Denver - Halifax Thanksgiving Day Trade

Denver (AP)

The Denver Spurs have been playing well of late moving them into playoff
contention.
This prompted GM Poelker to meet with Coach Boudreau on Monday and to
consider the press release of Halifax GM Wendt putting a number of
players on the trading block.
An inquiry and offer was made with talks with GM Wendt continuing for
the next several days.

Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. had GM Poelker of Denver and GM Wendt of
Halifax working out a deal.
Coming to the Denver Spurs is center pivot Mathew Barzal and Halifax's
4th rounder in the 2023  entry draft.
Going to the Norsemen are  blueliner blue chip prospect Cal Foote,
winger prospect Luke Evangelista who is scoring at a point per game clip
in the AHL and Denver's 1st rounder in the 2023 entry draft.
On paper it looks like a good trade for both clubs but time will tell.

At press time Coach Boudreau of the Spurs was unsure what the line
shakeup will look like with the addition of Barzal.
Although Coach Boudreau said his playmaking ability gives him a lot of
options on where to insert him in the lineup.
The question is which centerman will see himself relegated to the pressbox?

CCHL Commissioner Update

 Some notes from your friendly neighborhood league commissioner!

Our first goalie usage update is due out this weekend thanks to Mr. Kash.  A lot of goaltenders on pace to play over 70 games this season for their teams and we wanted to ensure people had ample warning that usage could max out earlier than normal given the extreme dependence on the true starting goaltender.  I’ve got a few minor tweaks to potentially look at for next season to improve realism with respect to goaltending, but we’ll worry about that at a later date. 

With respect to overall participation, it appears that the implementation of the website lineup editor has done wonders with respect to submissions.  While I think the number is inflated from people hitting save, then making a minor adjustment, overall, it’s substantially up and I don’t think that’s a fluke whatsoever. 

We are on pace to double last year’s participation and almost double the league record from the 2017-18 season – which is pretty darn good.  Having said that you could argue that expansion teams are inflating the numbers, but the reality is that it’s only bumped it up 32 on the season so it’s our existing membership still driving the bus and participating. 

We are still searching for somebody to take over Crystal Lake.  I’ve reached out to two people today but again if anyone knows anyone, please let’s talk to them.  Don’t forget, as of this season, it’s a bonus to your team and who wants to let Max get all the referral bonus money this season for bringing us his brother (LOL!). 

I’m happy with parity in the league this year as well.  We’ve been, as a league, one for years where a few dominant teams emerge, and the selling starts across the league.  Apart from a few teams this year who have started to sell, most are in the hunt, and Simon has shown us that upsets are very possible in the playoffs every year!  He usually loves showing it with Fort Erie as an example too for some reason, but I digress!

The top 12 teams are separated by just 12 points and the bottom 12 are separated by just 13 points so a five-game losing streak at any point could really swing things across the league.  It’s what you love to see at this point in the year and I think everyone has a good handle on their teams making the CCHL as competitive as it has ever been. 

In any event, I just wanted to provide a few updates for everyone and provide a few thoughts about the league as well this season.  Hope everyone is having fun and let’s hope we can find somebody for Crystal Lake sooner than later! 

-The Commish 

CCHL Commissioner Update!

 Good day everyone,

A few things to note today.

1.  Make sure you are setting your lineup.  If you are not uploading an actual file to the website, you should really check it at least every other day to set your lines.  While our lineup receipts are still really high overall (thank you to those doing them and participating regularly) we have teams right now that are already 60-70% of the way to the violations in which they lose all bonus money for lineup maintenance.  That's not good given it's 7 weeks into the season.  

2.  I happen to look around the league to ensure teams are complying with section 5 of rule B listed under conduct.  I want to take the time to remind everyone of the rule below.  I'm bird dogging this and right now I see one or two teams where I question if the intent is to ice a competitive team given what's scratched and games played on the season.  I look at their GP and I see they can play at least some minutes but they are scratched which makes little sense.  Remember a coach will always coach to win because that's how they are wired; and we expect the same in the CCHL since you never truly know.  Afterall who had Crystal Lake in a playoff position as an expansion team 25+ percent of the way through the season.

This is a reminder to please ensure you are icing a competitive team and managing fatigue (see note below).  I know I've sent this out before but sending it again as a reminder.

5. Competition Requirement:

All teams must actively compete to win games in the league. Intentionally losing games will not be permitted. It is NOT the league office's intention or desire to micro-manage the member teams of the CCHL. The lines received by the league office must reflect the goal of winning. This leaves a great deal of flexibility for all GM's to decide how most effectively to deploy their lines. "Red flags" will be waved when we see higher rated players benched or used minimally by limited shifts in favor of lower rated ones on regular or re-occurring basis.

It's simple:  For every minute a forward plays over 20 minutes a game, they lose levels of fatigue.  

anything over 20 minutes = 1 point lost off of condition

anything over 21 minutes = 2 points lost off of condition

anything over 22 minutes = 3 points lost off of condition

If you play a forward 24 minutes a game and they started with a fatigue of 97, they'll be down to 94.  If you play back to back days, you won't be able to use that player as players must play at 95 condition.  Anything below means they cannot play.  Each day off gets 1 point back for condition or subsequently, if you play the forward under 20 minutes a game, they will also gain back 1 condition point as well since you get one back per day provided usage is under 20 minutes.

For defencemen you can add 5 minutes to those totals meaning:

anything over 25 minutes = 1 point lost off of condition

anything over 26 minutes = 2 points lost off of condition

anything over 27 minutes = 3 points lost off of condition

3.  I've got an owner of experience looking at Crystal Lake and hoping to have it resolved very soon.  If not, we'll have to do a bit of hunting.  Again if anyone knows somebody, please don't forget the referral also means cash for your team!