Coaching 101

Saturday, February 4th

With Saturday morning's announcement that the league would begin accepting offers to hire coaches, a number of questions are likely to come up surrounding coaches in the NSHL.

Last season the Edmonton Oilers made an unexpected march to the Stanley Cup Finals and then went out and won the thing under the guidance of Cory Clouston, first year NSHL coach. The Oilers affiliate in Oklahoma City won the MSHL Championship under Claude Noel who when signed was passed over by more than half the league, twice (considering separate signing processes for the NSHL and MSHL).

The outright Champion Oilers organization won all you could win in the NSHL last year and they spent $405,001 total on their coaching staff. Todd McLellan was the highest paid coach in the league last year and made $1,250,000 with the Capitals.

What do you look for in a coach? Well, if you ask the Oilers and base it on last year's list you find two names that appear one after the other and sign them both.

Some say their coach can help or hinder your team offensive and defensively and others will say they don't affect the game at all. For what it's worth, for the first time since the league introduced coaches as a feature, not a single coach was fired over the course of the year last year.

Take all of that for what you will and make your decision soon as the league's best rated coaches are still guaranteed to be scooped up in the first couple of waves leaving only those inexperienced 'no names' left to pick through.

Nordiques Sign Derek Roy

Saturday, February 4th

Capitals Decide Not To Match

It has truly been an interesting couple of days in Quebec as the team presented an offer-sheet and then was presented with an offer-sheet. The good news for Nordiques' fans is that the players on both ends of those offer sheets will be skating for the Nordiques this season.

The Nordiques presented Derek Roy with an offer that he had agreed to, while his now former team, the Washington Capitals retained the right to match the $9 MM for 4 years w/ $2,000,000 Signing Bonus offer put on the table.

After weighing their options, long-time Capitals' GM Olostar announced that the team would not be matching the offer and instead would accept the five 1st Round Picks from the Nordiques as compensation.

Shortly after that decision was made, the Nordiques then received an offer-sheet of their own on recently re-rated centre Jeff Carter. This offer was for one year at $7 MM and included a $5 MM Signing Bonus and a No Movement Clause.

Given the expense the team used to obtain the re-rate they agreed to match the offer and have held onto Carter.

Langkow The Odd Man Out?

Now that the Nordiques have both Roy and Carter playing down the middle, speculation in eastern Quebec is that veteran forward Daymond Langkow and his $10 MM contract could be on the move.

Some that are close to the situation have stated that while the team would 'consider all options', they're not going to simply give away a player with Langkow's abilities and will find a place in the line-up for him if need be.

UFAs Re-Rated With NHL Ratings Where Possible

Saturday, January 28th

Attempting to Improve the Market For Remaining UFAs

The NSHL Unassigned Players list has been updated to include the league's NHL-based ratings for any remaining unrestricted free agents on the market that were not in negotiations as of the previous wave.

The purpose for introducing these ratings at this point is to increase interest in players that have already gone 10 waves without interest from a single team.

These re-rated players are treated the same as any other unrestricted free agent and negotiations with them are treated like normal.

Not All UFAs Re-Rated

In addition to the UFAs in negotiation, players who did not play in the NHL last season, and therefore could not have a rating generated for them were NOT re-rated.

Restricted free agents were also not re-rated.

If you see an error or find someone that was re-rated that should not have been (or vice versa) please e-mail the league (nshl@jaykashman.net).

FG Ratings Still to be Lowered

As was announced on Twitter by the league (@NSHLCommish) recently, all players who received any kind of NHL-based rating (new players, NHL re-rated players, players who did not play enough games in the NSHL last year..) will have their FG rating reduced in the next little while.

The league had to do this in the past to lower the amount of fights as first line players with a FG over 50 were fighting too often. The best workaround was to decrease FG across the board by approximately 30%. Unfortunately, this was not done this off-season when NHL-based ratings were introduced which is why when compared to NSHL re-rated players, the NHL guys' FG ratings are extremely high.

Four Player Blockbuster Sends DiPietro to Ottawa

Saturday, January 28th

Blackhawks & Senators Deal Goalies

The past week has been incredibly active as far as trades go as teams wind down their off-season and prepare for the pre-season.

On Friday the Chicago Blackhawks and Ottawa Senators agreed to a deal that saw Rick DiPietro, forward Kris Versteeg and a draft pick head to Ottawa in return for former league MVP Steve Mason and veteran centre David Legwand.

