InjuredChoker
Registered User
DRAFT UPDATE
The Entry Draft will start Friday 22nd, noon MDT. After it has started, remaining RFA re-signings will be handled via PM (send them to me). We will start with 5 hour clock. If you need more and want to make your pick, contact me, TV or Hench. If you're fine with us making picking for you, send your draft list. We'll follow the draft rules in this post unless otherwise noted.
I'll have the thread title updated on where the draft is going (early (1-11), mid (12-23) and late (the rest) of particular round and maybe even in more detail); if there's no such update, you know that I'm not here and I've gone to sleep or can't be near computer; PM your draft lists to TV or Hench instead. I'll also sen you a notification soon after I've received draft list; if it didn't come, PM TV or Hench too. Especially if the pick is coming soon.
First: Don't be taken back by the number of rules. Many were just done to close creative loopholes (if you find one, congrats, we'll close it), especially the more complete explanations on expansion draft rules. As the examples at the end of expansion draft section show (the most complex thing we'll do during this mock), this isn't rocket science. If you need any help with the rules, you'll get that from me.
We are opening this thread little earlier so people can enter this now and maybe get something else to focus on besides firing and trading everybody. Last year we had troubles getting 30 GMs which sucked and this year we need 32 (yes we will have 2 expansion teams).
Please read the whole post. It's long but important as there have been some significant changes from last year. Including but not limited to expansion draft, designated offer sheet period, all upcoming UFAs entering the UFA bidding, and UFA 'waves'.
This mock offseason won't start until the regular season is over, at earliest.
''Real teams'' refer to current 30 teams in this post.
For purposes of this mock, all salary, cap hit and clauses information, unless otherwise noted, will follow the ones shown at https://www.capfriendly.com/.
Mock offseason event order
Expansion draft
Designated offer sheet period
RFA re-signing period
Entry draft
RFA re-signing and buy-out period
Free agency
Waivers
Publishing of final rosters
It's preferable to you can visit here at least once a day. Not absolutely necessary on some days but on some others it's preferable if you can be here many times during the course of the day. My conservative estimation has this mock offseason lasting about 5 weeks from the moment we have 32 GMs, which can also take a while. Might take longer but probably not less. We'll try to keep high pace if possible but some unexpected situations can slow down this mock.
However, as we'd like to fill all 32 spots and this mock can last at least 5 weeks, it's not absolutely necessary that GM is present here for the whole period. GM can ask someone else to handle, for example, the draft or RFA-signings for him/her as he/she can't be here during that time but will otherwise be active.
In the post where you'll announce your entry to this mock (or another post), you'll update the following information throughout the mock:
- Total cap/cap space
- All players under contract
- List of notable players whose rights the team owns (recent high picks and players whose stock has risen since being drafted)
- Cap hits for all players
- NHL roster (cap and roster purposes)
- All draft picks owned
- Total number of contracts (team can't have more than 50 players under contract)
- List of every transaction made. Includes signings, trades, picks, players picked/lost in expansion draft etc
An example of a good layout to copy can be seen in this post by cody or in this by lonewolfe who originally made it. That post will be updated throughout the mock (or post in an other thread as we go through multiple ones during this mock), preferably before the next move is made so all necessary information to approve the transaction can be found in that post. At first it takes little time and work to collect all the information (most/all of the necessary information can be found on capfriendly) but it's easy to keep it updated and it will avoid confusion. Post #2 will have the team/GM lists and links to roster posts.
Salary cap is set at 73 million. Under no circumstances, can team do a transaction that will go over it. They'll be automatically rejected. Due to upcoming UFAs making it straight to UFA and no one having their rights, teams can be under the cap floor of 57 million; but every team has to be over it by the time waivers are done. Teams aren't allowed to go over 50 contracts either. A minimum of 20 (at least 12F, 6D, 2G) and maximum of 23 player NHL rosters are required.
Any player or their rights can be traded and picks can be traded between GMs, including compensation picks (more on them later) except for players who signed an offer sheet (whether matched or not) nor can any trades happen between real teams before the expansion draft is over. Signed UFAs can't be traded either. Teams only own draft picks for 2016. For purposes of this mock, teams don't have any picks 2017 or later and they can't be traded, save for compensation picks.
