New ESPN Free Keeper League (HOCKEY)

[BFFLLM]

Best Friggin Fantasy League (BFFL)

I am forming a new league and looking for 15 great team managers.

The below rules/expectations were developed based on years of experience of playing in good & bad leagues. I want this league to be your favorite/primary league!

League Settings:
- ESPN league
- Free league. Side betting is your own business.
- 16 team league
- H2H Weekly Points
- 22 players (9F, 5D,1U,2G, 5Bench, 5IR)
- 2 goalie maximum, not including any any on IR.
- Many scoring categories (+/- is not one of the categories).
- No weekly transaction limits. Stream if you want to.
- Any player in the pool is available (even prospects and minors).
- If you want to waste a bench spot on a prospect, that is okay.
- Weekly and seasonal ESPN trophies.
- Trading shuts down before league playoffs (starting in 2018-2019). No playoffs in 2017-2018.
- Transactions shut down after league playoffs (starting in 2018-2019).
- After the initial draft, transactions and trades will stay open as long as ESPN keeps this season's league open or until the NHL entry draft occurs. This is TBD.
- 16 Keepers per year. In this inaugural year, there will be no keeper selections. You will keep all your players.
- We will hold a separate draft of the 2018 NHL entry players (the class of Rasmus Dahlin).
- Trades are only inspected by the League Manager for collusion and harm to league. Stupidity is not protected.
- You can keep less than the max # of keepers if you desire (to draft more players).
- Expansion drafts may occur to repair damaged teams.
- Subsequent years draft order will be lottery and tied to real life NHL lottery.
- Replacement managers will be offered every opportunity/advantage to repair damaged teams.


League Activity, Expectations and Communication:
- You must provide your email address, real name and home city to the league manager.
- "Activity" is required, you may be replaced without notice.
- One or more lowest ranked teams will/may be replaced after each season.
- GroupMe required. In order to receive an invite to this league, you must join our GroupMe.
- GroupMe will be used to communicate business.
- If you do not want to communicate on GroupMe, this league is not for you.
- If you are not good at following directions, do not join this league.
- If you want a quiet league, do not join this league.
- If watching other teams stream players annoys you, do not join this league.
- If you do not know how to change your team name and logo, do not join this league.
- You will be booted from the league for any actions that are detrimental to the league.
- The league manager may add/change rules at any time that he determines improves the league for all.
- Scoring categories and roster settings will never be changed mid-season.
- Sometimes, but not always, the league manager may establish polls in order to determine the interest of the league on a particular topic/setting.


Initial Draft:
- The initial draft for this league will be done using the message forum feature in the ESPN league page.
- You will post your pick in the message forum and notify the league using GroupMe that the pick has been made. - You may then add the player to your team.
- You will be allowed 24 hours to make your pick. After 24 hours the league manager may move to the next team.
- You may or may not be offered to make a missed selection.
- The draft order will be determined using a randomizer with results published to all.
- The draft will be a snake draft.
- For every pick that is made in less than 12 hours, you will receive one entry in a lottery for the first round pick in this years NHL entry draft (the Rasmus Dahlin lottery).
- If you pick out of order, your lottery entries go back to zero.
- The draft order will be clearly posted.
- You will be booted from the league if you cannot be responsive/timely during the draft.
- The draft will be started once the League Manager determines we have 16 excellent team manager representatives.
- Draft will be paused temporarily if we need to replace a team manager.
- During the draft, replacement team managers will be allowed to switch any player(s) on their roster for any player(s) currently in the pool.
- Replacement team managers will have 24 hours to make any changes in their roster.


If interested in this league... PM me with the following information (email address, first & last name and city+state/province of residence).

Do not reply to this thread. If you have questions, you should also PM me.

If you receive a GroupMe invite, please say hello when you are admitted to the GroupMe.

[PenguinHunter]

Best Friggin Fantasy League (BFFL)

I am forming a new league and looking for 15 great team managers.

The below rules/expectations were developed based on years of experience of playing in good & bad leagues. I want this league to be your favorite/primary league!

