AHL- Apolyton Hockey League 07/08: Preseason

[Tingkai]

Malicious Pacifists will conquer all!

[Kontiki]

Checking in from la Suisse. Looks like you guys are willing to hold off the draft. Much appreciated!

I'm going to hold off registering 'til I get back. If we need more people, did we ever hear back from KH?

[Flubber]

Originally posted by notyoueither
I was noodling around with a test league and discovered that commissioners can now be changed.

I went ahead and set up the AHL. You can access the league at this url:

http://hockey.fantasysports.yahoo.com/league/ahl_apolytonhockey

League name is Apolyton 07-08
ID: 11073
pwd: Ming

People can sign up.

hmmmm

There was a problem
You are not allowed to view this page because you are not in this league. (Error #152)

Is what I get when I hit the link-- since we have filters here at work that block a LOT of yahoo stuff, I will try again when I get home

[Hot Mustard]

Originally posted by Flubber

Is what I get when I hit the link-- since we have filters here at work that block a LOT of yahoo stuff, I will try again when I get home

That link is only good once you've joined the league. To join the league go here, and provide the ID and password.

[Kontiki]

Now would be the time to discuss rules, rosters, etc. I'm fine with leaving the rosters and stats as they were last year. Any rule changes anyone wants? I know the whole player switching thing was somewhat controversial last year - I think Yahoo has a setting which forces you to hold players for a certain time period. We could explore that if people want.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Hot Mustard


That link is only good once you've joined the league. To join the league go here, and provide the ID and password.

Thanks -- That worked fine and I am now joined -- I don't know that I would have ever found my way to the league from the other link

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Kontiki
Now would be the time to discuss rules, rosters, etc. I'm fine with leaving the rosters and stats as they were last year. Any rule changes anyone wants? I know the whole player switching thing was somewhat controversial last year -

Was the issue the idea that people switched back and forth to maximize player games (dumping a player who had a team that was idle for 4 days to pick up one that had 3 games in 4 nights ) ?

At first blush that doesn't bother me that much even though it will probably reward very active management which I personally won't have time to do .

Were there other issues around it ? I recall one time when someone picked up and dropped players in the space of a few minutes but unless that precluded others from picking them up that day, I do not understand the problem.

Obviously I need to read up on the rules.

Originally posted by Kontiki
- I think Yahoo has a setting which forces you to hold players for a certain time period. We could explore that if people want.

I don't know that I want to have to KEEP a player for a specified period. Just imagine I have some short term goalie injuries-- I might want to pick up a goalie or two just to get my goalie games in and at least contest those stats-- But once my goallies of Brodeur, Luongo and Kipper get over the flu that they got partying at the allstar game, I would not want to be forced to keep the stand-ins

Wouldn't it be just as effective to have a rule that once you DROP a player, you cannot reacquire the same player for a week or two . IT has the same effect in that it limits the frequent switcher a little plus a much greater risk that a less active manager would have the time to notioce the player availability and perhaps snap them up .

IN any event I need to understand better what the downside is of allowing frequent switching.

[Kontiki]

Originally posted by Flubber
Was the issue the idea that people switched back and forth to maximize player games (dumping a player who had a team that was idle for 4 days to pick up one that had 3 games in 4 nights ) ?

...

...it will probably reward very active management which I personally won't have time to do .

That was basically the issue. I didn't have a problem with it myself last year, but a few people didn't like the fact that active management gave you an advantage. My reaction was "well yeah, duh", but obviously everyone didn't see it that way.

Were there other issues around it ? I recall one time when someone picked up and dropped players in the space of a few minutes but unless that precluded others from picking them up that day, I do not understand the problem.

Very quick picks up and drops didn't impact the system last year, since the dropped players were immediately available for anyone else to take.

Wouldn't it be just as effective to have a rule that once you DROP a player, you cannot reacquire the same player for a week or two . IT has the same effect in that it limits the frequent switcher a little plus a much greater risk that a less active manager would have the time to notioce the player availability and perhaps snap them up .

The main control for that was the waiver system, whereby a dropped player couldn't be acquired by anyone for a fixed period of time (this can be customized by the commissioner, or eliminated altogether). The manager that dropped the player moved to the bottom of the waiver list. That is, if anyone else wanted that dropped player, they had first crack at getting him (based on a waiver priority list, first based on the reverse of the draft order and then readjusted every time you made a player move). While this prevented a manager from dropping a player and immediately reacquiring them, it kind sucked for everyone else because the dropped player wouldn't be available to play for another team until the waiver period was over. So if the waiver period was 3 days and you dropped Luongo, I may be able to claim him off waivers as soon as you dropped him, but he wouldn't be active for me for 3 days.

