#26 — Vanek! with a Jurco

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This is the twenty-sixth post of Deke Dangle RPF Anon, a community for all your ice hockey anon meme needs.

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Comments

Fantasy hockey

[(Anonymous)]

We doing that again this year? I had a lot of fun with it last year but I'm not sure if commish!nonnie is still here and/or they want to put in the time to organise this again. Or maybe someone else would like to step in?

Re: Fantasy hockey

[(Anonymous)]

I was busy when playoffs started and totally forgot to play (plus my entire team was injured at that point), but I enjoyed playing until then! I'll wait and see if commish nonnie is around but could possibly run it if they're not. (I'd rather they do it though! They did a great job!)

Re: Fantasy hockey

[(Anonymous)]

It looks like commish!nonnie isn't around anymore if you feel like taking over the reins!

Or is it early still? I honestly don't remember when we started this last year, with the mock drafts and everything.

Re: Fantasy hockey

[(Anonymous)]

Not commish!nonny, but Yahoo hasn't opened yet.

Re: Fantasy hockey

[(Anonymous)]

I thought it opened today?

Re: Fantasy hockey

[(Anonymous)]

Hi folks! Commish!Nonny here.

I'm sorry for my long absence. Once my NHL team lost in the playoffs last season, I had to take a looooong hockey hiatus, plus I started a new job in May that has been very demanding of my time.

However, I just attended a couple of WCoH exhibition games, and the love is back! :D

So, let's talk fantasy hockey! I can renew the leagues from last season, which means that everyone who participated then will receive an e-mail (at the account you used for the league last year). Anyone who does not wish to play again can opt-out and new folks can join. There is also room for all the leagues to expand (by two players for A and B and by 4 for League C).

If you'd rather start all over again with new leagues, that's going to take a bit more work. I'm not sure I'll have the time to start from scratch, so if we choose that option, someone else might have to take over.

If we go the league renewal route, they do offer the option for us to keep some or all of our rosters from last year, but I think that is a) not fair to any new players, and b) less fun. (I find the drafting a huge part of the fantasy hockey fun for me, and a great way to run up to the new season, researching players and ordering my draft list--but that might just be me.)

So, who wants to play again? Who wants to play for the first time? Any thoughts, suggestions, recommendations for how to make it better than it was last year? I'm all ears!

(PS, I haven't tried logging into my Commish email account in a while, and I'm quite sure I have no clue what the password is, so if you've sent me any e-mail there, I apologize for the lack of response. I'll try to get back into that today.)

Re: Fantasy hockey

[(Anonymous)]

I'd love to play again and think renewing the leagues would be fine. I also agree that drafting is one of the more interesting parts and would want to start a new roster.

Re: Fantasy hockey

[(Anonymous)]

\o/ welcome back, commish!nonnie!

I definitely want to play again, and renewing the league + doing another draft is fine by me. Let the draft order nailbiting begin.

Re: Fantasy hockey

[(Anonymous)]

I didn't play last year, but if there's room in any of the leagues I'm definitely in!

Re: Fantasy hockey

[(Anonymous)]

I didn't play last year, bit it seemed like a lot of fun, so I'd like to try this year! ... Although I'll be very bad at it probably lol.

Re: Fantasy hockey

[(Anonymous)]

I'd love to play again. I'm totally fine with renewing our leagues and doing a new draft - that was half the fun.

Re: Fantasy hockey

[(Anonymous)]

Welcome back, commish! I'd love to play again this year, and league renewal is fine with me! New rosters would also be good.

Re: Fantasy hockey

[(Anonymous)]

Another +1 for renewing the league's but redoing the draft! I loved doing this last year and am looking forward to doing it again!

Re: Fantasy hockey

[(Anonymous)]

Oh god, redrafting. Look, maybe I will have a better team this year but I MADE SO MANY ROSTER MOVES.

I'd kinda like us to use GWGs as a stat this year, but that's just me.

Re: Fantasy hockey

[(Anonymous)]

I want to play again, renewing the league. I don't really care if we keep some of the roster or not.

