Update re. GM recruitment

[JiriHrdina]

Folks I wanted to provide you with an update on our efforts to recruit new GMs.
I'll be honest - it has been tough. I've posted notes on this forum, and several others in an effort to find new people.
Other sim leagues are also finding it hard to get new GMs on board.
More frustratingly, I've had 3 people on other boards say they wanted teams, only to back out.
This isn't a terrible thing as given they backed out, it probably means they weren't going to be committed.

Anyways we will continue to actively search for replacement GMs.

In the meantime, I didn't want you all to think we had gone silent.

If there is anyone you know that would be interested please connnect us.

[Drury18]

If I can provide some feedback, I've mentioned the league to several people and keep getting the same responses back:

• The Commissioners appear to have the best teams in the league and wailing on the other teams. Is the league even fair?
• There is a huge gap between "good teams" and "bad teams". How does the league keep things fair so everyone has a chance?
• I don't want to get stuck with a team that doesn't have any assets on it and I lose for 2 years before maybe getting anywhere.
• Seems like a lot of dictating of what you can and can't do and not really for fun.

In all honesty, we've had those same comments brought up by our own GM's as well and why a few have quit. Some of these have corrective actions that maybe with a few changes we get a little more stability and attractiveness to join the league.

I don't know if it's happened before, but have you ever reset all the teams and held a draft and started fresh? I think with the amount of turnover with GM's we've had lately and even prior, you have guys who don't care and sell off the team leaving a really poor starting base for any new player. Very few people are going to want to take over a team that requires INTENSIVE work on it (me being one of of those few that would). Is it fair to guys who have built they're team? No. But then again, it also keeps those GM's having to work to keep success rather then just sitting back and only making a move or two a year because they don't want to move pieces. We would create FAR more activity if we all had to start fresh and then trade our asses off to get what we want.

The other thing is that we have in this league some pretty talented guys (JonDuke, PMM and HannaSniper) in various forms of media/graphics. And we have guys like Dammage and Simmer who create some really creative "fake" Twitter posts and obviously trying to help get the posting up. Can we utilize these GM's more so that people are more intrigued to participate. Right now are boards are 90% game results and 10% rules and trade posts that aren't getting many comments anymore. What can we do so that we create more participation? What appeals to the current GM's to get more activity? What happened to the things like Player of the Week? Is there other things we can introduce similar to that to encourage less vanilla posts on our forum and more interesting ones?

I mean that's just my feedback on this. This is what I'm seeing from both trying to talk people into the league as well as why I haven't been posting as much (along with work getting in the way). The league is becoming mundane.

[JiriHrdina]

Thanks for the thoughtful post.
I'll share my thoughts.
The asset gap seems to be the biggest concern. So I'll start there.
- I think this isn't something one can deal with it the middle of a season. It is something that can be discussed during the summer if we want to make a bigger move there.
- That being said, if we were to re-start I know from talking to some of our veteran GMs a bunch of them wouldn't continue with the league.
- From personal POV I am invested in the team I've built and the assets I've acquired. I can join a new league anytime. That's not interesting to me. So if the league was to go in that direction I would likely move on myself. That's not intended to be a threat - just a reality.

So it seems to me that there is something in the middle we need. Less extreme than a re-start. The types of levers we have could include
- More extreme free agency grids for RFAs and UFAs. the ones we used this season are too low now that we see it in action. If we want to provoke player movement than we need to up these to act as a natural dispersal of the assets.
- Contraction. Pretty extreme but an option. We cut a couple teams and disperse those assets amongst teams most in need of them. Levels the playing field a little without a full reset
- Dispersal draft. Allow teams to protect a certain number of assets and allow the others to be picked by a sub-set of struggling organizations. Also pretty extreme.

I will share my personal frustration which is the way people succeed at this game is by active participation. Some of the organizations that were in the worst shape 5 years ago, are now in really good shape. But when recruiting new GMs no one is interseted in taking on a challenge. They want to get a team that has a good roster and tons of prospects.

The reason why Goffie, myself, Schum, Ravi and others have the strongest organizations is because we've played the game a long time and have been active. I don't see it as a commissioner/non commissioner thing. I see it as how invested someone is in the game.

So I guess for me it boils down to this
- We need to continue the season as is. It isn't fair to blow it up mid-season
- I'm not in favor of doing a reset. If that's what most people want - then I would move on.
- I'm open to considering some level of more material changes, but I'm sensitive to not risking our active GMs who are the heart-beat of the league and have been invested for years - to try and recruit new GMs who may or may not stick around.

Please don't read any of the above with any defensive tone. I'm just sharing my thoughts very openly and transparently.

[JiriHrdina]

Oh. On your activity level stuff - fully agree. People can grab on to anything they think would be good. For instance, if someone wants to coordinate player of the week - then please do!

[JiriHrdina]

Oh. On your activity level stuff - fully agree. People can grab on to anything they think would be good. For instance, if someone wants to coordinate player of the week - then please do!

