Fresh Ideas for the NsHL-2004 and beyond

[Commissioner]

The NsHL Management are looking for new and fresh ideas for the 2004 season. (This is not a bitch session, folks....but a chance to give your input). We are looking for ADD-ONS to help enhance the NsHL experience. As this is our FIRST sim endeavor, we know there is room for improvement and want to make this the best league on the net. Here is what we are looking to do after the first season.

-Adding a World Juniors Tournament of our own. Complete with Stats, real players just like the NHL, and set up to parallel the NsHL season (as it does in the NHL). Having GM's select(where applicable), try out, cut, manage rosters, edit lines of the various Junior teams from all the major countries.

-Adding a comprehensive All-Star game. (It may not be possible to achieve an All-Star game this season. We WILL have East and West full rosters, etc. They will be given the same recognition they normally would.)

-Olympic Tournaments(during Olympic years)

-Career Stats-although the FHL add-on seems difficult to me. (I am not a programmer and very unfamiliar with Perl)

What else??? I want your ideas. Positive input, c'mon down!!!

Thanks for your help. The Commissioner's Office and the NsHL Management and BOD are dedicated to bringing you the best possible league within the realm of our capabilities. Thank you for your participation! Feel free to comment right here on this post.

Nathan Kopsack
NsHL Commissioner

[HabsGM]

An AHL league ( no more farm box with 20 to 4 score ) ?

[FlyersGM]

Have GMs who are not part of the BOD or League Head Office run the Rerate Commitee and let them create the guidelines with input and approval from the BOD and League Head Office.

[vpoffinance]

I would like to answer both of these to the best of my abilities.

1st Joel--Love the idea, have talked about this at length and it definately sounds like a great idea. This is definately a great idea and if i had to speculate (which this is) it could happen by next season. We are going to talk about the possibilities adn the details but this will happen.

2nd Jack--I will tell you that this is probably not going to happen. we hold this league to a higher standard, we have a lot of pride in the way we run this league and know that it will be the most fair and competitive league. If you look at the rosters and the amount of time and effort spent on these one of a kind rosters then you should not question the ability and attention to detail that Nate has done i dont think there is any reason to think that us doing the rerates will be bad. I do take this as a insult to the BOD and there abilities to handle the rerates. Our system of rerates(in the constitution) is a one of a kind way to do things and think is why it seperates us from other leagues. You have no idea the amount of time and effort we have already planned to use to do this very important event in the NsHL. We have already asked some very good GM's to help us out on the BOD and THE League Office, and i personally think that the GM's in the NsHL are among the best in the world. We have always accepted any suggestions or one-on-one and value our GM's opinions but not in this type of forum. To question our abilities is not the way to do things. But i also think that by looking at our track record so far it will be hard to find a more fair, knowledgeable, openminded, and dedicated BOD ANYWHERE!!!

in closing i would like to say that Joel's idea is a perfect example of what this thread should be used for. This is supposed to be a thread of ideas to help promote the league and make it even better, not knock the systems that are in place. If you have a question of practice that is used in the league or is in the constitution please come to one of the BOD personally not on an open forum. We accept all ideas and suggestions but this is not the way to do it.

[ex-BluesGM]

I have one suggestion although I'm not sure its possible.

Can there be a way to make the budgets of the teams more closely resemble the budgets of their real NHL counter parts?

Because we do have to deal with the real salaries of our real NHL players...just a thought.

Also, just as a side statement. I don't think there was any reason to be insulted by Jack's suggestion above. He never said the BOD wasn't doing a good job, I took it more as a way to get more people involved...I personally don't know if it would be good or bad to have non-BOD GMs do the re-rates (I see pluses and minuses to both scenarios) but I certainly don't think that Jack was trying to insult anyone with that suggestion...unless there's more to it I don't know....?

[Anaheim GM]

I think a NsHL farm league would be the way to go. Fortunately, your board of directors and commissioner have been discussing such an option. No promises on next season, however, if it can be done, it will be, trust me. It will also be done right when it is completed.

Second point: Putting the ratings of a created democratic league into the hands of GMs who have little or no vested interest would be kind of silly, don't you think? The BOD of directors of this league has unrivaled integrity, fairness, and has only the growth and prosperity of the league in mind. For some of you it will take faith and faith alone to understand this. Rest assured and be confident that the amount of talent at the top (BOD) will do what is right.

I think Jack's point may be in what he implied and not said, though. Perhaps we can open up the committee to include a few GMs who have proven to be dedicated, knowledgable, and committed to the NsHL in addition to the BOD and Commissioner. I think a reserve of the NsHL's best, most knowledgable could be included in such a committee.

For those of you who may wonder, it takes about 3 hours of time per team to do accurate ratings for both the NsHL team and the farm affiliate. It is a tremendous amount of work that goes much more smoothly with a committee who is able to sit down face-to-face and hash out every attribute and nuance. Ratings are NEVER perfect, however, I cannot imagine it being any more accurate aside from a completely independent situational computer program designed exclusively for our sim rated player league. I don't believe that will happen any time soon.

