WHL (World Hockey League) - Settings / Inaug.Draft / Discussion

[Pit Bulls]

Firebirds select Jordin Tootoo 802nd

[rainydrinkwater]

CSKA Moscow select at 33.791 - Conner Bleakley

And at 34.794 - Ryan Haggerty

[Pit Bulls]

With our final pick in the inaugural WHL draft, the Firebirds select Tanner Glass 831st

[VintageVibe]

Best draft I've ever been apart of. Respectful and entertaining from the beginning to the end.

Great draft guys.

Now it's time for me to start the rebuild...

[rainydrinkwater]

CSKA Moscow select with their final pick in the WHL is inaugural draft at 35.839 - Joe Hicketts

[Burgundy]

Annnnnnd with the final pick of the WHL Inaugural Draft, the Fort Frances Muskies select Arizona's own Chris Pronger.

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Great draft guys!

[evans334]

Anyone else try to open the draft room first thing this morning....

[Pengwin7]

Incredible Draft.
Big applause to the 24 GMs in this league.
35 rounds x 24 picks = 840 picks in just 15 days!!!

League has great diversity in strategy too.
Feels like about 8 teams are all-out-gunning for Year1 championship (veteran squads), about 8 teams have mixed proven players with vets, about 8 teams are in "youth mode" to rule the pool in Years 3 & beyond.

Next 8 days (Aug 13-Aug 20) will be ironing out key rules.
I hope to open up TRADING & FREE AGENCY on August 20th.

[Brosive]

that draft was pretty epic

[GinFizz]

that draft was pretty epic

Indeed... It was funny as all hell..

[Pit Bulls]

This draft WAS the best I've ever been part of. It was an honour to be part of it - as VV said - respectful and entertaining start to finish. Top notch GM's = top notch league!

Thanks again to Peng for setting this draft up and a big thank you to all GM's.

Can't wait for the season to begin.

[Loch]

Yeah, it is always fun when you get to break out the 'you stole my guy' line in the 35th round...

[Pengwin7]

I started a "guidelines" for the league.
I'd prefer not to call it "rules" - because I always hate when somebody says "Well... it wasn't in the rules..."

When you guys get a chance, look this over - let me know of anyways to improve the wording.
This is a very rough first draft... very raw.
...

Also - if there are any issues from draft talk that we absolutely NEED to cover before opening up ADDS/TRADES, list them in this thread.
Let's get this crappy stuff settled so we can start trading!!!





WHL Guidelines to Fair-play.

Section 1: General WHL Guidelines
1.01 The list of rules below is intended as a guideline to fairplay.
This is a league for passionate fantasy hockey fans who have enough experience to know what is right & what is wrong.
The WHL encourages all GMs to strive towards team success by building a great team.

1.02 Where a rule does not exist to explicitly define a condition – common sense will govern what is acceptable.
Where the “common sense” is debatable, the entire league & commissioners will discuss the issue to determine what is in the best interest of the league.
If a vote is required on an issue, a 60% or greater voting majority will determine the favourable direction. (Minimum 60% = 15+ GMs yay or nay on issue.)
For issues where league opinion is split (< 60% for either side), the commissioners will vote on a decision.

1.03 At all times, there shall be 3 acting co-commissioners of the league.
Co-commissioners shall be Pengwin7 + two elected co-commissioners bi-annually (voted by majority vote).

Section 2: GM (Team) Participation
2.01 GMs are expected to manage their teams actively – daily. Line-ups shall be set daily.
If a GM feels they will be unable to constantly update their daily roster, they must – at a minimum – have their best players in starting roster spots.
It is important that all GMs recognize that every week of H2H matches is important to the full regular season standings.

2.02 GMs are expected to reply to PMs, emails, and trade talks – weekly, at latest.
The WHL understands that not everybody can return a message within 24 hours, but it is expected to return correspondence with other GMs within one week.
If communication is not active, the league will not feel active.

2.03 GMs must indicate their desire to return for each upcoming season by making league payment (fee) prior to July 1st of each coming year.
The fee for each year will be discussed each June 15th-June 20th.
Teams opting out of the WHL may:
i) Find a replacement owner to adopt team and pay fees – and thus be refunded any future year payments, or
ii) Quit – and forfeit future year payments.

2.04 In the unfortunate event that GM(s) quit the league, a replacement owner(s) will be targeted between July 1st-July 10th of each year.
If multiple teams do not return, a dispersal draft will be held for all the players of the available teams.
 
