Phase Three: The Waiver Situation

Hello folks. I hope that this post finds everyone well. Phase One and Two seem to be progressing nicely such that I think it might be time to let loose with Phase Three: The Waiver Situation.

First a little summary. Phase One, although not in any way 100% resolved, seems to be leaning towards a slow draft which would start September 1st. Phase Two, although not in any way 100% resolved, seems to be leaning towards a 48 hour trade review period with 6 GMs required for a veto.

Now, I had the pleasure of meeting up with last years regular season champion last week and we got to talking about the possibility of slowly phasing in Waiver Pick-Ups in our fine league. In fact, I wonder if ultimately our goal should be the removal of the Mid Season Draft and in its place a certain number of Waiver Pick-Ups.

Back when our fine league was formed, I thought that it would be fun to have a mid season draft, but last year and perhaps even the year before I found it a bit difficult finding the time to squeeze it in. Waiver Pick-Ups would do away with the 'stress' that a mid season draft can create. Many of us have dealt picks for the 2012 Mid Season draft so obviously we could not eliminate it next season, but I would be very interested considering just that for the season that follows.

We could, for example, introduce one or two waiver pick ups for the upcoming season and make a test drive of sorts. If a majority of GMs were happy then we could go further the following season and introduce more waiver picks ups and phase out the mid season draft altogether. I think waiver pick ups would add an extra element of excitement into our fine league. We would always be on the lookout for that next important pick up and we would also be very curious about whom other GMs pick up as the season progresses. One could also trade waiver pick ups which would really be an interesting thing to watch. I have heard before that Waiver Pickups favour those who have more time to dedicate to fantasy hockey, but I would argue that the both the September draft and the Mid Season draft, not to mention any sort of trading favours GMs who have more time or dedication to fantasy hockey. It is my feeling that Waiver Pick ups would take the interest level up a notch (perhaps even two) and I am interested in hearing what other GMs who have perhaps more experience on the subject have to say.

Gregory K Chapler
Playoff Champion 2012

i voted to keep it the same. dont' really matter either way. but with the midseason draft it forces me to hold onto guys instead of dropping them when they are in a slump. i am trigger happy so i would probably end up dropping the sedins after a slow start lol.

I favour waiver picks. low number like 5 per year. Reason is just convenience of not having a draft to organize and in my other league waivers can be like gold if you hold them to the end of the season. Also if you start having many injuries in one position you are not forced to make a bad trade just to fill a spot(or wait till the draft). I had three injuries to RW last year and one more and I would've been in a pickle and everyone would've known it. The reason I like a low number is because if it's too high people just add players that have more games for the week. My league has 6 and by the end of the season there is usually only one person with one left. There is always that guy that uses all 6 in the first month, but he always regrets it.

I would suggest one or two for this year and no trading mid season picks for 2012, then at the end of the year vote again.

Waivers... hmmm. Like the pretty girls sitting on a float in a parade?

I'm all for pretty girls. Razor, do you think you can get Charlize waving? (you're too slow old buddy!)

Sorry, sorry... be serious now.

Yes and no.

Those most active will benefit the most. The landscape changes while in flight. I would wonder that in Red's league (they have waivers), if at times, it inhibits trading. If only because, the owner made a move and wants to see how that works for at least a week or two.

How do players become eligible to pickup as waivers? Anyone playing in the NHL and not on our teams (usually).

First come, first serve for these guys? (usually)

When someone drops a player, then waiver priority kicks in? (usually)

Waiver priority adjusts as claims are made? (usually)

I'm content to change. I'm content to remain the same.

Jeffrey H. McKee (aka SCOOP)
Nutbars Champ Wannabee
2011 Arthur Pool Champ
2010 Arthur Pool Champ
2009 Arthur Pool Champ
2008 Arthur Pool Champ
2007 Arthur Pool Champ
2004 Arthur Pool Champ

How do players become eligible to pickup as waivers? Anyone playing in the NHL and not on our teams (usually).

First come, first serve for these guys? (usually)

When someone drops a player, then waiver priority kicks in? (usually)

Waiver priority adjusts as claims are made? (usually)


In my league these are all how it works. I don't feel it necessarily favours the active because if the number is low then active people usually use them up faster then the lazy have the advantage near the end of the year. And in my league it does reduce trading early in the season then increases trading once people use moves and want to trade to get more. Evens out in the end for sure. But I find it's a blast and no midseason draft to organize. I feel it keeps people more interested in the pool because you check to see what moves have been made and see if a player you are thinking about gets taken.

Good points by all thus fellas.

This was something I never thought of and good for our league champ for pointing it out:

Also if you start having many injuries in one position you are not forced to make a bad trade just to fill a spot(or wait till the draft). I had three injuries to RW last year and one more and I would've been in a pickle and everyone would've known it.

If waivers are brought in we can not have first come first serve there has to be a waiver list or some sort of system. First come first serve is not fair to everyone some people just have more free time. I have no idea how to make it fair but there is no way i would vote yes on a free for all first come first serve basis.

I should add I'm not against change all together just needs to be thought about very carefully we have a good and strong league any changes have to be scrutinized closely to insure we maintain the quality of the league we have.