With the deal the Blackhawks add one of the best young goalies in the game to their arsenal in Mason and also add another capable centre in Legwand. The team added Matt Cullen earlier in the week and already had Matthew Lombardi in the fold which immediately sent sparks flying with local reporters as they wondered who was on their way out.

For the Senators, GM Terry Porter lands a strong goalie who led the Blackhawks to the President's Trophy last year and a Western Conference Finals appearance. The team also picks up Kris Versteeg who had been penciled in as a centre but will likely play on the wing in Ottawa with Marc Savard and Jason Arnott filling the top two slots.

Giguere Signs in Chicago

On Saturday afternoon it was announced the Blackhawks had agreed on a multi-year deal with former Flames' starter Jean-Sebastien Giguere which will undoubtedly help fill the void created in experience in Chicago.

The league confirms Giguere signed a three year deal worth $5,251,000 per season.

A Day of Dealing

Wednesday, January 25th

Lidstrom Heads to Beantown

In what ended up being a monster of a day on the NSHL trade front, perhaps no deal was bigger than the moving of six time Norris Trophy winner and almost certain first-ballot Hall of Famer, Nicklas Lidstrom.

The Toronto Maple Leafs confirmed as their second deal of the day that they had dealt Lidstrom to the Boston Bruins in exchange for defenseman Kurtis Foster, Boston's 1st next year and a pair of 5th Rounders.

The Bruins had been without a stud blue-liner up until the acquisition and based on comments made by GM Joe Spencer at the press conference, this may not be the last addition the Bruins make to their core. Joe made mention that there were "a few fires burning" when asked if he was done adding to his current roster.

A number of local radio call-in shows were flooded with calls after the acquisition was made with rampant speculation that the team was going 'all-in' for the upcoming season and perhaps UFA Chris Pronger or potential NHL re-rate candidate Zdeno Chara would be sure to follow.

Nordiques Add Carter & Use Their NHL Re-Rate

In one of the other 'big' moves of the day, the Carolina Hurricanes and rookie GM Dwayne Hamm pulled off a huge trade which saw the 'Canes send centre Jeff Carter to the Nordiques in exchange for recently acquired Tim Connolly, young forward Nick Johnson and a 2nd Rounder.

Immediately after confirming the deal, Nordiques' GM James Lemon informed the league the team wished to use their NHL Re-Rate on Carter making him a restricted free agent.

For Carolina, the move is one of many new GM Hamm hopes to make in the coming weeks leading up to the season as he begins the journey of cleaning up the franchise.

Blackhawks Move O'Sullivan, Ference to the Jets

The Chicago Blackhawks have found the final piece to their top six as the team acquired Matt Cullen on Wednesday afternoon in a deal with the Winnipeg Jets. Cullen, along with prospect goalie Jack Campbell were acquired in a four player deal which saw Patrick O'Sullivan and defenseman Andrew Ference head the other way.

Cullen was acquired by the Jets in the Dany Heatley deal last week and was the second player involved in the trade to move today.

Defending Champs Pick Up Hartnell..

Last year's Stanley Cup Champion Edmonton Oilers agreed to the deal which seemed to kick the day off by adding gritty forward Scott Hartnell on Wednesday morning from the Toronto Maple Leafs along with cash.

In exchange, the Oilers sent forward Brad Boyes to the Maple Leafs along with a 5th Rounder to complete the trade.

With the addition of Hartnell and the addition of rookie Milan Lucic to the lineup, rumours are already circulating that Mike Fisher's days with the Oil are in fact winding down. Fisher has provided the team with a similar 'banging' style of play but his contract is up next year and he's set to become an unrestricted free agent.

Sens & North Stars Make Minor Move

To round out the day, the Ottawa Senators landed depth goalie Gerald Coleman from the Minnesota North Stars along with a trio of 5th Round Picks. In return they gave up forwards T.J. Hensick and Darryl Bootland along with cash.

Pre-Season Schedule Released

Sunday, January 22nd

10 Games Vs. Own Division

On Sunday morning the league released the complete pre-season / exhibition schedule which is set to begin in just a couple of weeks. This year's pre-season will once again feature 10 pre-season games which allow teams to test their off-season changes and determine which players will stick with the big club.