Re: Fantasy hockey

[(Anonymous)]

Want to play again, fine with league renewal. I do wish we could have one keeper league at some point, because I want to try that, and I like you guys better than anyone else I've played with. But I'm in regardless of whether there's a total redraft or partial.

Re: Fantasy hockey

[(Anonymous)]

I'd love to play again with the same leagues. (Go, League C!) Redrafting is fine as well. I liked my team last year, but I agree that it would be unfair to new players if we all kept our best players. And who knows? Maybe I'll get to draft higher this time!

Re: Fantasy hockey--Scheduling & New Players

[(Anonymous)]

Commish!Nonny

I have managed to get back into my DDHLCommish@gmail.com account again, so I am ready, willing, and able to accept emails from those who did not play last year, but would like to give it a whirl this season.

Just drop me a line letting me know that you want to play. Please state that you are a new participant, so I can mark your email appropriately. Before I can send out the URLs for new players to sign up, I need to renew the leagues and see how many returning players we have on each team.

As I said in my prior post, even if all of last year's GMs return, we still have room for 8 new people to join. I expect to do the renewals tonight (or tomorrow am--EDT--at the latest), so new players should email me in the next few days. Returning players should watch the e-mail accounts they registered with Yahoo fantasy last year for notices. (If you are a returning GM and don't get a notification in the next day or two--or you no longer have access to that account--please e-mail me with the name of your team & league from last year and I'll send you the link again.)

Also, if you are a returning GM who is ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that you DO NOT wish to play this year, please e-mail me and include your team & league name from last season to let me know, and I will remove your team.

Scheduling

I realize we are starting a bit later this year, but the good news is that the NHL is starting later, too. Puck drops on the regular season on Wednesday, October 12. That is just under a month from now.

I read through all the primer/league setup/discussion posts from last season today, and I highly recommend all players--new and old--read them (again), too. We hashed out a lot of things about scheduling in those posts that I think are instructive and I will summarize them here:

--We need time for everyone to remind themselves how the drafting works, to do some mock drafts, and to set their player lists.

--Because it matters what role a guy plays in what sort of system (and because injuries always happen in preseason), we decided last year that waiting until after some preseason games before we draft was a good idea. That way, we can see how traded/free agent NHLers settle into their new teams and allow for any last-minute trades/injuries to show themselves.

--We need some time after the draft but before the season starts to adjust our rosters, via free agency/waivers or trades. Trades take a couple days, even if all parties respond quickly, so a week after drafting should be good to allow for some roster shuffling.

--The way the scheduling works for Yahoo is that once I lock the leagues (meaning we can no longer add or remove teams from the leagues), we will know our draft order. This will allow us to tweak our draft list rankings based on where we know we will be drafting. I then tell Yahoo when we are ready to draft and Yahoo conducts the draft for us. Last year, we had a week between locking the leagues and stating we were ready to draft.

--Yahoo reserves the right to take up to 72 hours after we have declared ourselves ready for drafting before they actually conduct an autodraft. It has never taken longer than 24 hours, in my experience, for them to actually do the draft, but that window is there.

Based on those decisions from last year and Yahoo's lead time, plus with our slightly compressed schedule this season, I'm thinking we should lock the leagues on Oct 1st (Saturday) and signal that we are ready to draft on Wed., Oct 5th. These dates are my suggestions. Please let me know if you agree or disagree and feel free to offer alternate suggestions. Chime in, don't be shy! :)

I'm sure the question of autodraft vs. live draft will come up again, and it's a worthy discussion to have. Ultimately, I still think autodrafting is the way to go, and the posts from last year on the topic are instructive and cover a wide range of opinions, so I do urge you to read those again. The primary issue is timing. With participants in multiple time zones around the world and varied schedules, live drafting just doesn't seem feasible to me. However, as always, I am open to hearing all opinions on the matter and letting the GM majority decide.

