From the office of the Finance Guru ; the magic of the Payroll Page

Before taking over the finances for the league the only real use I had for the payroll page was during trade talks to match up salaries. But this year thanks to a certain CCHL team, I find myself spending a lot more time on it learning the ins and outs. Last night while processing a minor transaction I noticed a multiple teams were in some cases well over the roster limit. But worse - a lot of teams do not seem to have a handle on the rules.

In my opinion what makes the CCHL great is the investment we all make in the league, anyone can sign up for a yahoo league and let yahoo run the league for them. The CCHL is our league and with that comes a lot of work and a lot of reward. When I took over the lowly Ottawa Barracuda 7 years ago I was overwhelmed with all the procedures in the CCHL and of that is the case for you I would like to remind you that you can email me at any time and I will do my best to help. But in case you are worried that I may try and suck you into long drawn out trade negotiations around your star American player I’ll post some free advice here.

Each team is allowed to have up to 30 players on their rosters. Reserve and M-designated players do not count towards your 30 active players.
- A reserve player is one that did not play in enough NHL games the previous year and is not allowed to play in any CCHL games for the year. A skaters needs to have played in at least 11 NHL games and 5 for a goalie to be “disc eligible”.
- a M-designated player is a rookie that did play enough NHL games the previous year and has become disc eligible for the first time. Often their ratings stink and are unusable so to help with that tou are allowed to place a M-designation on them prior to the season . This allows you to maintain a roster of more than 30 players. You are able to use these rookie players in CCHL games if you get into a pickle , but once they play their 11th CCHL game they lose their M-designated exemption and become an active roster player thus counting against your 30 man roster. If this is confusing it may be better explained in section C of the CCHL rules.

So when you look at your team’s payroll page you will see all your players listed. The first group will have the term “on roster” to the right. You need to make sure you have 30 or less of these “on roster” at all times.
After those your M- designated players are listed. They are ins a light blue font and have the term “minors” next to them. There are no limits to how many you have but they must have been submitted to the league during g the appropriate time in the off season.
After your rookies come your Reserve players. Again there are no limits on these but they can never be used in a CCHL game .
Following your reserves are players that have been traded, waived, released or bought out and are no longer a part of your team .

Hopefully you are still paying attention and this has helped you if you were previously lost. And while I have you I need to remind everyone that there are reasons why we are so strict on how we format communications to the league. This league is hopefully fun for you and it’s why you’re here reading a blog about a league that if you are lucky enough to win (I never have) your reward for your hard work is a digital banner on top of the website. Don’t worry if and when I do win I will be going out and buying myself a trophy that I will display prominently in my house! But I’m getting off track, the CCHL as I mentioned is not yahoo or espn or fantrax we run it ourselves with our own time and out of the kindness of our hearts. Matt has much more of a life then I do and has a lot more work between simming the games, updating the website and making sure all the rules are being followed . It’s a ton of work, we ask you submit in a certain format so that as these transactions come in at all hours from different time zones they can just be copied and pasted. It may not seem like a big deal but there are sooooo many transactions and it would be insane to constantly be having to retype everyone’s .

When I started I made myself a little cheat sheet with the different formats so I wouldn’t get scolded and have to be on a phone call for 2 hours with a person 20 years older then me that I didn’t know - so be glad you’re just reading a blog lol. All formats can be found by scrolling through the transaction page but here are some common ones

SIGNINGS
CAP signs T. Czepiel to a 2 yr., $500K contract…
(Please abbreviate the word year to yr and use K for thousands and M for millions )

WAIVING
CAP waives T. Czepiel (waiver expiration date 11/26/25)…
(The waiver date is always 3 days from your submission date )

TRADING
CAP trades T. Czepiel, Hank Czepiel-p, CAP 1st-26 & $1.75M to CGY for B. Tkachuk…

*in a trade always list active players then prospects then draft picks (try and place them in order by pick and then by year, then cash
** active players have first initial . Last name (T. Czepiel)
*** prospects are ones that are still located on your prospect page , full first name last name -p (Trevor Czepiel-p)
****draft picks ie 1st-26 or 4th-27 and so on

I hope all this helps , please remember this league is hopefully fun for everyone that loves hockey. None of us want to be hard asses over small things and remember if there is something you don’t know and you can’t figure it out in the rules email me and I’ll try not to guilt you into trading me one of your upcoming American players I promise!