All of the games during the pre-season will be inner-division games, one at home and one on the road. As always, there are no expenses or revenues generated during the pre-season, however, any injuries that occur during the pre-season do carry through to the regular season.

IMPORTANT - In order for the pre-season to begin all teams are required to have enough players to dress full pro and minor league rosters under contract. This is all that is preventing the pre-season from getting under way.

You can review the pre-season schedule by clicking here.

MSHL Alignment Set

Now that all teams have announced their MSHL affiliates for the coming season, the league has released the MSHL alignment for NSHL11.

The MSHL will feature the same layout as the NSHL with four divisions (Atlantic, Central, Midwest, South) and six teams in each division.

The league has done its best to align teams geographically for ease of travel which proved difficult given the location of some of the teams (Abbotsford, St. John, Orlando, Houston etc.).

You can review the new MSHL alignment by clicking here.

Meet Steve Page..

Wednesday, January 18th

Steve Page is a simulated hockey GM, a viral Doritos online video promoter, a part-time PCCA (Professional Canadian Croquet Association) croquet commentator and most importantly to GMs, he’s the appointed GM Union leader. Steve’s the person you want to go to if you have concerns, questions, suggestions or ideas regarding the league rulebook, CBA or the format of the league itself.

Mr. Page agreed to take on the role during the most recent set of CBA negotiations and shortly after being appointed was able to quickly work with the league and the NSHLPA to reach a new Collective Bargaining Agreement which got the off-season rolling along.

Prior to the role being created, a suggestion or concern would easily get lost in the mix. The position allows for GMs to anonymously send their remarks in and trust that they’re forwarded and pursued fairly by their representative, Mr. Page.

Entering his first full season in the position, Steve has already taken on the task of working with the league to develop a smoother and potentially faster off-season format for next year.

Like the roles of the NSHLPA, the GM Union Leader is a position that will be voted on after this year’s Trade Deadline and will be open to application from any interested GM to ensure fairness.

Pre-Season Schedule Details

Wednesday, January 18th

The NSHL pre-season is just a few weeks away and on Wednesday the NSHL released details of how it will take shape when the schedule itself is released as early as this weekend.

"Each team will play ten games over a ten day schedule this pre-season with rest days for each team in between games to avoid player injuries from fatigue. All teams will play all other teams in their division twice over the course of the pre-season." - Commissioner kaShman

This year’s pre-season is shaping up very similar to last year’s in the number of games played and the format. There’s also likely to be some kind of incentive added for teams to use all of their contracted players over the course of the schedule.

Tryout Contracts & Further NHL Re-Rates

In the coming weeks (ahead of pre-season but not yet) remaining unrestricted free agents will be given their NHL rating in hopes of drawing new interest from teams that otherwise seems to be non-existent. Shortly after this is done, with approval from the NSHLPA, teams will have the opportunity to sign free agents and players off their prospect list to tryout contracts. These contracts are for the duration of the pre-season only and give teams a chance to see how players fit in their line-up before locking them in to pro contracts.

Opening Day Waivers Looming

As the league winds down free agency all GMs are reminded that prior to the regular season any player that’s 25 or older is required to clear waivers before being demoted to the minors (MSHL). For opening day all teams submit a list of the players they want to demote via waivers and teams can make a claim on one player each (priority to non-playoff teams).

REQUIRED - MSHL Affiliate Due by the Weekend

Any team that does not have an MSHL affiliate announced by this weekend will be given one by the league and will FORFEIT five (5) Training Camp Points. Any team that does not have five (5) Training Camp Points will lose them next year and will also forfeit $5,000,000 for the inconvenience.

Teams can choose an AHL, ECHL, SPHL team not already selected (refer to the MSHL standings page) and submit it to the league e-mail (nshl@jaykashman.net) to confirm their affiliate for the upcoming season.

Once all affiliates are decided the league can organize the MSHL alignment by geographical location and then produce a schedule.

King Alex!

Tuesday, January 17th

Nordiques Deal Ovechkin to Los Angeles

The Quebec Nordiques continued their franchise face-lift on Tuesday night by dealing Alexander Ovechkin to the Los Angeles Kings, a deal completed merely a day after an 8-player blockbuster on Monday.

