I think this could have a very negative effect on the league.
it might... but after:
looking over the setup
4 draft picks annually,
only 13 current MiLR spots/team
usually only the top 5 players from the first 10 picks at the NHL entry make the NHL quickly
most other draftees linger for 3-5yrs before getting called up
i think there's room to expand Minor league rosters (MiLR)
Look at which teams are currently signing up the young talent or future NHLers. Its the bottom dwellers like myself because it is currently one of the only avenues left to rebuild a team.
that's the name of the game in a uber deep 30-team league isn't it...
you're the last guy in, so you get the scraps.
been there, done that when i joined July 2011.
guess what, then i packed off the prospects + vets and got more assets.
kept trading til i got a serviceable team.
then i finished behind drew's
for the 2011-12 season... my 1st in the league.
I actually think you should move in the opposite direction which is limit MiLR to 10 , reduce draft picks to 3 rounds and start allowing teams to sign and place players to their MiLR instead of forcing them to store them on their pro roster.
...
we could but the problem with that is... all the prospects that are very close to the NHL will face being cut right after the next draft for most teams.
why?
because your 4 new draft picks might also be amazing.
so now you have to cut newly drafted players.
oh oh.
doesn't that de-value your draft picks???
oh oh, then maybe we should cut the # of draft rounds from 4 to 1 or 2???
that's what we're facing... and it leads to shallow league play that's not as challenging not as advanced as a 30-team league should be.
bottomline: increasing MiLR spots will lead to more strategic, competitive league play where resources are valuable, not devalued.