Contract committee
We will have special contract committee that will decide/approve all offer sheets and RFA/UFA signings. It consist of at least 5-6 GMs (the more the better) who together vote for what the best offer is. If GM has clear bias on a player, he/she will be excluded on deciding the fate for that player. An obvious example would be he/she's trying to sign that player or his/her player is under offer sheet threat. Or in situations where GM X is in contract committee and is in final two for signing Steven Stamkos. GM Y is the other. GM Y also has offer for Alexander Radulov. GM Y doesn't have cap space for both players. By supporting GM Y's offer for Radulov, GM X would increase his/her own chances to sign Stamkos. Thus GM X is excluded on contract committee for both players.
This isn't that much different from last year, with the exception that all contracts will be handled this way. Last year we didn't have named contract committee but not many posters were active in RFA re-signings, which needed 5 approvals from GMs of other teams. Contract committee members are expected to be active in most, and preferably all contracts signed during this mock, save for the ones they are excluded.
Contract committee will discuss on contracts made after the final offers have been made as long as necessary to get an agreement, unanimous decision, majority or vote to determine contract, depending on situation. Contract committee members can decide on where player would go or whether he would agree to a contract based on factors like location, team history, connections, contract offered, team direction and competitiveness and so on. Basically what they think the player would do and/or what he/she would do if he/she were in that players position.
Contract committee members can give their opinions on players before/during the offer sheet/FA period.
For example, I might think that Stamkos wants to play center and on a good team (now). Money is important but not the most important thing. Thus teams that want him as winger are at disadvantage even if they offer him the most money and I won't likely have Stamkos going there. Especially if team is competitive. Same could apply to say, Toronto, if they won't make other significant moves during this mock and won't have good team.
Or MacKinnon offer sheet. I might think that he wants to stay with the Avs and offer would have to be exceptional for me to think that he would sign it and even then I might not necessarily think he wants to sign the offer sheet.
Another example. I might (just an example, not saying I will) think Trouba doesn't particularly like to play in Canada and wants to be closer to home and thus might me more agreeable for offer sheets from teams near Michigan than Canadian teams even if Canadian teams offer the most money.
Or one might think that Okposo will go to the highest bidder without caring about anything else. I'll let people know my thoughts on major UFA/offer sheet targets when the time comes and it's recommended that other contract committee members will do the same, if possible. For me personally, I can be persuaded to change my opinion on many things; up to GM to change my mind. For many offers it will come down to money, though.
Contract committee has 6 members so far. IC, Hench, Aslan, forsbergavs32, lonelybadger and TV. We would like to have 1 more. It shouldn't be hard job. If you can help here, please let us now as you enter the mock.
Expansion draft
- Expansion teams will take 25 players in total of which 18 have to be on the opening night roster. These 18 players can't be traded, waived or bought out. At least one player has to be taken from every team in the expansion draft.
- Expansion teams aren't allowed to trade with each other during this mock.
- Expansion teams will take 25 players, no more, no less. At least one player has to be taken from every real team but no more than two. 18 of them have to be in the final roster and have combined cap hit of at least 53 million. Just going for cheap players doesn't cut it. Careful planning needs to be taken to build best possible team for expansion teams purposes and reach at least 53 million cap for those 18 players. That is little under 3 million per player, so keep track of the cap when you take players so that you don't need to take bad contracts at the end of the mock. There would still be room for couple of big UFAs and few roster filling players, both in cap space and roster spots. But the expansion draft will largely determine the look of expansion teams.
- That 53 million minimum cap hit is for 2016-2017 season. Not this season. So expansion teams can take, say, 48 million in cap hits for 15-16 season for 18 players. But they have some players who are RFAs. Then they just have to make sure that they'll pay those players enough that cap hits for all 18 players will be over 53 million for 16-17 season.
- At least 1G, 5 D and 10 F taken in the expansion draft must be on the final roster.
Entry Draft
Because we have 2 extra teams and fair amount of compensation picks, the entry draft will last only 6 rounds.
This mock draft will follow the order of reverse standings after regular season is over. Except as mentioned, expansion teams will pick #4 and #5 in the first round and #1 and #2 in the following rounds. The real draft lottery (held April 16th) will be April 30th; too late for our mock. I'll run the draft lottery before the mock officially starts and it will determine the order of lottery picks in this mock.
Conditional picks traded in real life will not be put in use if conditions haven't been filled at the end of regular season. For example, Calgary Flames will get 2nd round pick from the Stars no matter what happens in the playoffs.
