So here's the scoop...

[JiriHrdina]

OK folks, as you all know we had a trade made between the Ducks and Flyers that has caused some drama.

We've decided to bring in a new Flyers GM.

Normally we don't comment much when changing up GMs but in this case I think it's worth doing.

Bad deals happen. It's part of the game, and indeed in some ways "the name of the game". When we see a particularly stinky deal going through what we do is contact the GM getting the shaft, and ask them for some reasoning to get a sense for what is happening. This is because in the past we've had some GMs make bad deals for poor reasons that can ruin the game for everyone else.

If the GM can justify the deal then we are good. Heck - earlier this season a GM made a bad deal and when I asked him about it - he admitted he had gotten players mixed up and knew it was bad. That's legit. I can accept that.

But when you take this deal and couple it with comments made by Moon in the thread - it just put a bad light on it all. I don't believe Moon was serious in most of his comments but it became clear that he had a different point of view on how the game should be played.

Which brings me to the next point - yes this is a game. And just a game. But I think most would agree that a game is only worth playing if the participants are taking it somewhat seriously.

There are basically two things that you should never joke about. The first, is hinting, even slightly that we as commissioners take actions to favour our own teams (which hasn't happened here at all - to be clear). The second, is joking about not caring about your team, or making bad deals.

It just puts us in a bad position where we have to then question what a GM is doing and the motives behind it.

So that's it - we will have new GMs in place for the Flyers and Yotes soon. In the meantime, if there are any questions or comments feel free to post them here - just keep it reasonable.

Oh - and the deal itself has been rejected. It's also important to note that the league doesn't think Ravi did anything wrong whatsoever in this situation, he was simply trying to improve his club.

[Flickered Flame]

Well I hope Moon can make it back one day. Good luck Mooner.

[moon]

Well I have made my opinion known to Grant and obviously think this is a load of crap.

But the whiners did a great job of running behind peoples backs and crying their little eyes out.

Best of luck to those in the league that are able to have fun and act like grown-ups, hopefully the others aren't able to bring you and the league down.

It was a fun time I had here and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Hopefully, other GM's don't get the boot in the future for making deals that they like but others don't.

History has shown they haven't but I guess there has to be a first for everything I am the lucky guy who gets the boot first for not following trend.

[simmer2]

Not gonna lie I'm pretty surprised that the outcome of this trade was the firing of Mooney. I don't know all the details behind what went on, but from the outside I don't agree with it.

I've always had good chats with Mooney and as a GM I felt he took the game seriously. He was the first guy I chatted with a lot when I joined and he was stationed somewhere in the mid-Pacific. I learned from him and respected his opinions.

In my opinion, this was a bit of an overreaction. I never took Scott's opinions that seriously in the thread...sometimes guys will say things to get a rile out of ppl and I think Scott was just trying to do that. Whether this was the best call at the time, that's another issue.

This is not a slight against the commishes and I will respect whatever decisions are made because you guys put countless hours into making this league a very good one. I just wanted to make my opinion known.

Good luck with your two kids Scott, hopefully the newbie doesn't keep you too awake.

[OILFAN #81]

Whoa, I didn't expect that at all. I didn't think the trade was fair but like simmer, didn't have an issue with it going through and certainly didn't think moon should have been fired over it. IMO, Moon was a very good GM and imo one of the better ones in this game in terms of access to talk to, trades, etc. I understand that the commish's are looking out for the integrity of the game and I respect that but at the same time i'm not sure I agree with the action taken.

Not sure what else to say except we'll keep in touch moon and I had fun talking to you on msn, etc. We always had great chats about the league and other things.

[Knut]

Sorry to hear this Moon....

I do not know all that went on behind the scenes, but it seems like an over-reaction on the surface.

I am sure we will keep in touch.

[droopydrew19]

I questioned the trade at length in the trade thread and my thoughts have not changed.

I do not know if moon was serious or not with his comments but when you publicly look like you do not care you will draw attention.

I think we have all been in yahoo leagues or other leagues where people mail it in. It is no fun for anyone. This league is the best around from my experience and countless hours have been spent developing it and are continually spent by people behind the scenes making it run. They do not ask for a cent. They do not ask for approval. The only thing they ask if that you commit to participate and play the game.

I can respect when gm's like HD and Axel and others realise that they do not have the time to play the game anymore and step aside. I have also seen a few GM's fired along the way that maybe should have stepped aside rather than be pushed out.

I have to scratch my head when deals are made because of boredom and when gm's have to stand trial to defend themselves after trades are posted.

Granted there are many different ways to play this game but I am sure we can all agree that a GM has to be enjoying themselves while remaining passionate about their team's progression.

[moon]

Originally Posted by droopydrew19

I questioned the trade at length in the trade thread and my thoughts have not changed.

I do not know if moon was serious or not with his comments but when you publicly look like you do not care you will draw attention.

I think we have all been in yahoo leagues or other leagues where people mail it in. It is no fun for anyone. This league is the best around from my experience and countless hours have been spent developing it and are continually spent by people behind the scenes making it run. They do not ask for a cent. They do not ask for approval. The only thing they ask if that you commit to participate and play the game.

I can respect when gm's like HD and Axel and others realise that they do not have the time to play the game anymore and step aside. I have also seen a few GM's fired along the way that maybe should have stepped aside rather than be pushed out.