League Settings:
- ESPN league
- Free league. Side betting is your own business.
- 16 team league
- H2H Weekly Points
- 22 players (9F, 5D,1U,2G, 5Bench, 5IR)
- 2 goalie maximum, not including any any on IR.
- Many scoring categories (+/- is not one of the categories).
- No weekly transaction limits. Stream if you want to.
- Any player in the pool is available (even prospects and minors).
- If you want to waste a bench spot on a prospect, that is okay.
- Weekly and seasonal ESPN trophies.
- Trading shuts down before league playoffs (starting in 2018-2019). No playoffs in 2017-2018.
- Transactions shut down after league playoffs (starting in 2018-2019).
- After the initial draft, transactions and trades will stay open as long as ESPN keeps this season's league open or until the NHL entry draft occurs. This is TBD.
- 16 Keepers per year. In this inaugural year, there will be no keeper selections. You will keep all your players.
- We will hold a separate draft of the 2018 NHL entry players (the class of Rasmus Dahlin).
- Trades are only inspected by the League Manager for collusion and harm to league. Stupidity is not protected.
- You can keep less than the max # of keepers if you desire (to draft more players).
- Expansion drafts may occur to repair damaged teams.
- Subsequent years draft order will be lottery and tied to real life NHL lottery.
- Replacement managers will be offered every opportunity/advantage to repair damaged teams.


League Activity, Expectations and Communication:
- You must provide your email address, real name and home city to the league manager.
- "Activity" is required, you may be replaced without notice.
- One or more lowest ranked teams will/may be replaced after each season.
- GroupMe required. In order to receive an invite to this league, you must join our GroupMe.
- GroupMe will be used to communicate business.
- If you do not want to communicate on GroupMe, this league is not for you.
- If you are not good at following directions, do not join this league.
- If you want a quiet league, do not join this league.
- If watching other teams stream players annoys you, do not join this league.
- If you do not know how to change your team name and logo, do not join this league.
- You will be booted from the league for any actions that are detrimental to the league.
- The league manager may add/change rules at any time that he determines improves the league for all.
- Scoring categories and roster settings will never be changed mid-season.
- Sometimes, but not always, the league manager may establish polls in order to determine the interest of the league on a particular topic/setting.


Initial Draft:
- The initial draft for this league will be done using the message forum feature in the ESPN league page.
- You will post your pick in the message forum and notify the league using GroupMe that the pick has been made. - You may then add the player to your team.
- You will be allowed 24 hours to make your pick. After 24 hours the league manager may move to the next team.
- You may or may not be offered to make a missed selection.
- The draft order will be determined using a randomizer with results published to all.
- The draft will be a snake draft.
- For every pick that is made in less than 12 hours, you will receive one entry in a lottery for the first round pick in this years NHL entry draft (the Rasmus Dahlin lottery).
- If you pick out of order, your lottery entries go back to zero.
- The draft order will be clearly posted.
- You will be booted from the league if you cannot be responsive/timely during the draft.
- The draft will be started once the League Manager determines we have 16 excellent team manager representatives.
- Draft will be paused temporarily if we need to replace a team manager.
- During the draft, replacement team managers will be allowed to switch any player(s) on their roster for any player(s) currently in the pool.
- Replacement team managers will have 24 hours to make any changes in their roster.


If interested in this league... PM me with the following information (email address, first & last name and city+state/province of residence).

Do not reply to this thread. If you have questions, you should also PM me.

If you receive a GroupMe invite, please say hello when you are admitted to the GroupMe.

Welcome to the forums... good luck finding people to join your league.

First I have 1 question - Is this a free league or a paid league?

Second - I have bolded the concerns that I have with the league.

[BFFLLM]

Thank you for the welcome.
Free as indicated in title and body of post.
Yup, 2 healthy goalies only.
Yup, 16 teams.
If you miss your draft time (24 hours limit)... you might or might not be offered your pick. We dont want people who cannot pick within 24 hours.

[PenguinHunter]

Thank you for the welcome.
Free as indicated in title and body of post. Sorry I missed this, I re-read the post but not the title... my bad.
Yup, 2 healthy goalies only. I like this rule... but my concern here is that 2 goals X 16 teams = 32 goalies and there are only 31 NHL team... I am always hesitant in leagues that have goalies this important.
Yup, 16 teams. This relates to the point ahead.
If you miss your draft time (24 hours limit)... you might or might not be offered your pick. We dont want people who cannot pick within 24 hours. I guess my concern with this is that the draft starts whenever the league has 16 qualified owners... so without knowing when the league will start drafting... i don't want to lose a player completely if I am out camping for a weekend and miss my pick.

