Prospect roster

[Rob]

This comes up about once a year.  Some GM's here want to see an expansion of the prospect roster.  The argument against it has been that having small rosters forces tough decisions and keeps better players available to sign or draft. 

Someone brought it up to me privately so I figured I'd open the discussion again.  What are your thoughts?  Keep the rosters at 10 players or increase?  How much of an increase makes sense? 12-13-14-15?

Any change would not take effect until next offseason.

As of now, I am still leaning towards keeping the 10 player roster.  But I'm not adamantly opposed to an increase.  If that's what everyone wants, that's what everyone gets.

[Gilly]

No change for me, I like small minor rosters!!

[jlapo11]

I prefer to stay at 10. This allow more good prospects on FA but will cause some headache to GMs who are already at 10 (before the draft)

[norrya66]

I say expand it to at least 12. I would prefer 15.

[Rob]

2 extra players per team doesn't seem like much, but it's up to 40 players that would not be available in the draft!

[Anthony]

I say increase them. WIth us adding around 6 draftees a year (3 from our NHL team and 3 from our draft), it really squeezes our minors. The NHL has a full minor team and even players that play overseas, so I feel like adding 1 - 5 extra slots still leaves a lot of good talent on the board, while giving less talented teams more spots to rebuild.

[izaman3]

I say keep it at 10. Having 30 major spots and 10 minor spots forces GMs to make the tough choices of who is really worth a spot.  I think there could be less parity in the league a few years down the line if we increase.

This way, if you cut the wrong player, the other teams have a chance to snag them. Plus I think it works out better for teams rebuilding the way it is now.

[shooter47]

I wouldn't mind seeing the minor league roster increase. NHL prospects on average can take a long time to develop and having more spots would allow GMs to get a longer look at their prospects before deciding to keep or cut the player. Also more spots would give rebuilding teams the ability to place their prospects on their minor league roster and use their NHL roster to sign more NHL players to compete right away. I think this would help a team like Florida compete more in the short term while allowing them to build for the long- term at the same time. With the current amount of roster spots there is little incentive for Florida to keep a semi decent older player over a prospect. With more minor league roster spaces I think parity would increase across the league.

[Anthony]

I wouldn't mind seeing the minor league roster increase. NHL prospects on average can take a long time to develop and having more spots would allow GMs to get a longer look at their prospects before deciding to keep or cut the player. Also more spots would give rebuilding teams the ability to place their prospects on their minor league roster and use their NHL roster to sign more NHL players to compete right away. I think this would help a team like Florida compete more in the short term while allowing them to build for the long- term at the same time. With the current amount of roster spots there is little incentive for Florida to keep a semi decent older player over a prospect. With more minor league roster spaces I think parity would increase across the league.

My thoughts too. Giving a struggling team 5 more major spots will give them some cheap signs, possibly hitting a jackpot with someone, and increases how competitive they are, while keeping their minors intact.

[GypsieDeathBringer]

I say add 2 more spots, but make them long term minor spots, so you can use them, but once a player goes in the long term spot they have to stay there for 3 years.  So, goalies and defensemen have just such a long maturation process most of the time.  You can slide them in that spot and hope they take the normal time.  If not, they are still on your team, but you have to watch them tear it up without rewarding you.