

Seattle Argonauts

Protected:
F- Michael Scarn (S46) 1934 TPE
F- Bo Kane (S49) 1723 TPE
F- Jack Kanoff (S53) 1604 TPE
F- Reid Sutherland (S53) 1594 TPE
F- Kriss Darzins (S53) 1256 TPE
F- Vaseline Podcalzone (S56) 950 TPE
F- William Salming (S56) 926 TPE

D- Cassius Darrow (S45) 1848 TPE
D- Gabriel Johnson (S48) 1985 TPE
D- Abel Skinner (S51) 1598 TPE
D- Dee Centerman IV (S56) 952 TPE

G- Yanno Rosejac (S57) 819 TPE

Unprotected:
F- Thomas Kane (S50) 1401 TPE
F- Frederick Wanesly (S53) 1039 TPE
F- Juni Panda (S55) 785 TPE
D- Satoshi Zizagooney (S48) 1549 TPE
D- Sabo Tage (S52) 937 TPE
G- Thor Odinson (S54) 806 TPE
G- Peter Ramsey (S55) 786 TPE

The choices for Seattle are mainly all about protecting a few very good S56/S57 prospects that they have. Podcalzone and Salming are two S56 prospects who are well on their way to being top players in this league. Panda is the low man, but might be a sleeper pick for an expansion team in need of someone who can hit for days. On defence, Tage is inactive and while Zizagooney is a very good player, Centerman IV is creeping up on him and is eight years his junior. And last, but not least, Rosejac is going to be tasked with the rare honour of being a rookie, starting, goalie in the SHL. I'm sure it's been done, but definitely not something we see everyday. He's already surpassed both goalies on Seattle's current roster and shows no signs of slowing down. These four young players mentioned would surely be claimed, and Seattle needs to keep them together and build around them.

Texas Renegades

Protected:
F- Andreas Kvalheim (S45) 1832 TPE
F- Karlo Kekkonen (S51) 1901 TPE
F- Alexander Wachter (S51) 1867 TPE
F- Edward Williams (S53) 1544 TPE
F- Eric Hudson (S53) 1454 TPE
F- Burlok Sulfurgold (S53) 1544 TPE
F- Theo Kondos (S55) 1240 TPE

D- Noah Brusky (S49) 1617 TPE
D- Bjorn Leppanen (S50) 2047 TPE
D- Adam Scianna (S52) 1730 TPE
D- Mikkel Asmus Sondergard (S54) 1376 TPE

G- Cillian Kavanagh (S52) 1614 TPE

Unprotected:
F- Josef Kubinec (S47) 1603 TPE
F- Lemo Pihl (S56) 966 TPE
D- Piotr Horvat (S48) 1344 TPE
D- Joseph Fantobens (S54) 1076 TPE
G- White Goodman (S51) 1334 TPE

Last year's regular season champs, Texas has a really good team here and some great depth. That's why the choices I had to make were tough, especially leaving Pihl unprotected. I know previously I've tried my best to protect young players, but I feel like a team like Texas is in their "championship window" period and I don't know if there's another player that they could afford to lose and not have it hurt their top six. Obviously Kvalheim is well into regression, but he's fought it off nicely and is still too important to this team to let go. On D, Horvat makes sense as he's their most senior defender and is already 5/6 on their depth chat. Both goalies are pretty similar here in age, but you keep Kavanagh as he's got about 300 TPE on Goodman.

Winnipeg Aurora Aurora

Protected:
F- Nick Brain (S46) 1957 TPE
F- Commander Shepard (S46) 1649 TPE
F- Goku Muerto (S43) 1423 TPE
F- James Kimanje (S55) 856 TPE
F- Zelma Zuntnere (S55) 868 TPE
F- Zakkira Diporov (S55) 1067 TPE
F- Jst Maro (S57) 762 TPE

D- Magnus Liljestrom (S53) 1584 TPE
D- Pojo Biscuit (S54) 1214 TPE
D- Sarah Burke (S56) 973 TPE
D- Jasper Maximov (S56) 922 TPE

G- Storm Chamberlain (S52) 1698 TPE

Unprotected:
F- Calogero Crudelli (S48) 1332 TPE
F- Jason Desrouleaux (S55) 831 TPE
F- Jst Maro (S56) 728 TPE
D- Slip McScruff (S45) 1654 TPE
D- Adrik Baranov (S55) 993 TPE
G- Marques Brownlee (S49) 227 TPE