The deal sees Ovechkin, rookie Ryan Stoa and a pair of picks head to Hollywood in exchange for blue chipper Chris Stewart, rookie Vladimir Sobotka and the rights to the Kings' 1st in Year 12.

The move comes only 24 hours after the team finalized a deal to add two top-liners in Brian Gionta and Matt Cullen from their provincial rivals, the Montreal Canadiens.

There was no word from Nordiques' GM James Lemon on whether or not the makeover was now complete but many around the hockey community believe centre Daymond Langkow could be the next big contract out the door.

On the other side of the coin, the Los Angeles Kings were said to be 'extremely excited' about adding a player of Ovechkin's caliber. GM JJ was unavailable for comment at press time but one of the 'big boys' in the Kings' front office thinks there's no better city in the world for a person with Ovechkin's personality than Los Angeles.

By adding Ovechkin, it doesn't appear as if the Kings will need to make any follow-up moves to free up payroll or roster space as he should step into the role that was supposed to be filled by Chris Stewart who went to Quebec in the trade.

Joe Sakic - Hall of Fame Inductee

Saturday, January 14th

Sakic Enters As This Year's Only Inductee

His resume was impressive and he very nearly earned a 'perfect score' from the league's 11 Hall of Fame voters this year, falling just one vote short.

Sakic's two Stanley Cups, two Hart Trophies and massive accumulation of goals and assists has made him the first player to enter the NSHL Hall of Fame with a 91% approval vote.

Joe spent his first six seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs before signing as a free agent in New York and then finishing up with his second Stanley Cup in Philadelphia before retiring while on top.

He currently sits 2nd all-time in Assists, 3rd all-time in Goals, 2nd all-time in Points and leads all players in career +/-.

It will now be up to league GMs to determine which team jersey Joe will wear in the Hall of Fame.

Close But No Cigar...

Despite being right up there in all-time goals, assists and points with Joe Sakic, Paul Kariya fell one vote short of being inducted this year with only 8 of 11 votes received. Kariya was made an immediate NSHL Superstar by leading the Columbus Blue Jackets to the first ever Stanley Cup in Season One while taking home the Conn Smythe Trophy that same season.

Also coming up just short with 8 votes received was long-time Minnesota Wild GM and first ever NSHL Player Agent, Cammer. Cammer was a favourite among GMs who spent time working out deals with him for his witty humour and was quite successful on the ice as well with a 304-272-59 lifetime record including a Stanley Cup.

Voting Results (Yay Votes)

Players

Pavel Bure
Detroit - (1)

Roman Cechmanek
Minnesota - (1)

Bill Guerin
Winnipeg - (1)

Paul Kariya
Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Philadelphia, Quebec, Toronto, Winnipeg - (8)

Mario Lemieux
Chicago, Minnesota, San Jose - (3)

Scott Niedermayer
Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Quebec, Winnipeg - (6)

Janne Niinimaa
Chicago - (1)

Joe Sakic
Chicago, Colorado, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Quebec, Toronto, Winnipeg - (10)

Mathieu Schneider
Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Jose, Winnipeg - (4)

Brendan Shanahan
Detroit, Winnipeg - (2)

Mats Sundin
Los Angeles - (1)

Niklas Sundstrom
(0)

Builders

Cammer
Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Philadelphia, San Jose, Toronto, Winnipeg - (8)

Grant Campbell
Pittsburgh - (1)

Messiah
Los Angeles, Minnesota - (2)

$5 Million Idea – 5th Entry Draft Fix Idea

Wednesday, November 30th

Below is the next idea released for voting by the league. It has been re-worded by the Commissioner in order to protect the identity of the submitter to encourage a fair vote. Ideas need 80% approval to pass and 50% for the right to be amended and re-submitted.

Votes can be submitted to the league e-mail, all votes will be revealed after voting has completed. No deadline has been set at present time.

5th Entry Draft Fix Idea – Put the Onus on GMs

As it stands the draft setup is handled quite well with notifying GMs well in advance when it’s their turn to pick and as long as this is maintained and perhaps upgraded slightly, the only “fix” would be a requirement for GMs to do their part.

The idea here is to limit drafting between the hours of 9:00 AM – 9:00 PM EST and then continue notifying teams when their pick is upcoming. At the start of each day during the draft the league (or another GM who’s willing and able to help out) would notify the next 5 GMs slated to pick. From there, the league enforces 2 hour windows for GMs to make their pick from the time they’re notified by the previous GM.