There will be a time frame available to make your pick, if you cannot make the pick in that time frame, a player will be selected for you ( highest ranked North American skater available by central scouting). We all know that people sleep, so there will be a tad bit of leeway overnight. Now obviously everybody can't take the max limit of hours or we would never finish, so please pick as soon as you are ready. For any traded picks during the draft, the clock will not reset. Time frame is five hours for 1st round picks. Three hours for 2nd and two hours for 3rd round picks. Only one hour for all picks after that. This is open to changes, depending how fast or slow the draft goes and is pretty much guaranteed to change at some point so watch out for that. If your pick goes auto-mock, player will be selected for you, every pick after that will also go auto-mock unless you announce that you will make your next pick. This is done to speed up the draft process, especially in later rounds. The draft clock ticks between 7AM and 10PM MDT. You are allowed to make your pick outside that time frame and it's advisable if you can do it.
If you can't make your pick in time, it's ok, it happens (I'm Finnish so I assume I'll miss a pick or too if I haven't traded them all). If you know you can't make your pick in time, PM me, TV or Hench with a list of players you'd like to take there (assuming they are still available, otherwise we'll go with next CS NA player). Or you could leave that pick just to be chosen by someone else who agrees to do it for you. The more comprehensive list (in order of preference) you give, the better chance you get one of your players as many of them might be gone by the time your pick is gone. Obviously if there's only one pick between you, only 2 player list is necessary etc.
After you've made your pick, always, ALWAYS, PM the next poster that his/her turn is up. If previous poster didn't PM you and your pick was auto-picked, we can allow you to re-pick if the player you wanted hasn't been taken. Assuming you announce this pretty close to your draft pick position, not something like 20 picks later.
I'll update the post #4 with the picks and try to give info on OP on where the draft is going (mid-1st, early 4th etc.) but I'm not always here so check the final pages of the thread. Make sure your spelling is correct with the your draft pick names. To make sure, search for the thread on the player name you're going to pick to make sure the player hasn't already been taken. If you pick a player that has been already been taken and don't correct it immediately (and players name was spelled correctly when it was taken), there may be a punishment (that draft pick drops down by 5 spots).
Full draft list will be up in post #4 after the regular season is over.
Making offers for players, how UFA and offer sheets work
Offer sheet period is 48 hours as is each FA wave (open to changes). Main period is for 42 hours. During this period, offers can be withdrawn and pulled, back and forth. For the final 6 hours, offers can't be withdrawn, only increased and no new offers for players can be made that haven't gotten offer yet from that particular team. This is to avoid mess in the closing moments. Preferably only few offers per player are left at this point. If bidding on itself hasn't eliminated most bids, contract committee can exclude the worst bids. This can mean that there will be a break between the main period and the final period of the wave. We will also try to make sure that the final period will fit the schedule of remaining bidders.
During the FA/offer sheet period, especially during the final 6 hours, please let us know if you're 'done' in terms of increasing or making offers (latter doesn't apply to final 6 hours since it can't be done anyway) or if you're still going to be running for it. This is to help contract committee's work and also to let other bidders know if they have to prepare to increase their offers or pull out (except for final 6 hours when pulling out can't be done). This doesn't apply to the 3rd FA wave (more on that later).
Outside of posting contract cap hit, length and clauses, GMs can try some other ways to convince why the player should sign with them. Obvious one would be if that has actually happened in real life during this mock. Or GM can try to convince that veteran in his final days who hasn't won anything, is more likely to sign with his contending team than a rebuilding team who is also competing for that veterans service. Or Radulov is more likely to sign with the Avs for various reason that most of us are familiar with. Or team entering out of the rebuild might try to convince big UFA to sign with them because they had just traded their 1st round pick and best prospect for Luca Sbisa. That may not work but worth a shot for sure. Or something like that.
RFA re-signings
Teams post their offers to RFAs in the RFA signing period. In some cases it might be long-term contract, in some cases it might be just qualifying the player. In a case team qualifies a player, but contract committee thinks the player wouldn't accept the offer, the team would maintain the players rights but player remains unsigned. As the offer sheet period is already over, player can't be offer sheeted.
RFAs don't obviously have to be qualified. Unqualified RFAs would become UFAs. Capfriendly also has qualifying offer calculator.
RFA re-signing period lasts 24 hours. RFAs can also be re-signed during the draft (send PM to me, don't post them in the thread) or before UFA starts. If not signed before UFA starts, they will not be signed during this mock.
Free agency
As mentioned, every UFA will enter UFA bidding. This year, we'll do free agency in waves. First we'll have 5-10 biggest free agents (might be Stamkos, Radulov, Okposo, Yandle, Eriksson etc). Teams can make and withdraw offers for 42 hours, for the final 6 hours offers can only be increased. If there are more than few offers per player left they will be eliminated and so on. Same principle as with offer sheets. After that, committee will decide the best offers and we move on to the next 5-10 biggest UFAs. And repeat.
