[dsavillian]

This is for discussion only. I am not suggesting that we change this immediately or that it is better or worse than what we currently have. Nor do I have all the specifics worked out. I just want to have a discussion and earn that sweet sweet POTW money.

We were chatting at lunch about prospects and how it's a shame that first round NHL draft picks don't usually get to play a CPHL game until 3 years after they are drafted.

Generally speaking, the correct move when signing a prospect is to wait as long as possible so that you can keep their cap hit : ratings ratio as good as possible for as long as possible. I feel that this might cause some GMs to have an aversion to prospects ("why would I want to wait 3 years when I can just get players that can play now") or the treatment of prospects as currency only. I also think that it is a shame that a top prospect that makes the NHL in their first or second year after the draft can't be used (effectively) in the CPHL at the same time.


We discussed a system that would grant playable ratings to ECHLers based on their position in the NHL draft. Additionally, this base rating would be used as their baseline for re-rates going forward. If a first overall pick ended up *not* making their NHL team, their rating would drop the next season. Additionally, if a top pick made the NHL and lit it up (won rookie of the year or something), their rating would improve from the baseline and could have an immediate impact on their CPHL team.

A good example of this is Alex Galchenyuk. He's into his 3rd NHL season but is still stuck in the ECHL because it's the proper move from a team management perspective (and his rating is only a 63!)


I think giving a playable baseline rating to say, the top 15 NHL picks, would increase the value of first round picks, increase the value of prospects, add some strategy around signing players early and add additional strategy around the 2nd+ tier UFAs. It would also open up the ECHL system to more prospects and eliminate some of the garbage AHL signings that shouldn't be necessary.

Obvious downsides are that it becomes more complicated to re-rate players after their baseline and what to make the baseline stats (you'd have to weight them on their junior stats which can obviously be heavily skewed). UFA costs would also be lowered which may be a bad thing? Not sure.

I'll post more thoughts later, but I wanted to get the conversation started!

I know some other leagues do this already, so I thought it would be an interesting conversation to have.