Discussion: Minor League Teams

[Drew]

I was thinking of this when I was doing rosters today as lots of teams are already around 20 minor leaguers or close to. I was wondering if it would be beneficial for the league to have a "signed" player limit and no limit for unsigned players. Cap would remain the same as it would be unaffected but if the players take 5 years to develop, like goalies/defensemen then they will probably be released and drafted again before they hit the NHL. This would allow for teams to take more risks on young players.

What does the league think of this?

[Tony]

It could work but how about going back to only a 3 round draft?

[favo_zomg]

I love this idea! It corresponds with the real NHL in the fact that a player does not count against the team's contract limits until the player has signed a contract. So if we change the contract limit to 15, than it should all be kosher.

But if we do this, than we will have a new problem show up - what if a team does not keep up with their minors and just lets the names pile up?

What if we put a limit on the amount of no contract players that is separate from the contracted player limit? We could make it 25 players without a contract and 10 players with a contract. We could have two minor teams! The AHL and the ECHL! The AHL would be for contracted player, and the ECHL would be for no contract players.

It would also let teams wave more players as they no longer have to drop a potentially valuable minor so they can get rid of a bad player.

[Tyler]

My only concern would be hoarding the unsigned players and never really signing them and holding longer than needed as it would limit the amt of good specs that are a few years away from playing

[Drew]

I love this idea! It corresponds with the real NHL in the fact that a player does not count against the team's contract limits until the player has signed a contract. So if we change the contract limit to 15, than it should all be kosher.

But if we do this, than we will have a new problem show up - what if a team does not keep up with their minors and just lets the names pile up?

What if we put a limit on the amount of no contract players that is separate from the contracted player limit? We could make it 25 players without a contract and 10 players with a contract. We could have two minor teams! The AHL and the ECHL! The AHL would be for contracted player, and the ECHL would be for no contract players.

It would also let teams wave more players as they no longer have to drop a potentially valuable minor so they can get rid of a bad player.

I love the excitement favo. It would also be fun to name another minor league team. I like the idea of having two separate teams too but I wouldn't put a limit on the one that have no contracts as I want to promote development of prospects and this would lead to cutting as well.
It would be also interesting to challenge the baseball leagues with the depth of their minors haha.
I am wondering at what point do we have to drop or release them though as players could be in one minor league system for life (which isn't unrealistic) but eventually they move on to different things. Or do we do this?
I like the idea of a contracted minor league system as well too.
We would also have to look at the current number of players we have signed to set a reasonable limit for signed players. I think this number would currently be around a max of 10 per team so 15 maybe would be a good limit.

[favo_zomg]

I love the excitement favo. It would also be fun to name another minor league team. I like the idea of having two separate teams too but I wouldn't put a limit on the one that have no contracts as I want to promote development of prospects and this would lead to cutting as well.
It would be also interesting to challenge the baseball leagues with the depth of their minors haha.
I am wondering at what point do we have to drop or release them though as players could be in one minor league system for life (which isn't unrealistic) but eventually they move on to different things. Or do we do this?
I like the idea of a contracted minor league system as well too.
We would also have to look at the current number of players we have signed to set a reasonable limit for signed players. I think this number would currently be around a max of 10 per team so 15 maybe would be a good limit.

There also comes a time when you know a player is going no where; for example, Johan Harju on my team. It is definitely evident that he is never coming over, and the only reason I have yet to drop him is because I had no reason to drop him.

I feel that teams should be keeping tabs on their minors; even if its only at a once every couple months basis. But if the team does not keep tabs on their minors, than the bookkeeping becomes outrageous. That is why we need some kind of limit.

Personally, I say we have a 10 player AHL team that will be used for players with contracts and a 30 team ECHL team that will be used for players without a contract. That gives us more space to maintain minors while at the same time eventually holding us responsible for who will make it to the NHL and who will not.

I love the idea of having unlimited NC players, but I feel it will eventually lead to lazy bookkeeping and list that are too long to keep track of. We should have some kind of limit, but a limit large enough so it feels like we are developing a large sum of players.

[norrya66]

I love this idea! It corresponds with the real NHL in the fact that a player does not count against the team's contract limits until the player has signed a contract. So if we change the contract limit to 15, than it should all be kosher.

But if we do this, than we will have a new problem show up - what if a team does not keep up with their minors and just lets the names pile up?

What if we put a limit on the amount of no contract players that is separate from the contracted player limit? We could make it 25 players without a contract and 10 players with a contract. We could have two minor teams! The AHL and the ECHL! The AHL would be for contracted player, and the ECHL would be for no contract players.

It would also let teams wave more players as they no longer have to drop a potentially valuable minor so they can get rid of a bad player.

 

Would be really cool to seperate the minors!  But I think we definitely have to have a limit on both minor teams.  Like favo said, the lists would get crazy.

I think 10 AHL is good.  30 ECHL may be a little too much, but i'm good with anything in the 20-30 range.

[SlackJack]

My only concern would be hoarding the unsigned players and never really signing them and holding longer than needed as it would limit the amt of good specs that are a few years away from playing

 

I really think a limit is important.

[Mariner]

I agree with a lot of this, especially what favo is saying.

[abbyroad]

Have to say I agree with all that has been said. Love the new ideas and good discussion..........