[Swayze11]

Simmer and I were talking about a way to boost trading and he mentioned that there is another sim league out there that only allows you to keep 1 UFA, the GMs choice. I think this is a great idea and I think we should really consider this and there is a ton of things I can explain to back it up.

With only allowing 1 UFA re-signing this will make GMs more active with their teams, trading, and player management. For example I would have to chose between a Willie Mitchell or a Craig Anderson this year which is a pretty hard decision (debatable). This would allow the bottom feeders to go out in the UFA market and grab a few guys who they can trade or keep for their rebuilding process. This also makes the CPHL a lot more realistic like the NHL, where we did see Chara, Gaborik, Pronger, Bouwmeester, etc. on the open market to any bidder. This also allows the bottom feeders to be a lot more competitive instead of watching their team suck for 3-4 years while they wait for their ECHL team to develop into CPHL players.

This will benefit trading a ton because teams will start to think about which UFA they are going to keep and therefor trade their other UFAs to contenders or teams that want to use that specific player as their 1 UFA. This will also lower the prices for UFAs which should be the case at the moment but its not because teams can keep all their UFAs if they really want to. The term "rental player" does not exist in the CPHL because they can re-sign them at their choice.

The UFA batches at the moment are terrible. The fact that Aucoin was a top UFA last season is kind of pathetic compared to the NHL with Bouwmeester, Sedin sisters, Gaborik, Havlat. I just think this will level the playing field. I hate seeing a CPHL Calgary Flames team be in the bottom 3 every single year where thats not the case (debatable) in the real NHL. Now I understand you dont build a team through free-agency but thats not the point of this new system, its to give the Flames, Islanders, etc. a better and faster chance of being competitive. This is my 1st full season in the CPHL and I hate being at the bottom I cant imagine how it would be if I am there for the next 3 years, it would just not be fun.

Another thing Simmer and I discussed is how this would help with cheese room. Most teams would have cap space therefore cheese room would not be a big issue like it currently is. I count 7 teams (NJ, COL, BOS, NAS, PIT, WAS, LA) that are restricted of trading because of cheese room and we are only in week 8 of the WHOLE SEASON. Theres 7 teams that wont be trading or will be making very minor trades which is never fun. Those specific teams are rebuilding or contending teams which typically are the ones that would be making the most trades out of anyone. You can debate that this is bad cap/cheese management but when the flood gates open GMs cant help but to make 3-4 trades within the 1st week.

Well theres my suggestion, feedback is always needed. The thing with this system is it has to be implemented now, not next year, not next off-season it has to be now because teams prices are just way to high right now and this will lower them. I am not saying that im the perfect GM and all my prices are extremely reasonable. This would lower my trade price for Willie Mitchell just because I have no problem giving him a grid, but if I know I have to let him walk either way then hes got a 1-way ticket out of Colorado.