But for the next 5-10 free agents, we will do bit of an experiment. Everyone is again free to make offers but they will PM'd to me or other contract committee member(s). No one will know how much other teams are offering. Contract committee will discuss and vote on offers after 24-48 hours is done. We will try to make sure that at least one contract committee member won't make offers to any UFAs in this group, to eliminate obvious advantage. All offers would be PM'd to this GM. This might mean that good FA signs 2 yr deal at 3mil. Or that he's horrifically overpaid at 5 years, 7 mil per and no one else offered more than 2 years, 2 mil per. Contract committee doesn't have to accept offers for all UFAs during this period (league minimum for top 6 forward, for example), which would mean those free agent(s) would enter the final wave.
We will do the final remaining free agents (including undrafted free agents) the same style as the first two waves. All the remaining free agents will be signed in this wave. If not, they'll not be signed during this mock.
The list for remaining free agents will be big one but if one intends to sign a free agent that is not in it, the first offer has to be made for that player in the first 24 hours and that player can be added to the list or it can't be made at all for that player.
If UFA re-signs during the mock in real life, that player will still make it to the UFA in this mock. But as that player has actually signed a contract with that club in real life, contract committee has to take that into account if GM of the same team makes the same offer for him in UFA bidding. Personally, I'll support that re-signing in almost every possible scenario. On many cases I'll support re-signings if offer is similar with offers from other teams in UFA even if the player hasn't actually signed in real life.
Unsigned draft prospects.
Well, we know the case with Bleackley. Coyotes can decide whether to sign him or not, if they don't they'll get a compensation pick (#53). Unsigned draftees don't need approvals, they can be just signed save for few possible exceptions (like Vesey). 2014 drafted CHL players need to be signed or their rights will be lost. Same with college players who were drafted 2012. They can be signed at the same time as we'll do our RFA re-signings. If not signed, those players will re-enter the draft and are eligible to be drafted. Only 1st round picks can get compensation pick and all others except Bleackely are already signed/not eligible for compensation this year.
Buy-out period
Buy-out period will start after the entry draft, will last 24 hours, after which the free agency starts. This is the only time a player can be bought out. Buy-outs will follow the rules of current CBA unless otherwise noted. Buy-out calculator can be found here.
Bought out players will be free agents and eligible to be signed by every team except for the one that bought him out.
Depending on time constraints, buy-out period could be done simultaneously with remaining RFA re-signings.
Waivers
Teams can still make trades for 24 hours after UFA is over if needed.
Waivers will be done after UFA to finish off rosters. More information on waivers can be found on the following link. Capfriendly should also have waiver information on every player. If those aren't clear enough, ask, and you shall receive information on player's waiver statuses.
Waivers will follow reverse regular season standings, with the exception that expansion teams get to pick first.
As the waivers start, no trades or signings are allowed anymore. Teams post their NHL rosters and waiver eligible players not in them will be waived. Teams can't claim players if they have 23 players on the roster or if they don't have the cap space. All players will be waived at the same time. Time to put a claim on player(s) is 12 hours.
After waivers, mock is over and all rosters are done.
Some additional rules
Any transaction can be rejected if there isn't a reason to believe that it could actually happen (with these mock rules). Stamkos at max term and dollars could happen. Jagr at max term and dollars could not. One of the two Finns going first overall could happen. Unranked prospect no one has ever hear of could not. Evgeni Malkin could be traded for kings ransom. Evgeni Malkin couldn't not be traded for a 6th round pick. Oilers could blow it up. Hawks could not. And so on.
Players who are guaranteed or basically guaranteed to not play anymore are excluded for all purposes in this mock unless otherwise noted. These players include: Franzen, Pronger, Robidas, Clowe, Horton, Dupuis, Ohlund, Savard. We'll assume Lecavalier will retire, so he can't be signed nor can the Kings use him in expansion draft for minimum cap hit requirement. This applies for the Flyers as well.
If you have player on your roster who won't play anymore per a legit source, please let us know and we can expand the list.
Unless noted otherwise, we'll follow the rules of the current NHL CBA.
Hench, TV and me liked these rules but if you have additions, corrections, recommendations, feel free to give them.
We reserve the rights to change any rule during this mock. Especially the timelines are open to changes and some probably will change. I made some changes just last night (march 27th) but apparently those changes weren't saved for some reason so prepare for some minor changes/additions if you read this for the first time soon after this was posted.
If you need help or have questions, ask and you shall receive. Especially when it comes to the expansion draft. If you have general questions, ask them in the thread. If it's only about your team, use PMs.
