Hey all,

I\'m the admin of a 1st-year keeper league. Our rules are based on Dobber\'s rules, with minimal changes. Our rosters are 20-man, and are split between forwards, defencemen, and goalies. Points are counted for the top-9 forwards, top-4 D, and top-1 goalie. All others are dropped (or considered bench).

In our pool, we only receive points for players while they are on our roster, not after they are dropped. When we replace a player on our roster with a new player, the new player starts at 0 their point totals are combined with the dropped player. So, if the combined players\' points are high enough to put them in the top-X, both of their points count. If not, both their points do not count. A number of owners are extremely upset with this current rule.

Example: I drop Vermette (1 point) for D. Brown (0) points. Vermette was in my top-9 forwards at the time. PoolExpert combined these points (1+0=1) for the sake of putting Brown in the Top-9 or not. As Brown plays, the point total will rise (2..3..4..)

The other option is that the new players are added to your roster and start at 0 points. Their scores will only be counted when they, themselves, move into the top-X for their position. The dropped player\'s points would still count until they fell out of the top-X.

Example: I drop Vermette (1 point) for D. Brown (0) points. Vermette was in my top-9 forwards at the time. Vermette stays in the Top-9 until he is bumped out by another player. Essentially, Vermette still appears on the roster, but doesn\'t accumulate points anymore.

I\'m just looking for some advice. Does anyone run a keeper league with trading and the top-X method, but where players DON\'T transfer their points (ie. drop Tucker(40) for Kovalchuk(80) for a 40 point boost).

Thanks,

Nigel

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PTKL (Pts,W,SO,SV,-GA)

F: Backstrom, Cammalleri, Eriksson, Jagr, Kesler, Lucic, Malkin, Pominville, Schwartz, H.Sedin, Tanguay, Vanek
D: Ehrhoff, Enstrom, E.Johnson, Rundblad, Whitney, Wideman
G: Luongo, Varlamov

I don\'t really understand your second paragraph, can you give me an example?
Really, there are just two ways to do it - the points transfer with the player, or they don\'t. In my example, they do.

In many pools, they don\'t. So if Tucker has 40 and Kovalchuk has 80 and they make a trade, the team getting Kovalchuk starts with 40 and gains points every time Kovalchuk gets one. Owners shouldn\'t be upset with either rule, but I would advise that rules not be changed during the season.
B)

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DobberHockey Rules
14 Team Keeper, points only, best 12 skaters 2 dman 2 G count. Playoffs count.
F - Crosby, C.Smith, Wheeler, Parenteau, Hudler, Clowe, Grabovski, Atkinson, Frolik, S. Kostitsyn, Marchand, Peverley, Tavares, Read, Brouwer, Bickell, Gionta, Setoguchi
G - Anderson, Hiller, Markstrom, Brodeur
D - Letang, Del Zotto, I. White, Kronwall, Brodin, Nikitin

There, I added some examples to make it more understandable. It\'s kind of hard to explain.

I\'ve always stayed away from trading complete point totals in pools. I always figured people would just grab the highest-scoring free agents at the trade deadline and rocket up the standings. Does this not happen in your pool? I always thought this method would kill the pool\'s integrity.

Thanks,

Nigel

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PTKL (Pts,W,SO,SV,-GA)

F: Backstrom, Cammalleri, Eriksson, Jagr, Kesler, Lucic, Malkin, Pominville, Schwartz, H.Sedin, Tanguay, Vanek
D: Ehrhoff, Enstrom, E.Johnson, Rundblad, Whitney, Wideman
G: Luongo, Varlamov

Yes, it happens, but not as much as you\'d think. First of all, three or four guys go for it, so they are in the market for points. Obviously, they can only approach the teams that are not going for it. So four teams talk to eight teams.
BUT, these eight teams are out of it, so how many players can they have with points? Let\'s pretend that each team has one player with 70 points at the deadline, and four of those teams also have a 60-point player as well.
So four GM\'s are competing for a pool of 12 players that can help them gain points.
NOW the guy with Crosby and the guy with Spezza are not trading them. Suddenly, the pool of 12 worthwhile players becomes 10 and the pool of GMs to talk to becomes six.
Since my pool has a limit of six trades during the season for each team, oftentimes a GM who is going for it tries to take a player off the market early. So come deadline day...you\'re actually not looking at 10 worthwhile players on deadline day...the number is more like six or seven.

Now you have a bidding war between four GM\'s who are going for it, talking to four or five other GM\'s and trying to gain the most points. The GM\'s that are givng up the guy...well, they want to improve their team for next year, so they are going to get every blue-chip prospect, or injured star (such as Sullivan) that they can.

When the dust settles, two or three teams may have made moves to gain points, but a \"good\" points gain in a single trade in March is 20-25 points. It helps, but doesn\'t hurt the integrity of a pool where 950 points wins. It also speeds up the rebuilding process and slows down any dynasties.

It\'s a lot of fun. And since the playoffs also count for a second trophy, sometimes the GM\'s who drop want to steal a playoff guy or two from a GM who wants their points.

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DobberHockey Rules
14 Team Keeper, points only, best 12 skaters 2 dman 2 G count. Playoffs count.
F - Crosby, C.Smith, Wheeler, Parenteau, Hudler, Clowe, Grabovski, Atkinson, Frolik, S. Kostitsyn, Marchand, Peverley, Tavares, Read, Brouwer, Bickell, Gionta, Setoguchi
G - Anderson, Hiller, Markstrom, Brodeur
D - Letang, Del Zotto, I. White, Kronwall, Brodin, Nikitin

I should add - the teams who are not going for it and give up the points, will drop in the standings and thus improve their draft position - which is a motivator to deal off the points.

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DobberHockey Rules
14 Team Keeper, points only, best 12 skaters 2 dman 2 G count. Playoffs count.
F - Crosby, C.Smith, Wheeler, Parenteau, Hudler, Clowe, Grabovski, Atkinson, Frolik, S. Kostitsyn, Marchand, Peverley, Tavares, Read, Brouwer, Bickell, Gionta, Setoguchi
G - Anderson, Hiller, Markstrom, Brodeur
D - Letang, Del Zotto, I. White, Kronwall, Brodin, Nikitin