[Swayze11]

I am not in favour of a reset as well. I put a lot of work into my team in the last 5 years. When I started my best assets were Marek Malik, Tyler Kennedy and Martin Straka. Again, just like what Grant said, it is all about the amount of time and effort you want to put into your team.

Phoenix is another great example. sim built that team to be one of the best in a lot shorter time then I did to build my team.

I would be open to a dispersal draft but the number of players protected needs to be fairly high.

[Drury18]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

Oh. On your activity level stuff - fully agree. People can grab on to anything they think would be good. For instance, if someone wants to coordinate player of the week - then please do!

If LA (I think??) doesn't want to do POTW again, I'll take that one over and get it back up and going. Granted I can't win it now, but I quite liked that part of the league last year.

[MolsonInBothHands]

In terms of hours per week, what kind of commitment is needed to maintain a viable team in this league?

Could something similar to an expansion draft occur when a new GM joins? Each team may protect a certain number of players of various positions, and the new GM may pillage a few, and then expose an equal amount to the rest?

Just an outside observer's spitballing...

[MolsonInBothHands]

In terms of hours per week, what kind of commitment is needed to maintain a viable team in this league?

Could something similar to an expansion draft occur when a new GM joins? Each team may protect a certain number of players of various positions, and the new GM may pillage a few, and then expose an equal amount to the rest?

Just an outside observer's spitballing...

[Goffie]

I understand the frustration of having a bad team and assets that are hard to move. It is rough for a while. But gradually you collect decent assets that people want you make deals and things snowball from there if you put the time in. My team was the worst in the league sim wise and asset wise when I took over. The previous GM gave away the Crosby pick for peanuts just before I came on and I had two useful players Yzerman and MacInnis both with very little time left in their careers.

But you are correct it takes time and I understand a lot of people don't have time to put into this process. I respect that. However the ones that do usually end up with great teams.

The main thing that causes the discrepancy in team values is effort put in and willingness to make trades. Teams need to be extremely active and not only in the trade market. Draft scouting is huge as well as signing free agents. Some teams don't draft, and don't sign free agents. A lot of these are lottery tickets. But you can't hit the jackpot if you don't have your ticket.

Look at what Simmer has done with the Isles in such a short time. He trades and he makes everyone available. He looks at everything as an asset, doesn't hold onto anyone. That is what I did as well as well as a number of other teams did. The turnover the ratio on teams that rebuild quickly is huge.

A good example is when I was looking to offload big name talent teams made guys unavailable. Which is understandable in some cases. But when you are offered Steven Stamkos you don't make an "ok" prospect unavailable.

Teams tend to overvalue youth greatly in this league. Teams could easily build a good sim team and gradually build up the base of prospects if they wanted.

There are many options being discussed on a league level. But er need to ensure we don't punish the active GMs to help those who will only be in the league for a cup of coffee and move along after selling their assets.

[Goffie]

Originally Posted by Drury18

If LA (I think??) doesn't want to do POTW again, I'll take that one over and get it back up and going. Granted I can't win it now, but I quite liked that part of the league last year.

I enjoyed it as well. I believe the reason it was eliminated was again the non active teams that didn't take part didn't gain cap and the same teams were winning over and over and again it was perceived as an advantage for the more active teams.

[Drury18]

^I recall that as well, but we have a number of new teams this season so perhaps more participation?

We could do a 2-3 week trial and see what the participation is like because we do have so many new GM's that are trying to be active.

[Caged Great]

I started right before the 2009 draft and proceeded to completely dismantle my team as there was not really anything in my organization that I deemed to be a good long term piece. Plus I wanted the added challenge of building it from scratch.

It took 5 seasons to go from almost absolutely nothing to an elite team (would have taken 2-3 seasons less if I kept my 1sts, but I wanted the challenge). Lots of flipping assets and looking to improve.

The problem lately has been that ever since Dave left and my team has been better, two of the main traders that would flip their roster several times a year have disappeared. There isn't really anyone that you can go to and just make a trade with any more with few exceptions. Either people are not willing to sell anything without "winning" the trade, or they aren't willing to pay a fair price for assets. One offer I received for Sedin was him plus one of my younger star players for a younger center than Sedin who is good but is having a terrible season and is looking like a shell of his former self. That doesn't make any sense at all. Because of that kind of stuff, teams are mostly stagnant with few exceptions.

As a poorer team, the main way you improve is to get rid of your worst players constantly and always seek to make marginal improvements on your pro and AHL rosters. Buying out cheap AHL deadbeats for pennies and spending a few minutes looking on Eliteprospects or HockeyDB for better players or guys that have semi decent stats is how you find guys. You can then include those guys in trades for NHL assets, which is how I improved my team. I got Panarin, Palat, Janmark, Montour along with Calder runner up Mark Stone, Craig Smith, Fredrik Andersen and probably another 15-20 current NHL players all through free agency. I gave up literally zero assets to get each of those players. Some I did trade too soon, but that's the risk.

