ASHL Press - The possibility of expansion has always haunted the ASHL. The topic has surfaced once again in recent talks between the GMs and overall it looks quite good that 2 new expansion teams will be brought on board bringing the total teams in the league to 16.

Expansion is a positive on many fronts, most importanly it will even up the conferences who have 7 teams in each. Secondly it will create more competition amongst the league as only 1/2 of the teams in the league will make it to the post season.

There are two interested parties looking to come into the ASHL. One team is officially signed on being lead by former GM James Ashton. He sold his interest in the Iona Moose 2 seasons ago to persue other interests, since then he has missed the league and is desparatly looking for a way back in. The other party has yet to be confirmed as the ASHL commisioner doesn't know whether to go after new blood or try to lure another old GM back into the frey.

Expansion draft rules have been discusssed heavily and although there have been some unofficial rules drafted up, nothing has been made official yet. Existing league teams know they have to let go of some of their players, they are just unsure how deep they want to go. There is always a fine line between stacking new teams and draining existing teams. It's determining where that line is that is always a sticky situation when talking about expansion.