State of the Loons; How Wahlstrom Broke Capeside's Heart

 

Trevor Czepiel	10:33 AM (21 minutes ago)
to me

The year was 2009, it was a chilly October night and a 28 year old me was spending some quality time with my grandfather watching the Bruins. Back then between the first and second periods the Bruins would show a taped competition called mini one on one. This was a long standing Bruins tv tradition that while I was a kid was called mini 3 on 3 but once the NHL did away with ties and moved to penalty shots in 2005 so did Bruins intermission tv. But on that October night I watched this 9 year old pull off the first lacrosse style goal that I ever saw and was blown away. 16 years later I am still failing at even being able to pick the puck up off the ice in a beer league game to even attempt it let alone as a 9 year old on tv. This is how Oliver Wahlstrom came into my life.

Fast forward 9 years to 2018. 38 year old me just finished another losing seasons as the owner of the Capeside Minutemen in the BRL baseball league, when its commissioner emailed me a random question of it I was a hockey fan. Does a bear shit in the woods? I bled black and gold! Corfield informed me that there was a failing organization that was looking for new ownership and I was given the opportunity to seize control of the Ottawa Barracudas. After liquidating a bunch of assets I purchased the team and moved the team from Ottawa to Capeside. After gutting the team in order to make the roster my own I was able to own the 4th, 5th and 6th picks in the 2018 draft. Prior to the CCHL coming into my life my hockey knowledge was limited to the Bruins, not the AHL providence Bruins not the NCAA Minutemen, Terriers or Eagles. Strictly the Bruins. Oliver Wahlstrom had fallen off of my radar but thanks to the CCHL he was back in my life as a top prospect in the 18 draft. My mind and heart were set - I was going to do whatever it took to make Wahlstrom the Loons first ever draft selection. 

Corfield once again came calling, he was interested in the 4th overall pick. As "good" as the offer was I refused cause I could not risk losing Wahlstrom. I informed Commisioner Corfield that I would trade the 5th but not 4. Nope, he needed the 4th and promised me that he would not select Wahlstrom with it and the deal was made. A few days later Corfield emailed me saying sorry but he was trading away that 4th overall pick and could no longer keep his word that Wahlstrom would not be taken at 4. I won't get into the details but it was no longer a friendly relationship between Dayton and Capeside. After days of tension I allowed Corfield to extort me for the 5th pick along with a 2nd rounder for the return of the 4th overall with a late 3rd rounder. But once again it would be all worth it because Wahlstrom was going to lead the Loons to multiple Kehler Cups. 

As the draft grew closer I still owned the 4th and 6th overall picks til another owner took advantage of a naive me sending over 3 lousy prospects (Husso, Lind & Dahlen) with a 2nd rounder for the 6th and a 2019 first. Well maybe Wahlstrom would lead us to one Kehler Cup still. 

Draft day came a few months later and now being in the CCHL for a few months my knowledge grew and names like Tkachuk and Hughes were more prevalent to me. I failed in my attempts to get my picks back (7 years later things havent changed I guess) and I was torn between the 3. But ultimately it had to be a sign that Wahlstrom came into my life back while spending time with my Grampy so Wahlstrom was the pick. He was a cant miss goal scoring threat and was going to be a lifelong Loon building block.

Maybe I should have realized things were not going to work out when he went awol from BC when things werent going well. But I stuck by him. I stuck by him while he failed in Long Island and turned down all CCHL offers for him. And then last year the clouds parted and everything made sense again as Oliver was back where he belonged in the Boston Garden wearing the black and gold! 

Well that was a fun for the few weeks before he was sent down to Providence and then released by the Bruins during the off season. Oliver is now struggling without a NHL deal in the AHL for the Sharks. The Loons are still without a Kehler cup while Calgary and Victoria hold Brady Tkachuk and Quinn Hughes hostage from me and their rightful homes in Black and Neon Green.

Dont worry, no matter how much Oliver hurts me and I have to see Brady score hat tricks against me or Quinn put up a 100 assists I will stay loyal to Wahlstrom because he will always be that 9 year old who could skate circles around 45 year old me.

ChatGPT evaluates trades and more!

 With the ever-evolving world of AI making life more interesting, I have been doing a lot of things with it over the last month.  

