UFA Batch #1 Winners

[Hanna Sniper]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Every player had at least 2 bids

You nailed the cutoff mark for the group, no freebee's to a team because a player didn't get the proper attention

[simmer2]

Baha. 10.5M. Fleury was getting low-balled!! Now he can buy a proper home.

That is crazy the gap. Fleury could have been had for like 1.5M per year.

[Cheese]

Clearly overbid on Eberle...but still a good deal!

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Every player had at least 2 bids
Average gap between the winning bid and runner up was 2.98M

Closest gaps were:
420K (Tatar)
435K (Bernier)
570K (Dumolin)
810K (Karlsson

Biggest gaps were
10.5M (MA Fleury)
5.22M (Eberle)

There were a pile where the gap was 3-3.5M

[TheScorpion]

These are some great value deals, good job folks.

[agulati]

Overpaid. The lot of them.

Great deals though, folks.

[savemedrzaius]

I gotta say as newbie I'm surprised by how big of a discrepancy there is between re-signing your own UFAs or just going to the market.

Letang has the second highest overall number for defenceman but is signed at almost half the price if you were to go off the grid. I know he is declining but he is already ranked so high, how far can he drop?

It basically makes no sense to sign your own players. Kind of feel like the grid numbers are way too high. There should be some incentive to re-signing your own players.

[Jiri Hrdina]

The point of the grids is to create tough decisions and promote player movement.
They are intentionally set high for those reasons

[agulati]

As a first year GM, it definitely taught me a lesson last year to generally let mid-tier players go as free agents. Bargains are always available in free agency.

[Hanna Sniper]

Originally Posted by agulati

As a first year GM, it definitely taught me a lesson last year to generally let mid-tier players go as free agents. Bargains are always available in free agency.

Yes/no

As someone that has been around for a few free agency I would say don’t count on what happened one year to be the same next year. It’s always unpredictable. This has been the riches talent base I have seen in free agency in a long time, oddly enough this has also been the lowest contract totals I can remember as well.

What effect with this have on next year? Well these guys usually eat up 8 -9 million, so you can say teams have more cap to spend this year.., which in turn might be used to sign thier UTA’s next year. In turn giving a less talented pool to pick from

So many valuables, and the moment you think you have an idea two GM’s come along and throw 8 million dollar contracts out throwing other teams in a panic to overpay the next round.

Deals can be had for sure, but don’t back yourself in a corner expecting you’ll fill you needs in FA because it so easy to find your team missing the boat because teams approached the free agency different than they did previous year

[savemedrzaius]

I just think if we wanted a true UFA experience all bids should be seen and other managers should have the chance to outbid if they are really keen on a player.

With the way we have it now everyone lowballs and the highest lowball offer wins. So all the UFAs are not getting fair value.

If this was a real league the NHLPA would not be liking this UFA system!

[Hanna Sniper]

Originally Posted by savemedrzaius

I just think if we wanted a true UFA experience all bids should be seen and other managers should have the chance to outbid if they are really keen on a player.

With the way we have it now everyone lowballs and the highest lowball offer wins. So all the UFAs are not getting fair value.

If this was a real league the NHLPA would not be liking this UFA system!

At least you gave to a shot lol, and you're right all UFA signings is just low ball offers and no one has ever overpaid for free agents

[BagoPucks]

Honestly, I am surprised by the outcome of the 1st Batch. That only means more money out there to spend on worse players here on out.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by savemedrzaius

I just think if we wanted a true UFA experience all bids should be seen and other managers should have the chance to outbid if they are really keen on a player.

With the way we have it now everyone lowballs and the highest lowball offer wins. So all the UFAs are not getting fair value.

If this was a real league the NHLPA would not be liking this UFA system!

Typically there are higher contracts in UFAs but as Doug said - each season is different
But the intended outcome of our free agency isn't to maximize the value for the players, because the players are not stakeholders of the game. The purpose of free agency is part of the game within the game, and to provide another means of player movement. Cap is an asset just like anything in this game, so some teams apply a strategy to enter free agency with more cap and try to get players that way instead of trading assets.

But also the system has to be executable in efficient in consistent ways.

So in a world where teams have the opportunity to out bid each other
- How many rounds do you go? If team A bids 1.1M for a player, and then player B bids 1.2M in the next round, does team A have another opportunity? For how many rounds? And how do you deal with the cap space requirements? Do both teams have to maintain the space while they are actively bidding on a player?

It all would be too complicated and take too long.

The game is a system of elements and levers that I'm not saying are perfect - but works pretty wall to promote a game where you can have a lot of player movement, and different strategies can be executed. Some teams build through drafts and prospects, some teams constantly are in win now mode and leverage free agency more to do that.

