VOTE Cap for this year

[Big M Bob]

Also, not trying to start issues. But can we please get the rules on the website. It’s a pain to have it on fcp, bc it’s a gambling site and blocked at my work laptop.

yup, it's something that's been negligent and will get corrected. I know I've said this before and let you down. At the moment doing a few higher priority things.

[Zach6668]

I said every game Zach not every year. There's a difference.

Within the broad season long strategy that teams have to rebuild or try for a championship there is a core philosophy that all rules should encourage teams to ice the best possible lineup on any given night from the roster they have. There are of course some things on the margins that bend that but we should keep those to a minimum as much as possible. I know I feel more strongly on this than others do probably.

Just a typo on my part Bob.

[Zach6668]

Can we stop with anonymous private messages?

This is OUR pool. We all have a right to discuss and decide how the rules should work. Everyone should feel comfortable discussing these things openly.

If there's something about this league that is turning people away from having these discussions in public, that's an issue.

I've never been in a league where a rule change isn't discussed amongst all owners in a public forum before a decision is made. This is so bizarre.

Give me a fucking break.

I'm chatting with somebody about one thing and it morphs into something else and also a pool issue is brought up.

This was a conversation that could have just as easily been in public but not everything is going to be. Maybe look in the mirror at the tone that you take when somebody doesn't agree with you for why some people don't want to post their thoughts on things.

Totally, but it's still always the same handful of people publicly stating opinions. And, to quote you, "CannonBob 7 hours ago
a lot of people in the pool don't like getting in the middle of things since they can sometimes be heated so they will message me their thoughts in private. This was a message I was sent that seemed reasonable to me."

That's a bit of an issue, I think.

[Zach6668]

everybody in this league should be entitled to their opinions on potential rule chances - doing that in public encourages more discussion and hopefully in the end, a consensus forward.

[Big M Bob]

Can we stop with anonymous private messages?

This is OUR pool. We all have a right to discuss and decide how the rules should work. Everyone should feel comfortable discussing these things openly.

If there's something about this league that is turning people away from having these discussions in public, that's an issue.

I've never been in a league where a rule change isn't discussed amongst all owners in a public forum before a decision is made. This is so bizarre.

Give me a fucking break.

I'm chatting with somebody about one thing and it morphs into something else and also a pool issue is brought up.

This was a conversation that could have just as easily been in public but not everything is going to be. Maybe look in the mirror at the tone that you take when somebody doesn't agree with you for why some people don't want to post their thoughts on things.

Totally, but it's still always the same handful of people publicly stating opinions. And, to quote you, "CannonBob 7 hours ago
a lot of people in the pool don't like getting in the middle of things since they can sometimes be heated so they will message me their thoughts in private. This was a message I was sent that seemed reasonable to me."

That's a bit of an issue, I think.

because not everybody states their opinions in public for whatever reasons they have, sometimes they will share them with me in private and sometimes I'll solicit them in private. It's better that they are heard in private than not at all.

[Zach6668]

I said every game Zach not every year. There's a difference.

Within the broad season long strategy that teams have to rebuild or try for a championship there is a core philosophy that all rules should encourage teams to ice the best possible lineup on any given night from the roster they have. There are of course some things on the margins that bend that but we should keep those to a minimum as much as possible. I know I feel more strongly on this than others do probably.

My point here is that "best lineup" on any given night is subject to longer term constraints. Nick Suzuki is better than many of my depth players, but he won't be playing mid-season games because this is a keeper league with complex rules that allow managers to make decisions on how to manage their teams. This is an identical scenario to the reserve system that's been running for at least a decade since I've been in the league - if a team decides their best shot at a title now or in the future is to spend $95 on a $90 cap and rotate in and out of the reserve, they should have been allowed to do so. That isn't against some sort of sacrosanct rule of fantasy hockey.

[Zach6668]

Give me a fucking break.

I'm chatting with somebody about one thing and it morphs into something else and also a pool issue is brought up.

This was a conversation that could have just as easily been in public but not everything is going to be. Maybe look in the mirror at the tone that you take when somebody doesn't agree with you for why some people don't want to post their thoughts on things.

Totally, but it's still always the same handful of people publicly stating opinions. And, to quote you, "CannonBob 7 hours ago
a lot of people in the pool don't like getting in the middle of things since they can sometimes be heated so they will message me their thoughts in private. This was a message I was sent that seemed reasonable to me."

That's a bit of an issue, I think.

because not everybody states their opinions in public for whatever reasons they have, sometimes they will share them with me in private and sometimes I'll solicit them in private. It's better that they are heard in private than not at all.

No question it's better than no opinion, but then you being able to cherry pick which opinions are shared or not is an issue. Like I said, this league belongs to every single owner and we are all passionate about it. I would much prefer we could discuss every potential issue about it in public. It;s so much better for the pool if that were the case.

[Ottawa_biatch]

In years past, I’ve used the reserve to stash rental players. It wasn’t because I was trying to put out a bad lineup, but the way the rules are set up, it allows me to trade for an additional rental player over the $90 cap, and then put a different rental on the reserve who maybe isn’t as good but same price. Then if the player I traded for goes cold, hurt, whatever, I can swap the healthy rental on reserve with the player I traded for. It’s not that I’m not icing my best lineup to tank or anything, it’s just using the current set of rules to my advantage. If I was going into this season with that mindset, I wouldn’t be happy that the reserve rule was changed a couple weeks before the season without any discussion. I’m not trying to stir up anything, just giving my two cents, that all these rules changes should be decided collectively bc it’s not fair to other GMs who are expecting the same rules as it’s been the past decade and then it changing on a whim. And I’m not against rule changes, I’m for them. I just wish it wasn’t decided so quickly and there was a chance for discussion.

[Big M Bob]

the general point about things being discussed is of course good and valid.

Sometimes things have to happen quickly and decisions have to be made and not every little piece of every decision can be broken down and separated from every other and voted on.

The general details of our Covid Rules were discussed in Slack and nobody to my knowledge brought up any objections to them so it's not like the changes were a surprise to anybody.

Things happened quickly today which made it sloppy.

I made a post in Slack a couple hours ago asking for input into whether we should have taxi squad players including in Free Agent pickups. So far only a couple owners have commented and I would appreciate anybody reading this to give feedback on that.

[CanadianGothic]

I can understand your emphasizing a "best lineup" philosophy, Bob, but there has to be a balance. A team has to be able to do what is best for them. The issue becomes finding that acceptable line between what is good for them and what is detrimental to the league. I think the rules that are in place plus the attention owners pay to dressing competitive lineups in "meaningless to them/important to others" games has allowed us to find the acceptable line. And I like seeing active owners.

Anyway, as far as this issue is concerned it's simple for me... you do not change the rules after the fact. The rule was created and it was posted for everyone to see. You must have 3 goalies. You must have a minimum of 23 players. You may have up to 28 players. Your cap is $90. You can place an injured player on Reserve for cap relief, but he still counts against your max 28 players. The rule was there, but I'm guessing many didn't read it, or read it, but didn't really think about it again.

It's not as if the rule as it is written is outrageous or severely handicaps anyone...even though that would largely be their fault because the rule was in place before the auction.

Nobody is being forced to have 28 players. Each owner needs to make their own decisions and sometimes you need to sacrifice something to keep something else. I understand wanting more money AND extra players, but this is like a cake and eat it too scenario with the rules being changed after the fact to facilitate it.