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by Flubber
Was the issue the idea that people switched back and forth to maximize player games (dumping a player who had a team that was idle for 4 days to pick up one that had 3 games in 4 nights ) ?

There was some *****ing about this, but I don't think it really made much of a difference. The players involved were typically mid-rank and a player who plays more games in a week may end up producing less than a player who plays fewer games.

[Hot Mustard]

Since I won't be playing this year I don't mind sharing some of what I did as an active manager:

- Being overly active, especially early in the season, can hurt you alot, because you could be dropping players that turn out to have great seasons and get picked up by other managers

- Select a small number of "slots" that you are willing to rotate and stick to it - don't sacrifice more slots because there's more possible good pickups than you have slots. Late in the season you may increase the number of slots, but early on it will just hurt you.

- Read the game recaps and notes - look for the early injury information before Yahoo tags the players. This could lead to many revelations - you might not pickup someone, you might drop one, you might realize another manager will be picking up someone after putting a guy on IR, and make any move you're planning for that position earlier, etc

- Use the different filters Yahoo gives you to look for players - I'm always surprised when people say they don't look at the per game numbers over the last week or month - this stuff is vital in seeing which direction players are going

- Sometime into the season it is apparent who the active managers are, and possibly even when they typically make their moves - you can use this information to make strategically timed pickups/drops, ensuring you have a shot at reacquiring a dropped player after waivers clear, or other things

- Know the schedule, and know it well. Knowing your goalie will only play 2 games in a given week is just the tip of the iceberg. Know how many "skater" games you have in a given week, and count out how many your opponent will have. If there is a disparity (> 3 games), then try to remedy it, or even just try to get more games if their roster looks stronger

- More schedule: Look at who your players face up against - a 2nd-liner playing CLB and STL all week can be better than a 1st-liner playing division leaders on the road all week. In this situation you wouldn't drop your 1st liner, but you might drop a utility player to bring in the guy facing the weak teams.

- More schedule: Who is on the road? What are your players' history against the teams they'll face? All of this information is available on Yahoo and Rotoworld...the latter having a helpful weekly column that summarizes much of what I'm talking about.

I didn't do all this everyday of course, but if you take either a few minutes each day, or 10-15 mins a couple of times a week, you'll have much, much more information with which to make roster decisions.

Final tip: Yahoo usually flips into the next day sometime between 3-4am EST, or 12-1am PST. If you think a player will clear waivers and really want them, be around at that time to snag them before anyone else does. The night-owl gets the worm before the early-morning bird.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl

http://www.rotoworld.com/content/Home_NHL.aspx

http://www.hockeyutopia.com/

http://www.hockeyinformer.com/web/fantasy/

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Kontiki
The main control for that was the waiver system, whereby a dropped player couldn't be acquired by anyone for a fixed period of time (this can be customized by the commissioner, or eliminated altogether). The manager that dropped the player moved to the bottom of the waiver list. That is, if anyone else wanted that dropped player, they had first crack at getting him (based on a waiver priority list, first based on the reverse of the draft order and then readjusted every time you made a player move). While this prevented a manager from dropping a player and immediately reacquiring them, it kind sucked for everyone else because the dropped player wouldn't be available to play for another team until the waiver period was over. So if the waiver period was 3 days and you dropped Luongo, I may be able to claim him off waivers as soon as you dropped him, but he wouldn't be active for me for 3 days.

I thought waiver position was only affected by picking up players with waiver claims.

[Sparrowhawk]

Any chance that when Kontiki returns we will have:

- rules set

- number of players set

- draft order set

- picks done up to Kontiki's pick

So that we can continue the draft ASAP on his return?

/me

[Asher]

I vote we freeze signups, get a third party to randomize the draft order via this site: http://tools.fantasysportsfactory.co...tor/random.php

Then start the draft.

I think last year's rules and stats are fine.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Sparrowhawk
Any chance that when Kontiki returns we will have:

- rules set

- number of players set

- draft order set

- picks done up to Kontiki's pick

So that we can continue the draft ASAP on his return?

* Sparrowhawk

This is something that can be done by W-R and be up to kontiki by his return.

It looks like the rules, roster size, and stats are staying the same as last year.

I've just sent out a few invites to see if we can get 12 teams, so let's give them a day or two to respond.

[Asher]

In the mean time, come pick your teams for the salary cap league.

http://www.apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=170024