GAMESPEAK – FEDERATED
HOCKEY LEAGUE NEWSLETTER
June 5, 2010
Vol. 1, No. 2
Action! PC Sports
Hockey Released
– FHL ready to
Faceoff
http://fedhockey.net/
The First Inaugural Federated Hockey League Slot Draft ordering has just been completed
(see
#
figure 1). Already we seem some rivalries starting.
Starting in the Republic Conference, in the East Division we see NY Dolphins Cliff Dolgins at the 3rd
pick overall just ahead of the Fort Wayne Komets Stan Skalwinski with the 4th pick, and the Montreal
Canadiens Vince Diiorio with the 5th pick. Rumor has it that Stan isn’t too enamored with the 4th
pick especially in a serpentine draft. So he may be trading that pick for a more middle order pick.
Cliff’s pick is high enough that he will be able to continue his high octane style offense that
characterized his old days in the Gulf Coast Florida Hockey Association. He will undoubtedly get a
shooter to set the table for his Dolphins. In the Midwest Division we see the Detroit Bandit’s Chad
Pridemore sitting at the 6th pick overall and just trailing him is the Kansas City Ice Twisters with the
7th pick. Chad believes “Defense Wins Championships” while Joshua believes “Speed Kills!” Being
next door neighbors in the same division with contrasting styles should produce some explosive
hockey.
Moving to the National Conference, West Central Division the Topeka Tarantulas sit atop the FHL
World with the overall #1 pick in the draft. Being a self avowed Sidney Crosby fan, Russell
Grandberry will be very happy indeed to get the overall arguably best player in the league. On the
other hand the Des Moines Buccaneers sit right at the epicenter of the draft with the overall middle
pick (#9 pick) which is an optimal position to be in with the serpentine draft. There will be plenty of
good players left at this position both coming and going with him never being too far from his next
pick. The Columbus Jaguars Ashlee Pridemore and the McGregor Condors Jesse Cheng may seem to
be remotely located at the bottom of the draft but then again looks can be deceiving. Being at the
bottom of the draft means quick turnaround to pick up their next picks on the serpentine draft so with
some wise picks the difference between the Alpha (Topeka Tarantulas) and the almost Omega
(McGregor Condors) draft position is somewhat mitigated. Whereas, in the Western Conference, we
see another clustering of division rivals at the 8. Long Beach Ice Dogs; #10 Quebec Nordiques; #11
San Angelo Outlaws; and #11 Gatineau City Bulldogs. All posed nicely in the middle of the pack
there should be a nice balance of power in terms of talent available and rapid turnaround time for
their next picks.
GAMESPEAK – FEDERATED
HOCKEY LEAGUE NEWSLETTER
Living Large or Living Lean – Life Under the Salary Cap! Or How I Stopped worrying and learned to love my $133 million!
The first thing you need to determine is who will be your core guys that will take you to the promised land. The $133 million
sounds like a lot but it really goes fast. The average team salary in Action! PC dollars was $123 million. So you are basically only
$10 million above the mean. So say you pick 10 star players whose salaries are between $9-10 million. That is already $100
million in expenditures for 10 players and you still got 24 players left to pick up. See what I mean. So maybe you don’t need that
team full of all stars but can make do with a few all stars but fill the rest of the team with a solid consistent core of role players
who can prop up those star players.
The second thing is be flexible! In flexibility look for those versatile players who can play multiple positions. Someone who can
play center and wing. Those players who can play on even strength and then on the PK or PP lines will be invaluable. Look at
those players who have high TOI (time on ice) during the game so you have a favorable TOI/$ ratio.
The third thing is remember that mid season (after the 41st game) the salary cap will increase by $10 million to facilitate trading.
Getting under the salary cap will be much easier.
Draft News: The original slated commencement date of the FHL Draft was to be the weekend of June 12 and 13. However I am
hearing one group who desires to start the draft earlier (say in 1-2 days). I have heard from another group that desires to keep the
start of the draft as scheduled to allow them to study more on the players. To more accurately gauge the true desires of the FHL, I
have started a poll on the FHL Yahoo User’s Group. Please remember that in order to cast your ballot you must log onto the FHL
User’s Group and then click on the Poll message #55. This will take you right to the survey. Be sure to cast your vote for your
preferred starting date. One other option that wasn’t listed on the poll but FHL Management is strongly considering is starting an
untimed draft to start this coming Monday 6/7 through Friday 6/11. This would use the format as detailed in the inaugural issue of
Game Speak. After the poll closes at midnight Saturday night 6/6 I will see if there is any strong preference one way or another as
to start dates. Careful consideration will be given of doing the untimed draft and an announcement will coming out 6/6 about it.
Figure 1:
MORE HELPFUL WEBLINKS TO RESEARCH FHL DRAFT:
Inaugural Draft FHL Order
Topeka Tarantulas
TerreHaut Golden Retrievers
NY Dolphins
Fort Wayne Comets
Montreal Canadians
Detroit Bandits
Kansas City Ice Twisters
Long Beach Ice Dogs
Des Moines Buccaneers
Quebec Nordiques
San Angelo OutLaws
Boston Bruins
Cleveland Barons
Gatineau City Bulldogs
Columbus Jaguars
Columbia Corsairs
McGregor Condors
Cincinnati Swords
710
703
702
377
371
317
301
273
273
232
227
227
223
202
71
22
21
0
Everything Mock Draft in Hockey
http://www.mynhldraft.com/NHL-Mock-Draft/
ESPN Hockey Central
http://espn.go.com/nhl/
Hockey Analytics – Think of Bill James Abstract meets the
NHL. This goes behind the standard numbers to evaluate
players statistically in NHL
http://www.hockeyanalytics.com/index.html
Behind the Net! Think of Sabermetrics of baseball applied
to hockey in NHL then you get this webpage.
http://www.behindthenet.ca/