Challenge 14 - Rebirth of the Winnipeg Jets!

[bruins72]

As Challenge 13 with the Nashville Predators winds down we find ourselves needing to come up with a new challenge. We're all eagerly anticipating Lidas' 09-10 rosters and we've used pretty much all of the weaker teams in the NHL. I started thinking that maybe we should make one of the bubble teams a little weaker and release a database that has that team weakened (like maybe Atlanta without Kovalchuk?). I also thought that maybe we should play off the current drama surrounding the Coyotes and their finances. I start tossing the idea around to the mods with lukewarm response. So I PMed Lidas and asked him who he thought was a weak NHL team we could use for a challenge. Since he's the DB man, I figured he'd have a good idea of who was good and who wasn't. I also mention my idea about the Coyotes to him. In his response he says "What about an expansion team? The team could be chosen by a series of polls." Pure genius! So that is what we are going to do. We are going to take the Phoenix Coyotes and replace them with the Winnipeg Jets!

Here is the setup story...

While the lawyers and the NHL battle it out over who can buy the struggling Coyotes and their financial nightmares, the team gets to the point where it's hemorrhaging money (even more than it is now) and is dissolved. The league holds a dispersal draft where all of the Coyotes players are absorbed back into the other teams in the league. Shortly after this Jim Balsillie wins his fight against Gary Bettman and the NHL, due in part to the team dissolving when he could have saved it with a move. Jim Balsillie is getting his NHL franchise and it's going back to Winnipeg! The league is allowing the Jets to pick players from the other teams in the league that are comparable to the players they lost when the Coyotes folded. It's not quite an expansion draft but it works. So now you'll start out with your new Jets roster and a staff of former Jets players and staff. Can you show the world that Winnipeg deserves an NHL franchise?

How this will work is that we will have a series of polls, one for each player under contract to the Coyotes or are unsigned prospects of the Coyotes. You will be given 4 players to pick a replacement from. Everyone casts their vote and then once the polls close we will take the winners and create a database with that roster. In the case of a tie, I will just pick of the tied players. There won't be a re-vote. The old Coyotes players will go to the team from which we picked their replacement, just to keep things balanced. Also, I'd like to discourage everyone from opening the editor and checking to see who has the best PA and basing their votes purely on that. Go ahead and see what the players look like in a new game but please don't use the editor. Also, feel free to discuss who you votes for in each poll and why you did. Maybe you'll sway someone to vote for the player you want? Maybe you'll just get a good discussion going?

We'll be using the same set of rules as Challenge 13 but with a couple minor tweaks. We'll release an update to the rules soon.

The polls will all be in a special forum...

http://www.ehmtheblueline.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=44

Please note that there are 2 pages of polls! Also, some polls are going to consist of players you've never heard of. Still try to pick one of them because we need to cover all of the players for the team. I know it's a lot of voting but it will be worth it in the end!

Thanks for your time and I hope you all enjoy what we are doing in Challenge 14.