I don't believe in the "expansion will dilute the talent pool" argument

[LaP]

Maybe back in 1967-1968 when the talent pool had all Canadians.

Back then, you had no Russians, no Swedes, no Finns, and no Americans in the talent pool.

I don't think expansion will dilute the talent pool this time around.

The talent pool is getting deeper. You have more talented Americans dominating the rosters.

You have the European talent base getting stronger. Canadians talent pool is dwindling because lack of interest.

So when the NHL expands in a couple of years, the talent pool, already discussed, will get stronger, not weaker.

So you don't believe in facts?

It's a fact, a mathematical fact, that adding teams will dilute the talent pool. Will it dilute it too much that remains to be seen I'd be very cautious if i was the NHL before adding teams.

 

[TruePowerSlave]

So you don't believe in facts?

It's a fact, a mathematical fact, that adding teams will dilute the talent pool. Will it dilute it too much that remains to be seen I'd be very cautious if i was the NHL before adding teams.

The NHL will get more money out of expansions. They can't wait to add teams, don't expect it to stop anytime soon. All business.

 

[LaP]

The NHL will get more money out of expansions. They can't wait to add teams, don't expect it to stop anytime soon. All business.

Can't wait to watch the Grennland Glaciers.

 

[TruePowerSlave]

Can't wait to watch the Grennland Glaciers.

At least the name sounds a million times better than Utah Hockey Club.

 

[Beukeboom Fan]

I wasn’t aware it was an argument to say that adding more players who currently aren’t deemed good enough for the league by 32 teams would dilute the talent pool.

What does the other side of that even sound like? It has to ignore math, facts, common sense…

All you have to do is change the definition of dilution to "people who feel like they belong in the NHL" and it makes total sense!

 

[Super Hans]

the only thing expansion is diluting is the chances of franchises run by clueless jabronis winning another cup, sorry if that includes you original 6 guys

 

[Habssince89]

Maybe its not so much a "talent" pool being diluted and its an "experience" pool. Expansion leads to many players having to play out of their depth or exposed before they're ready. Some players might get their chance and make the most of it, but many others (especially some mid-prospects) will have their development stunted because they are coming into the league on a weak team without the insulation needed. It can go either way depending on the team/player, but I think the talent is there, its just that more expansion may lead to a few seasons of teams struggling until their rosters balance out.

 

[M88K]

Maybe back in 1967-1968 when the talent pool had all Canadians.

Back then, you had no Russians, no Swedes, no Finns, and no Americans in the talent pool.

I don't think expansion will dilute the talent pool this time around.

The talent pool is getting deeper. You have more talented Americans dominating the rosters.

You have the European talent base getting stronger. Canadians talent pool is dwindling because lack of interest.

So when the NHL expands in a couple of years, the talent pool, already discussed, will get stronger, not weaker.

If you have 100 positions. You get the 100 best people.
If you add another 40 positions. You don't get to fill those 40 positions from the best 100 people. You already have them. So now you're taking the best 40 from what remains.
You're saying that those 40 people are just as good as the previously hired 100?
Because the only way the talent pool doesn't get deluded is if they are.
That said, adding 46 more NHL players isn't going to hurt the quality of the product, because it's going to allow guys like McDavid, Kucherov, Mackinnon, etc to look even better, put up better numbers and ultimately cause higher scoring games, which is going to help with casuals.

 

[Mrb1p]

I mean weve seen it happen every time theres an expansion, top talent just somehow gets a massive jump in production. Goaltenders are barely holding a .900, top players are reachiny 140 points yearly.

 

[BoltSTH]

I would prefer they followed they English FA model, and have 20 team Premier and 20 1st division team (add the 8 best AHL teams) split across East and West, with the worst in the West and East being relegated, and the best of the 1st division promoted. It would stop tanking, and make end of season games for the bottom teams more competitive. Make the draft reverse order 1st division, then reverse Premier.

 

[FlyguyOX]

See, I think it will. If you add two teams, you add roughly 40-50 players to the league.

The majority of that, say 35-40, will merely be your higher-end AHL talent that couldn't stick with an NHL roster. And the others will be the over-the-hill vets that no ones wants but will get signed to plug a hole. You might get a few randos from European leagues but I imagine no more or less than usual.

Just a basic normalized distribution tells you that if you increase the population size, you will be diluting of the mean because we are not adding top talent on the other end. If they were there to add, they would already be in the league. Not like there are 20 1Cs over in Europe or the KHL that can't get an NHL deal. Instead, you're adding several AHL/AAAA players. So yeah, overall weaker. I do not agree with your premise.

You're completely leaving out AHL prospects that are overcooked.

 

[LuckyDay]

As expansion has increased the talent pool has increased as more players in NA, Europe and probably eventually Asia see hockey as a viable career option.

 

[SEALBound]

You're completely leaving out AHL prospects that are overcooked.

In a later post, I did account for that saying that it was a decent counterargument to what I said. The draft too. I said that having 60 additional slots in the league may give another young player the time he needs to develop that he otherwise might not have got. Still though, in doing so, the mean still diminished because for every overcooked AHL player, you're likely not adding players above the mean at the same rate.