My vote would be to leave it the same
All my other leagues have always been waiver pick up, this had been the first league that i've been in with a mid season draft and no pick ups.....and i must say i like it, i like it alot

i like how you could become forced to make a trade to fill you line up due to injuries, makes it a little more realistic
Stay the same!

first come first serve with both waivers and free agent pick ups would not work well here. say for example i dropped a player and teams wanted him but did not want to drop in their waiver order so no one claimed him on waivers and he becmes a free agent at like 430am ET. then if anyone lived in switzerland **coughGREGcough** would have first shot at all newly dubbed free agents, unless i set my alarm for the middle of the night.

just thought i would point out one thing we may come across if a rule change was adopted.

if we did eliminate the draft i would be for either strictly waivers pick ups, or first come first serve with just free agents and no waivers thus avoiding the situation mentioned above

i hope this isn't confusing lol.. but ya im still for keeping it the same. that way we can really see our september draft blunders like last year when noone grabbed thomas or the year before i think it was meyers, and krejci in the 1st year.

cheers

I also like the way it is now in that it is so more realistic this way, like Jarrett had mentioned. I am involved in another league that has this waiver/free agent pick up(although unlimited with a $5 cost) but I like the mid-season draft better. This method inspires more trading, or at least trade talk. And I have always liked drafting. I even like draft beers! Draft, draft, draft.

I do agree this would be tricky in this league. Very deep and we can draft players that aren't even playing in the NHL. If we do try waiver picks I would suggest it only applies to players on the ESPN sight. And I do notice on ESPN you can find players like Jagr even last year.... They would've been a free agent and if he signed in the NHL I don't know that he would switch to waivers.. My other league is on yahoo and they don't list players as free agents unless they are playing in the NHL so if Jagr were signed half way through the season he would be added to yahoo and go to waivers for a set period before free agency. Almost all my trades involved a waiver move or spot in my other league so I guess that's why I feel they increase trading. But then I don't trade much anyway. I don't think it would work in this league unfortunately unless there is a way to set up ESPN to only show players currently playing in the NHL. I noticed you can see many retired players to, and if a player came out of retirement I think they would be free agents first come first serve. And that would suck if it couldn't be changed.

That was a problem when Mario decided to come out of retirement in the middle of the season. One team grabbed him right away. Huge controversy in the league where one team was getting a first round type player, or in his case him being more like 2 first rounders, so we adopted an amendment to the league rules what is now called the Mario Rule. The Mario Rule gives the commissioner the authority to make judgement on unforeseen events, such as the Mario un-retirement.

Happy Canada Day to all!

Good discussion here. That is what I like to see.

I went into the League Manager Tools to have a look at what some of our options are here and I stumbled upon something that interested me. In fact, I thought ......... 'that looks like a lot of fun'.

Now, I have been looking after a large pack of young children today as my wife's sister is busy giving birth to her third child and I am a bit frazzled at the moment, so I will simply post what I stumbled upon and hope that we can talk it out together to determine whether or not this might be an interesting option for our fine league. Brace yourselves ....... here it is:

CUSTOM LEAGUE FREE AGENCY AUCTION BIDDING (New for 2011)
Bring the auction experience to your free agent list. A free-agent acquisition budget (FAAB) is used in blind auctions open to every team within the league. League Managers can select this option via a radio button in the "Transaction and Keepers" tab of the league setup process.
In an auction bidding environment, players who are not selected in the league draft, players who are dropped and players added to the player pool during the season become FAAB-eligible for the timeframe set by the League Manager. However, instead of placing a traditional waiver claim, an owner places a bid they feel is appropriate based on a player's value. The LM assigns the pre-determined budget of each team for FAAB bidding over the course of the season. During the bidding period, team owners may bid at any time before the deadline. In a FAAB bidding environment, the only way players can be picked up is through the FAAB bidding process, and there are no first-come, first-served pick-ups. The bidding process is an open process and there is no sequence for the bids. Team owners may bid at any time during the waiver period, before it expires.

In the event of bids of equal amounts for a player by two or more teams (a tie), the lowest-ranked team in the year-to-date standings will receive the player. During the bidding period, no team can see any other team's bids or bid amounts. All teams can view FAAB bidding results after bids are processed, either on the league home page or in waiver reports. Additionally, all teams can view other teams' budget balances on each team clubhouse and waiver order pages.

If you would like to learn more about FAAB, check out the article "How to use ESPN's new FAAB feature", by AJ Mass. It is as pertinent to Fantasy Hockey as it is about Fantasy Baseball.Click here to learn more.

I just read it over one more time and this time with the help of a large glass of red wine. Here is what I think:

Looks like a ton of fun.

It reminds me a bit of an old pool I used to be a part of with a group of friends in Toronto. We used to bid (secretly) on players and then with great fanfare and excitement we would reveal our bids. It was great fun because every once in a while a GM would massively overbid which would result in a huge amount of heckling and the like. Also, every now and then, a GM would make a huge steal which was also great fun.

I am always looking to increase the interest level in our league and this might be a real option for us.

Looking foward to hearing some comments.

Gregory
K
Chapler

Signing out for the evening.

I love it sounds like a blast somethings would have to be worked out but im totally on board.

I would vote for that. I'm not sure i get exactly how it works but it sounds possible for us.

Might want to start a new vote.

SCOOP

On it ....

I will start a new thread.

Hmmm. Not sure I understand this new twist. Sounds like it involves bidding an amount of fantasy money, which wouldn't make sense for our league because it is not a salary cap league. Or am I missing something?

Regarding the issue raised in this thread., I would personally vote for keeping the mid season draft the way it is. In my other keeper league we have waiver pick ups and it has almost completely killed trading. I don't care for the dynamics it has created.

That's just my personal opinion. I've already told Greg I would likely vote against it...