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Nhamlet · 06-17-2021, 06:57 PM

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WC: 1900 words

Last time I did one of these it was when was had our last expansion introducing Atlanta and Seattle to the lead. Crazy to think it's been about 4 seasons since then. Anyways, the trend continues with more teams means more movement in the league, much to the headaches of most GMs in the league. As we'll see, there have been quite a few interesting results that expansion caused, namely a few big names to move, as well as the ever-persistent demand for defensemen.

Yes, this is a short list considering last time there were quite a few more free agents. Part of that is that I haven't included the expansion teams' selections and their selections of pending free agents as true free agent signings with the exception of one (yet, that'll come later.)

Forge

sign Nathan Thomas

Okay so this is cheating when I did say that I wasn't going to include the expansion signings just yet and that would be later. However, Thomas is a special case since it turned out that leading up to the expansion draft, he announced his intentions to test free agency regardless of being selected or not. While he didn't quite make it that far, it sounded as though he still had been reached out by multiple suitors and no surprise that he would be. Looking at this list, with the exception of some monster trades we've seen recently, getting a young stud defensemen is going to cost you all of your picks and a pound of flesh. However, this might end up being one of the best choices by Philly, making Thomas their 7th choice selection. He gets a nice little pay bump above his minimums and an opportunity to see if he can envision a future with a well organized core with the excitement of being part of an inaugural expansion team.

Stars

sign Yuuto Kira Cloudera Jr.

The stars aligned with Cloudera Jr. not only seeing multiple defense jobs open up thanks to expansion but also the scale change making a lower earner like themselves, become a desired commodity. Toronto was one of the most heavily hurt in the expansion draft but from losing a pair of young forwards. Instead Cloudera steps in the cursed spot of the retired Axel Meszaros and therefore has extremely low expectations to exceed in comparison. A pair of S59 dmen in Jay Sink and Dane von Gucci are expected to surpass Cloudera's earnings as soon as part way through this season, however with a 2nd season on the deal, these prospects will likely get an additional season to marinate.

Patriotes

sign Renji Atake

Another defenseman who found themselves without a job for the last couple seasons, Atake finally finds themselves a spot on an SHL roster and while is certainly on the lower end of things, at least has the opportunity to demonstrate value to potentially continue some of that potential in the coming season. Atake might still find themselves optimizing on their value by reaching closer to the 2M cap category and continuing to be attractive to capspace strapped teams in the SHL so getting on the map is a huge deal. Without many alternatives, Montreal balances our their forward heavy expansion draft with this. More importantly, the cap saved on a potentially more expensive alternative has otherwise been translated to retained salary in bringing assets on other deals.

Forge

sign Igor Victory

Similar to Thomas, a rare (is it rare if there's two of them?) young defenseman that looks to enter the open market. Yet somehow it's Philadelphia that nabs both of them. It was clear from the start of the expansion draft that Philly opted for youth and preparing for a longer term project. To come out of your first expansion draft with Bork Lazer, Nathan Thomas and Igor Victory make the promise of potential that much more tantalizing. That being said, that can only have so much appeal and need to continue to show their vision continues to come to fruition. With Philly, Victory will immediately step into a prominent role, being on the top pairing as early as into their 2nd season with the team. This contrasted with the more developed and highly competitive Barracuda defensive corps, and you can see where the opportunity would attract somebody wanting the chance to shine.

Stampede

sign Eero Makinen Jr.

An overager in the SMJHL, they technically were still playing unlike some of the other young, low TPE free agents. This certainly doesn't cover the hole left by Bobby Sharp and if anything might signal a transition from the previous team leaders of Luffy, Selich and co. to the S53 and younger crew of Harrington, Seppala, Roach and others. Makinen Jr.'s game was heavily focused on the two-way production, earning him awards and nominations during his time in the J. With the new scale, if he's able to hold his own, Buffalo will be more than happy with that. The added cap relief might provide Buffalo the opportunity to continue to build up their dwindling prospects pipeline. It wouldn't be far off to say that they could have only had a couple prospects in the system as soon as next season giving the multitude of moves they've made to keep up their competitiveness.

Panthers

sign Elijah Jones

In terms of single fish, Jones is the big whopper of this offseason. Los Angeles has been increasingly looking to move their competitive window forward in various ways, seemingly always involved in trade talks, free agents and anything else you could consider. The idea of being "a few more pieces away" is a dangerous one and we've seen what it's done to organizations both here and in real life sports organizations. However when you do follow through on actually achieving some of those pieces, that idea becomes less of a comforting thought and more of a reality coming to be. At a very premature guess, I'm already putting them about tied for 3rd in the West currently with Seattle given the number of top end pieces as well as how young their depth is that it's likely to mean their TPE improvement over the season is up there compared to the rest of the league. With the new scale as well, it might very well be slightly more impactful though at the SHL level, probably not still. Either way, they have a legitimate top 6 option that could reasonably matchup with anybody in the league.