I did something at work with it that allowed my team to set new records in terms of freight volume moved.  I did some consulting work where I utilized it to have a company compare products and save a quarter of a million dollars in purchasing the next year.  

I'm also working on an initiative with it to do something else that will benefit the CCHL going forward.  More on that later, as I'm about 60-70% done but have more work to do.  The encouraging part is that the hard part of the work is done, and it's refining and setting things up to function how we need them to function.  This will be a fun initiative for our league, and I'm excited to make it work!  

Another thing that's fun is that ChatGPT enjoys evaluating and providing opinions on our trades.  Let's see what it has to say about the last bunch of trades in the CCHL.  

Now, keep in mind, ChatGPT doesn't take into account salary or CCHL contracts at all in it's evaluation, just pure value of the players.  

Without further ado, I give you their evaluations!  

TRADE-BY-TRADE BREAKDOWN

---

(11/15/25) CHP ↔ HFX

CHP gets:

• J. Markstrom

• T. Hertl

• R. Sandin

• Oliver Moore-p

HFX gets:

• I. Shesterkin

• A. Lundell

Winner: HFX (Fairly Clearly)

Why:

• Shesterkin is the single best asset in the deal—franchise-level goalie in fantasy.

• Lundell is a strong young C with real upside.

• Markstrom is declining; Hertl is still solid but not a needle-mover; Sandin is decent but not premium; Moore is long-term speculative.

CHP traded the star and got quantity over quality.
Unless CHP desperately needed depth, this is a net loss.

---

(11/15/25) GEO ↔ CHP

GEO gets:

• M. Johansson

• J. Edmundson

CHP gets:

• J. Oleksiak

• S. Kuraly

Winner: GEO (Slight Edge)

Why:

• Oleksiak vs Edwinson: Oleksiak hits/blocks but doesn’t score; Edmundson similar but usually carries less fantasy utility.

• Kuraly is fringe depth.

• Johansson is easily the best upside player here—young, skilled, trending upward.

GEO gets the only meaningful offensive potential.

---

(11/12/25) FOR ↔ SEN

FOR gets:

• S. Stamkos

SEN gets:

• C. Verhaeghe

• CGY 4th-26

Winner: FOR (But Context-Dependent)

Why:

• Stamkos is aging but still a high-end power-play producer when healthy.

• Verhaeghe is a strong multi-category winger with stability and no major downside.

Verdict:

• Win-now team → FOR wins big.

• Long-term build → SEN did fine, but they didn’t get enough for a name like Stamkos.

---

(11/11/25) CHP ↔ WIS

CHP gets:

• R. Pulock

• I. Shesterkin

WIS gets:

• U. Luukkonen

• L. Reichel

• K. Stenlund

• Max Psenicka-p

• AMO 4th-26

Winner: CHP (By a Lot)

Why:

• Shesterkin is elite top-3 goalie value.

• Pulock is still a solid, reliable defenseman.

WIS receives a grab-bag of mid-tier prospects and depth pieces.
No asset comes close to Shesterkin.
Clear win for CHP.

---

(11/10/25) FOR ↔ SPR

FOR gets:

• R. Hintz

SPR gets:

• M. Michkov

• T. Toffoli

• CHP 3rd-26

Winner: SPR (Long-Term) / FOR (Short-Term Contender)

This one depends heavily on league timeline.

• Hintz is a star C/RW, prime age, excellent category coverage.

• Michkov is a mega-ceiling franchise winger but still developing.

• Toffoli + 3rd is nice but not huge.

If FOR is trying to win the championship in the next 1–2 years → FOR wins.
If any long-term value matters at all → SPR wins thanks to Michkov’s upside.

---

(11/09/25) CHP ↔ DEN

CHP gets:

• L. Reichel

• Matt Savoie-p

• Jacob Rombach-p

• Max Psenicka-p

• AMO 4th-26

DEN gets:

• R. Rakell

• S. Gostisbehere

Winner: DEN (Short-Term) / CHP (If Rebuilding)

• Rakell + Gostisbehere still have meaningful fantasy value right now.

• CHP received almost entirely futures, the only near-term roster piece being Reichel.

If CHP is selling for the future, this is reasonable.
If CHP expected competitive assets, this is a loss.

