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Homepage: Minstrel Hockey League

It's that time of year! ESPN should be opening fantasy hockey any minute now, and we can all begin the 2010 Fantasy Hockey festivities.

As you can see, our premier fantasy league has been officially named the Minstrel Hockey League. The MHL is the top-most league in the young TBL fantasy hockey pyramid, and is open only to those GMs who have earned their place in the league.

This will be our official thread for this year's Minstrel Hockey League discussion.

2010-11 Rules:
Regular Season:
. 7th October 2010 - 20th March 2011 (Week 22)

Roster:
. 4 LW, 4 C, 4 RW, 6 D, 2 G (max 3)
. 3 Bench
. 1 IR
. Roster size: 23
. Starters: 20

Scoring:
. Skaters: G, A, +/-, PIM, GWG, SOG, BLK, PPP, SHP (Total: 9)
. Goalies: W, SV, MIN (Total: 3)

Misc:
. ESPN Undroppable List: Yes
. Match-up Acquisition Limit: 7 (7-day match-ups)
. Waiver Period: 2 days
. Trade Review Period: 2 days (Only Commissioner vetoes)
. Match-up Tie-breaker: Goals (G)
. Playoff Seed Tie-breaker: Goals (G)

Qualification:
. Playoff teams: 8
. Relegation: Bottom 3 from Relegation League

Notable Rule Changes:
. Standard NHL roster size (23 total)
. Removed PPG, SHG, SO, GAA, SV%
. Added BLK, PPP, SHP, SV, MIN
. Playoff seeding tie-breaker changed to Goals (G)
. Draft pick trading is enabled

Upcoming Dates:
. Thursday, 7th October, 2010: Season Opener

2010 Teams:
Black Bears IHC - Getzlaf15
Borås Boars - Manimal
Boston Irish - archibalduk
Burnaby Black Ice - batdad
Cammalleri and Meatballs - CatchUp
Chicago Sun Bears - joehelmer
Concussion Junction - eric1985
Corinthians Red Army - corinthian
Kent Mighty Turnips - Ciryatan
Lake Alajarvi Bald Uakaris - kuulappa
Marsac's Newbies - Marsac (defending champion)
Philadelphia FHC - B. Stinson
Prague Dead Parrots - McQwak
Västerås Vikings - Lidas

*Rookie

I think I'm going to have to give up my team to somebody else. Life is a bit crazy right now. I've got zero free time at home due to the twins and not as much free time at work as I'd like. I really don't want to take up a position in the main league if I'm not going to give it a full effort. I'm sure somebody else would appreciate the position.

Not a problem at all. Kids and a new house are more fun to play with anyway.



ESPN's Top 300 list is out: Fantasy Hockey Top 300 rankings

Any chance I can change my team name at some point? I like to mix it up. haha.

CatchUp wrote:Any chance I can change my team name at some point? I like to mix it up. haha.

Sure thing. I just re-activated the league, so you're free to play around.

Considering changing it to "I Drank Too-mas at the Kaberle". Stay tuned, kids.

Please could I put my name down? Last season I didn't have the time to compete but I know this season I will once again have the time.

Thanks for organising this again Brian - it's been a real blast!

By the way, isn't this the third season of the league you've been organising?! Time is really going fast!

archibalduk wrote:Please could I put my name down? Last season I didn't have the time to compete but I know this season I will once again have the time.

Thanks for organising this again Brian - it's been a real blast!

By the way, isn't this the third season of the league you've been organising?! Time is really going fast!

You're definitely in, Archi. In fact, since one of our three relegated GMs from last year, I think you're our best candidate to take the open Boston team.

And yeah, somehow it is already the third year. It really doesn't feel like it's been that long.

It seems like ESPN reduced double positioned players. For example Danny Briere was C/LW last year and now he's just C. Similar, Vrbata was RW/LW and today he's RW only.

McQwak wrote:It seems like ESPN reduced double positioned players. For example Danny Briere was C/LW last year and now he's just C. Similar, Vrbata was RW/LW and today he's RW only.

I wonder if that's just a "reset" to their core positions, and if they start playing consistently in a second position this year, they'll add it. That way, players will be eligible for extra positions only when they've proven they should be.

That's just my guess, though - I'm not sure how ESPN likes to do it.

The position reset is a problem for me. It means I have to release either Marleau or Mike Richards. Marleau was a LW guy. Both were keepers for me and I do not like losing one.

Anyway... This means Richards is avail for a 1 or 2 dman or better lw than Rene Bourque.

That's actually a good point, batdad.

Anyone who has already settled on certain keepers will have to double check to make sure no one has become "ineligible" by losing a second position.