The Entry Draft will start Friday 22nd, noon MDT. After it has started, remaining RFA re-signings will be handled via PM (send them to me). We will start with 5 hour clock. If you need more and want to make your pick, contact me, TV or Hench. If you're fine with us making picking for you, send your draft list. We'll follow the draft rules in this post unless otherwise noted.
I'll have the thread title updated on where the draft is going (early (1-11), mid (12-23) and late (the rest) of particular round and maybe even in more detail); if there's no such update, you know that I'm not here and I've gone to sleep or can't be near computer; PM your draft lists to TV or Hench instead. I'll also sen you a notification soon after I've received draft list; if it didn't come, PM TV or Hench too. Especially if the pick is coming soon.
First: Don't be taken back by the number of rules. Many were just done to close creative loopholes (if you find one, congrats, we'll close it), especially the more complete explanations on expansion draft rules. As the examples at the end of expansion draft section show (the most complex thing we'll do during this mock), this isn't rocket science. If you need any help with the rules, you'll get that from me.
We are opening this thread little earlier so people can enter this now and maybe get something else to focus on besides firing and trading everybody. Last year we had troubles getting 30 GMs which sucked and this year we need 32 (yes we will have 2 expansion teams).
Please read the whole post. It's long but important as there have been some significant changes from last year. Including but not limited to expansion draft, designated offer sheet period, all upcoming UFAs entering the UFA bidding, and UFA 'waves'.
This mock offseason won't start until the regular season is over, at earliest.
''Real teams'' refer to current 30 teams in this post.
For purposes of this mock, all salary, cap hit and clauses information, unless otherwise noted, will follow the ones shown at https://www.capfriendly.com/.
Mock offseason event order
Expansion draft
Designated offer sheet period
RFA re-signing period
Entry draft
RFA re-signing and buy-out period
Free agency
Waivers
Publishing of final rosters
It's preferable to you can visit here at least once a day. Not absolutely necessary on some days but on some others it's preferable if you can be here many times during the course of the day. My conservative estimation has this mock offseason lasting about 5 weeks from the moment we have 32 GMs, which can also take a while. Might take longer but probably not less. We'll try to keep high pace if possible but some unexpected situations can slow down this mock.
However, as we'd like to fill all 32 spots and this mock can last at least 5 weeks, it's not absolutely necessary that GM is present here for the whole period. GM can ask someone else to handle, for example, the draft or RFA-signings for him/her as he/she can't be here during that time but will otherwise be active.
In the post where you'll announce your entry to this mock (or another post), you'll update the following information throughout the mock:
- Total cap/cap space
- All players under contract
- List of notable players whose rights the team owns (recent high picks and players whose stock has risen since being drafted)
- Cap hits for all players
- NHL roster (cap and roster purposes)
- All draft picks owned
- Total number of contracts (team can't have more than 50 players under contract)
- List of every transaction made. Includes signings, trades, picks, players picked/lost in expansion draft etc
An example of a good layout to copy can be seen in this post by cody or in this by lonewolfe who originally made it. That post will be updated throughout the mock (or post in an other thread as we go through multiple ones during this mock), preferably before the next move is made so all necessary information to approve the transaction can be found in that post. At first it takes little time and work to collect all the information (most/all of the necessary information can be found on capfriendly) but it's easy to keep it updated and it will avoid confusion. Post #2 will have the team/GM lists and links to roster posts.
Salary cap is set at 73 million. Under no circumstances, can team do a transaction that will go over it. They'll be automatically rejected. Due to upcoming UFAs making it straight to UFA and no one having their rights, teams can be under the cap floor of 57 million; but every team has to be over it by the time waivers are done. Teams aren't allowed to go over 50 contracts either. A minimum of 20 (at least 12F, 6D, 2G) and maximum of 23 player NHL rosters are required.
Any player or their rights can be traded and picks can be traded between GMs, including compensation picks (more on them later) except for players who signed an offer sheet (whether matched or not) nor can any trades happen between real teams before the expansion draft is over. Signed UFAs can't be traded either. Teams only own draft picks for 2016. For purposes of this mock, teams don't have any picks 2017 or later and they can't be traded, save for compensation picks.
Contract committee
We will have special contract committee that will decide/approve all offer sheets and RFA/UFA signings. It consist of at least 5-6 GMs (the more the better) who together vote for what the best offer is. If GM has clear bias on a player, he/she will be excluded on deciding the fate for that player. An obvious example would be he/she's trying to sign that player or his/her player is under offer sheet threat. Or in situations where GM X is in contract committee and is in final two for signing Steven Stamkos. GM Y is the other. GM Y also has offer for Alexander Radulov. GM Y doesn't have cap space for both players. By supporting GM Y's offer for Radulov, GM X would increase his/her own chances to sign Stamkos. Thus GM X is excluded on contract committee for both players.