Winnipeg has a really divided group, especially on offence. Four guys in regression, and then five guys (six if you count their top prospect) that are between S55-57. That's why I went with their oldest player in Muerto, and a 55 and 56 player in Desrouleaux and Maro. Maybe it would be better for them to just give up a player like Crudelli, who's a 48, and try and save one of their younger players. This would leave them with just three players over 1000 TPE (and one of those is just there, Diporov has 1067), so it would make their offence pretty shorthanded. Though I suppose if you're going to have three you might as well just have two. Definitely a team with a bright future, but one that has to make a choice this off season that will decide the direction of the team for the next few seasons.

****

Okay, finally! That is every SHL team covered. Of course, I'm not a GM so I'm sure some of my choices might be head scratchers, so don't get too upset with them. Tried to keep active players over inactive (most teams don't have many IAs so that doesn't help much) and tried my best to look at each team's current situation when making my choices. And also, I wrote this over the course of a week, started it the night they announced the expansion. So if a move was missed by me (trade, retirement, position switch) I do apologize but I think I got most of them.

****

So now getting down to selecting the teams. In my opinion, there are two ways that an expansion general manager can go here. The first being that the GM simply takes the player with the highest TPE available. This is more of a win now scenario, trying to ice the most competitive team as soon as possible. Definitely will be a lot of talent in this draft, so it's reasonable that you could do this and have a decent team. The second way to build would be to look for younger players that were left unprotected, and try to maybe embrace the suck for a few seasons and allow these players to grow. There's going to be a fair number of S55-57 players available, and I think a GM could grab as many of these as possible and try to build for the future. So I'm going to do a quick little mock up of the draft, based on the players I left unprotected above. Each team will have sixteen picks, and their last pick will be blank as it's the spot that they have to select themselves in the draft. Team A will be the team drafting based on highest TPE, disregarding regression and just trying to be competitive out of the gate. Team B will be taking younger players that are outside of regression, attempting to build a dominate team in a couple of seasons and maybe having more longevity than Team A.

Round 1:
Team A: F- Lallo Selman (S47) 1701 TPE
Team B: D- Joorgustraad DuBolk (S55) 1102 TPE

Round 2:
Team A: F- Jakub Bruchevski (S47) 1569 TPE
Team B: F- Vladmir Petrov (S56) 972 TPE

Round 3:
Team A: D- Satoshi Zizagooney (S48) 1549 TPE
Team B: D- Adrik Baranov (S55) 993 TPE

Round 4:
Team A: F- Danny Marston (S52) 1524 TPE
Team B: D- Leonids Balzams (S55) 965 TPE

Round 5:
Team A: D- Slip McScruff (S45) 1654 TPE
Team B: G- Peter Ramsey (S55) 786 TPE

Round 6:
Team A: F- James Truong (S46) 1453 TPE
Team B: F- KnockedOut ByOvechkin (S56) 913 TPE

Round 7:
Team A: G- Peter Larson (S46) 1172 TPE
Team B: F- Lemo Pihl (S56) 966 TPE

Round 8:
Team A: F- Josef Kubinec (S47) 1603 TPE
Team B: F- Lassi Suhonen (S55) 841 TPE

Round 9:
Team A: F- Mika Mayfield (S45) 1434 TPE
Team B: D- Guy O’Shea (S52) 1461 TPE

Round 10:
Team A: D- Alexander Selich (S45) 1599 TPE
Team B: D- Adam Friedland (S54) 1004 TPE

Round 11:
Team A: F- Barrett Blackwood (S48) 1437 TPE
Team B: F- First-Name Last-Name (S50) 1480 TPE

Round 12:
Team A: F- Hippo Passamus (S43) 1398 TPE
Team B: F- TURG TURG (S55) 855 TPE

Round 13:
Team A: D- Leopold Lockhart (S45) 1162 TPE
Team B: F- Bryce Mcmahon (S54) 954 TPE

Round 14:
Team A: D- Andrej Doskocil (S46) 1218 TPE
Team B: F- Simon Takshak (S54) 869 TPE

Round 15:
Team A: F- Oliver Cloutier (S46) 1239 TPE
Team B: F- Skao Anazibf (S49) 1212 TPE