This positioning thing has made me put Eric Staal on the block. I doubt anyone can improve my keepers so I'm looking for a high draft pick(they are tradeable now)

BTW, I chose to name my team the Borås Boars. I found a nice logo, too

Trading pick is a nice addition : If someone needs a D-men or other player i'm open for business.

Havlat, Enstrom, Rask, Plekanec and Bieksa are possible trades for a draft pick (in case someone needs to fill a spot).

Team named changed to Cammalleri and Meatballs.

Also, to the manager of Prague Dead Parrots (McQwak?) - I'm not sure why are you bothering to add FA's. Unless they are going to be your keepers, they are going back into the draft pool...

In the same vein, I'm not sure why people would trade for those players corinthian. I don't think I would call any of them keepers and you'd have to be pretty dumb to trade a pick for a player that will be released to the draft in a month or so.

Maybe we should explain how the draft is going to work Stinson?

And lastly, how was the draft order determined?

CatchUp wrote:Team named changed to Cammalleri and Meatballs.

Why do you name your team from a player that is on another team?

CatchUp wrote:And lastly, how was the draft order determined?

Here's the exact formula I used for the draft order:

1. Most posts from waiting list (will be OHL Champion after this year)
2. Second-most posts from waiting list (will be OHL runner-up after this year)
3. Third-most posts from waiting list (will be OHL third place after this year)
4. Relegation League Third
5. Relegation League Second
6. Relegation League First
7. Round 1 Loser 4th Best Seed
8. Round 1 Loser 3rd Best Seed
9. Round 1 Loser 2nd Best Seed
10. Round 1 Loser Best Seed
11. Round 2 Loser Lower Seed
12. Round 2 Loser Higher Seed
13. Memorial Cup Runner-up
14. Memorial Cup Champion

Since we're using some different aspects, like a second league and a relegation playoff, this order may not be an exact copy of ESPN's final standings.

CatchUp wrote:Maybe we should explain how the draft is going to work Stinson?

Sure thing.

Basically what will happen is, each team will submit 6 keepers by 15:00 (ET) on September 26th. These 84 players will be kept on our rosters for this year. All remaining players who were not kept will be put back into the fantasy draft pool like a standard fantasy draft. At this point, our rosters will consist of only our 6 keepers: a left-winger, a center, a right-winger, two defensemen, and a goalie. Then the draft will start, and we will pick players until our 23-man rosters are complete. You'll have the default 90 seconds to make each pick.

However, if you go to your roster pages right now, you'll see a little notification where you can view your draft picks. It appears that they have picks 1 through 6 listed as "Reserved for Keeper Selection", and these first six picks are in a straight draft format - not the standard "snake" format. What exactly this "Reserved" means, and why these six picks will be straight draft, I'm not really sure. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Rounds 7 through 23 look to be completely normal, though, with no special notes, and using the typical "snake" format.

While on the topic of the draft, if you won't be able to be there live (don't be afraid to be there, it's pretty fun), don't forget to take advantage of setting pre-draft rankings. You can also set an auto-pick strategy, giving the AI guidelines for what position and/or stat to target with each pick. There's also positional minimums and maximums to avoid a lopsided roster.

The red brackets highlight some of the important bits for now:

CatchUp wrote:Also, to the manager of Prague Dead Parrots (McQwak?) - I'm not sure why are you bothering to add FA's. Unless they are going to be your keepers, they are going back into the draft pool...

Believe it or not, some of them became my keepers (Fleishmann). I inherited really bad team so even FAs could improve it. In some cases I decided not to keep them after some comparing with current players and I didn't dropped them back to FA. So they stay with me till draft.

Now I can't decide who to keep as my center (Lecavalier or Briere) and one of D (Schultz or Ballard).

[In the same vein, I'm not sure why people would trade for those players corinthian.]

I've been looking all rosters and believe it or not there are some teams that could use Rask, Enstrom and maybe Havlat, but this only a thought.

10-4.

Thanks for the great draft explanation B! And great work figuring out that draft order. I think it makes a lot of sense.

Thanks for the explanation. That makes a lot of sense. My task for this weekend is to get my team ready for the impending draft.

I won't be changing the Boston Irish's team name - let's keep the legacy alive! I might create a new logo however...

If B72 wants his team back next season (2011/12) then I'm happy to relinquish control - I'll just keep the bench warm for him!

Thanks, Archi! We'll see how things go. I know for the foreseeable future, those crazy kids have got me running in circles without a lick of free time.

I should mention: it's possible to have second owners with teams. If you're interested, you could be added as a second owner, and basically play as an assistant GM to Archi...?

In fact, I'll have to do this with the OHL, since it appears ESPN requires the commissioner to have a team. I'll just give someone "my" OHL team... and then stay completely out of their way so it feels like their team.