The league has a fairly consistent amount of cap that is available (with only a couple of variables shifting that such as the degree to which teams trade next year cap for this year cap) so it's just a matter of how that available amount of money is spread through the league across RFAs, re-signed UFAs and UFAs signed through bids.

[Harry Lime]

Each season is certainly different. Last year the bids were higher in the first round, and I recently traded for Roman Josi, who holds a league max contract. Those are only available to be handed out through UFA, and the quality of the player was such that I was still willing to trade for him. On the other end of the spectrum, there have been (and will be) a few buyouts of players who were 'lowballed', but then their play IRL fell off a cliff.

I like this particular fantasy league, because it's a lot harder to navigate than a straight 'player impact' format like Yahoo. There are a couple of monster teams on paper at the beginning of this season. I'm looking forward to seeing a cobbled together team absolutely tromping them, for no reasonable reason except that's what the SIM has decreed.

Followed by the amusing panicked in-season rebuild.

[savemedrzaius]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Typically there are higher contracts in UFAs but as Doug said - each season is different
But the intended outcome of our free agency isn't to maximize the value for the players, because the players are not stakeholders of the game. The purpose of free agency is part of the game within the game, and to provide another means of player movement. Cap is an asset just like anything in this game, so some teams apply a strategy to enter free agency with more cap and try to get players that way instead of trading assets.

But also the system has to be executable in efficient in consistent ways.

So in a world where teams have the opportunity to out bid each other
- How many rounds do you go? If team A bids 1.1M for a player, and then player B bids 1.2M in the next round, does team A have another opportunity? For how many rounds? And how do you deal with the cap space requirements? Do both teams have to maintain the space while they are actively bidding on a player?

It all would be too complicated and take too long.

The game is a system of elements and levers that I'm not saying are perfect - but works pretty wall to promote a game where you can have a lot of player movement, and different strategies can be executed. Some teams build through drafts and prospects, some teams constantly are in win now mode and leverage free agency more to do that.

The league has a fairly consistent amount of cap that is available (with only a couple of variables shifting that such as the degree to which teams trade next year cap for this year cap) so it's just a matter of how that available amount of money is spread through the league across RFAs, re-signed UFAs and UFAs signed through bids.

No rounds. You keep going until only the highest bidder wins. Eventually one manager will go higher than the other managers are able/willing to go. After every new bid there is a 3 days period for another manager to outbid the previous bid. If after those 3 days there is no new bid that manager signs that player.

Every bid has to be at minimum 500k more than previous bid.

You have to have the cap space to bid. Teams with more capspace have the opportunity to outbid teams with less capspace.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Ok imagine doing that across all the ufas
It’s not practical.

[savemedrzaius]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Ok imagine doing that across all the ufas
It’s not practical.

Keep doing the batches but each player in the batch gets their own thread.

For lesser players it all just goes into one thread. Similar to waiver wire thread.


Oh well. I've definitely learned my lesson. Why sign Faulk for 8 million per year when you can sign a player with the same rating for 2.5 per year? Just seems out of whack.

[Harry Lime]

Last year was a real struggle until I traded for Malkin and then Kopitar. Having a star or two on your team makes a big difference in the SIM over the long run. That's why these big ticket guys get paid in CPHL.

The guys that you could sign at the same OVR this year, than the ones that you could sign during UFA, the UFA guys usually won't live up to a three year contract. A problem for future you.

Generally, there are parametres to the game, and you can play within those parametres as you wish. Everyone is different. I've only been here one season, but I can see that the guys who have everything fall apart are probably having the most fun, because they have to get inventive and change strategy midstream.

I think I picked up eight UFAs last year, and thought I was a wizard. Only Boone Jenner and Evan Barrett remain.

[simmer2]

It's also still a risk bidding on guys at UFA time. You can only bid based on the amount of cap space you have...and even if the last few years' results show the offers are lower, you still don't know if 'your guy' will have a higher offer or not.

[Harry Lime]

Originally Posted by simmer2

It's also still a risk bidding on guys at UFA time. You can only bid based on the amount of cap space you have...and even if the last few years' results show the offers are lower, you still don't know if 'your guy' will have a higher offer or not.

True, the UFA process works to weed out depreciation of player due to age, injury and contract status. A lot of players coming into UFA have this issue, and are more of a risk, against cap.

If Faulk had gone to UFA, he would likely have gotten within 2M of his grid price, but the owner would have to run the risk of losing him to someone else in the league, and accept a lesser replacement over three years.