Free Agency Schedule

[HFNHL Commish]

First off, I hate to disappoint Mr. Sedin, but Paul Martin isn't a UFA. ;-)

As Drew said, we did try the "randomizer", and it worked for awhile. Then the salary cap era set in. My general feeling is that we're seeing a few inordinately soft UFA markets in part because the salary cap pressures of the HFNHL have yet to catch up with those of the NHL. However, in the last couple of years, especially with STHS now in full effect, I've noticed that the amount of breathing room under the cap that the league has as a whole has been steadily shrinking. This trend can't continue inexorably, which means that, sooner or later, we should start seeing more big contracts allowed to expire.

That's my theory anyway, and it's a bit laissez-faire, but then I've never felt a huge need to invigorate the UFA market. I'd be open to exploring some further auto-sign limitations. However, we'd need to be really clear on the purpose, because the whole reason the auto-sign exists in the first place is because our salaries are so closely tied to the NHL's. If we change the auto-sign rules to benefit the UFA market, we do so at the expense of teams that actually gave up assets for players.

 

[Dryden]

What about a deadline for auto-sign - perhaps the trade deadline. After that date you can't auto-sign a player?

i like this

 

[Dr.Sens(e)]

What about a deadline for auto-sign - perhaps the trade deadline. After that date you can't auto-sign a player?

Yeah, that's not a bad idea. Let's think about this a little further over the summer and come up with a few suggestions to circulate for discussion purposes on the board.

 

[Dryden]

Actually I had set something like that up several years ago. It had 2 variables ... how soon you submitted your offer, how much your offer was versus a pre determined fair market price and each place in the grid had a chance value of that player resigning (the random element). The old table is still in the Yahoo files actually (http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/hfnhl/files/xxx Miscellaneous Files and Info/).

If I recall correctly we also allowed discounts if the player had been with the team for a long time such that the fair market value would be lowered when being applied against the aforementioned table.

You could only submit 1 offer per month and if you failed 3 times to sign the player they hit free agency.

Back then it only ran for 1 year or so and broke down over arguments of what the fair market rate should be.

Since then there's been lots of changes in how we measure fair market price and so could theoretically revist such a model.

thought we were still sort of doing this. darn

 

[PasiK]

First off, I hate to disappoint Mr. Sedin, but Paul Martin isn't a UFA. ;-)

Paul Martin is UFA

 

[HFNHL Commish]

Paul Martin is UFA

Paul Mara, yes. Paul Martin, no.

 

[kasper11]

What about a deadline for auto-sign - perhaps the trade deadline. After that date you can't auto-sign a player?

I would personally like to see an even earlier deadline...something like the end of December, with an exception for players who sign NHL deals after that.

I really don't like the fact that we get to hold onto a player, see how they do all year, and decide if they are worth resigning. Basically, we have an option on every player signed in the NHL.

For instance, I have Brett Clark, who is an auto-resign at his $3.1M salary. No way would I resign him at that price right now. BUT...I don't have to. I can wait until the end of the year, and if he happens to have a great season, I sign him then. If not, I let him walk.

Put it another way...if a player has a good NHL contract, he is more valuable to me if he is a UFA at year end than signed. Why? Because I have all the benefits of his contract by being able to auto-sign him, but no downside if he has a terrible year.

I understand the point of the auto-sign to make things automatic and let people know where they stand. I just think that people should be forced to decide before watching an entire NHL season.

 

[Tampa GM]

Paul Mara, yes. Paul Martin, no.

LOL, close enough atleast I better not try to sign this Paul Martin guy.

 

[Ohio Jones]

I would personally like to see an even earlier deadline...something like the end of December, with an exception for players who sign NHL deals after that.

I really don't like the fact that we get to hold onto a player, see how they do all year, and decide if they are worth resigning. Basically, we have an option on every player signed in the NHL.

For instance, I have Brett Clark, who is an auto-resign at his $3.1M salary. No way would I resign him at that price right now. BUT...I don't have to. I can wait until the end of the year, and if he happens to have a great season, I sign him then. If not, I let him walk.

Put it another way...if a player has a good NHL contract, he is more valuable to me if he is a UFA at year end than signed. Why? Because I have all the benefits of his contract by being able to auto-sign him, but no downside if he has a terrible year.

I understand the point of the auto-sign to make things automatic and let people know where they stand. I just think that people should be forced to decide before watching an entire NHL season.

Sounds reasonable to me, Rich.

I actually think the main driver behind introducing "autosign" may have been to keep our Agents' workload manageable.

If we restrict autosign, it doesn't mean that teams can't make cases for a plyer re-signing with a team - maybe more or less on the basis that Drew had previously instituted. It just means there's no guarantees. Theoretically (I think), my signing of Dan Ellis after acquiring his rights 24 hours before the FA deadline could still happen; the difference is that players with established NHL contracts would also need to have offers negotiated.

Could still pose workload problems for the agents during crunch time, hence the original proposal's limit of three offers to a given player.

