It was a great run for the Caps and pretty cool to have Washington halfway resemble a decent hockey town in mid June. But instead of being outraged at the Caps for being swept, most of the fans and media seemed content just for them to be in the finals. I am glad that we didn't have to settle with just being happy that the Pens were in the finals in 1991 and 1992 because it will be a long time before they are there again (and you may have to travel 900 miles to see them in Kansas City).

The Capitals bandwagon, naturally, was huge. Of course, I was on it, with my two Caps in the playoff pool and because I wanted to go to a finals game (which I didn't because I underestimated the size of the bandwagon). Of course everyone interviewed on TV or in the paper has been a fan since 1979 or whenever. No one would ever say, "I've been a fan for about 24 hours now, ever since Juneau's goal." (that put them in the finals). And fans seemingly jumped on and off the bandwagon daily and even in the middle of games. "What?! The Caps are losing 2-1 late in the third period of game 6? Those damn chokers. They will never win game 7." We'll see where everyone is in October, and it probably won’t be at MCI Center.

In case you didn't hear, Brett won the playoff pool. He was led by Conn Smythe trophy winner Yzerman (30 points) and had a total of six players with 10 or more points, which isn't bad considering the first round upsets. I finished second, mainly thanks to my last two picks, Caps Oates and Johansson. Tony finished third, making it the third year in a row that Tony, Brett, and I have comprised the top three, leaving everyone else in the dust.

OK, now on to what's happening for this season. First, please note the time of the auction. We will need some extra time for the auction as opposed to a regular draft. At 5:00, we will eat and discuss rules and other administrative stuff. A card game follows the auction. At some point, let Chris know if you will be playing cards. The league is going to cost $100 again. And again, you MUST pay before the auction. NO exceptions.

As of now, it appears that everyone from last year is back and we will hopefully be adding two teams for a total of 12, although one new team has yet to be named. If you know of anyone who is interested, let Chris or me know so we can try to get an even number of teams. With 11 teams, it will still work out reasonably well, even with bye weeks. It's just more money for Rick to win. The 11^th team is Jay, who finished a respectable third in the Olympic hockey pool last winter.

The proposed rules are here. They are based on 12 teams and will be revised if necessary. I will cover the changes in this newsletter, but you will want to check the rules for the calendar information.

As you should already be aware, the two major changes for this season are the player auction and the addition of goalies to the rosters. Those are a done deal. The minor changes under consideration are as follows. These items and any others can be discussed and voted on prior to the auction.

• Two reserve forwards (instead on one) if there are ten teams.
• 20 moves (from 15) or 10 moves + unlimited IR moves.
• No limit to the number of players on IR (but IR moves still count towards the 20).
• Dropped players are not available for one week (so the moves can appear in the weekly report).
• There are some other issues if we have 11 or 12 teams.

I have never participated in a fantasy auction, so I am not sure what to expect, but here is what I am envisioning for our auction. All of this is in the proposed rules. Please let me know if I am missing something.

• Each team will have $100 "pretend" dollars to bid with. The 100 is purely arbitrary and can be debated between now and then. I think 100 is good for the 11 roster spots per team to be filled in the auction (see the third bullet point), but let me know if you have any thoughts on this.
• The bidding order will be selected at random. Teams will introduce players into the auction and submit an opening bid in the bidding order in odd numbered rounds and in reverse bidding order in even numbered rounds. The actual bidding order will not change.
• Team rosters will consist of 14 players: seven forwards, five defensemen, and two goalies. The $100 will be used to fill 11 roster spots on each team. The final three spots will be filled draft style and can be from any position. This will allow teams to choose "sleepers" without giving them away. The drafting will take place in the bidding order, with team number one choosing first. The order will reverse in each round.
• To introduce a player, a team must have an opening on the roster at his position. Once a team's roster is full, that team can no longer introduce or bid on players.
• Teams bid on players in the bidding order. All bids must be in whole dollars. On their turn to bid, a team can increase the bid for the player by $1 or more, or pass. Once a team passes on a player, they may no longer make any more bids for him.
• Each player is awarded to the highest bidder. The amount of the winning bid is then subtracted from the team's available dollars. That team must then have at least one dollar remaining for each spot to be filled on the roster. Teams must pass if a successful bid would leave them with fewer than the required dollars. If a team makes a winning bid and that bid is then found to give them fewer than the required dollars remaining, the team that made the previous high bid can acquire the player for the amount of their last bid or the player can be returned to the pool of available players and the next team will introduce the next player to be bid on.
• Money left over at the end of the auction is worthless, which coincidentally is the same as the value of any piece of sports memorabilia, according to Mark McGwire. In case you missed it, he was quoted as saying, "There isn't a piece of sports memorabilia worth a dime." when asked if he would purchase his 62^nd home run ball from a fan. I guess you can just throw that autographed Wayne Gretzky hockey stick out with the trash.

One final note. Chris and I have talked about a getting a trophy for the playoff champion. We could have it for the points champion instead, but there is no use buying something that would be a permanent fixture at Rick's place. We can vote on this as well and if there is enough interest, we will get one. $2 per team should cover it.

As always, I am open to any comments or suggestions regarding the league. See you in a couple months.

Proposed 1998 rules

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