I have to scratch my head when deals are made because of boredom and when gm's have to stand trial to defend themselves after trades are posted.

Granted there are many different ways to play this game but I am sure we can all agree that a GM has to be enjoying themselves while remaining passionate about their team's progression.

I don't want to use this thread to get into a point by point debate and I appreciate you posting your thoughts on the matter but I do want to point out a few things.

There have already been other GMs that have stated that I clearly have shown that I take the game serious and I would say every trade (this one included) have shown that I take the game seriously.

I got my RFA offers in and in many cases with a lot of thought and evidence. I bid on one or two UFAs that I thought could fit into my salary and help the team and made sure that the offers were fair but still would give me a shot to get them.

Since coming into the league I have been online quite often and posted regularly on the board.

Every time I make a deal or wrote a long game summary it was filled with jests and ribs at my and my teams expense.

I made the deal because it was in the summertime dulldrums I felt with the results last year the team needed a shake-up. I get a stud prospect that could easily be just as good as Weber in no time, a guy that has almost identical ratings to Weber now and a young defenseman with super skating ability taken in the top 17 of what might be the deepest draft in the past 20 years.

I guess it was my fault for not posting player X was traded for player Y and having a little fun with the whole posting trades idea.

People want to question the deal from a hockey aspect go ahead, they want to question my motives for the deal and accuse me of stuff like mailing it in, it would have been interesting to have them actually talk to me about it to see where I was coming from.

Perhaps they would have had an idea and seen what many GMs that I talk to on a regular basis see and know. That I like to have fun and that I do take the game seriously.

But I guess that would have meant many of them would have actually had to man up and confront someone and it is much easier to just complain behind closed doors.

If I wanted to take the game less seriously I would have let my RFAs stay unsigned, taken the numerous offers I have had for Richards and stocked my team with guys with cool names or former Hurricanes.

[droopydrew19]

It is clear you are passionate Moon but like I said I do not know if you were commenting tongue in cheek.

Saying you were helping Ravi win a cup and walking the line about taking a run for Tavares when a season hasn't even started yet is like talking about bombs at the airport.

[RT14]

Yeah, I'm pretty surprised by the decision to fire Moon here. Maybe there was more than meets the eye here but from talking to him, what you see on the board is pretty much the whole story.

I understand the league wants people to take their teams seriously, and I totally respect that because I for one take my team very seriously and if GM's didn't it would make for a very dull league, but I think Moon joked around a lot just to rile people up or simply to bring laughter to a situation and that didn't have anything to do with how he ran his team. If he was out to just trade anybody for anything he would've completed some of the 50 different proposals I made over the last year and trust me, he ususally doesn't let guys go cheap.

I think it was just a wrong place at the wrong time kinda thing here, where he said the wrong things at the wrong time but didn't mean anything by it. I always enjoyed our trade talks even though they never usually went anywhere. They didn't go anywhere because he took his team seriously (maybe too seriously with the prices he was asking sometimes, lol) and I enjoyed them because he likes to joke around and have a good time.

Of course I will respect the leagues decision and move on, but I felt I should add my opnion on this as I think everyone should. Moon will be missed by this GM.

[JiriHrdina]

I can appreciate the point of view from others here - but in many ways Drew hit it on the head. When we spend what amount to hundreds of hours working on this league - and then we read stuff that suggests someone is making bad deals willy nilly - it just doesn't sit well at all, and suggests the GM doesn't have the same approach to the league.

If we are going to spend the hours to try and make this league the best it can be, we only ask GMs play the game with a level of seriousness that warrants, and not joke about stuff like "letting so and so win the cup".

[moon]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

I can appreciate the point of view from others here - but in many ways Drew hit it on the head. When we spend what amount to hundreds of hours working on this league - and then we read stuff that suggests someone is making bad deals willy nilly - it just doesn't sit well at all, and suggests the GM doesn't have the same approach to the league.

If we are going to spend the hours to try and make this league the best it can be, we only ask GMs play the game with a level of seriousness that warrants, and not joke about stuff like "letting so and so win the cup".

I think it has already been shown in GM's comments and in my action that I do play the game with the seriousness that it warrants.

Really a post on the board is looked at as more important than talking trades and being available on MSN? than making good efforts to get your RFA's signed with relevant information? than being active in posting in results threads?

I you want to say those comments look bad fair enough, but for people to ignore everything that I have done over the past year and try to come up with some crap that I don't take it seriously enough is not only crap but a little insulting.

Kick me out of the league because you don't like the deal I made. Kick me out because you don't like me trying to be funny with my posts, but enough with the "not serious enough" BS because its plain to see that it just isn't the case.

How the heck is that team without Weber and Blake going to get Tavares anyways. Martin is equal to Weber and I still had plenty of talent up front. And how is Ravi that much better off to win this years cup? Again Weber and Martin are basically a wash and Blake isn't the difference for winning or losing? He had a better guy in Frolov last week! I just don't get how people took those comments seriously unless they are totally out of touch with reality.

[JiriHrdina]

^People did and we did.

At this point the topic has been discussed enough. The decision was a unanimous one by the commissioners. I put this topic up to explain our position and give people a chance to voice theirs. We've done that. If there are further questions or comments folks can feel free to PM me.