 

[PasiK]

Paul Mara, yes. Paul Martin, no.

correct

 

[Canuck09]

Thought I would post a little update on FA...

As Hasnain mentioned previously in one of these posts, I'll be offering some assitance with FA this year. Once Hasnain has completed the contracts and has the final list of UFA/RFA eligible players (sometime this weekend perhaps) we will get this show started.

When that time comes a new FA sticky will be created much like last years.

We will be using a slightly modified FA Offer file to submit your offers, which will need to be sent to me. I've had one created that will ensure the offers are compiled 100% accurate and hopefully a whole lot faster. Instructions on how to use this file (it's very similar to the usual and very easy to use) will be in the new FA sticky.

I will compile all the offers and work with Matt K (amongst others as needed) to review all the signings. Luckily I have a very poor social life so I'm hoping this won't take too long to do.

That's about it for now, dates for everything will be announced once the FA lists are finalized!

 

[Canuck09]

I forgot a couple things...

In an effort to reduce the potential for mix ups and unhappy GMs there will be some changes in regards to the offers you submit.

Priority lists will be limited to a length of 4 players(that was the number decided right FA team?). For the sake of realism I don't know how many players would gladly sign with a team if they knew they were 10th on your list. This should help make lists easier to process and hopefully will let your targets know you really care.

Special instructions with your offers will either be reduced or removed entirely. It's up to each GM to make offers on players they wish to sign and we should be prepared to sign everyone from our lists. This means no option to request only a certain amount of money spent or a certain number of players be signed. This could open up more players making it to a 2nd/3rd round of offers as you will be forced to pick your spots better.

I think those were the big ones, if anyone on the FA team wishes to name any others please do.

 

[Wildman]

Thought I would post a little update on FA...

As Hasnain mentioned previously in one of these posts, I'll be offering some assitance with FA this year. Once Hasnain has completed the contracts and has the final list of UFA/RFA eligible players (sometime this weekend perhaps) we will get this show started.

When that time comes a new FA sticky will be created much like last years.

We will be using a slightly modified FA Offer file to submit your offers, which will need to be sent to me. I've had one created that will ensure the offers are compiled 100% accurate and hopefully a whole lot faster. Instructions on how to use this file (it's very similar to the usual and very easy to use) will be in the new FA sticky.

I will compile all the offers and work with Matt K (amongst others as needed) to review all the signings. Luckily I have a very poor social life so I'm hoping this won't take too long to do.

That's about it for now, dates for everything will be announced once the FA lists are finalized!

I am hoping to finalize the file tonight. For those who have sent me offer sheet for prospects have to wait until the free agent period is over. Also, players who have been qualified will test the market before committing to your offer.

 

[MatthewFlames]

And I now have my computer back - with all the data intact. I will try to get a comprehensive file update done, as well as the prospect release list out ASAP.

 

[Default101]

Well.. i'm a little confused.. but i'll throw my 2 cents out there...

I'm not really in favour of a completely random dice roll personally, I'd like to think.. for example if i invest on keeping a player long enough, the loyalty factor will kick in (eg. If i keep Mason from the age of 18, that when he turns 29 he might be more willing to stay in Phoenix since i've kept him that long, not leave on the roll of a dice)

Also with the "protect 1 UFA/RFA per year" rule, what i find is that it really dries up the UFA pool, and teams that need to rebuild never get the chance to becuase teams get smart and do a rotating schedule of contracts, so they have their 4 superstars rotating over 4 years so only one of their contracts expire ever year. You get 15 GM's doing this, and there goes the top 60 players available for the forseeable future.

As for the 4 players per list, will there also be a limit of how many lists we can write? Phoenix will likely be taking it easy this year, but i'm just curious.

 

[Canuck09]

Well.. i'm a little confused.. but i'll throw my 2 cents out there...

I'm not really in favour of a completely random dice roll personally, I'd like to think.. for example if i invest on keeping a player long enough, the loyalty factor will kick in (eg. If i keep Mason from the age of 18, that when he turns 29 he might be more willing to stay in Phoenix since i've kept him that long, not leave on the roll of a dice)

Also with the "protect 1 UFA/RFA per year" rule, what i find is that it really dries up the UFA pool, and teams that need to rebuild never get the chance to becuase teams get smart and do a rotating schedule of contracts, so they have their 4 superstars rotating over 4 years so only one of their contracts expire ever year. You get 15 GM's doing this, and there goes the top 60 players available for the forseeable future.

As for the 4 players per list, will there also be a limit of how many lists we can write? Phoenix will likely be taking it easy this year, but i'm just curious.

Your first 2 points aren't being used for this year, they merely came up as suggestions for alternatives to the auto sign, which causes it's own FA issues. In the dice roll scenario I'm pretty sure loyalty would be taken into consideration and your chances of a successful roll are increased. With the 1 RFA/UFA rule I'm not sure how it would be any worse than it is now. How many star players are there this year?