GMs unable to make their pick are required to submit a list to the league or another trusted GM who they will allow to make their pick on their behalf. Should the GM miss their window the next team can jump in and make a pick first. The first GM that missed their pick can still make their pick at any time so long as the player hasn’t already been selected.

What we don’t want to develop is a system that’s too fast and takes away a GM’s ability to make a deal to move up or down based on who is taken where, that’s part of the fun of drafting.

GMs are more than prepared for when the draft is going to go down, they are directly notified when it’s their turn to pick and would be notified each morning if they’re in line to be picking soon. There should be no reason a GM cannot submit two or three names to someone to move the draft along given all of the league’s resources (website, Twitter, e-mail, BBM etc).

$5 Million Idea – 4th Entry Draft Fix Idea

Thursday, November 17th

Below is the next idea released for voting by the league. It has been re-worded by the Commissioner in order to protect the identity of the submitter to encourage a fair vote. Ideas need 80% approval to pass and 50% for the right to be amended and re-submitted.

Votes can be submitted to the league e-mail, all votes will be revealed after voting has completed. No deadline has been set at present time.

4th Entry Draft Fix Idea – Time Clock Per GM

A lot of the concern so far has been that the draft is way too long and needs to happen a lot faster because the process as a whole is wrong. If you look back at this year’s draft, it’s not that the process is really that bad and we need 24 different bodies checking in every 30 minutes, the majority of GMs making picks made them within a reasonable amount of time.

By adding a 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 hour (etc) limit to each pick would seriously handicap trading and really benefits GMs that have daily access others may not have at their work place / school.

The idea here is to not assign a clock to a pick, or to tell anyone when to make their pick because it all generally moves along as well as it could without doing the whole thing LIVE! (not an option). What we should look at instead is assigning a capped amount of time to each GM to use as they see fit for their respective picks.

The number proposed (which is certainly negotiable) is 12 hours. This means before the draft starts each GM has 12 hours to spend making their picks from the point in time when they’re notified by the league that they’re up to when they make their selection.

This means that if during their first pick, a GM uses 3 hours to post their selection, they have 9 hours left to make their remaining pick(s) (as an example).

At 12 hour clocks with 11 or so hours of ‘grace’ during the evenings the longest this thing could go would be around 24 days. Since at least a quarter of GMs made their picks within an hour or two of notification you can probably cut this total down a quarter. Again, it’s not about fitting this into a round a day but about ensuring a constant flow.

Why would this work? Some GMs are busier on certain days or at certain times than others. Luckily for us all picks do not fall at the same time every day so a busy GM would have more time to jump on their pick at different times and could balance their own time clock accordingly.

A few other ‘rules’ to add to this system which otherwise goes in tune with what we have:

8:00 AM EST to 9:00 PM EST are the only times when clocks can run down, anything done after 9 PM and before 8 AM is bonus.

Once a GM runs out of time to make their picks, they are asked to submit a list to someone who can pick for them or be able to make their picks within half an hour of being notified. Failure to do that results in the pick being skipped over and the next GM being allowed to ‘jump in’.

Making a trade while you’re on the clock still counts as your time used up until the other GM makes their selection so it encouraging the GM is available to submit their end of the trade and their pick would be essential.

$5 Million Idea – 3rd Entry Draft Fix Idea

Thursday, November 17th

Below is the next idea released for voting by the league. It has been re-worded by the Commissioner in order to protect the identity of the submitter to encourage a fair vote. Ideas need 80% approval to pass and 50% for the right to be amended and re-submitted.

Votes can be submitted to the league e-mail, all votes will be revealed after voting has completed. No deadline has been set at present time.

3rd Entry Draft Fix Idea – 4 Hour Clock & Increased Communication

The problem as everyone has pointed out is that the draft process in incredibly slow, especially given today’s technology. The idea here is to have a 4 hour time limit for picking between 8:00 AM EST and 9 PM EST where picks have to be made. Any time after 9 PM EST and before 8 AM EST still allows GMs to make picks if they’re up but allows a break for the night without punishment.

If the communication from one GM to another is increased at the same time, GMs will be more prepared to make their picks and can therefore make their pick faster than before. So, when a pick is made in this process, the GM not only would notify the next GM who’s on the clock, they would CC the GM that’s up after that to let them know their pick is coming up soon.