This isn't that much different from last year, with the exception that all contracts will be handled this way. Last year we didn't have named contract committee but not many posters were active in RFA re-signings, which needed 5 approvals from GMs of other teams. Contract committee members are expected to be active in most, and preferably all contracts signed during this mock, save for the ones they are excluded.
Contract committee will discuss on contracts made after the final offers have been made as long as necessary to get an agreement, unanimous decision, majority or vote to determine contract, depending on situation. Contract committee members can decide on where player would go or whether he would agree to a contract based on factors like location, team history, connections, contract offered, team direction and competitiveness and so on. Basically what they think the player would do and/or what he/she would do if he/she were in that players position.
Contract committee members can give their opinions on players before/during the offer sheet/FA period.
For example, I might think that Stamkos wants to play center and on a good team (now). Money is important but not the most important thing. Thus teams that want him as winger are at disadvantage even if they offer him the most money and I won't likely have Stamkos going there. Especially if team is competitive. Same could apply to say, Toronto, if they won't make other significant moves during this mock and won't have good team.
Or MacKinnon offer sheet. I might think that he wants to stay with the Avs and offer would have to be exceptional for me to think that he would sign it and even then I might not necessarily think he wants to sign the offer sheet.
Another example. I might (just an example, not saying I will) think Trouba doesn't particularly like to play in Canada and wants to be closer to home and thus might me more agreeable for offer sheets from teams near Michigan than Canadian teams even if Canadian teams offer the most money.
Or one might think that Okposo will go to the highest bidder without caring about anything else. I'll let people know my thoughts on major UFA/offer sheet targets when the time comes and it's recommended that other contract committee members will do the same, if possible. For me personally, I can be persuaded to change my opinion on many things; up to GM to change my mind. For many offers it will come down to money, though.
Contract committee has 6 members so far. IC, Hench, Aslan, forsbergavs32, lonelybadger and TV. We would like to have 1 more. It shouldn't be hard job. If you can help here, please let us now as you enter the mock.
Expansion draft
- Expansion teams will take 25 players in total of which 18 have to be on the opening night roster. These 18 players can't be traded, waived or bought out. At least one player has to be taken from every team in the expansion draft.
- Expansion teams aren't allowed to trade with each other during this mock.
- Expansion teams will take 25 players, no more, no less. At least one player has to be taken from every real team but no more than two. 18 of them have to be in the final roster and have combined cap hit of at least 53 million. Just going for cheap players doesn't cut it. Careful planning needs to be taken to build best possible team for expansion teams purposes and reach at least 53 million cap for those 18 players. That is little under 3 million per player, so keep track of the cap when you take players so that you don't need to take bad contracts at the end of the mock. There would still be room for couple of big UFAs and few roster filling players, both in cap space and roster spots. But the expansion draft will largely determine the look of expansion teams.
- That 53 million minimum cap hit is for 2016-2017 season. Not this season. So expansion teams can take, say, 48 million in cap hits for 15-16 season for 18 players. But they have some players who are RFAs. Then they just have to make sure that they'll pay those players enough that cap hits for all 18 players will be over 53 million for 16-17 season.
- At least 1G, 5 D and 10 F taken in the expansion draft must be on the final roster.
Entry Draft
Because we have 2 extra teams and fair amount of compensation picks, the entry draft will last only 6 rounds.
This mock draft will follow the order of reverse standings after regular season is over. Except as mentioned, expansion teams will pick #4 and #5 in the first round and #1 and #2 in the following rounds. The real draft lottery (held April 16th) will be April 30th; too late for our mock. I'll run the draft lottery before the mock officially starts and it will determine the order of lottery picks in this mock.
Conditional picks traded in real life will not be put in use if conditions haven't been filled at the end of regular season. For example, Calgary Flames will get 2nd round pick from the Stars no matter what happens in the playoffs.
