Well, the schedule for the upcoming NHL season came out last week, which means that the beginning of the season will be here soon. It is still two months away, however, but thankfully there is now less than a month until the football season begins. I never realized how much I hated summer. Maybe I'll be desperate enough to get into Chris' lame fantasy baseball league next year. 

Before I look at the upcoming season, let's take a moment to review what happened in our playoff league, since I won. Here are the final totals.  

Grant 152

Brett 140

Tony 127

Rick 110

Rich 108

Chris 72

For the effort, I won $180 and Brett won $60. As I mentioned on the website, the top three finishers were the same as the previous year, when Tony won, I finished second, and Brett third.

I managed to win despite my bad luck with injuries continuing. Andreychuk, my fourth forward, went down in the Devils' regular season finale the day after our draft. He played in one of the Devils' 10 playoff games. My players are even in danger in the offseason. Thankfully, Konstantinov is slowly recuperating from his injuries, although he won't be on any EFHL roster this season.

The NHL may soon be changing its name to the Nutty Hockey League. This is due to some of the contracts being awarded to some unrestricted free agents this offseason. I guess the Canucks were not watching the playoffs last season in which Messier looked worn out and basically was a nonfactor. And it is hard to believe guys who have zero chance of ending up on a fantasy team this season (unless we expand to 50 teams), such as Mike Keane, Brian Skrudland, and Luke Richardson, are getting contracts worth $2 million plus per year. Maybe we should add categories for leadership and hard-hitting, steady defensemen.

Anyway, back to this season. The upcoming season of the EFHL should be the best yet, mainly because I can't see Rick dominating for three straight years. I don't think we will make any changes as far as scoring and rosters. Some of you maybe would like to add goalies, but I don't think you get enough from that to make it worth the recordkeeping effort. We can talk about it at the draft for future reference, but we are not going to change it for the upcoming season.

We will most likely keep the same structure of payouts as last season. However, I would really like to add a few teams, and then maybe have a few additional payouts, such as division winners if we have two divisions, and also maybe increase the per period payout. If you know anyone who may be interested in this league, start working on them now, because we will need a commitment from them a week or two before the draft to make sure we have an even number of teams. The excuse, "I don't know enough about hockey" is not a valid reason for not being in the league. Tell them to pick up a magazine. Although we do want people who will stay interested in the league all season, even if their team does not resemble Rick’s teams of the past two years.

The draft is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, September 27, 1997 at Chris' place (where else), although there is a slight chance we will have it somewhere else. It will probably start at around 8 PM or so. If this is really bad for you, let Chris or me know and we may try to accommodate you, but it pretty much has to be that weekend. Also let us know if you have recruited someone else for the league or if you will not be participating this season. As far as the cost this year, that is mostly up to you guys. It was $80 last season. We can vote at the draft to determine how much this season. We can bump it up $10 or $20 if you guys want. Just make sure you bring your money to the draft. If you care enough about this or anything else, let me know before the draft.

The results will again be posted on the world wide web, although at a different site from last year. If you didn't get my e-mail a few months ago, the new site is http://www.geocities.com/colosseum/track/3533/efhlhome.htm .

Stats can also be mailed ($10 for weekly mailings) or e-mailed (only if you have no web access.)

Don’t forget this season will be interrupted for 2½ weeks in February for the Olympics. We will most likely have some kind of Olympics fantasy league that will be similar to the playoff league to fill that void. More details to follow much later. Look for a rash of injuries just before the Olympics to players who don't want to make the 24 hour trip to Nagano, play a bunch of games, make the trip back, and then be ready for the stretch run to the playoffs.

Either me or Chris will be in touch with you before the draft to confirm everything. I look forward to seeing you guys at the draft (or talking to you, if I don't make it in person.) In the meantime, if you have any comments or suggestions regarding the upcoming season, you can e-mail me (grantg@dc.net).

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