Here are the links to the main planning/primer posts from last season:

Primers & general how-to discussion:

http://dekedangle-rpfanon.dreamwidth.org/2917.html?thread=12327269#cmt12327269

Discussion and tips for scheduling, drafting, resources, scoring, etc:

http://dekedangle-rpfanon.dreamwidth.org/3197.html?thread=13216637#cmt13216637

More granular discussion of locking/drafting dates, plus draft strategy, how-to, etc:

http://dekedangle-rpfanon.dreamwidth.org/3333.html?thread=14433797#cmt14433797

I'll do another post to discuss things like scoring categories and any general catch-all questions/advice/ruminations on the set-up of the leagues.

Re: Fantasy hockey--Scheduling & New Players

[(Anonymous)]

C!N

I renewed the leagues and everyone should have received notice of it. Two GMs have dropped out officially, and several GMs have let me know they're definitely in for the new season, but there's a bunch I haven't heard from.

Yahoo seems to indicate those teams have been renewed, but I can't tell for sure. I'm going to try to figure that out, but if you haven't let me know via e-mail or the League message board (in Yahoo) that you're in or out, please do so, soon!

I have received e-mails from a couple of new players (yay!), but we still have room, so if anyone would like to join, please e-mail me at DDHLCommish@gmail.com

Are the dates I mentioned above good? Sat, Oct 1 for locking the leagues and getting draft order, Wed, Oct 5 for noting we're ready to draft?

Please let me know here or via the League message boards!

Re: Fantasy hockey--Roll Call

[(Anonymous)]

Commish!Nonny

I've done some digging and calculating. I have discovered that everyone who participated last year was automatically renewed, meaning that, unless they have opted out, they are confirmed as in by Yahoo. This means that anyone who is not checking meme or the e-mail account connected to her or his or their fantasy team from last year is being counted as playing by Yahoo.

This obviously presents some issues for me, because I don't wish to delete the team of anyone who might like to play, but hasn't checked in here or that e-mail account in a while. But I want all of us who are playing to have a fantasy hockey experience that includes members who are actively playing their teams--at least to start out with. I also want to allow for as many new people as possible to join who wish to.

Primarily, what this means is that I need to hear from last year's GMs who have seen their e-mails or messages, whether they are in or out. I promise there are absolutely no hard feelings if someone wishes not to play this time. Opting out is as simple as deleting your team from the league and/or dropping an "I'm out" message on the message board or e-mail to me at DDHLCommish@gmail.com. So far, two people have officially bowed out, and that's totally cool in all the ways.

Conversely, nine GMs have stated they are in, which is also easily done via message board or e-mail (thank you all! I can't wait to face off with you again!).

In addition, we have five brave souls who have e-mailed me saying they want to play! Welcome, new GMs! I anticipate lots of fun (and the good, totally-meaningless-to-real-life kind of angst) in store for you! :D

As the leagues currently stand, that gives us enough to have two fully populated (if on the small side) leagues of 8 this season. (That's not a bad thing, necessarily. Small leagues are superstar leagues. Imagine the WCoH 8 teams--ALL SEASON LONG! It just means less variety in matchups week-to-week and less reason to dig deep to learn about new/undiscovered/sleeper players.)

I am mostly concerned with not cutting out any GMs from last year who might have taken a hiatus from hockey fandom in the off-season for any number of reasons (I myself was only reinvigorated last week, so I entirely know that story--and I'm a bona fide hockey maniac for the bulk of the year, according to anyone who knows me), but who still want to play. I am also concerned with allowing as many new folks as possible to join in, because it really is a lot of fun and adds so much to one's enjoyment in/knowledge of the game and the league.

Those issues have to be balanced with those of the returning GMs who are already enthusiastic about starting the new season and want their draft order as soon as possible so they can start draft research (which really is a good time--I promise! ;) ).

To that end, if you are a former GM on the fence--or you know a former GM who is on the fence and hasn't checked in here or to their fantasy e-mail in a while--please take a look (or prod them to take a look) and make a decision in the next few days. As we discussed in the Scheduling part of this thread, we're talking about locking the leagues this weekend. I need a day or two of certainty that someone is not returning to delete teams and shuffle the leagues, if necessary (our current setup had three leagues, two with 10 teams, one with 8). Shuffling leagues requires responses from people in multiple time zones with their own schedules and lives.

