EHM The Blue Line

Homepage: Octavian 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.

New for this year, we are introducing a second-tier league for fantasy hockey. This will allow more people to enjoy fantasy hockey here at TBL, instead of be thrown onto a waiting list to wait for a year. This league will carry a promotion/relegation partnership with the Minstrel Hockey League.

This will be our official thread for all of this year's Octavian Hockey League discussion.

2010-11 Rules:
Regular Season:
. 7th October 2010 - 13th March 2011 (Week 21)

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)

Qualifications:
. Playoff teams: 4
. Promotion: Top 3 from playoffs

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

2010 Teams:
DJP Senators - DJP19
Mickey Mau5 - Asimo
Minnesota Titans HC - macdman
Salzburg RB - Flying_Buffalo26
Team Frantz - timmy_t
Team Rego - Justintinov
Turku Turkeys - rottamies
Team VisualDarkness - visualdarkness

This season will be killer. And next year I will have to say good bye to all of you as I will move up to the MHL.

Just for a clarification to everyone:

You'll notice that I'm listed as a manager along with Joe. The reason for this is that ESPN expects the league creator/manager (me, in this case) to have a team in the league. Which means I have to have a team in the OHL even though I'm not supposed to. Luckily, though, ESPN allows second owners with teams, which is what we'll use to get around this requirement. I'll simply not manage the team, allowing Joe to have full control like everyone else.

So that explains that - Joe is the real manager of the team; pretend I'm not even here.

Can you please post the link of OHL?

Sure thing. I added the link all the way at the very top of the first post.

A note to everyone reading this: both of our fantasy hockey leagues here at TBL are set to be "viewable to the public". So, if you're not in a league, but interested in following along, feel free to do so!

Don't forget, our live draft will be tomorrow at 3:00 PM EST! The draft room will open one hour before the draft, giving everyone a chance to chat and get familiar with the draft app.

Is everyone else as excited about the draft as I am?

With eight teams we're all sure to get some good players!

I was wondering since I'm currently co-owned will I be able to draft my players? I have another pool with Yahoo and my co-gm could not draft.

timmy_t wrote:Is everyone else as excited about the draft as I am?

With eight teams we're all sure to get some good players!

I look forward to the draft as well. I'm starting to enjoy pools. It makes games like Nashville vs. Florida (No offense to those teams respective fans) entertaining to watch.

Justintinov wrote:I was wondering since I'm currently co-owned will I be able to draft my players? I have another pool with Yahoo and my co-gm could not draft.

I'm assuming you will, but I don't actually know for sure.

If you can't however, I'll be at the draft anyway, so be sure to let me know and we should be able to do a thing where you just let me know who you want to pick via the chat, and I could pick him for you. Even if you get the pick in at the last few seconds, I can pause the draft for a moment so I can find and pick the player.

I don't think it will be an issue, though; I have a feeling ESPN gives 2nd owners as much control as the first owner.


And about the draft: The room will open at 2:00 PM ET; one hour before the draft. It's probably a good idea to use that time to get familiar with the draft app. I think it's actually pretty nice, everything you need is right there on the main screen. Our draft yesterday for the MHL went really well, taking only a little over an hour to complete our remaining 17 rounds (the first six were done automatically for our keepers). Our draft today will be a full 23 rounds, but we have less teams, so it may end up the same as yesterday - a little over an hour.

Even though I'm not drafting, I'm still pretty excited! Only 15 more minutes before the room opens!

Good luck to everyone this season!

Hmm, I thought you guys were not allowed to draft the keepers from the MHL?

Manimal wrote:Hmm, I thought you guys were not allowed to draft the keepers from the MHL?

I decided to re-think that, or at least hold-off on it for the first year.

The problem I saw was that there's no real definition of who the keepers are during the year. I think next year I'll be doing promotion/relegation right before the drafts, and by then, a whole new keeper deadline will have passed. So the keepers may be different by then, anyway.

I'm not 100% set yet, though; we'll definitely discuss it this season now that we know how keepers fully work. I'll think about how we can fit it all together. Worst case scenario would be simply moving GMs between leagues, and not having them take keepers up/down with them. But I'd prefer to have them enjoy the keeper feature if I can, so that's what I'll try to work-out.

I couldn't assist to the draft due to a journey and I tried to set the autopick setup as good as possible ... but the KI or me setting it up completly failed .... I got a more than a naff team, not able to compete in any way

However, at least I got Thomas Vanek and the Tampa Bay Duo (Stamkos, St. Louis)
I am still pretty dissapointed, but hopefully all these never-will-be-a-star and never-was-one will produce something ...

The eight spot is already reserved for me, so please don't try to compete with me

I wish you all a nice challenge and I'll try to do my best,

regards,

Danny

B. Stinson,

I sent you a message on ESPN about DJP Senators being inactive in our pool. Can you please respond as soon as you can?

Thanks

Actually you all seem kind of inactive. One of the best fantasy hockey players out there is still available in this league. Right now he is ranked as the 4th best player in the entire NHL for fantasy hockey. He was one of my keepers in the Minstrel League. Just a hint...he was the #1 star in the NHL this past week. Wow. All he does is score, set up goals, get in the occasional fight,take stupid penalties, score shorthanded and on the PP and take a ton of shots. Who would want him?

@batdad-

Do fantasy hockey people pick up and drop players a lot, or do they set up a team and run with it? (in case you didn't know, I'm still new at this...)

In this league..as in ours you have a limit of 7 moves per week. It is up to you what you do with them. If you look at the Minstrel league you will see there is alot of movement (and we have many many fewer players to choose from)...some guys run with a team, others (like Lidas and me) make changes...alot of em.

timmy_t wrote:@batdad-

Do fantasy hockey people pick up and drop players a lot, or do they set up a team and run with it? (in case you didn't know, I'm still new at this...)

I would say it's up to personal preference.

I've always played with one team, and very few changes. But we had a handful of teams in last year's MHL who preferred to shuffle their players. As long as there are acquisition limits, the shuffle strategy won't be wildly advantageous, which allows players to play either way.

Thanks guys. I guess I'll pay more attention to how everyone is doing and hopefully be able to pick up some good players before the other teams do.

I'm not a fan of constantly dropping and picking up players. I like to stick to a team and if there is a problem I'll address it but I'll let them play through slumps. I guess that's how I got Hall for Frolov. Since I've picked him up he's had a goal and assist in both games.

I would not be quite so active if I had been able to attend the draft in the Minstrel league. Since I was not...I have to constantly move and find the guys who are on a bit of a hot streak...and yes even get lucky once in awhile.

But..I would still make at least some of the moves...they are there to be used and they provide a tactic to use in the game. IMHO--If you don't use the tactic you are not giving yourself the best chance at winning. And since winning is what it is all about in a hockey pool...

How do you drop a player that's injured so you can add someone healthy?

timmy_t wrote:How do you drop a player that's injured so you can add someone healthy?

Just add the player you want. The game will then let you drop a player due to your roster being full.

There is also a function called 'Drop players' you can use

Plus, there is an IR spot, isn't there?