The GM that is now on the clock would have 2 hours to respond to the Commissioner & the GM up after them to acknowledge they know their up, but may be busy, reviewing their lists or working out a trade. Should they not respond within 2 hours, once the 4 hour clock is up, their pick is skipped and the next GM in line may pick.

The missed pick can be made up at any time after but the GM risks missing out on a player they may want by not picking within the time limit. Since the GM picking after them was made aware they were up this would also encourage teams to make their pick within the time limit.

Example

12:00 PM – Team A is up, followed by Team B and then Team C

1:00 PM – Team A makes their pick, advises the league, Team B (up next) and Team C (coming soon)

1:15 PM – Team B acknowledges they’re up and notifies the league and Team C they’ll be making their pick in the next 45 minutes.

1:45 PM – Team B makes their pick, advises the league, Team C (up next) and Team D (coming soon)

And so on..

$5 Million Idea – 2nd Entry Draft Fix Idea

Saturday, November 12th

Below is the next idea released for voting by the league. It has been re-worded by the Commissioner in order to protect the identity of the submitter to encourage a fair vote. Ideas need 80% approval to pass and 50% for the right to be amended and re-submitted.

Votes can be submitted to the league e-mail, all votes will be revealed after voting has completed. No deadline has been set at present time.

2nd Entry Draft Fix Idea – 2 LIVE! Rounds & Draft Clock

Since the main issue everyone has is the speed of the draft, the only way to truly speed it up would be to hold a LIVE! draft for the first 2 Rounds where GMs get together on MSN or in an online chat room and draft.

There would be a fixed time for the first two rounds of the draft to take place so that everyone could plan being in attendance knowing it's only going to take an hour and a half (or whatever the time is decided for the given year). This way the LIVE! portion of the draft could even take place on a weeknight and doesn't have to be held to only weekends.

After Round 2, have a 'Draft Clock' from the hours of 10 AM EST - 8 PM EST where teams have a maximum of 2 hours (negotiable) to respond and make their pick. This would mean we'd be getting at least 5 picks in per day and the final three rounds of the draft would take no longer than two weeks to complete.

$5 Million Idea – 1st Entry Draft Fix Idea

Thursday, November 10th

Below is the first idea released for voting by the league. It has been re-worded by the Commissioner in order to protect the identity of the submitter to encourage a fair vote. Ideas need 80% approval to pass and 50% for the right to be amended and re-submitted.

Votes can be submitted to the league e-mail, all votes will be revealed after voting has completed. No deadline has been set at present time.

1st Entry Draft Fix Idea – Pre-Determined Time Slots

The obvious problem surrounding the draft is efficiency. Everyone wants the draft to happen as quickly as possible so they can make their pick and get on with their day but not everyone has the same access at all points throughout the day. Asking a GM to submit a list can be difficult as well as even if they’re two picks away to start the day, their pick may still not come up until the night or perhaps something comes up that makes them want to move down in the draft but they’ve already submitted 2 or 3 names making it obvious who they’re taking.

The idea presented here is to pre-assign draft time slots so that every GM knows the date and time that their pick has to be in. Should they be unable to make it for a particular date and time, they can submit a name or two to another trusted GM to make their pick or move the pick to a more convenient time slot.

Let’s say for the first round where GMs generally have a long list of names they’d be willing to take, the time slot would be 3 hours in length and would not operate after 10:00 PM EST and before 8:00 AM EST.

1st Pick – 8:00 AM – 10:59 AM

2nd Pick – 11:00 AM – 1:59 PM

3rd Pick – 2:00 PM – 4:59 PM

4th Pick – 5:00 PM – 7:59 PM

The 5th pick would go from 8:00 PM and extend until the first potential opening the following day (8:00 AM EST).

Each round would have times decided upon completion of the previous round so that if picks go faster than originally anticipated, dates can be bumped as necessary.

Should a GM fail to make a pick during their assigned time slot, the next GM would be able to pick ahead of them. The GM who missed their pick would continue to fall as time slots come and go.

As the rounds continue on the time slots would likely be able to expand to 4 or 5 hours if teams need a little more time to sort out who they may want to take given the ‘big’ names are off the board.

