The Hounds and Building a Team

[Ozzy Batty 256]

So how has the season going so far for the Mississauga Hounds? 51 games in and it looks like, at least for right now, they have a solid hold on 3rd place in the Eastern Conference with 41 points, as compared to  29 points for the 4th place Philadelphia Reapers. Unless there is a massive shift, the Hounds look like a lock to make the playoffs.

The Hounds are led by the scoring trio of Left Winger Clapbomb Bardownski III with 76 points, scoring 23 goals and 53 assists; Right Wing Konstyantyn Shevchenko who also has 76 points with 36 goals and 40 assists; and Center Ozzy Batty who has 84 points with 35 goals and 49 assists.

This trio are currently ranked 4th (Ozzy), 5th (Clapbomb) and 6th (Konstyantyn) in total points for the league. Ozzy is currently only 8 points behind league-leading Jacob Longstreet’s 92 points.

The trio is joined by Right Winger Anthony Simmons II, who has played 16 games and has added 21 points from 8 goals and 13 assists. Left Winger Laimdots Sarkanis has played in 12 games and has gotten 12 points through 6 goals and 6 assists. Right Winger Cody Cobberson has played in all 51 games has helped the team by scoring 17 goals as well as 19 assists to earn 36 points.

The lone defender, Donald Carlson has played in 14 games so the hope is his impact will continue to improve. There are 2 goalies on the roster, Lane Ellis, who has played on 31 games with a record of 11-16-4 and Otto Wolff who has a record of 7-12-1 in the 20 games he has played in.

This lack of defensive support has definitely had a negative impact on the Hounds. The challenge of not having defenders on the roster at the beginning of the season and hoping to lure free agent/waiver players to join a team that is mired in the lower half of the league standings presents a unique challenge for the team management. They cannot actively “recruit” the players since there are “no-tamper” rules. So how does a struggling team entice new players to become a part of their organization without the ability to approach them? Now that is the million dollar question!

If I had the answer to that then I think we could build a record breaking franchise. There has to be a middle ground, where the team management can be allowed to interact with the new players and try to “sell” their organization without it coming into the realms of “tampering”. The ability to evaluate each team’s roster as well as the limited information that is provided in the “signing pitch” paired with the fact that newly created players are unsure of how the league works (well, most of them) can set up a recipe for the rosters to become completely unbalanced. 

Would a new player rather join a team where they are on 3rd, maybe even 4th line but who is leading the conference or get 1st or 2nd line team but with a team that is in the bottom half of the conference tables? That is a personal decision and who can blame someone from wanting to have a great chance of winning a championship?

As long as players are allowed to select who they want to join and the team management adheres to the tamper rules, then it will be a tough challenge to build a powerhouse team with limited draft picks and a core of roster players already in place.

Word Count: 591

[mmrs617 160]

Great evaluation. I think the signing pitch is a real difference maker for new players. Hopefully the Hounds can make a late push for defense and nice run in the playoffs.

[LucyXpher 907]

5 hours ago, Ozzy Batty said:

Would a new player rather join a team where they are on 3rd, maybe even 4th line but who is leading the conference or get 1st or 2nd line team but with a team that is in the bottom half of the conference tables? That is a personal decision and who can blame someone from wanting to have a great chance of winning a championship?

With the way the rules are set up right now, waiver players shouldn’t be able to join teams with more than 6 forwards and 4 defenders— at least that’s what I’ve understood from the league commissioners the last time this came up in the chat.  So basically, anyone who joins in the near future will be joining a team that has openings on their top 2 lines, which should help teams that need players and prevent teams that have 2 full lines from adding unnecessary depth.  
 

I actually think the current waiver setup is pretty good, though maybe some more transparency about how the rules work behind the scenes might help alleviate confusion. 

In the past, GMs used to have to compete to actively pitch waivers with no worry about tampering.  But from everything I’ve heard, that system was very unsustainable because it placed unrealistic expectations on GMs to be available and ready to out-pitch competitors at all hours of the day or risk falling behind.  I don’t think there’s much appetite to bring that back.

 

I will say, in my opinion, the main reason for the current disparity in the league has less to do with waivers and more to do with a general lack of players and the decisions of some teams to sell off their players for future picks.  Selling is a valid strategy which should help them in the future, but it’s definitely a rough season for those teams right now.  

[Ozzy Batty 256]

8 hours ago, LucyXpher said:

With the way the rules are set up right now, waiver players shouldn’t be able to join teams with more than 6 forwards and 4 defenders— at least that’s what I’ve understood from the league commissioners the last time this came up in the chat.  So basically, anyone who joins in the near future will be joining a team that has openings on their top 2 lines, which should help teams that need players and prevent teams that have 2 full lines from adding unnecessary depth.  
 

I actually think the current waiver setup is pretty good, though maybe some more transparency about how the rules work behind the scenes might help alleviate confusion. 

In the past, GMs used to have to compete to actively pitch waivers with no worry about tampering.  But from everything I’ve heard, that system was very unsustainable because it placed unrealistic expectations on GMs to be available and ready to out-pitch competitors at all hours of the day or risk falling behind.  I don’t think there’s much appetite to bring that back.

 

I will say, in my opinion, the main reason for the current disparity in the league has less to do with waivers and more to do with a general lack of players and the decisions of some teams to sell off their players for future picks.  Selling is a valid strategy which should help them in the future, but it’s definitely a rough season for those teams right now.  

 

Thanks for the explanation! This has cleared things up, plus the restriction on waiver players joining teams that already have 2 full lines will be HUGE! 

 

I completely agree that trading pick is a great tool...and the previous model was completely unrealistic. It is great that a middle ground may be found and that it will lead to more parity in the league moving forward.