---

SUMMARY OF WINNERS

Trade Date	Winner
11/15/25 CHP–HFX	HFX
11/15/25 GEO–CHP	GEO
11/12/25 FOR–SEN	FOR (win-now)
11/11/25 CHP–WIS	CHP
11/10/25 FOR–SPR	SPR (future) / FOR (win-now)
11/09/25 CHP–DEN	DEN (short-term)

Millers Musings 11.16

 The UFA dump trade has been a disaster. How to fix things? Make another trade with Chippewa, of course!

(11/15/25) GEO trades J. Oleksiak & S. Kuraly to CHP for M. Johansson & Joel Edmundson…

Oleksiak and Kuraly were acquired over the summer from the Chippewas. Oleksiak has arguably been the Millers most consistent defenseman, which says all you need to know about how this season has gone. Kuraly was brought in as a 4th line C and PK asset and hasn’t been terribly effective, being in and out of the lineup quite a bit. 

Edmundson replaces Oleksiak as the designated giant on skates on Georgetown’s blue line. He’s about 85% of the player Oleksiak is, and moving out Oleksiak gives Jamie Drysdale a chance to show the club he was worth acquiring as the centerpiece of the deal that moved out Theodore, Kopitar and Huberdeau. Edmundson will likely start out as the 7th defender. It’s quite likely the club attempts to move the pending UFA to another club later this season. 

Johansson is a veteran middle 6 winger who can contribute on both special teams, typically on the 2nd unit of each. He’ll start out on the Millers 3rd line. His $800,000 contract runs through next year and gives the club reliable depth scoring at a bargain-basement price for next season, as well as this year. He’s a very good skater and a pass-first attacker, so there is hope he may help unlock Marco Kasper’s offense as the young C only has 1 goal on his first 23 shots. 

Falcons Fly Early, Hold Off Donuts for Ninth Home Win In Their Last Ten Games

 FORT ERIE — The Fort Erie Falcons came out firing on all cylinders Friday night, burying three goals in a span of just under four minutes in the first period and never looking back en route to a 5–2 win over the visiting Wisborg Donuts.

The Falcons, who outshot Wisborg 48–24, dominated the opening twenty minutes, forcing Donuts goaltender Filip Gustavsson into a barrage of early saves. Fort Erie finally broke through on a power play at 12:03 when Sam Reinhart tipped home his 18th of the year off a slick feed from Dylan Strome.

Just nine seconds later, Mark Stone doubled the lead, jumping on a rebound from Jake Walman’s point shot. The crowd at the Fort Erie Arena had barely settled when Valeri Nichushkin made it 3–0 at 15:59, finishing a beautiful passing play with Vincent Trocheck and Thomas Harley.

Wisborg managed to stem the bleeding late in the period when Adrian Kempe scored on the power play, blasting a one-timer off a David Pastrnak feed at 16:20 to cut the deficit to 3–1.

The Donuts showed more life in the second period, outshooting Fort Erie 14–9, but the Falcons’ top guns answered every push. Owen Power scored his third of the season with a seeing-eye wrister through traffic at 9:01, and Leon Draisaitl added a power-play marker at 12:26, rifling a shot over Gustavsson’s glove to make it 5–1.

Pastrnak would strike back at 16:59, finishing a smooth passing sequence with Kempe and Ryan McDonagh, but that was as close as Wisborg would get. Despite several power-play chances in the third period, the Donuts couldn’t solve Mackenzie Blackwood, who finished with 22 saves for his 19th win of the year.

Gustavsson was under siege all night, stopping 43 of 48 shots in the loss, dropping his record to 10–5–1.

Three Stars:

1. Leon Draisaitl (FOR) – 1 G, 1 A, commanding presence on special teams

2. Sam Reinhart (FOR) – 1 G, 1 A, opened the scoring and led the charge

3. David Pastrnak (WIS) – 1 G, 1 A, spark for Wisborg’s attack

Notable Stat:
Fort Erie fired 25 shots in the first period alone — more than Wisborg managed all game.

Millers Musings

 A free agent signing and a huge trade highlight the past week for the Millers. 

(11/04/25) GEO signs R. Shea to a 2 year, 900k contract…

Shea is off to a tremendous start in the NHL, and the Millers inked him to a deal with an eye towards him providing solid depth or perhaps grabbing a bottom-pairing spot next season. Barring a lot of injuries or a sell-off of the team’s current Dmen, he’s unlikely to see any ice time this season. 

