Trade Deadline!

[Rob]

I don't expect to compete for a number of years but I would support a move towards being a friendly money league. I was thinking the other day that a modest buy-in might cover premium Fantrax features and leave a small pot for the winner/runner-up (and maybe the most improved player). Is this worth talking about?

Love the idea.  It's been in my head for a long time but I've been afraid to bring it up!  We don't really need any of the Fantrax features - but to that end if we did, then I would pay for it myself.  But as it stands there's no advanced features other than minor league eligibility (which is really only helpful in the offseason and it's enabled in the offseason anyway). 

But yea... Even a $10 buy-in would go a long way.  Something like:

Champ - $100
Runner up - $50
Ken Holland winner - $50

It would certainly help to encourage activity.

[SlackJack]

But yea... Even a $10 buy-in would go a long way.  Something like:

Champ - $100
Runner up - $50
Ken Holland winner - $50

It would certainly help to encourage activity.

[GypsieDeathBringer]

I'm not in any money leagues on here to say if that increases participation, but I can say for whatever reason interest was down at the trade deadline.  Not even just GMs not wanting to trade, but GMs not responding to messages.  If making DNHL a money league helps then I am for it. 

There certainly looks like their is parity in the league to me.  5-12 is really bunched up.  If you look the Blues have just hit on some kind of lucky rabbit's foot of few injuries and great schedule.  They have about 70 more games played than every other team.  That certainly isn't normal.  You take that away and they are a really great team instead of a juggernaut. 

[WestCoastExpress]

Not bringing it up as a league issue, but my 2 cents of why there's a decline in trades is as follows...

The issue I think is that all of the rookie contracts are a measly $0.5m for 3 years. Super cheap, compared to even the mediocre guys in FA right now who are getting $0.9m per year deals. Who would you rather have, Patrick Laine for $0.5m or Riley Sheahan for $0.9m per year?
Not saying everyone is Laine caliber, but even if you can have a lot of $0.5m players on your roster, you're set. And why would you trade them away? Full disclosure, I'm a big Laine fan and have literally been bugging Eric for him for about a year and a half, no lie. But a guy like him, and several others, who produce over 2 fanpts a game, why would anyone trade them away?

On top of that you get them an extra 5 years at a discounted rate. I'm not complaining, as I have guys like Pastrnak and Kucherov who should be costing me a combined $15m+ per year but aren't. But that also makes me really not want to deal them, or a Sheifele or Drouin on the contracts they're on.

I think that's why there's not much trading going on. Good prospects who may make it to the NHL next year will be valuable commodities, a lot more so than even a good current NHL player making $4m per year. That's how the top teams stay on top. Get your studs, and then keep stocking the farm. It's the St.Louis blueprint.
As someone mentioned, the teams bunched in the middle... They're not shipping out young guys on those contracts to make it an extra round in the playoffs this year before WPG or STL take them out.

It's also why guys in FA go for crazy amounts. Jake Guenzel at over $10m ring a bell? (Kudos to PIT for getting the top FA and wanting to compete, but that contract will sting for its entire duration. Stamkos at that price is stomach-able...somewhat...but Jake, not so much).

Again, not lobbying for changes or anything like that, but I think it's really why teams aren't easily willing to trade good prospects for good NHL players. I know I'd love to add Stamkos or a Getzlaf, but their salaries are so high, and sacrificing a $0.5m player, or even a Sheifele at under $5m, it makes life really difficult to trade those pieces away.

Even still, the only thing I could think of is increasing rookie deals, and lowering the prospect extensions to 3 years. Getting lucky and just being gifted a Mathews or Laine or any other top NHL draft pick from the keeper draft picks of your own team at $0.5m per year for 3 years is quite nice.
Could make it more interesting and give each 1st round draftee a contract value. ie. 1st = $3m per, 2nd =$2.7m per, etc etc. But again, that gets messy. Not trying to bring up rule changes here. Just pointing out what I see.

[Rob]

Good stuff.  Part of the original plan was to encourage building from within. Hence the cheap contacts. But you're right, even middle of the road prospects are tough to give up. And this ties into Snuggy's point about teams selling in.

In the aggregate I really think we have a healthy trading league. The extension period and draft are always littered with interesting deals. Look at the draft pick trackers! It's trading at the deadline specifically that's the issue. There hasn't been a ton of incentive to add pieces the last 2 years.

Timing, favorable prospect contacts, the Blues/Jets phenomena and a decline in overall energy are the issues. Not sure of the solution, lol.

[WestCoastExpress]

Good stuff.  Part of the original plan was to encourage building from within. Hence the cheap contacts. But you're right, even middle of the road prospects are tough to give up. And this ties into Snuggy's point about teams selling in.

In the aggregate I really think we have a healthy trading league. The extension period and draft are always littered with interesting deals. Look at the draft pick trackers! It's trading at the deadline specifically that's the issue. There hasn't been a ton of incentive to add pieces the last 2 years.

Timing, favorable prospect contacts, the Blues/Jets phenomena and a decline in overall energy are the issues. Not sure of the solution, lol.

I do think that pushing the deadline back a few weeks would help.
There are still a handful of teams that are on the bubble and neither buyers or sellers.

Maybe if you're solidified into a playoff spot a week from playoffs, you're more willing to give up prospects/picks to get another player or two. When you're unsure if you'll be 6th or 12th, then there is a lot less incentive to give up "future" for "now" if the "now" isn't going to help you when you don't make playoffs.

The point was also made that seeing NHL trades could help boost trades here.
In Canada anyways, the deadline is a day-long TV event, so there's a ton of hype surrounding even the minor trades. Doesn't help those TV guys when all the big deals are done days before the deadline, like the Gaborik/Phaneuf deal that went down yesterday. Gives them zero to talk about on TV deadline day haha.

I know it seems odd to have a trade deadline literally right before playoffs start, but I'm pretty sure we don't have collusion in this league, and if it boosts trades even a little bit, it may be worth exploring.

This year could also be an anomaly as there are clearly 2 teams above the 3rd-10th place teams so far in regular season. If there were say a top-5 bunched up who could all win the title, then maybe there would be more buying from those teams. I know I was trying to sell at the deadline and didn't get a sniff, other than longer-term assets on my team on good contracts.
I figured I could at least unload someone like Daniel Sedin fully paid for, for even a 3rd rounder. Nada.

[SlackJack]

Great conversation from all angles. My thinking is that the contract structure is very well balanced. By the time Laine comes off his entry contract his extension cost will be $6.7m. That's $4.7m after the discount which is much needed given that extending even mid-caliber players (non-discounted) is very pricey. My read is that the regular extension values are high so as to increase roster turn-over.

The work around as discussed, are the entry-level and discounted bridge-contracts. Of course these require savvy drafting and management on the part of the GM which is what we're all aiming for here anyway. Contracts and draft picks matter!

I think that rather than examining contract structure we should focus on how to motivate or provide incentive for greater forum activity. Not sure what that would look like and so we're kicking the can around on monetizing. Certainly both Martin and Tyler should have been available for the trade deadline. That's inactivity not just from 10% of the league, but from 20% of play-off eligible teams!

[Gilly]

I can fix the activity :-)

[jmtrops]

Im looking at the board every night but Im a lurker not a poster. So there really isnt anything you can do to get me to post more often.

[SlackJack]

Im looking at the board every night but Im a lurker not a poster. So there really isnt anything you can do to get me to post more often.

You answer your mail dude. That's the main thing!