As far as the financial model is concerned:

We are all familiar with how a business cycle works? Decreased profits=decreased salaries=balanced budgets. Increased profits=increased salaries=balanced budgets.

Player's salaries will be based solely on supply and demand, as is the regular NHL financial climate. For instance, if Chris Pronger becomes a UFA at the end of the season there are only a handful of teams that may be able to afford such a player. A team that may have had a surplus of cash this season, could find themselves behind the eight ball with some overpaid, underachieving free agents if they choose to "go wild" in free agency.

The end result, any way you cut it, is balanced budgets. If your team is bleeding cash now then there is a good chance that your NHL counterpart was as well. The financial model, in the end, will work itself into accuracy given a certain amount time. I would guess somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 years, although the financial model, currently is as good as it can get.

If we followed the NHL we'd all be broke, EVERY year. That is the bottom line and we recognized it. In a few years, we'd all be in debt and the league would be defunct similar to what the NHL is facing in CBA. THAT'S NO FUN, is it?

Thanks for the input, keep it up!

[Commissioner]

The BOD meets face-to-face EVERY Tuesday evening. (With the exception of associate members Bob Finley and Marty Baroni) to discuss league operations, etc. I don't know of many leagues that can say they do this....on a weekly basis.....face to face.

SIDE NOTE: BTW, a good time to bring league problems or questions; situations you notice within the league to the Commissioner's office is on a Monday or Tuesday. I print out your emails and discuss them. Please, if you have input, do NOT hesitate to email the Commissioner's Office or any one of the core BOD Members: Mark Kopsack, Tony Pisano, Mike Henderson. Associate members Adam Taylor, Marty Baroni, and Bob Finley (who is on leave currently with computer failure) can also direct your suggestions to us as well.

Next, let's talk about the ratings. I see someone (above) is as passionate about these as I am. The ratings will be done by our beloved Ratings Committee which is headed by yours truly and Vice President of League Operations Tony Pisano. That is in the Constitution and really isn't what I was getting at when I formulated this post for fresh ideas.

But, you wanted to talk about ratings.....so let's talk. We've already carved out a huge chunk of June-2004 to formulate the new ratings....in time for our Entry Draft. (which we want to be AS CLOSE TO the NHL ENTRY DRAFT AS POSSIBLE). If you would like to be on the Core Ratings Committee, please be prepared to come to Pittsburgh, Pa. for vacation in the summer. ;D The Ratings Committee (R.C.) will be selected by Tony Pisano and myself if their is some interest. We will have a small band of delegates that the R.C. will be running the ratings through for a final "look through". The delegates will be selected by the Committee Chairperson. In a nutshell, if you have put in the time to formulate 1500 player ratings, then we want your feedback on our ratings.

Handing the ratings over to GM's who do not have a vested interest in the league, like Anaheim said, would be don't right silly. Believe me, you don't want that responsibility anyways. I appreciate the fact that you want to get other people involved. We will be working on ways to get more people involved with league activity. (I think adding the AsHL next season is a great possibility and will get many many many more people involved. We are actually entertaining the thought of having AsHL GM's for every team's organization, should they want one.)

I believe in a strong, democratic hierarchy for running a successful league. But the adage "Too many cooks spoil the broth" is also pertinent here. The ratings are a touchy subject and will be done, as planned, by the Ratings Committee. Thanks for the suggestion!

So, we have ideas for an AsHL and have talked a little bit about the financial model.....what else? Please, some of you are in multiple leagues. What are they doing that you think is really neat that we could possible do? Please, let us know!

Thanks again for your input....keep it comin!!!

Nathan Kopsack
NsHL Commissioner

[FlyersGM]

Not major, but a cool idea.

Sometimes in the box scores it will say that a player was injured at a certain time and sometimes the player was injured as a result of a player on the other team possibly highsticking him or cross checking, you know, whatever. Usually, that player is ejected from the game.

If this happens to someone, the GM of the injured player could request that the Commissioner "review" the game tapes and deem if the play warrants a suspension. Things to take into account would be is this the players first offense or are they a repeat offender? How long is the injured player going to be out for and of course the severity of the penalty such as a high stick or kicking (yes, I've seen it before in FHL).

If a player is suspended for a game or two, it'd be cool if he is suspended without pay like in the NHL and that money would be taken from the teams funds.

Let me know what you think.

[CapitalsGM]

I really like the idea of an AsHL league. It seems very interesting and I feel that it will essentially help our teams with re-rates. You have more things in your hand i.e. what players are first liners, what goalie will start etc.

On a side note, it can also be the NsHL general manager's discussion if he would like to GM his AsHL team as well, or hire an AsHL GM. It would be quite cool and be very similar to an Assistant GM in the NsHL, with all trades in AsHL having to be ran by the NsHL GM (sort of like in the NHL).

I am very excited for the NsHL 2004-2005 season (even though it is far away) because I have faith in the Ratings Committee that they will do a fine job, as well as the new improvements for the 2004-2005 season. I am not saying that the Innagural season isn't good as it has been the best FHL Sim league I have participated in but rather, I trust the Commissioner with his ideas and I'm sure the BOD will find one way or another to improve NsHL and bring it to another level.

Thank you,
Spencer Cawker