So I got some flak in particular from one of the GMs in a league I'm the commissioner of for kicking him out of the playoffs (along with another GM)

The reason was that by the middle of January, in a 16 team league, only 5 GMs had ponied up the necessary cash to be in the pool. I wanted the money in before the last place teams started thinking "why bother?" in reality, they're the ones who had all paid on time. So in order to get money in from all remaining interested parties, I had set a firm deadline of Feb 1st. Failure to pay meant automatic loss of playoff contention, regardless of your regular season finish. I extended this deadline to the start of the playoffs (yesterday) as an act of good faith, but the remaining delinquent GMs have yet to pay. So, following through on my promise, I edited the H2H schedule to exclude them from the playoffs.

I'm not interested in ceding groung to this guy because it's unfair to the GMs that have paid and not made the playoffs to say that this guy deserves a shot at their money without having taken a similar risk. He also had 4 months to get me what amounts to "walking around money". What I'm wondering is did I handle this appropriately?

I can still undo the change to the playoff setup if need be, but I don't want to. I worry about overstepping my bounds because this is my 1st time running a league. It's a ton of fun, but I don't want to ruin it. I'm pretty adamant about not becoming the babysitter, but am becoming a little unsure about where to draw the line between what's my responsibility and what's just a GM complaining about anything and everything.

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H2H - 16 team - 4 player keeper league - (Roster: 6F, 3D, 5 BE, 2 G | 2 IR)
G, A, +/-, PIM, SOG, PPP || GAA, SV%, SO

F - Crosby, Malkin, Parise, Bergeron, Weiss, J. Staal,
D - Shattenkirk, Bieksa, Green
BE- R O'Reilly, M. Michalek, Setoguchi, Briere, Goligoski
G - Lundqvist, Halak

IR -A. McDonald, M. Koivu

Seems like the message was pretty clear and absolute from the beginning. If these guys still couldn't get their shit together after all this time, then they are obviously not serious about the league. As a commish, you have to draw the firm line in the sand somewhere otherwise you compromise the integrity of the league. You did the right thing and I'm pretty sure every commish here would support the same decision.

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12 Team NHL Salary Cap Dynasty -daily starts
H2H, Salary Cap 82mil, Player actual salaries (all)
+/-,G,A,GWG,PTS,STP,PIM,SOG,HT,BS,GAA,SO,SV,W
Starters: 12 Forwards, 6 Defense, 2 Goalies

Forwards: Fleischmann, Duchene, Ennis, Kessel, M.Koivu, Neal, Conacher, D.Sedin, H.Sedin, Bailey, J.Thornton, Bozak
Defense: Carlson, Gardiner, Kulikov, Franson, Dillon, MacDonald
Goalie: Rask, Crawford
Reserves: B.Schenn, Cowen, Fraser, Gryba, Brodeur, Emery, Pavelec
Prospects: Gallagher, Chiasson, Killorn, A.Larsson, Murphy, Rielly
Fantrax TAHL 2013 Champion

Thanks. Helps to hear it from you guys. Some of the guys in the league think it's "a bit harsh", but hey... life's a bit harsh.

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H2H - 16 team - 4 player keeper league - (Roster: 6F, 3D, 5 BE, 2 G | 2 IR)
G, A, +/-, PIM, SOG, PPP || GAA, SV%, SO

F - Crosby, Malkin, Parise, Bergeron, Weiss, J. Staal,
D - Shattenkirk, Bieksa, Green
BE- R O'Reilly, M. Michalek, Setoguchi, Briere, Goligoski
G - Lundqvist, Halak

IR -A. McDonald, M. Koivu

You 100% did the right thing. I do the same thing too. In one league this year I handed off the PRIMARY commish duties to a buddy of mine. He failed to put a deadline in and 1 owner skipped out on paying and isn't joining back.

Deadlines must be set. Maybe next time, do it a little earlier and LOCK the lineups....

