Boston selects 13 players, East Division expands to eight teams
The NLL held it's Expansion Draft, July 31, as Boston, the league's newest pro team took first steps to actually rostering a squad. Boston selected one unprotected player from each of the league's existing thirteen teams, after each franchise was provided the ability to protect up to fourteen of its best players.
Here's who got snapped up in the Expansion Draft, by position: G: Pat Campbell (Edmonton), Ryan Avery (Calgary); D: Patrick Merill (Toronto), Darren Halls (San Jose), Mike Grimes (Arizona); F: Jon Harasym (Chicago), Brian Langtry (Colorado), Jake Bergey (Philadelphia), Jed Prossner (Portland), Gewas Schindler (New York), Brenden Thenhaus (Buffalo), Scott Stewart (Minnesota), Brian Croswell (Rochester).
Not the strongest squad... but, there will probably be series of trades yet - and we likely won't see the true form of the new Boston line-up until after this weekend's Entry Draft, Sept 1.
The NLL announced this month that the addition of Boston won't shake up the divisional alignments in 2008. Boston, still yet to be named, will drop into the competitive East Division which will now feature eight teams (Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Minnesota, New York, Philly, Rochester, Toronto). The West will consist of the same six (Arizona, Calgary, Colorado, Edmonton, Portland, San Jose).
"The league and its member clubs felt strongly about keeping the current rivalries in the Eastern and Western Divisions intact, and allowing the budding rivalries to continue to develop", said NLL Commissioner Jim Jennings. Each club will once again play each of its divisional rivals a minimum of two times (one home and one away).
The NLL 2008 regular season schedule will be announced at a later date, but Jennings noted each club will continue to play a 16-game regular season, with eight home dates.