Section 3: WHL Annual Schedule (July 1 – June 30)

3.01 The following shall be the tentative season schedule for the WHL:

July 1st. Start of New WHL Fantasy Hockey year.
July 1 - July 14. Replacement of departed GMs. Dispersal Drafts.
July 15 – July 31. WHL “Minors” Prospect Draft to fill all WHL Junior Teams to 10 eligible players.

Aug 1 – Aug 31. Open. No scheduled events.

Sept 1 – Sept 30. WHL “PRO” Replacement Draft to fill all WHL PRO Teams to 25 NHL players.

Oct 1 – mid-March. WHL Regular Season. 23 weeks of H2H. One opponent per week.

Mid-March – Mid-April. WHL Playoffs. Championship Tier(8), Middle Tier(8), Lower Tier(8).

Late April. WHL Lottery / NHL Lottery to determine top 3 picks in upcoming Prospect Draft.

May 1 – May 31. ROSTER FREEZE. No players may be traded, added, or dropped.
May 1 – May 31. Rule & Setting Discussion for Upcoming Year.

June 1 – June 30. TRADING RE-OPENS, FA & WAIVERS STILL FROZEN. Teams encouraged to plan their keepers down to 20 PRO players (maximum) and 5 JR-eligible players (minimum).
June 15 - June 20. Discussion of league fees for upcoming year.
June 20 – June 30. Collection of league fees for upcoming year.
June 30. Last day to pay league fees for upcoming year, unpaid teams may be replaced.
June 30. Final KEEPER Date. Teams must trim roster down to 20(max) & 5(min).
June 30th midnight. End of WHL Fantasy Hockey year. 

Section 4. Rosters & Players
4.01 All teams shall carry 25 NHL players on their PRO team at all times.
This shall consist of starting players (19): 3C / 3LW / 3RW/ 3F / 6D / 1G and a bench (6).
The (19) starting spots MUST be active, rostered, NHL players at all times.
There are 3 “IR” slots for injured or suspended NHL players.

4.02 All teams shall carry between 5 & 10 players on their MINOR/JR team at all times. Eligible minors players must:
i) Be 25 years of age, or younger
ii) Have played in 100 NHL games or less, if a forward or defenseman
iii) Have played in 40 NHL games or less, if a goalie
iv) Have been drafted by an NHL team in one of the last 5 NHL entry drafts –or- have had a valid NHL contract within the last 360 days.

4.03 Eligible PRO players for team “Adds” must:
i) To be rostered between July 1st-Oct 30th… have had a valid NHL contract in the current or previous NHL season. [i.e. NHL Free Agents.]
ii) To be rostered between Nov 1st-April 30th… have a valid NHL contract for the current NHL season.
Any player on a WHL roster between these dates without a valid NHL contract will be dropped from their WHL team and must be replaced with an active NHL player.

4.04 All teams shall carry active NHL players in their starting roster spots: 3C/3LW/3RW/6D/1G.
A team will not be permitted to drop or trade away a player in an active roster spot unless they can replace that player in the active spot with another active NHL player.
(i.e. A team is permitted to roster just one NHL back-up goalie placed in their 1G slot, but may not trade their only NHL goalie away and leave the 1G slot empty.)
Players in bench or IR slots should be active, rostered NHL roster players.
"Active NHL player" shall be defined as a player with an NHL contract, on his team's 23-man roster, who is playing games or a "healthy scratch".

4.05 Eligibility of AHL Players.
AHL players may be left (*not “added”*) in bench slots if they were:
i) originally rostered as an NHL player and have been recently demoted to the AHL (i.e. Mike Richards, Wade Redden, etc.) AND
ii) that player is not eligible for MINORS.
Non-NHL (ex. AHL) players may not be added to a PRO roster.
Where an AHL player has been promoted to his NHL club, that player may be added as a free agent to a WHL team only after the official time-stamp of the NHL.com article stating that player has been “called up” by his NHL team.
[*Of note: Most AHL players are still “MINORS”-eligible… so if you want one expecting a “call-up”, sign them to your MINORS team, which can be done at any time.]

[left off here]

[Pengwin7]

Adding this from Fantrax:

**********
Quote by Fall River's Finest (MCMackerel) on Aug 13, 2015 11:51 AM EDT
I'd like to know:
1. Salary cap -- what procedure do we go through to figure out if the cap needs to be increased? If imagine we should follow a similar "inflation" rate as real life NHL caps go up if we want to keep our cap consistent.