Stampede

sign Tinke Jutila

Another member of the Berserkers' S55 Four Star Cup, this defensive specialist has long had their hopes to return to Buffalo since their rookie season and to see this home coming finally happening is just great. There's not a lot to add because Jutila's earning has stopped and is the oldest and lowest TPE out of all the other previously mentioned options so it's hard to imagine there being much more to it than being a possible stop gap. More than the earning, it's the fact that Buffalo has a clear top 4, Selich retiring and exlcluding Jutila, two empty defensive spots for Bean Beanman and Billy Brooks to step into after this season. Maybe something else comes out of this, maybe not.

Steelhawks

sign Peter Ramsey

In a bit of a surprise signing, Ramsey finds themselves a new gig, after having been moved as part of the 3-way trade that saw Scoochie head to Edmonton. I think some of us had anticipated a return to Edmonton given their need for a more developed goaltender but instead Ramsey opts to be the backup behind Jobin. For Hamilton this normally would be a luxury signing even with the backup relief taking up to 1.75m of the caphit off in exchange for playing Jobin less, but after their offseason losses of Elijah Jones, Zlatan Ibrahimovic Jr., and Bork Lazer they have more than enough cap space and very few targets to fill that meaningfully.

syndicate

sign Boris Poroshenko & Mats Marner

Offered as a pair and signed as a pair, it only makes sense to discuss the package deal of Poroshenko and Marner together. There is no way around it, having lost Connelly and Suhonen in the expansion draft, several key players facing more severe regression, Chicago was looking like their time as a cup contender was quickly closing. However with the introducing of these forwards (among other moves), their roster is full restocked and reloaded for another win since their S57 win. Poroshenko looks to fill out on the 3rd line C spot in a balanced Syndicate roster whereas Marner would become an upgrade on Suhonen's flexible wing spot. Trying to anticipate much more than that is just guess work as the coaching team over there will have quite a few combinations to sort through. Normally a move like this wouldn't have been even considered possible with the tight rope act on the budget but namely the departure of Jean-Uthred Ragnarsson-Tremblay along with expansion created a rare opportunity to get better while most teams minimized their losses. Their outlook is still more immediate while many young teams are starting to close the gap. Young teams like San Francisco who made great efforts to bring in Marner at the trade deadline and Poroshenko before the free agency window to make a play and avoid them falling into the clutches of Chicago.

Renegades

sign Jason Desrouleaux

One of the latest true free agent deals to come, Desrouleaux comes in as a great depth piece to a still stacked and growing Texas roster looking to repeat their recent success. To come out of expansion losing a designated 2K player hurts but less so when it's expected and even less when the other selected player was your backup goalie. The impact on the locker room can only be measured internally but in terms of value on the ice, they may have done as well as can be expected as somebody losing a 2K tpe forward. Desrouleaux's lower TPE is also a slight blessing in disguise, providing some cap space to start up a lonely prospect farm that only had Basil Sivart toiling away. With Kvalheim, Kubinec and Brusky all needing replacements in 3-5 seasons, this is a great timeline to prepare for.

Argonauts

sign Ragnar-Alexandre Ragnarsson-Tremblay

The only time I'm writing out his full name is because I get paid for it. It's definitely not going into my table where it's gonna mess it up. Anyways, on the actual player themselves, similar to Makinen Jr. they spent a 5th season in the J playing for Carolina. The lack of a deal since LAP opted not to renew him might have typically seen a player in his situation (goalie, above 300 TPE, not earning) been wasted away in the free agency bin. Thankfully with the cap relief the expansion temporarily brought, there's some opportunity to spend money. That and both letting Ramsey walk in free agency, losing Yanno Rosejac to inactivity right before expansion meant there was one more spot in the goalie depth chart all of a sudden. Is it to have a better than 200 TPE backup? Maybe. Is it to complete the Ragnarsson-Tremplay collection? You betcha and that's what really matters.

Expansion pick/signings to come later

***WannabeFinn*** · 06-17-2021, 07:14 PM

You’re right, maybe something does come out of it. Or maybe not.

PremierBromanov · 06-17-2021, 07:49 PM

Wow. Talls implements tables and you don't even use them

Nhamlet · 06-17-2021, 08:23 PM

06-17-2021, 07:14 PMWannabeFinn Wrote: You’re right, maybe something does come out of it. Or maybe not.

I almost had to use the magic 8 ball for that.

06-17-2021, 07:49 PMPremierBromanov Wrote: Wow. Talls implements tables and you don't even use them

I took one look at the bb code and said "maybe next time"

PremierBromanov · 06-17-2021, 08:34 PM

06-17-2021, 08:23 PMNhamlet Wrote:
06-17-2021, 07:14 PMWannabeFinn Wrote: You’re right, maybe something does come out of it. Or maybe not.

I almost had to use the magic 8 ball for that.

06-17-2021, 07:49 PMPremierBromanov Wrote: Wow. Talls implements tables and you don't even use them

I took one look at the bb code and said "maybe next time"