The idea of limiting the number of offers made per round was discussed but there will be no rule change here. The salary cap and 80 man roster limit should help keep this in check enough as you can't be going over either during the FA process.

 

[Default101]

Your first 2 points aren't being used for this year, they merely came up as suggestions for alternatives to the auto sign, which causes it's own FA issues. In the dice roll scenario I'm pretty sure loyalty would be taken into consideration and your chances of a successful roll are increased. With the 1 RFA/UFA rule I'm not sure how it would be any worse than it is now. How many star players are there this year?

The idea of limiting the number of offers made per round was discussed but there will be no rule change here. The salary cap and 80 man roster limit should help keep this in check enough as you can't be going over either during the FA process.

Good to know.. i'm giong through the UFA's right now, and my needs are pretty limited (Phoenix will be signing a max of 3.. maybe 4 NHL experienced guys, and as little as 2, so i have very concentrated needs and would benefit from making 2 lists 8 players deep to ensure the need is filled one way or the other, rather than trying to break it down to 4 and consider making a 3rd list. Again if you guys need any help, any tedious time consuiming work let me know, because my current job, and time of year allows me to literally sit infront of the computer for 3-4 hours and do a few things to help you guys out if needed.

 

[kasper11]

Good to know.. i'm giong through the UFA's right now, and my needs are pretty limited (Phoenix will be signing a max of 3.. maybe 4 NHL experienced guys, and as little as 2, so i have very concentrated needs and would benefit from making 2 lists 8 players deep to ensure the need is filled one way or the other, rather than trying to break it down to 4 and consider making a 3rd list. Again if you guys need any help, any tedious time consuiming work let me know, because my current job, and time of year allows me to literally sit infront of the computer for 3-4 hours and do a few things to help you guys out if needed.

Wow, you can make two lists 8 players deep out of this group of free agents?

 

[Default101]

Wow, you can make two lists 8 players deep out of this group of free agents?

I've identified 2 needs on my team.. so i've got one list of 9, and another list of 6, but i've had to start improvising the particulars of it after 3 players on each list.

 

[Ohio Jones]

I've identified 2 needs on my team.. so i've got one list of 9, and another list of 6, but i've had to start improvising the particulars of it after 3 players on each list.

Are those needs "AHL third-line forward" and "Professional Waterboy"? Because this is the grimmest UFA class I've ever, ever seen.

 

[Default101]

Are those needs "AHL third-line forward" and "Professional Waterboy"? Because this is the grimmest UFA class I've ever, ever seen.

lol, i've got it figured out.. gotta make due with what's there. However, we always seem to have a few GM's that price guys well out of their actual range, so for all i know i might not even make signings. I'm fine with this however becasue realistically the more players that get priced out of their actual range, the more legitimate high priced players will hit the markets when they become UFA's.. it seems to be a bit random in this league for that.. some years there's some good names, usually because there's too much money tied up in other players that maybe don't deserve that big of contracts. Which is why the top 21 OV rule is so important rather than being able to waive guys as you bring in other high priced players, you're stuck with their contracts, which can hold some teams back. I like the way it is overall, eventhough for the most part i'm one of the have not's at the moment, and evnetually guys will start leaking through I think. It would be a little frustrating for those that don't have talent to have things like this, waiting it out, and then once they start acquiring talent they can be taken away much easier than in previous years, eg. roll of the dice.

 

[Canuck09]

Good to know.. i'm giong through the UFA's right now, and my needs are pretty limited (Phoenix will be signing a max of 3.. maybe 4 NHL experienced guys, and as little as 2, so i have very concentrated needs and would benefit from making 2 lists 8 players deep to ensure the need is filled one way or the other, rather than trying to break it down to 4 and consider making a 3rd list. Again if you guys need any help, any tedious time consuiming work let me know, because my current job, and time of year allows me to literally sit infront of the computer for 3-4 hours and do a few things to help you guys out if needed.

I think the 4 player lists are good for a couple reasons...

As a temp FA helper it makes my (or whoever is handling FA) job a lot easier. It could also add a better 2nd/3rd wave of FAs as less guys are targeted each round. Of course that may not apply to this class as it's crap, but maybe next year.

As a GM it makes our choices a little tougher to make. If you want to be in the running for the "top" guys then you can expect to have stiff competition. Or maybe you pick your spots and sign someone that actually fits your system a little better, and can get that guy for a better price because more people are focusing on the home run player.

In both cases, I think it's a good idea, but we'll see how it plays out soon enough.

 

[Ohio Jones]

Do we have an ETA on the submission procedures, and the Round 1 submission deadline?

 

[MatthewFlames]

Do we have an ETA on the submission procedures, and the Round 1 submission deadline?

I'll have the prospects lists in today and then there will be an announcement. Submissions will start this week.

 

[Vagrant]

Do prospect signings, free agent signings, also begin at the same time as UFA/RFA ones?