Wild, Wild, West...

This week marks the WSHL's summer meetings in Las Vegas. I expect this year's event to be every bit as interesting as last year's in Reno. We'll see some of the same protagonists and antagonists, though Tim Best is a noted omission. I've not heard from Tim in awhile, but I presume he's home in London, Ontario. We might even see a stampede of new and/or relocated franchises, but it's still too early to tell. In other news, the North Division of the NAHL has submitted their agenda for the league meetings taking place during the Robertson Cup… They are requesting, among other things, that the division not be required to travel outside their own division. Of course, the Springfield Jr. Blues are still relatively close by, and Fargo, Alexandria, Owatonna, and Mason City are all closer to Marquette than is Youngstown, so I'm not expecting a full cessation of interdivisional traffic... they just don't want to go to Alaska. The North Division also requests all divisions be allowed to set their own playoff structure within a date framework set be the Board of Governors. Finally they would like to drop the draft and turn veterans playing in other divisions into "restrictive free agents," meaning that Traverse City could steal away a player from Wichita Falls during the summer. There would still be compensation tied to such transfers, so I'm not entirely sure how this changes things (I'm sure I'll have a few emails dropped in my inbox by lunchtime explaining things). Still, such requests serve to decentralize the NAHL, converting it from a federation of teams into a loose confederacy of divisions. Finally, for those of you taking the survey (see yesterday's post), rest assured that any broadcast version of the blog is intended to supplement, not replace, the written version. Don't forget to vote!