Read: Expansion Has Worked In Certain Areas
In the Buffalo News, via KK, Bucky Gleason writes of how Gary Bettman’s oft-mocked expansion in the 1990s has worked, and that was shown true during the draft in June where 11 Americans were taken in the first round, including players from Florida and California.
…This has been a theory of mine for awhile, even though I do think that there are too many teams and some need to go. Most of this expansion took place around the time that most of the players now being drafted were kids. While the teams themselves may not be doing well in certain markets, the kids being drafted now from those areas were young and the first exposed to the expansion teams when they started, and the league is beginning to reap the benefits of that.
Andrew Yogan, the Rangers‘ 4th-round pick, is from Boca and certainly a part of this culture.
Now, has expansion drained the talent pool and run some teams into bad financial states? Of course, but this growing impact can’t be overlooked.
