Iqaluit, NU (CP)
Once the ownership situation with the new expansion team is sorted, the RHL17 pre-season will get into gear with the dispersal of the Washington Defiance being the first order of business. In a word, this draft will be underwhelming from a Rovers standpoint. The Defiance have 28 players under contract, a quarter of which have already filed their retirement papers with the league but are eligible for selection and many more headed for unrestricted free agency. They also have 20 players on their prospect roster, but perhaps no more than a half-dozen of which could be classed as having a strong shot at making an RHL roster. With the Rovers selecting 25th in the draft, the team will likely be choosing from a group of B to C-level unrated prospects. Perhaps a diamond can be found in the rough, but most likely it will be a pick of no consequence.
Following the dispersal draft, the league will conduct an expansion draft to stock the newest franchise.. wherever it may be. With a number of free agents and also exempted players, the Rovers appear to be in good position to not lose any key players in expansion. Each group of players will be broken down, starting with the forwards.
Eligible forwards: Thornton, Draper, Demitra, Jokinen, Walz, Legwand, Roberts, Stillman, Frolov, Laaksonen, Murray (Bergeron, Horton exempt)
Predictions: Thornton, Demitra, Jokinen, Frolov, Draper, Murray, Legwand, Laaksonen, Roberts protected; Walz, Stillman exposed
With many free agents up front, the Rovers will not have to expose anyone under contract for RHL17. With only 13 forwards and two exempted, only two forwards will have to be exposed (the minimum required), and both will be free agents. The team has expressed a strong interest in pursuing its longest tenured FA’s in Legwand, Murray, and Draper, and protecting Laaksonen’s loyalty makes sense as he was a key penalty killer. So two of Walz, Stillman, and Roberts are likely to be exposed. Expect Walz to be one as the team has a glut of centers, but the other will likely be a coin flip.
Eligible defensemen: Regehr, Johnsson, Brewer, Warrener, Carney, Markov (Liles exempt)
Prediction: Regehr, Johnsson, Brewer, Warrener, Carney protected, Markov exposed.
The defense is pretty straightforward; the team only used seven defensemen at season’s end, and Liles is exempt from the process. So only one D need be exposed, and we predict it will be the free agent Markov over Carney as everyone else has a contract for RHL17.
If the defense was transparent, goaltending is completely obvious. Chris Mason is exempt from expansion, so that leaves two keepers, starter Marty Gerber and third-string free-agent Jocelyn Thibault… guess who gets protected? Adieu Jocelyn.
Overall predicted exposed list: Wes Walz, Cory Stillman, Danny Markov, Jocelyn Thibault.
In a word; unimportant. While the team would like to be able to keep all their free agents, they know that many of them will want to see exactly what is out there and they know that some will sign elsewhere. One of these players will be selected, and perhaps that player will sign immediately with the new team. If so, so be it. If not, the Rovers will still have an equal crack at them in free-agency.
May 15, 2007 at 12:53 pm
I suppose most teams who represent themselves on the blogs have had expansion scenarios in mind at all times, so all of the decisions are probably pretty straightforward for us owners. You scenario is a good example of this.
May 15, 2007 at 1:16 pm
I can’t remember the last season we haven’t had an expansion draft. I think maybe RHL12 was the only year we didn’t expand (even though RHLCentral says there was an expansion draft that season). Myself and the ill-fated Rays (RHL11), then YDP and the SNO2 (RHL13), the Reapers (RHL14), the Stingers (RHL15), and the four this past season. I pretty much go into every season now almost expecting an expansion draft, so I have that in mind at all times re limiting the number of longer contracts to protection cutoffs and embracing one-year auction contracts for certain players. I don’t think I’ve ever lost a player in expansion that I actually really really wanted to keep… though perhaps I have and I’ve just repressed it.
May 16, 2007 at 7:40 pm
I, too, always plan for expansion. Although it was not a prominent reason for the decision, the last bid we mad eon Doan in last year’s auction was made with a “worse comes to worse, we won’t protect him” logic.