There will be a time frame available to make your pick, if you cannot make the pick in that time frame, a player will be selected for you ( highest ranked North American skater available by central scouting). We all know that people sleep, so there will be a tad bit of leeway overnight. Now obviously everybody can't take the max limit of hours or we would never finish, so please pick as soon as you are ready. For any traded picks during the draft, the clock will not reset. Time frame is five hours for 1st round picks. Three hours for 2nd and two hours for 3rd round picks. Only one hour for all picks after that. This is open to changes, depending how fast or slow the draft goes and is pretty much guaranteed to change at some point so watch out for that. If your pick goes auto-mock, player will be selected for you, every pick after that will also go auto-mock unless you announce that you will make your next pick. This is done to speed up the draft process, especially in later rounds. The draft clock ticks between 7AM and 10PM MDT. You are allowed to make your pick outside that time frame and it's advisable if you can do it.
If you can't make your pick in time, it's ok, it happens (I'm Finnish so I assume I'll miss a pick or too if I haven't traded them all). If you know you can't make your pick in time, PM me, TV or Hench with a list of players you'd like to take there (assuming they are still available, otherwise we'll go with next CS NA player). Or you could leave that pick just to be chosen by someone else who agrees to do it for you. The more comprehensive list (in order of preference) you give, the better chance you get one of your players as many of them might be gone by the time your pick is gone. Obviously if there's only one pick between you, only 2 player list is necessary etc.
After you've made your pick, always, ALWAYS, PM the next poster that his/her turn is up. If previous poster didn't PM you and your pick was auto-picked, we can allow you to re-pick if the player you wanted hasn't been taken. Assuming you announce this pretty close to your draft pick position, not something like 20 picks later.
I'll update the post #4 with the picks and try to give info on OP on where the draft is going (mid-1st, early 4th etc.) but I'm not always here so check the final pages of the thread. Make sure your spelling is correct with the your draft pick names. To make sure, search for the thread on the player name you're going to pick to make sure the player hasn't already been taken. If you pick a player that has been already been taken and don't correct it immediately (and players name was spelled correctly when it was taken), there may be a punishment (that draft pick drops down by 5 spots).
Full draft list will be up in post #4 after the regular season is over.
Making offers for players, how UFA and offer sheets work
Offer sheet period is 48 hours as is each FA wave (open to changes). Main period is for 42 hours. During this period, offers can be withdrawn and pulled, back and forth. For the final 6 hours, offers can't be withdrawn, only increased and no new offers for players can be made that haven't gotten offer yet from that particular team. This is to avoid mess in the closing moments. Preferably only few offers per player are left at this point. If bidding on itself hasn't eliminated most bids, contract committee can exclude the worst bids. This can mean that there will be a break between the main period and the final period of the wave. We will also try to make sure that the final period will fit the schedule of remaining bidders.
During the FA/offer sheet period, especially during the final 6 hours, please let us know if you're 'done' in terms of increasing or making offers (latter doesn't apply to final 6 hours since it can't be done anyway) or if you're still going to be running for it. This is to help contract committee's work and also to let other bidders know if they have to prepare to increase their offers or pull out (except for final 6 hours when pulling out can't be done). This doesn't apply to the 3rd FA wave (more on that later).
Outside of posting contract cap hit, length and clauses, GMs can try some other ways to convince why the player should sign with them. Obvious one would be if that has actually happened in real life during this mock. Or GM can try to convince that veteran in his final days who hasn't won anything, is more likely to sign with his contending team than a rebuilding team who is also competing for that veterans service. Or Radulov is more likely to sign with the Avs for various reason that most of us are familiar with. Or team entering out of the rebuild might try to convince big UFA to sign with them because they had just traded their 1st round pick and best prospect for Luca Sbisa. That may not work but worth a shot for sure. Or something like that.
RFA re-signings
Teams post their offers to RFAs in the RFA signing period. In some cases it might be long-term contract, in some cases it might be just qualifying the player. In a case team qualifies a player, but contract committee thinks the player wouldn't accept the offer, the team would maintain the players rights but player remains unsigned. As the offer sheet period is already over, player can't be offer sheeted.
RFAs don't obviously have to be qualified. Unqualified RFAs would become UFAs. Capfriendly also has qualifying offer calculator.
RFA re-signing period lasts 24 hours. RFAs can also be re-signed during the draft (send PM to me, don't post them in the thread) or before UFA starts. If not signed before UFA starts, they will not be signed during this mock.
Free agency
As mentioned, every UFA will enter UFA bidding. This year, we'll do free agency in waves. First we'll have 5-10 biggest free agents (might be Stamkos, Radulov, Okposo, Yandle, Eriksson etc). Teams can make and withdraw offers for 42 hours, for the final 6 hours offers can only be increased. If there are more than few offers per player left they will be eliminated and so on. Same principle as with offer sheets. After that, committee will decide the best offers and we move on to the next 5-10 biggest UFAs. And repeat.
