Fix Skater Starts to 18

[Tbone (Kelowna)]

Further to the Quality vs Quantity debate, thought I'd approach it from a different angle. I would suggest setting the # skaters fixed at 18 for each week (and not allowing the addition of an extra skater in lieu of a goalie) Skater and Goalie stats are distinctly separate, so does not quite make sense to allow the transfer of players between the two. Believe this was the initial vision and assumption upon league inception (until somebody found a loophole in fantrax that allowed this last season)

Pros
1. More Fair Skater Matchups - an extra skater accounts to a potential extra 5.6% extra skater stats. For higher volume stats like Hits, Blks, SHTOI (and even FOW, if we allow the proposed additional flexibility with C's), this can easily amount to the different between winning and losing a particular stat matchup due to pure quantity.

Note 11 out of the 12 skater stats are quantity based (only +/- being quality), compared to 3 out of 5 goalie stats being quantity (GAA/SV% being quality)

2. More Interesting Goalie Matchups - by encouraging starts of only one goalie (with the extra Skater advantage), certain stats can almost be decided before the matchup even begins. By promoting more potential 2 vs 2 matchup, there is more uncertainty in the matchup and more goalie stats are up in the air - this makes for better activity and general interest in following close matchups that can go either way (and greater swings in matchups, which can have a greater impact on standings) 

3. More Full Goalie Usage - by allowing 1 goalie starts, the 2nd goalie slot is wasted (which accounts for a greater % of overall goalie stats than skaters) By removing this skater advantage, teams will be more inclined to grab a quality backup as to not waste that slot (and improving the overall usage of a whole class of goalies) I do agree a bit with Eric in this point that Goalies are a bit higher impact than Skaters, since they are such a key part of even a real NHL team winning or losing, even for backups. So the more utilized the better.


On a more general note, with any key rule change that can significantly impact a teams' positional depth, believe there should be a significant lag time between decision to go forward and actual implementation.  A former GM (zaphod) once recommend that big rule changes like this should be implemented Two seasons later, so as to minimize any advantage/disadvantage for teams immediately (eg. for this change, will wait until the start of 2016/17 season to take effect)

This will avoid any potential conflict that certain rule changes are brought on to give any particular teams any immediate advantage or disadvantage.  But instead, changes are done for the long term health of the league.  If one truly believe in these long term benefits, there should be no rush for immediate implementation and having this sufficient waiting period to allow everybody plenty of time to adjust.

[Deleted]

Ya this makes sense if (BIG IF) somehow we can figure out how to distribute goalies more appropriately throughout the league.

The extra skater is the only counter a weaker goalie club can play against a club laced with quantity goalies.

[Deleted]

I like this idea and I think it ties the goalie issue and the roster flexibility issue together.

I think people will be more in favour of Eric's greater roster flexibility idea if it is restricted to 18 skaters and then teams are more free to determine the composition within that 18, subject to certain limitations.

I think everyone should start 2 goalies as a basic tenet of the league, and from there we can keep debating the GP limits for the season and weekly.

[Tbone (Kelowna)]

Think the Goalie distribution issue will work itself out with time and that the imbalance is only a short-term issue. Goalie valuation can vary greatly (and very quickly), much more so than with skaters. Great one year, dud another. Starter one year, backup another. Due to a variety of reasons from trades, under-performance, and a young up-and-comer taking their jobs.

Rarely in other positions can a young player instantly come in and make a superstar like impact than with Goalies. There is so much up and down and unpredictability with them. As long as GM's prepare themselves appropriately with some form of younger goalie depth and realize the importance of them in our league, believe they will be fine. That's why waiver picks can be so valuable, find there are still quite a few younger goalies in the various systems out there still available (and new ones coming up each year).

[Deleted]

It's been two years almost and the goalie issue has not worked itself out, it's actually doing the opposite.

Starting out, every team had a legitimate starter or split goalie. Now, some teams have six goalies and other have one.

It won't work itself out.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using proboards

[Deleted]

I'm not sure I understand this; are you saying we fix skaters at 18, such as 4C, 8W and 6D? Or are you suggesting there could be some flexibility with respect to how the positions are distributed within the 18?

[Tbone (Kelowna)]

This specific rule suggestion was just to fix the # of Skaters at 18 - and not allow 19 (an extra skater for those who choose to start 1 goalie). In terms increasing the flexibility of the allocation of the skaters, that was a separate suggestion that can be determined separately - but with respect to that, think everyone should consider it carefully, since C's (behind goalies) are probably the 2nd most valuable assets in this league so any change should take that into account.

[Deleted]

And if skaters are fixed at 18, are goalies fixed at 1 or 2? [I'm just trying to understand your proposal.]

[Tbone (Kelowna)]

Main point of this suggestion was to fix skaters at 18. With Goalies, though I would like to see 2 dressed, the depth limitations can be a constraint. So think we should still allow a start of 1 or 2, depending on their strategic preference. Not sure forcing 2 goalies is something we can enforce anyways, since someone can always bring up a G prospect to fill that extra goalie slot. It's more to discourage the use of only one goalie, unless depth limitations make that the obvious strategic advantage.

[Deleted]

I'm not really a big fan of this, just because it reduces roster flexibility (which is already incredibly restrictive) and also will likely increase the values of goalies (which I do not think is good for the league as a whole).

I'd be much more open to this proposal if it combined some of the elements of the other discussions. For example: 18 fixed skaters but some flexibility with positions (e.g., max of 5C, max of 9W, max of 7D, max of 13F). I also wouldn't be opposed to 2 dedicated goalie spots if in turn there was a reduction to the max 110 GP.

My primary concerns with this proposal, on it's own, is that I see it making roster management less fun (as it stands, unless there is an injury I could easily go the entire year without ever making a roster move) and also has the potential to make the parity in this league even worse.

[Tbone (Kelowna)]

Note having waiver free players is another good way to facilitate roster flexibility. Personally, don't find it that restrictive - having at least one C/W on your team (which most have given their frequency) basically already allows some flexibility regarding moving players between C and W. And we already allow switching up between W and D. Though sometimes too much flexibility would have you kicking yourself if you happen to sit out a player who ends up having a big week. But yeah on a general note, being able to switch up players definitely increases the fun aspect.