2. Minor league players -- who is eligible, games played AND age limit rules should be clear. Can we add players to our minor teams that were not drafted, but meet other criteria?

3. Minor league movement/call ups -- What are the rules for calling up/down players? If we call a player up, are we allowed to send them back down?

4. Non contracted NHL players: examples would be kovalchuk or radulov. Can we roster these guys? What about college players or other non nhlers?

5. How does free agent pickups work in this league? I'd personally prefer a system where it's not just first come first serve. I've found in the past that GMs who are busy at work and other things are at a disadvantage. Some sort of bidding system or waiver wire order (weekly, biweekly) might be good. Open to suggestions and others' input.
**********


Great item list MCMackerel.
We'll try to keep everything in the Dobber "Discussion" Thread, but I'll attend to some here.


1. Cap.
I think we'll vote on it, but there will be some yearly increase. Some even amount. Next year it'll either stay at $100m or go up to $102m or $103m or $104m - something like that.
Technically, it hasn't yet been defined whether it will go up - we'll see what the majority wants to do.
The only decided item is $100m for this year after October 1st.
(Carrying $110m is allowed until October 1st - because Fantrax hasn't updated Cap Hits and some teams will surely rise when they update.)

2. re: Minor-eligible.
See thread link (post above). Besides the age & GP limit, I think a player needs to have been drafted (in one of last five drafts) -OR- have a current NHL contract (if undrafted).

3. re: Minors movement.
Teams will be permitted to have TWO additions each week to their PRO team.
These can either be ADD/DROPS or Minors-UP/Down.
The Minor movement may not be tracked, so teams will be on the honour system and we can police each other.
I'm assuming their is a H2H chatbox - so if teams are promoting a JR player, they should say "I'm using one of my two weekly moves to promote JoeSchmoe from JRs."

4. re: Eligible PRO Players
For now - I think a good definition is that they need to have a valid NHL contract in the current OR previous year... to be rostered until Oct 31st.
From Nov 1st-April 30th... they need to have a valid NHL contract for the current year.

5. General free agency will be first-come, first-serve. Newly added players (if eligible for Minors or PRO) shall be subjected to 48 hours entry waivers. When an undrafted player (college of KHL) signs, that player will also be subjected to 48 hours waivers from timestamp of an official internet article reporting the signing. Newly signed players shall not be eligible for first-come, first-serve on Fantrax... even if Fantrax already has him in database. (ex. Tkachev). To claim a newly signed player, we'll ask GMs to "Create a Player Name Thread" on Fantrax page to claim him. If a higher waiver-claim teams wants him, they'll make claim IN that same thread. Player will be awarded after 48hrs from his signing.

[Pengwin7]

Quick look at Team Cap Situations (based on 2014-2015 cap hits):

$99.9m Fall River's Finest (MCMackerel)
$98.2m Halifax Krakens (GretzkysMullet)
...
$91.2m Markham Waxers (praba)
...
$88.9m Windsor Spitfires (Pengwin7)
$84.1m Highland Scotch Hounds (seadawg)
$82.0m Fort Frances Muskies (Burgundy)
$80.4m Montreal Canadiens (newfcollins)
...
$78.4m CSKA Moscow (rainydrinkwater)
$73.8m Edmonton Road Runners (Lemmy)
$70.4m Amsterdam Red Lights (rataylor22)
...
$69.8m Grand Rapids Griffins (brakli)
$69.8m Cleveland Barons (gopack26)
$67.0m Saanichton Cougars (InForAPenny)
$65.9m Oshawa Generals (Bobby4Ever)
$63.0m Vancouver Voodoo (GoNucks)
$62.7m Victoria Dead Hookers (Loch)
$62.4m Guelph Storm (havanablast21)
$60.9m Flint Firebirds (Pit Bulls)
...
$58.8m District-5 Ducks (evans334)
$56.7m Wheeling Nailers (Brosive)
...
$49.6m Hartford Whalers (Savvy1982)
$48.8m Braham Pietasters (glorybe23)
$41.7m Manitoba Moose (GinFizz)
...
$35.0m London Nationals (VintageVibe)


It will be interesting to see if CAP HIT totals have any correlation to end-of-season finish.
A couple teams look like they will be in serious cap struggle to get back under $100m, once 2015-2016 CAP HIT information is updated by Fantrax!!!