Now that utter boredom has set in with the NHL offseason, I thought I'd turn to some diversionary stuff like this. I've always enjoyed checking in on the status of an "All New England" team of NHL players. Being a Bruins fan and being from New England (MA) and taking pride in NE-born players, it was a fun little distraction to have during the summer months.
Of course, every team needs an opponent to play against. For me, the Boston-Montreal rivalry is the greatest in sports, not just in the NHL. I don't think I would care as much about the Bruins if they didn't have a rival in Montreal that I hated so much. So in addition to trying to create an "All New England" team, it seemed natural to pit them against native born players from their geographic rival in Quebec, hence the "All Quebec" team.
So here are the rules I followed when making these rosters:
-I did not care about the salary cap or "fairness" in trades to get players on their appropriate rosters, so if that's the only comment you have, you're a loser taking up space in this world
-I also ignored NHL roster limits. Each team has 14 forwards, 7 defensemen, and 3 goalies.
-I strictly followed "place of birth" to qualify players for these teams (i.e. I don't care that John Carlson grew up in NJ, or that Paul Stastny grew up in NJ/MO)
-I tried to honor positions and "natural side" as much as I could, but some of the fun will be hearing where other people think players should be slotted
-I did not include any prospects/junior players/AHL players in these rosters. All of these players played in the NHL this past season (2017-2018)
-Finally, I created two separate teams for New England, 1 with CT-born players and 1 without. The reason for this is twofold - 1). Many people from New England (mostly CT and MA) do not consider CT to be truly part of "New England culture", especially the farther west in CT you go (towards NY/NYC). 2). I personally detest CT and most everything about it, so that's just my personal bias. However, it's quite clear that the "New England" team isn't nearly as competitive without the CT-born players on it, so maybe CT is worth something after all lol.
Quick Population stats (via Wikipedia)
Quebec - ~8,500,000
New England: ~14,200,000
MA - ~6,900,000
RI - ~1,100,000
NH - ~1,300,000
ME - ~1,300,000
VT - (no players)
CT - ~3,600,000
So that's about it. I'd be happy to hear people's thoughts about how these teams would do against each other, be it in a single game, a 7 game series, playing in Boston, playing in Montreal (would the refs still favor the Quebec team lol?) or Quebec City? Maybe it will inspire people to make different versions of these teams? Anyways, it's better than waiting for some trickle of trade news to come from the League. Hope you all enjoy.
Don't forget to check the other lineups:
-Team Quebec - https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/793399
-Team New England (minus CT) -https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/793282
-Team New England (plus CT) -https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/793397
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