Happy Monday morning kids! Spring is in the air. Yep, all the flowers are starting to bloom, life is rejuvenating and birds are procreating! Nice rhyme eh kids?
Speaking of procreating, it looks like leagues are continuing to do the same as well. Yep, just spitting out expansion franchises all over the place.
Now I am not saying anything about NAHL expansion here. No one is going to complain about more free to play hockey. There are more than enough quality players available to fill as many as six new NAHL teams that are either in Canada or in Tier III simply because of a numbers game. More power to those owners willing to shell out the money for these kids.
But lets just take a look back at 2014 shall we? Ummmmmm yeah, you might remember all the expansion teams announced and probably two dozen of them folding? Yep, thought you might remember that.
So whats new in 2015? Well whats old is new, that’s the answer. Yep, about two dozen or so expansion teams on the way in Canada and the United States. Some of these teams in sanctioned leagues, some of them not. But does it really make a difference? Not really.
Now some of these new teams actually have some good people behind the scenes and they have been working on building their teams and scouting for the last six or eight months. Those guys will probably be fine.
So here’s a question some new teams need to ask themselves; As an expansion team this year, what am I actually offering that is better than existing teams to a player recruiting pool that is not growing?
Yeah, that’s the kicker kids. Pay attention now, THE PLAYER RECRUITING POOL IS NOT GROWING.
So, if the volume of players available remains the same, and the number of teams increases, what will happen? Yep, history once again will repeat itself.
It gets better though. With the NAHL expanding, along with at least one more NOJHL team and one more SIJHL team at the Tier II level, what the hell are these Tier III leagues thinking?
While the NOJHL and SIJHL aren’t all “free” to play, they are Tier II and less expensive than most Tier III options. So lets say we have four new Tier II franchises. That’s ninety two players at Tier II who wont be available to Tier III teams.
Two Dozen Tier III expansion teams need FIVE HUNDRED players. Simple math tells you a couple real simple truths.
First, the best players are going to Tier II, so even if these expansion teams get enough players to fill a roster, the product on the ice will be watered down.
Second, there are not six hundred junior caliber players entering the available player recruiting pool to fill all these rosters.
So, like last year, I am stocking up on some serious amounts of body bags. Ohhhhhhh yeah kids, not only do I think we will have a repeat of last years colossal amount of teams folding, but I think it will be an even bigger year.
See another part of the problem with all of this stupid Tier III expansion is when new teams keep existing teams from moving forward. Yeah, you know when a team that’s been around for a while, but has a slow summer recruiting and has 15 players signed because the start up down the street has signed 10? Both those teams end up folding unless one has the extra money to outlast the other.
Now I don’t blame, USA Hockey for allowing this expansion. They should allow it because in the end the strongest teams will always survive. What I mean by strongest, is the teams that keep their promises they make to players. If some teams go under with bad operators, its whatever.
Ohhhhhhh I know, everyone is counting on the “import player” increases right? Yeah well you only get to “grandfather” one of your returning import players and add two more if you’re an existing team. So yeah, its not that sweet of a deal.
You know, I hated algebra and trig in High School. But man this addition and subtraction stuff is pretty damn easy. Some people might want to learn some of it.
Then again, never mind. I would like to thank some of you dummies in advance for making my summer fun. Good thing the dirt is starting to thaw, looks like another bang up year on the way! Now where did I put that shovel?
David Wagner – The Angel Of Death – For Those Who Live Stupidly I salute You
*The Death Pool is a mix of comedy, and satire in connection with recent events. It is not an official report of current events although it may look as though the news is so accurate that it could one day happen or may be happening.