Round 16:
Team A: GM
Team B: GM

After doing this, I realize it's probably super unrealistic for either team to end up like this lol, but here we are. It can be done! I'm sure the draft won't end up looking like this, because I'm not a GM and those that are probably will be waaaay better at this than me. But Team A turned out really solid. They have a chance to be really good for a few seasons, but their players are all at least 13-17 seasons into regression, except one player, so they'll go downhill fast. Team B I like a lot. Not a team that's going to compete in year one or maybe even two, but they've got a group that could end up being so good in a few more seasons. Of course, I think the likely strategy by a GM here is somewhere down the middle of the two teams that I created.

*Zoone16* · 04-20-2021, 02:21 PM

Interesting article. You might want to look into some of your choices though as I see at least 1 GM unprotected & picked (BAP) as well as two Co-GMs unprotected & picked (MAN & BUF).

TheFlash · 04-20-2021, 02:26 PM

04-20-2021, 02:21 PMZoone16 Wrote: Interesting article. You might want to look into some of your choices though as I see at least 1 GM unprotected & picked (BAP) as well as two Co-GMs unprotected & picked (MAN & BUF).

I thought about that around the halfway point, figured I missed a few. The rules for the draft only mention GMs needing to be protected though, nothing about Co-GMs.
I’ll go back and edit if I have the time. Thanks!

ImShiny · 04-20-2021, 02:42 PM

shoutout David West. Taking over for David Vent as he retires. Legend

SlashACM · 04-20-2021, 02:52 PM

why is fuzz picked

***Citizen of Adraa*** · 04-20-2021, 03:08 PM

well, as a MAN co I will retire so technically I am draftable, but likely not a very interesting choice for the potentional expansion GMs

TheFlash · 04-20-2021, 03:16 PM

04-20-2021, 02:42 PMImShiny Wrote: shoutout David West. Taking over for David Vent as he retires. Legend

Lol had Lakers role players on the brain. Good eye, fixed!

***hhh81*** · 04-20-2021, 03:58 PM

Solid analysis--one other thing is you left out prospects like yourself who won't be autoprotected and are eligible to get taken in expansion

*Vandy* · 04-20-2021, 04:06 PM

I'm not on this list, good, I like being a sleeper.

TheFlash · 04-20-2021, 04:27 PM

04-20-2021, 03:58 PMhhh81 Wrote: Solid analysis--one other thing is you left out prospects like yourself who won't be autoprotected and are eligible to get taken in expansion

Yeah I definitely could have/should have went a bit more in depth on some of the prospects! Covered any higher end 56/57s but didn’t touch on them all.

TheFlash · 04-20-2021, 04:28 PM

04-20-2021, 04:06 PMVandy Wrote: I'm not on this list, good, I like being a sleeper.

You’re a 58 so auto protected! No need to mention you

***honkerrs*** · 04-20-2021, 06:28 PM

04-20-2021, 03:58 PMhhh81 Wrote: Solid analysis--one other thing is you left out prospects like yourself who won't be autoprotected and are eligible to get taken in expansion

yup.. this. i think it changes a lot of things. overall great work though. much better than @bluesfan55

***_Blitz_*** · 04-20-2021, 06:35 PM

I dunno who that Martson guy is, but he needs to stop stealing my shoes.

TheFlash · 04-20-2021, 07:12 PM

04-20-2021, 06:28 PMhonkerrs Wrote:
04-20-2021, 03:58 PMhhh81 Wrote: Solid analysis--one other thing is you left out prospects like yourself who won't be autoprotected and are eligible to get taken in expansion
yup.. this. i think it changes a lot of things. overall great work though. much better than @bluesfan55

Agreed for sure! (On the point about the prospects, not the Blues part lol). Maybe that’ll be a media for another day. Can probably go a bit in depth with it. 5000 words for one is kind of my limit though with the two little ones at home haha

TheFlash · 04-20-2021, 07:16 PM

04-20-2021, 06:35 PMCapt_Blitzkrieg Wrote: I dunno who that Martson guy is, but he needs to stop stealing my shoes.

Lol! My mistake. It’s funny, I said it out loud as “Mars-ton” when I wrote it onto my paper, but later when I went back to it to copy over, I thought it looked odd. Corrected!!

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