Waivers and buyouts

I love this idea!!!

MC:
Speaking as someone who knows, as I have poured over the financial
records of every team in every single year...

12 times owners have paid between $30 and $39.99
3 times owners have paid between $40 and $49.99
1 owner has paid $80.15

That works out for more than 1 of these every year. Who will it be
this year????

That's how the pot grows.

Owner puts a player on waiver in summer. No one bites - 100% of cost
Someone bites, the taker gets him for 75%, but the seller still has to
pay 50%.
Some incentive both ways. It is attractive to the seller as they get
rid of a body at a discount, but do they really want to give a player
to osomeone else at the discounted rate?? This could increase the
pot, and make ppl think twice about who/what they buy out.

2 cents.

League Board of Directors (aka Rules Committee...aka Executive Committee)

Does the league need a Board of Directors?  

The idea as presented here is that there would be 5 or 7 owners that will stand as Directors of the league.  Their job would be to consult with each other and determine which ideas should be forwarded to the rest of the ownership group for consideration.
I am suggesting a make up along the following lines (this is not set in stone, just an abstract for your consideration):

• 4 or 6 owners are selected to sit on the board
• Should this be determined by Voting?
• By volunteering?
• The Commissioner will hold the 5th or 7th tie-breaking seat on the Board
• The Commissioner will remain involved in rules discussion
• The Commissioner will only vote on a proposal if the Board is deadlocked
• The Commissioner reserves the right to veto a rule if that change in rules requires a great deal of effort to implement from a technical perspective

Once a rule has made it through the Board, it will be presented to the rest of the league as follows:

• If a rule Passed the Board, it will be put to the general membership for voting
• If a rule did not Pass the Board, it will not be voted on in the current year, however the rule will still be forwarded to the general membership for consideration for future years

Other situations where the Board may be of value include some of the following:

• Rules discrepancies and disagreements
• i.e. the situation from a couple of years ago where the Beauforts were on the wrong end of a statistical anomoly and were eliminated from the playoffs for this reason
• Problem owners
• this does not happen often, but there have been a couple of instances where owners were a real problem
• i.e. Ryan Sinclair’s stunning departure from the league
• i.e. Scot Blanchet not showing up on Bidding Day

If everyone likes this idea, we can figure out what we want to call the Board.  I just used that name for ease of communicating the idea to you.

FPs Back to Junior

Ever promote an FP and have that player sent back to Junior by his NHL club - here might be a solution to that problem.
A Future Prospect that is promoted prior to the start of the season, not counting mandatory call-ups, would have their $1.00 salary paid and counted under the cap.  If that player is sent back to Junior by his NHL club, a WCHL team will have the option of also sending that player back to “Junior”. In this instance, the $1.00 is still counted against the cap, however the player will not lose a year of eligibility off of his initial FP contract.

Waiver Wire

Every year there is a player that ends up getting bought out that that some owner in the league wishes they had a crack at.  
So, after a team announces its intended buyouts, should other teams have the ability to pick up the intended buyout?

• How would we decide the order of selection?
• First come first serve?
• In reverse order from the previous season’s standings?
• Can a team pick up more than 1 player?

Standardize Lowest Tier of League Prizes

Should the league guarantee that teams that make the playoffs make their money back (not counting league fees / buyouts).  Once those prize values are attributed, the rest of the prize pool will be divided as per usual.

• Making the playoffs would guarantee a minimum of $55 to each team
• If the amount the team would get is in excess of $55, then the calculated amount would be used.

Should other prizes be guaranteed in a similar way? i.e. Commissioner’s Cup and/or Most Improved Team

Increase WCHL Prize Pot

Note: this is not a suggestion to increase the salary cap

• Each team adds $10 (or some other agreed upon amount) to the prize pool.  Dividing up the extra $$ to be determined.

Twitter

What is the general consensus for using Twitter as a communication platform for the league?
At the moment there are already a number of owners that are tied into Twitter (that I am aware of).  
Reasons to consider Twitter:

• Could be used for the Free Agent Frenzy
• Could be used for the Future Prospect Draft

Another consideration for Twitter for those of you that have not yet discovered it: there is a great wealth of information from all types of hockey (and other) sources that are somewhat interesting to read 140 characters at a time.

Future Prospect Draft Done Remotely?

Should the FP draft be moved up and done through email instead of its typical placement on Bidding Day?
Questions:

• Best way to accomplish this:
• Email?
• Via Twitter?
• Google Group?
• How long would an owner have to make a selection when it is his turn?

Free Agent Frenzy 2010

Because there is an extra week this year between Bidding Day and the start of the season, should we also extend the Free Agent Frenzy window to 1 week (versus 24hrs)?

Return of the Equalization Draft

Is it time to bring the EQ draft back?  

• Would bringing it back encourage trade discussions?

• If we bring it back is there a different form that people would like it to take versus the previous method?

4th Round FP Draft?

Note: this rule suggestion is independent from the Compensatory Pick suggestion (above).
Do we want / need a 4th round of FP drafting?

Future Prospects Drop Dead Date

Should there be mandatory reasons for a team to lose an FP off their roster?

• Because they are dead?
• Because they have retired?
• Because they have played in Europe for 7 years?
• Because, really, is there any hope that player ever gets called up?

Expansion

Each year I suggest that we expand and this year is no different.  My goal at the inception of the league was to get to 20 owners.  I always felt that the point of the league was to be a relative reflection of the NHL and the more teams we have the more that reflection becomes a reality.

Compensatory Picks for Restricted Free Agents

• Any team that loses a restricted free agent to a different team on Bidding Day would receive a compensatory “4th” round selection in the following Future Prospect Draft.  Note: this option would provide the owner that has the right to match an option to not match and receive an extra pick as compensation.

• Question: should this also count for RFA’s that are signed during the post-Bidding day Free Agent Frenzy?
• Where there is more than 1 RFA / Compensatory Pick in a given draft, the draft picks will be ranked based on the RFA’s new salary
• Question: in the event of a tie in salaries, would the order that the RFA’s were signed in act as a good tie breaker?

Owner Communication and Responsibility

First a rant, followed by a number of questions for everybody’s consideration.
Each year I hear a number of complaints from different owners about a lack of communication from other owners - especially with regards to trade proposals.  Often an owner will send an email to a fellow owner and may or may not get a response.  There are other instances where similar lack of, or delay in, response also occurs.

So my question to everyone is: what is an owner’s responsibility to the league when it comes to the communication with the commissioner and other owners?  Other questions I would like everyone to consider:

• What is an acceptable response time for an email?
• Does it depend on the time of year?
• What can / should the league do about owners that do not respond to emails?
• What can we do to encourage more participation by owners?
• What is an owner’s responsibly to the league for paying attention to his team after Bidding Day?  
• If an owner allows players to remain inactive when injured players are currently active, should there be an recourse?

Owner Communication and Responsibility

First a rant, followed by a number of questions for everybody’s consideration.
Each year I hear a number of complaints from different owners about a lack of communication from other owners - especially with regards to trade proposals.  Often an owner will send an email to a fellow owner and may or may not get a response.  There are other instances where similar lack of, or delay in, response also occurs.

So my question to everyone is: what is an owner’s responsibility to the league when it comes to the communication with the commissioner and other owners?  Other questions I would like everyone to consider:

• What is an acceptable response time for an email?
• Does it depend on the time of year?
• What can / should the league do about owners that do not respond to emails?
• What can we do to encourage more participation by owners?
• What is an owner’s responsibly to the league for paying attention to his team after Bidding Day?  
• If an owner allows players to remain inactive when injured players are currently active, should there be an recourse?