Thanks for your quick response. I commented above in blue.

[BFFLLM]

On the 24 hour limit, as long as the team manager is communicating about possible future unavailable times, then accommodations can be made. Its the complete boneheads we are looking to avoid (I've also posted this on reddit... lol). We are not looking to screw good league managers.
On the goalie thing... Its not good to have some teams that have been able to land 3 true #1 goalies. Leaving some teams with none.
In this league, aiming for most teams to have 2 true #1 goalies... other teams will have 1 and decide to stream (Ward/Darling/Reimer/Varly/and the true backups) and get points via streaming.

[PenguinHunter]

On the 24 hour limit, as long as the team manager is communicating about possible future unavailable times, then accommodations can be made. Its the complete boneheads we are looking to avoid (I've also posted this on reddit... lol). We are not looking to screw good league managers.
On the goalie thing... Its not good to have some teams that have been able to land 3 true #1 goalies. Leaving some teams with none.
In this league, aiming for most teams to have 2 true #1 goalies... other teams will have 1 and decide to stream (Ward/Darling/Reimer/Varly/and the true backups) and get points via streaming.

Okay sounds good.. I will give it some further thought and let you know.

[BFFLLM]

There doesnt appear to be much interest in a new league in January. I will post back here if I decide to open it at a better time.

[horrorfan]

I'm not looking to join but noticed the above comment highlighted by PenguinHunter, which you haven't commented on yet, and I'm curious about it as well:

- The league manager may add/change rules at any time that he determines improves the league for all.

From experience, I believe that a commissioner should always seek feedback from its managers regarding any future league changes. Furthermore, it worries me that you put 'at any time' when some changes should be made at least the year before (maybe longer, since it's a keeper) anything is decided. There is a risk that changes decided immediately that all not managers agree with could cause conflict within the league and put the health of the league in question. This could result in frequent manager turnover, which in turn the league would not run as smoothly as you hoped and cause more work for you.

I'm not assuming you would make changes on purpose that could negatively affect other managers, but it's something that could inadvertently happen, even if you have the best intentions.

I wish you luck in creating this league, but I do recommend you consider the above feedback.

[BFFLLM]

Thank you. Totally agree. I’ll be striking or rewrording that.

[butch]

I'm not interested in joining either but wondered how ESPN compares to FANTRAX in terms of being available 365 days a year and most importantly their player database in terms of listing prospects .

[Daydream Nation]

Thank you. Totally agree. I?ll be striking or rewrording that.

I do have some interest in your league but that rule was a deal breaker. How rule changes get proposed and voted on are very important to me. I have been burned a couple times by this before.

[BFFLLM]

Yea. My sole intention was to give comfort to team managers that this commish will be active in keeping the league in good health. I’ve been in leagues where the commish is not keeping the league in good shape. We all agree now. Better wording is needed. Thanks.

For the person who asked, ESPN is not on par with Fantrax in player DB and some other areas. But the deficient areas aren’t important enough for me to be on more than one platform anymore. I’ve used them all. I like ESPN well enough. Fleaflicker is also really good. Like their “email draft”.

[BFFLLM]

I got some interest in the league. 10 spots left at this time. PM me if you are interested. We have moved the platform over to Fleaflicker.com.

[PenguinHunter]

Yea. My sole intention was to give comfort to team managers that this commish will be active in keeping the league in good health. I’ve been in leagues where the commish is not keeping the league in good shape. We all agree now. Better wording is needed. Thanks.

For the person who asked, ESPN is not on par with Fantrax in player DB and some other areas. But the deficient areas aren’t important enough for me to be on more than one platform anymore. I’ve used them all. I like ESPN well enough. Fleaflicker is also really good. Like their “email draft”.

This is an awesome feature... I have never done any league on Fleaflicker.... I really like the email draft option... I am back and forth about joining.

[BFFLLM]

The next step is to get all the guys who have committed so far, into a groupme. Want to make sure everyone is 100% on board before I push the Fleaflicker invites. Why don’t you come along for that next step?