Therefore, if you are a GM from last year who has not yet stated your In or Out preference, please do so by Thursday, Sept. 22nd, at 6pm NA EDT. I will be off work and checking the league site/meme/e-mail that day, so I can make the necessary changes. Please be clear: I WILL DELETE last year's teams whose GMs have not responded (in any of the three provided ways) by that deadline shortly after that time.

If you are a potential new GM considering if you'd like to play, please use the time between now and then to ask any questions (here or via e-mail) about how this all works and make your decision. Adding teams to leagues will be much easier than contracting leagues, so the deadline for adding a new team will be later. Likely 12 midnight (NA EDT), Saturday (heading into Saturday, that is), in preparation for locking the teams and getting the draft order on Saturday, Sept. 24th, at 12 noon.

As always, I'm open to feedback and adjustments. Speak up and let me know!

(And to those who don't care one whit about fantasy hockey, I promise that all this admin stuff will be over soon. The day-to-day of league management goes entirely through the game environment once we're locked in, and it's just fun--or at least easily skippable--draft and player discussion after that. ;) Thank you for your indulgence!)

Re: Fantasy hockey--Roll Call

[(Anonymous)]

Speaking of the auto renewal, I saw there's a screen you can go to to indicate your keepers from your team at the end of last year now. That seems fairly easy. If you don't know what I'm talking about it's under the "My Team" tab; the last choice is Keepers.

If we do end up with only two leagues worth of people, rather than deleting the third league, could we have it as a first-year keeper (so a draft this year, and next year keep a few players) I'd be willing to be in two leagues to make the numbers come out. I just really want to try this and finding another option is difficult. I even looked through r/fantasyhockey's "find a league" thread and the only opening doing a free Yahoo keeper says that it is "Game of Thrones" themed with mandatory logos.

Re: Fantasy hockey--Roll Call

[(Anonymous)]

C!N

Final Warning!

The deadline for returning GMs to let me know they are renewing their teams is in a little less than 20 minutes. I will be deleting any teams whose GMs have not responded by that time.

Returning GMs who have contacted me and new GMs, I will be sending invites to switch leagues to a few folks (all League C folks, be on the lookout. I'm afraid League C is biting the dust--unless anyone else pipes up about wanting to use that league as a nascent Keeper league, but aside from the two initial posts expressing interest, I have not seen anyone else chime in). I need to delete the non-renewing teams first and do a head count in the leagues.

Folks who've been on the fence about signing up, you have until Friday night (midnight Saturday, 9/24, NA EDT) to decide. I think we absolutely need one more team to make both our new leagues even, but can accept several more. Take the plunge!

The e-mail again is DDHLCommish@gmail.com

Re: Fantasy hockey - Team deleted?

[(Anonymous)]

So I just got an email saying my team was deleted. Commish!nonny, shed some light on why? Was I supposed to go and say "hey, count me in" on an email that didn't go through?

Re: Fantasy hockey--Leagues Locked! Draft Order Up!

[(Anonymous)]

C!N

Since we are now at two leagues of 10 teams each, and all deadlines have passed, I'm going to give a special treat to the night owls and early risers.

I have just locked the leagues and the draft order is visible on the league overview page under the "Draft" tab and then "Draft Results." You also likely have a note from Yahoo with a link on your league overview page (Right next to the Deke Dangle Hockey League _ header).

The order was set randomly and is in the snake format, meaning that the person who picks first will not pick again until #20 and then again at #21, and so on. All rounds are laid out on the Draft Results page, to assist in your Pre-Draft Player Rankings settings.

Go forth, rank, and mock draft!

Re: Fantasy hockey

[(Anonymous)]

I am noticing that a lot of players who played more than one position last year are now only playing one. WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO ME, YAHOO!?