Here is one more newsletter before the start of the season to remind you of the draft and go over some rule information.
The draft is Saturday, September 27, 1997 at Chris’ place. It will start at about 8 pm or so, when we will collect the money, pick draft positions, and vote on a couple of things for this season, mainly the league fee and prize money distribution. Then we can talk for a few minutes about anything else that we may want to consider for the future, at which point I will shoot it down as being too complicated to implement (just kidding.)
The league fee was $80 last season and we will vote on whether to keep it there or raise to $90 or $100. In case you are worried about the increasing cost of the league, if we end up at $100 this season, I don’t see another increase for two or three seasons. Whatever it is this season, please bring it to the draft. All teams MUST be paid before they can draft. There will be NO exceptions. Also, if you are among the unfortunate, out-of-touch souls who will not be able to access the web stuff, bring $10 for weekly mailings or $5 for bi-weekly mailings, if desired. We will also decide how the additional prize money should be split. Here is my proposal, based on 12 teams and $100 per team.
| Total points champion | $ 260 |
| Second place points | 120 |
| Third place points | 60 |
| EFHL Playoff champion | 200 |
| EFHL Final loser | 60 |
| Division winners (2) | 40 |
| Period winners (6) | 70 |
| Total | $1,200 |
Charlie – Convert from Nasty Fantasy Football League
Bill – Another convert from Nasty Fantasy Football League
Mike - Tony's friend
Travis - Brett's friend
The rules are now posted to the web site. In case you don’t have it, it is http://www.geocities.com/colosseum/track/3533/efhlrule.htm. Unless you are new to the league, you probably don’t want to read them, so I’ll go over some of the important points, mainly a couple of rule changes. I’ll have copies of the rules at the draft that will have the detailed dates, so you will need to be sure to pick one up or print it from the web.
There will be 20 head-to-head games per team this season. The weeks will run from Wednesday to Tuesday, with a few exceptions. This is different than last year, when we went Tuesday to Monday. There will be six periods once again. The 12 teams will be put in two divisions and the playoffs will include six teams, with the division winners receiving first round byes. The EFHL regular season ends Tuesday, March 17. The first round of the playoffs will be one week, the second round two weeks, and the EFHL final almost two weeks.
There will one rule change and one additional rule for this season. The change involves moves. You will be allowed 15 moves, like last season. However, it will not count as a move to drop a reserve and replace him with a free agent. Only changes to your active roster will count as moves.
The additional rule states that no player that is on any roster (including injured reserve) as of the trade deadline can be picked up by any other team for the remainder of the season. This is mainly to protect from a situation that could arise where a team is out of moves but has a good player coming off IR. Without this rule, theoretically any team could pick up this player and gain an unfair advantage merely because another team has used all their moves. It could also prevent collusion. For example, last-place Chris could call me to offer to drop Jagr (and me immediately pick him up) for a price. I’m probably a little paranoid regarding collusion, but as you raise the stakes, I suppose you raise the temptation for collusion as well.
Anyway, I hope everyone is following the daily NHL news. It is tough to keep up with everything. Some guys are unsigned restricted free agents, some guys are holding out for better contracts, of which some are in camp and some are not. The Joe Sakic and Chris Gratton signings this summer have really screwed things up for a lot of teams and made some players feel worth more than they are. It is always interesting to see guys who want to renegotiate their contracts half way through. More power to them though because they usually end up getting what they want.
On the other hand, here are some guys who really ought to be renegotiating their contract, however, the other way. Salaries are for 1996-97, so in most cases they are probably higher this season.
Pavel Bure, $5,000,000-Has been hurt, but even when playing has not been producing like a few seasons ago.
Alexander Daigle, $3,100,000 Canadian-A little better last year, but now the Senators are going to need that money to pay the real players they have.
Kevin Stevens, $2,997,614-Never the same since his injury. Perhaps the trade to the Rangers will jump start his career. Only if he plays on Gretzky's line.
Joe Murphy, $2,800,000-I think this is one of Keenan's brilliant moves. This helps explain how Keenan was passed over (and barely considered) for the ten or so coaching and GM openings this summer.
Tom Barrasso, $2,717,000-Maybe he can redeem himself again this year, but more than likely he will take the Pens down with him again. Hopefully I will be wrong here and he will be good or can be unloaded to another team, although it does not appear he is being shopped around.
Radek Bonk, $1,325,000 Canadian-See Daigle, except he sucked last year again.
That's about it for now. I will be talking to you guys in a few days.