This option allows things to move along at as rapid a pace as possible without having to try and cram everyone in to a LIVE! Draft which rarely sees more than 6 or 7 GMs able to attend. It also caters to those GMs who do not have ongoing access throughout the day to at least attempt to schedule 5 minutes in their time slot to send a pick somehow.

This option also allows the process to feed itself as well without having everyone scrambling to find out if the next person in line has been notified it’s their pick.

$5 Million Idea – 5th Idea

Thursday, November 10th

Below is the next idea released for voting by the league. It has been re-worded by the Commissioner in order to protect the identity of the submitter to encourage a fair vote. Ideas need 80% approval to pass and 50% for the right to be amended and re-submitted.

Votes can be submitted to the league e-mail, all votes will be revealed after voting has completed. No deadline has been set at present time.

5th Idea – Modified No Movement Clause

Currently any team that offers a No Movement Clause gets a 15% ‘discount’ by the NSHLPA when they’re comparing offers for the same player. This full No Movement Clause restricts any movement options a team holds over a player (cannot be traded, demoted, waived or released).

The idea here would be to create a Modified No Movement Clause that would provide a 10% ‘discount’ during negotiations. The difference to the clause itself is with the Modified NMC a player can still not be demoted or released but in the final year of the contract and after the half way point in the season a player on a bottom 4 team (in their conference) can submit a list of 10 teams they would accept a trade to.

What this does is gives the player all the security in knowing they are still in complete control of their fate but would be able to finish off with a contender. The GM signing the deal still gets their ‘discount’ during negotiations and if they’re not in the Playoff picture leading up to the Trade Deadline, they can at the very least begin the process of rebuilding.

$5 Million Idea – 4th Idea

Wednesday, November 9th

Below is the next idea released for voting by the league. It has been re-worded by the Commissioner in order to protect the identity of the submitter to encourage a fair vote. Ideas need 80% approval to pass and 50% for the right to be amended and re-submitted.

Votes can be submitted to the league e-mail, all votes will be revealed after voting has completed. No deadline has been set at present time.

4th Idea – Returning Players to the Prospect List

The idea here is fairly straight forward: Any team that acquires a rated player who is technically still eligible to be placed on a Prospect List (under 25 with fewer than 20 pro GP for skaters, 10 for goalies) may have them sent to their Prospect List.

This idea benefits the team trading what may otherwise be considered a poorly rated prospect for something of value if the team acquiring the player sees value in returning them to their Prospect List.

Season 10 League Average Salaries

Pro Players

Defensemen: $3,010,625.77
Forwards: $3,102,604.16
Goalies: $3,489,200.02

Farm Players

Defensemen: $889,854.51
Forwards: $844,320.18
Goalies: $1,010,360.00

League to Introduce New Award For NSHL11

Sunday, September 25th

In the NSHL's 11th season there will be another NSHL Award up for grabs in both the NSHL & the MSHL, according to NSHL Commissioner Jay kaShman.

The award will go to the NSHL & MSHL's 'Breakout Player of the Year' and will be given to an individual player (forward, defenseman or goaltender) who has shown significant improvement from one season to the next. To qualify for the award a player would have had to play at least 40 games (20 for goalies) in the league he's nominated in for back-to-back seasons. GMs would then be able to decide on which player has had the most significant improvement from one year to the next.

"Every year there are a handful of noticable players where you look at their stats and think 'where did this guy come from?' and I think it's time there's some recognition there." - Commissioner kaShman

This isn't the first NSHL Award unique to the NSHL as the league has created several awards outside what the NHL offers including the Bobby Orr Trophy to the league's top point scoring defenseman and the Ron Francis Trophy to the league regular season leader in assists.

The first recipients of the NSHL & MSHL Breakout Player of the Year awards will be announced at the conclusion of NSHL 11.

Yesterday's Games

Sunday, September 25th

1	Team 1 (0) vs Team 2 (1)
2	Team 3 (0) vs Team 4 (1)
3	Team 5 (0) vs Team 6 (1)
4	Team 7 (0) vs Team 8 (1)
5	Team 9 (0) vs Team 10 (1)

 

1	Team 1 (0) vs Team 2 (1)
2	Team 3 (0) vs Team 4 (1)
3	Team 5 (0) vs Team 6 (1)
4	Team 7 (0) vs Team 8 (1)
5	Team 9 (0) vs Team 10 (1)