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Contract Fantrax 14 teams, 8 keepers. 4 max lifers +/-
3C, 3LW, 3RW, 1F. 5D,2G....5Reserves.
Goal heavy. G=3.5 A=2 Add 0.5pts for D.
Goalies:W=3,SO=4,start=2,Save=.1
Shootout Save=.2
C:CROSBY,STAMKOS,TAVARES,
LW:Sedin,MARCHAND,TLUSTY,ELIAS,Whitney
RW:MALKIN,YAKUPOV,Jagr,Brunner
D: BYFUGLIEN,YANDLE,VOYNOV,Carlson,Visnovsky
G:Lundqvist,lehtonen,Pavelec
Minors: Granlund
Baseball
Votto,Cano,hanley,longoria
McCutchen,Stanton,Bautista.
Verlander,Cain,Felix

4 months late and you still extended the deadline. Sounds like those who think that you're being harsh live in fairy fantasy land where you don't need to pay your bills on time and mom still cooks for you every night.

You did the right thing and event bent more than you needed to.

I hear ya.

Deal for next year: If you don't pay, you don't draft.

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H2H - 16 team - 4 player keeper league - (Roster: 6F, 3D, 5 BE, 2 G | 2 IR)
G, A, +/-, PIM, SOG, PPP || GAA, SV%, SO

F - Crosby, Malkin, Parise, Bergeron, Weiss, J. Staal,
D - Shattenkirk, Bieksa, Green
BE- R O'Reilly, M. Michalek, Setoguchi, Briere, Goligoski
G - Lundqvist, Halak

IR -A. McDonald, M. Koivu

Thumbs up.
I comish several leagues and I like the way you approached it.

(As an aside, I think it's fine to let teams draft without paying. There is nothing worse than having to reset a draft order or deal with modifying a draft just moments before it starts.
The one thing you should institute for future years is this: NO TEAM CAN MAKE A TRADE UNTIL THEY HAVE PAID. I've been in leagues where I've seen unpaid teams go and buddy-trade away their players and then leave the league. That can be even worse. I just straight don't enter money leagues any more, except among a full-friend-ring)

Agreed.

I will be running my first league next season and in preparations leading up to the inaugural draft I have to keep reminding myself Firm, yet fair.

You accomplished both, in my view.

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Four out of three people have difficulty with fractions

Commish - Twisted Wrister Fantasy Hockey League

12 team, $$$, 24 players, Weekly, H2H, limited keeper (8), multi-cat (G, A, PIMs, Hits, SOG, HT/ W, GA, SV%, SO)

Start: 2C, 2RW, 2LW, 4D, 2G

That actually sounds like a GREAT approach.

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H2H - 16 team - 4 player keeper league - (Roster: 6F, 3D, 5 BE, 2 G | 2 IR)
G, A, +/-, PIM, SOG, PPP || GAA, SV%, SO

F - Crosby, Malkin, Parise, Bergeron, Weiss, J. Staal,
D - Shattenkirk, Bieksa, Green
BE- R O'Reilly, M. Michalek, Setoguchi, Briere, Goligoski
G - Lundqvist, Halak

IR -A. McDonald, M. Koivu

I would go so far as no trades and no FA pickups until payment is received.

Guys agree to pay to play - so no pay, no play (or significant limitations). I really think you did the right thing - someone volunteers their time to commish a league and then guys don't pony up > bush league.

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Yahoo weekly starts 12 team league, keep 17 plus farm

GS, W, L, SV, GAA, SV%, SO G, A, P, +/-, PIM, SOG, GWG, PPP, SHP, HITS, FOW

3C: H. Sedin,Stepan, Stastny, R. Johansen, Hanzal, Anisimov,
3LW: Burrows, Vanek, Ott, Lupul, Dubinsky
3RW: Doan, Pavelski, Brown, Okposo,
6D: Franson, Doughty, Voynov, Subban, Markov, Gonchar, Karlsson
1Util:
2G: Price, Emery


Farm: (< 100 games): S. Elliott, J. Bernier, Galchenyuk, Etem, Eakin, Atkinson