But for the next 5-10 free agents, we will do bit of an experiment. Everyone is again free to make offers but they will PM'd to me or other contract committee member(s). No one will know how much other teams are offering. Contract committee will discuss and vote on offers after 24-48 hours is done. We will try to make sure that at least one contract committee member won't make offers to any UFAs in this group, to eliminate obvious advantage. All offers would be PM'd to this GM. This might mean that good FA signs 2 yr deal at 3mil. Or that he's horrifically overpaid at 5 years, 7 mil per and no one else offered more than 2 years, 2 mil per. Contract committee doesn't have to accept offers for all UFAs during this period (league minimum for top 6 forward, for example), which would mean those free agent(s) would enter the final wave.
We will do the final remaining free agents (including undrafted free agents) the same style as the first two waves. All the remaining free agents will be signed in this wave. If not, they'll not be signed during this mock.
The list for remaining free agents will be big one but if one intends to sign a free agent that is not in it, the first offer has to be made for that player in the first 24 hours and that player can be added to the list or it can't be made at all for that player.
If UFA re-signs during the mock in real life, that player will still make it to the UFA in this mock. But as that player has actually signed a contract with that club in real life, contract committee has to take that into account if GM of the same team makes the same offer for him in UFA bidding. Personally, I'll support that re-signing in almost every possible scenario. On many cases I'll support re-signings if offer is similar with offers from other teams in UFA even if the player hasn't actually signed in real life.
Unsigned draft prospects.
Well, we know the case with Bleackley. Coyotes can decide whether to sign him or not, if they don't they'll get a compensation pick (#53). Unsigned draftees don't need approvals, they can be just signed save for few possible exceptions (like Vesey). 2014 drafted CHL players need to be signed or their rights will be lost. Same with college players who were drafted 2012. They can be signed at the same time as we'll do our RFA re-signings. If not signed, those players will re-enter the draft and are eligible to be drafted. Only 1st round picks can get compensation pick and all others except Bleackely are already signed/not eligible for compensation this year.
Buy-out period
Buy-out period will start after the entry draft, will last 24 hours, after which the free agency starts. This is the only time a player can be bought out. Buy-outs will follow the rules of current CBA unless otherwise noted. Buy-out calculator can be found here.
Bought out players will be free agents and eligible to be signed by every team except for the one that bought him out.
Depending on time constraints, buy-out period could be done simultaneously with remaining RFA re-signings.
Waivers
Teams can still make trades for 24 hours after UFA is over if needed.
Waivers will be done after UFA to finish off rosters. More information on waivers can be found on the following link. Capfriendly should also have waiver information on every player. If those aren't clear enough, ask, and you shall receive information on player's waiver statuses.
Waivers will follow reverse regular season standings, with the exception that expansion teams get to pick first.
As the waivers start, no trades or signings are allowed anymore. Teams post their NHL rosters and waiver eligible players not in them will be waived. Teams can't claim players if they have 23 players on the roster or if they don't have the cap space. All players will be waived at the same time. Time to put a claim on player(s) is 12 hours.
After waivers, mock is over and all rosters are done.
Some additional rules
Any transaction can be rejected if there isn't a reason to believe that it could actually happen (with these mock rules). Stamkos at max term and dollars could happen. Jagr at max term and dollars could not. One of the two Finns going first overall could happen. Unranked prospect no one has ever hear of could not. Evgeni Malkin could be traded for kings ransom. Evgeni Malkin couldn't not be traded for a 6th round pick. Oilers could blow it up. Hawks could not. And so on.
Players who are guaranteed or basically guaranteed to not play anymore are excluded for all purposes in this mock unless otherwise noted. These players include: Franzen, Pronger, Robidas, Clowe, Horton, Dupuis, Ohlund, Savard. We'll assume Lecavalier will retire, so he can't be signed nor can the Kings use him in expansion draft for minimum cap hit requirement. This applies for the Flyers as well.
If you have player on your roster who won't play anymore per a legit source, please let us know and we can expand the list.
Unless noted otherwise, we'll follow the rules of the current NHL CBA.
Hench, TV and me liked these rules but if you have additions, corrections, recommendations, feel free to give them.
We reserve the rights to change any rule during this mock. Especially the timelines are open to changes and some probably will change. I made some changes just last night (march 27th) but apparently those changes weren't saved for some reason so prepare for some minor changes/additions if you read this for the first time soon after this was posted.
If you need help or have questions, ask and you shall receive. Especially when it comes to the expansion draft. If you have general questions, ask them in the thread. If it's only about your team, use PMs.
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