Speaking of sell-offs:

(11/07/2025) GEO trades J. Huberdeau, A. Kopitar, S. Theodore & $7M to FEK for T. Brodie, J. Drysdale, Y. Gourde, & M. McCarron…

Despite the Millers recent solid play (7-3-0 in their last 10) their performances have been inconsistent and the special teams have been particularly bad. There were also rumors coming from the dressing room concerning the plethora of upcoming star-level unrestricted free agents causing tension as about half the roster was questioning their futures. 

To change up the dynamic, the 3 main upcoming UFAs were dealt to Fergus for a return that on the surface should improve the bottom 6 and penalty kill, but the headliner is D Jamie Drysdale. 

Gourde returns to the franchise for his 4th go-around; his most recent was last season where he failed to mesh with his teammates and found himself scratched and ultimately moved out. The club hopes a lesser role in the bottom 6 and some occasional power play duties on the 2nd unit allow him to settle in better. 

McCarron was brought in specifically to prop up the penalty kill and to bring some toughness to the 4th line. 

Brodie was a salary make-weight and is no higher than 8th on the D depth chart. 

All 3 of the veterans acquired are pending UFAs. 

Drysdale is the prize, a 22 year-old puck moving Dman that has been in the league a few years but seems to be breaking out. Although not the offensive force that Theodore was, he should routinely put up point totals in the 30 to 40 point range at minimum while playing respectable defense on the 2nd pair. He may not have a role right away with the Millers as Jalen Chatfield will get first dibs at the lineup spot left open by the Theodore trade, but if the team struggles to generate chances he’ll find his way in eventually. He is a lock for a top 4 spot next season. 

This deal leaves the Millers a little light in their top 6, with Jared McCann expected to take over 2nd line C duties. The club is hoping to address that spot using their defensive depth; Jamie Oleksiak or John Marino could be moved out to facilitate that and it’s not beyond belief that offseason’s UFA signings Matt Roy or Jalen Chatfield could also be moved. 

The dealing is not done in the bluegrass. 

Millers Musings November 2

 

Another trade and a look at a couple of prospects. 

(10/26/25) FOR trades T. Sanheim to GEO for J. Walman & A. Henrique...

The Millers once again hook up with Fort Erie to move out a veteran Dman. But this time they get a slightly younger veteran back and clear out their backlog of bottom 6 forwards. 

Jake Walman has been a good depth player the past 2 seasons with the Millers, putting up 10 points in 20 games last season and 14 points in 31 games in the 23-24 season. This year he has busted out to score 20 points in 19 games, including 9 points with the man advantage. Georgetown chose to sell high, as that level of offense is unlikely to last, Walman has injury concerns and he is an unrestricted free agent at season’s end. 

Adam Henrique was brought in last year to help the 3rd line and penalty kill. Dropped to the 4th line this season, the Millers were delighted to be able to move his contract despite decent production thus far (7 pts in 19 games, 60% on faceoffs). 

Incoming is 29 year-old Travis Sanheim. Though not nearly the point produce that Walman is, he can move the puck well and is stout defensively. He gets first crack at filling Walman’s spot on the first line alongside Shea Theodore. He is under contract for 3 more seasons. 

Sean Kuraly and Andrew Copp will compete to fill Henrique’s role on the 4th line and PK. 

Prospect Talk

Georgtown currenly has 4 prospects playing in the NHL during the early part of the season, including their top 2 Center prospects. 

It took a while but Berkley Catton finally got into the NHL lineup and has 3 points in 6 games. He is seeing most of his time in the bottom 6 but hopefully that’s to break him into the league; his talent and skill are best utilized in the top 6. He may get a shot with injuries in the Kraken lineup. Another year in the WHL won’t benefit him and he’s too young for the AHL, so it’s crucial he grab a regular lineup spot and get at least 15 minutes a game. 

Ryan Greene is lauded for his 2 way game and tenacity. A good scorer in the NCAA he profiles as a bottom 6 pivot in the NHL, who can kill penalties and pitch in some respectable offense. Through 12 games he has 3 points and is averaging 10 1/2 minutes per game. Greene would probably be better served with more ice time in the AHL as this is his first full pro season.