Roster movement is the key to building your team for success. If you are not in the top 10, you should be making at least 5-10 roster moves a month to get better, even if it's just getting rid of meh prospects for better ones. Sometimes deals aren't there, but you should at least try to shake things up. Even if it's minor deals like trading a 5th/6th defenseman for picks/prospects or a different player. One of the things I used to do was trade several prospects that I didn't like any more but that had value still (didn't like their trajectory) for a player and then trade another similar player for prospects that I didn't think were stalled out. I think I confused a lot of people during that, but it did help make my team better quite quickly.

I only ever completed about 1/5th of any of the ones proposed, but I was constantly pestering teams, trying to see what was available.

[Da_Chief]

Originally Posted by Swayze11

I am not in favour of a reset as well. I put a lot of work into my team in the last 5 years. When I started my best assets were Marek Malik, Tyler Kennedy and Martin Straka. Again, just like what Grant said, it is all about the amount of time and effort you want to put into your team.

Phoenix is another great example. sim built that team to be one of the best in a lot shorter time then I did to build my team.

I would be open to a dispersal draft but the number of players protected needs to be fairly high.

You keep saying that, not sure if you're wanting a pat on the back but I had to go and look at your roster from back then.

You had guys like Drury, Ray Whitney, Petr Sykora, Huet, Sopel, Colby Armstrong etc. who weren't all trash and had value 6-7 years ago.

I really hope your method isn't what the new GM will look to follow. You sat on your players for a looong time.

I agree with your Phx example, MJK built Jackets up pretty fast. Simmer is doing a good job on the Island. You're method was sit and wait for guys to develop. The proper way is to trade trade and trade more.

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No changes should be done in the middle of the season but it needs to be discussed and plan needs to be laid out. That will get the board busy too.

I don't wana do a full re-set either but a dispersal draft of some sort has to happen.

I disagree with Pat that the number needs to be high. Let's stop fiddling with these small changes and try it to fix it one big step. We tried things last year and I don' think that worked. Maybe in the long run it may effect but the rich teams signed their good players to 3 years deals.

Maybe throw up a Poll on this.
-Full re-draft
-Protect different number of players in any F,D,G combo (10,15,20 etc)
-Vote 5 top GMs and they switch and take over the 5 worst teams and rebuild them
-Do nothing, I'm quitting anyways lol

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Drury, I'm not trying to be rude and your intentions are good with trying to bring back POW but there was minimum interest before and I doubt there's more now. You could just be spending your time with little to no reward.

I've tried things in the past with weekly picks and betting games etc but they die out.

[JiriHrdina]

Originally Posted by Drury18

If LA (I think??) doesn't want to do POTW again, I'll take that one over and get it back up and going. Granted I can't win it now, but I quite liked that part of the league last year.

Awesome! All yours!

[SportsJunky]

Speaking as a new guy, I don't care if I have an elite team (which I don't) right now. I'm having fun tinkering with my squad and trying to improve it bit by bit. That's the fun of playing the GM role. Turning a team into something formidable from something decidedly not.

[Swayze11]

Originally Posted by Da_Chief

You keep saying that, not sure if you're wanting a pat on the back but I had to go and look at your roster from back then.

You had guys like Drury, Ray Whitney, Petr Sykora, Huet, Sopel, Colby Armstrong etc. who weren't all trash and had value 6-7 years ago.

I understand your a little upset with me because I called your brother a cry baby, which is fine. Not looking for a pat on the back at all, just saying its possible to acquire top assets but it takes a time and effort. I forgot about those bums you mentioned, so thanks for that but it doesn't really matter. There are available teams that have better assets that the ones you mentioned that could turn the team around a lot quicker.

[dsavillian]

I was going to say "in before philly takes a jab at someone" but I missed it.

[JiriHrdina]

Originally Posted by MolsonInBothHands

In terms of hours per week, what kind of commitment is needed to maintain a viable team in this league?

Could something similar to an expansion draft occur when a new GM joins? Each team may protect a certain number of players of various positions, and the new GM may pillage a few, and then expose an equal amount to the rest?

Just an outside observer's spitballing...

The amount of commitment is really not that bad. We need lines set for each game, which takes a few minutes and we need rosters managed. Then it is a matter of engaging in trade talks at your leisure.
PM me (at Wild GM not this account) if you are interested. Give it a try.

[JiriHrdina]

Originally Posted by Swayze11

I understand your a little upset with me because I called your brother a cry baby, which is fine. Not looking for a pat on the back at all, just saying its possible to acquire top assets but it takes a time and effort. I forgot about those bums you mentioned, so thanks for that but it doesn't really matter. There are available teams that have better assets that the ones you mentioned that could turn the team around a lot quicker.

One of the teams available has Crosby so this clearly isn't just about the lack of assets.