Hey Everyone
Been failing to keep up with life and things the past couple week and doesn't look any easier coming up with work and all. It's kind of ok because we are going into a really tough part of summer in terms of hockey where we're mostly waiting until the next exciting bit of news. So don't be suprised if activity level is a bit low, it's kind of normal. Besides my whatsapp phone is pissing me off lately and I'm trying to avoid switching phones and losing a million unread messages in the process lol.
New guys, sorry if I haven't been available enough to work with you on the league. I have been leaning on the GMs that brought you in to help you through and I thank those of you for that. It's still can be quite overwhelming so I think it's useful to have a recap of some sort. Onto the topics.
Trading Standards Update
With new faces it's good to re-iterate what we want to do with this league. Realism is always a goal however we have the luxruy to choose and make exceptions that best make sense for us. Some are for your benefit, probably most are for my own sanity hehe. If you haven't already noticed, I have started a forum topic to discuss. I prefer not to have infinitely complex rules but at least get some guidelines to produce some sweet hockey trades. Please take a moment to provide your thoughts.
RFA, UFA, QO Free agency
The next big thing to happen for us is free agency and will start around end of August. I get a lot of questions about this while trades are happening so I'll try sum it up.
The players on your rosters are all currently your property. Even the 0 contract ones.
Normally in NHL, teams have until July 1st as the deadline to decide what to do with all the 0 contract players on your team. For us, this deadline is pushed into late August.
In the meantime, the 0 contract players are classified as Restricted Free Agents (RFA) and Unrestricted Free Agents (UFA).
Unrestricted Free Agents means if you decide to not offer them a contract then after OUR "July 1st" passes, they will be removed from your team.
Restricted Free Agents are players that are 26 years or less as of June 30, 2017. When OUR "July 1st" comes, if you don't want them, don't offer a contract and they will be removed from your team. If you want them, there are two things to consider. Do you want them on contract asap or later?
If you want them on contract asap, give them what they are looking for will give you the best chance to keep said player for the years you want him.
If you want to think about it for later into the free agency (ie: Bo Horvat, Leon Drasitl, etc) then what you need to do at the first signing date is to give them a valid Qualifying Offer (QO). In the cases of BO and Leon, they are finished with their cheap entry level deals and looking to cash in. To have time to negotiate the right salary for the team, you offer a QO that is usually at least the same as what they made the previous season. In some cases a 10% raise is required. Because Bo and Leon are looking to cash in, they won't be accepting these offers so it's just a formality for the team to keep their rights and give them more time to negotiate a good deal.
Even though you retain their rights, once past the "July 1st" deadline, other teams are allowed try to make a big offer to the player. If the player accepts their offer before you make a good offer, you have a choice to match the offer OR give the player up and take the compensation which comprises of draft picks depending on how big the contract is.
In our league, here's were some fantasy situation arises 
We have some funny situations where RFA players made INSANE money last year, and due for a contract this year. Maybe they made 10million last year but is worth only 2 million this year. So you can offer him 2million and probably he'll accept and you'll be happy. However take note that there is a 2% chance in all offers that the player simply says no. If player says no, then they will leave your team because the 2 million is not enough as a QO to keep them on your team to keep negotiating fun!
Player Attribute Stats
We have a page that describes all the player and goalie ratings and what all the categories mean.
We don't really know how much effect all the stats play on one another. Experience from playing the game will give you that. Definitely some key player stats that are noticeable would be the following:
- SC - Scoring ability
- PA - Passing ability
- DF - Defensive ability
- FO - Face offs.
Not saying the others are not important, but you have to experiment and mix and match to see what the result would be like.
Stats you can simply ignore are
- PO - Potential: We don't use this
- MO - Morale: We don't use this
- OV - Overall: It's just a calculation of all the other numbers and doesn't really reflect if the player is useful to you or not. Could be a quick indicator for high end player or not.
The rest play a part, we just don't know how much.
Coaches are for name fun only, we don't use the setting where a coaching style will affect your team.
Being a BFHL GM Etiquette
Last but not least, the whole premise of this league is built from my friends and family and your friends and family. I feel it's important that everyone knows someone and I hope that would contribute more to a sense of ownership to not just your own team but the league as a whole. I would like us to have fun keeping up with hockey, chat about hockey while playing arm chair GM as somewhat realistic as we can.
Going into year nine, I think it's pretty awesome that we are up to 24 people now, from different parts and different perspectives and opinions. It's really rewarding to me to spread interest in this game and help feed the need for more hockey info! Please keep in mind we all participate for our own reasons and everyone is going to be doing it differently. There is no right way or wrong way. Actually with the number of times Storm repeated as champion, his is probably the right way. Nonetheless, please respect that we each have our way and that we all have busy lives. Don't bombard people with emails and don't ignore them either.
Always open to new ideas and ways to improve and keep things interesting so don't be afraid to speak up.
Thanks for being a part of this and looking forward to year 9!
Will be in touch soon
Anthony