When the National Hockey League or the NHL began its last expansion process in the beginning of the 1990s, increasing the number of teams from 21 to 30, many people considered it as a sign that the NHL was making progress and inroads into unexplored territories and deemed it as a necessity for the future. However, that has not turned out to be the case.
For one, the addition of a staggering nine franchises into the NHL meant the integration of as many as 200 players on the rosters of the team. Although the increase in the European imports into the NHL increased at this time, in the end, all that the expansion did was lower the bar of standards. Instead of acquiring world class players into the team, the teams started to bring in players and loading them to stack their third and fourth lines that can be termed mediocre at best. Prior to the expansion, these players would hardly have the chance to make the squad of a NHL team, let alone play.
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