My idea is to have a 30 team, H2H league and use CBS to track it. CBS is easily the best site for fantasy hockey around. We should use 16 categories and I like the one guys idea of 30 round player draft and 10 round already drafted prospect draft. I was in a league called BBKL for 3 years. I left after my father passed and the league started taking a backseat. I didn't go back for a bunch of reasons but let me tell you, that league was so indepth, competitive, and amazing. A lot of the categories added almost a real life dimension to it. Especially someone of the categories and how they add those things that don't show up on the scoresheet. These categories give ALL players some value. I listed below the 16 categories we should use:
1) Short-Handed Time on Ice (SHTOI) - This category gave value to those depth Dmen who killed penalties.. and the bottom six forwards who did as well. It also gave top end guys that extra value over top end guys who do not kill penalties. So a guy like Jonathan Toews would be a lot more valuable then just some 6.3 million dollar 60 point player. See what I mean. Everyone in BBKL absolutely LOVED this category and really felt like it set BBKL apart from any other fantasy league.
2) Goals (G) - Self explanatory
3) Assists (A) - Again, self explanatory
4) PIMs - Gave tough guys some value. And gave guys like Burrows, Clowe, etc.. that little extra bit of value and made guys like that more desirable.
5) Special Team Points STPTS - This combined short handed and powerplay points. We enjoyed this category.
6) Game Winning Goals (GWG) - Self Explanatory. Clutch players are valuable anyway so this was a good category and usually favoured the great teams.
7) Blocked Shots (BS) - Defensive Dmen gained value.
8) Face-off Wins (FOWs) - Centers should be more valuable than wingers. But when you owned a player with winger eligibility and he wins faceoffs.. bonus. This category would make those guys super super valuable.
9) Hits - Again, really helped give depth Dmen and grinders that value and made them solid players instead of just junk on your roster. All this stats really make it feel like real life value and the intangibles that teams and fans appreciate but don't show up on the score sheet. You know what I mean?
10) Shots on Goal (SOG) - Self explanatory. Very underrated stat and would benefit true goal scorers. Also, guys like Radim Vrbata who is a solid player but before last season was considered a decent player. With SOG as a category, Vrbata becomes more valuable because believe it or not, he's always top 20 in the NHL in SOG.
11) Points (PTS) - self explanatory
12) Plus/Minus (+/-) - I know this is an iffy category but this benefits players on better teams. And IMO, rightfully so.
........... so those are the player categories. There was 4 goalie categories even though they score in PIMs, assists, etc when they scored there. Goalies also score in SHTOI in a big way. They're a penalty killer just like everyone else. The 4 goalie cats are:
1) Goals Against Average (GAA) - Self exlanatory
2) Wins (W) - Self Explanatory
3) Save Percentage (SV%) - 1st year we had SV% and saves but decided to drop saves because they're basically both the same thing and the goalie facing more shots that week or played and extra game had another advantage (more win/shutout tries). Save % is a better category we all agreed.
4) Shutouts (SO) - Self Explanatory
There were guys in BBKL who were in long standing money leagues who paid more attention and had more fun in BBKL because of the "indepthness" of it. If you want to maintain activity and commitment, IMHO, seriously consider a league with more than just points. If you can't tell, I was a co-commish of BBKL LOL. This format is a lot of fun. We also had a 7 round draft every year with full minor league systems. We could only have 50 contracts which we allowed to go up by 7 each year until we got to 90. We had a salary cap and used the NHLs cap, just like you are suggesting in the OP. We also had a waiver draft every year where we would be able to draft those Euro and NCAA free agents or guys coming out of retirement, etc. After January 1st, we would hold everyone out for that draft. I had an idea that wasn't super popular for the waiver draft in which those who became free agents in real life would go in to the waiver draft. I felt as if that would give the waiver draft some real value. I think it's an amazing idea.
Anyway, I know this is probably a lot to digest.. but consider it. If you want to discuss this further, I'm all ears. Also, for the record, if you guys want to go this route, I'd be more than happy to help run the league. I will even personally pay the CBS fee for the 2013-2014 season. I would start my own league but I'm not very computer savvy and I feel as though having forums dedicated to the fantasy league is vital. I would need help with that side of things. I can do everything else. I bring all this up because I have heard about Joey Moss's league.. his 4 year league. He has the experience.. the reputation, and Joey Moss has guys who are gonna follow him over here.
I know I went on and on but I'm passionate about fantasy hockey. I think you guys would absolutely LOVE this format if you gave it a try. Seriously, let me know what you guys think and lets talk about it. If interested, add me to windows live messenger (PM me for email addy):
Cheers,
Scott
