Full rules for The Capital Fantasy League

The Capital Fantasy League (CFL) is a winners' league. This keeper dynasty league will be unlike any league you have been in before. We have given the rules, scoring, and structure A LOT of thought, as we wanted our league to be unique, and challenging... if not entirely vicious.

This is not a dabblers' league. This is a league for serious and committed fantasy hockey managers. If you think this document is taking things too seriously, you're right. While it's about having fun, it's also about making the best league possible.

Give this lengthy document a read before signing on to join us. And if you are going to join us, be prepared to make (at least) a three year commitment to the league. You'll see why in the following league explainer. And yes, as we said, we know this explainer is lengthy, but we wanted to make sure that everything is in black-and-white, so there is absolutely no confusion on rules, protocols, etc. You don't have to study this document, and the league certainly isn't as complicated as the length of this document might suggest, but keep it on hand in case you need clarification on anything.

THE LOWDOWN

Head-to-Head Points scoring format, hosted on Yahoo. If you are a fantasy hockey fan, then you likely know that Fantrax is a much better platform for fantasy. We've decided to go with Yahoo because it's more user-friendly, so, unfortunately we will have to deal with Yahoo's awful position designations, late player-updates, etc.

CFL Scoring: SKATERS: G (4.5), A (3), SOG (0.5), SHP (1), BLK (0.5), HIT (0.25).
GOALTENDERS: W (2), SV (0.30), GA (-1.5), Shutout (2).

If you have never played this kind of points format, we can assure you that it's better than a categories (CATS) league. This way, every point counts. Every single point matters up until the end of the week on Sunday night, unlike in a CATS league where you might be down in your Assists category, for example, by so much that you know you already know you're going to lose that CAT by the end of Thursday night... so then when your players get Assists, they don't really matter because you're so far behind that there's no point in cheering your players on. Again, with the points system, every assist matters, every hit matters, etc.

20 teams in the league. Depending on the demand before the inaugural draft.

20 players rostered: C, C, LW, LW, RW, RW, UTIL, UTIL, D, D, D, D, G, G, BN, BN, BN, BN, NA, NA

THE PREAMBLE

This league is organized and maintained by The Capital PTBO, specifically Justin and Mark. Justin will be the Commissioner, and Mark and one other league member will be Co-Commissioners to make sure we can make league decisions in a fair and transparent fashion.

The league and rules are continually evolving, as we are just starting out, so any rule in this document is subject to change. However, we will not change any league rules until after the season has ended, to make sure that the league is run as fairly and equitably as possible.

In case of any discrepancy between the CFL Rules in this document and the settings shown on Yahoo, the Yahoo settings take precedence, unless otherwise determined by the commissioners. We don't foresee any issues, but because we will be using Yahoo's platform to facilitate the league, we have to defer to their system. Just covering our asses here, really.

In order to be eligible to compete in the CFL, you must sign and return this form, and you must pay your $20 entry fee before the draft every year. We will not hesitate to replace you with another manager if you fail to pay the entry fee. Nothing personal, but if you can't remember or make the effort to do so, then you can't be trusted to maintain a team in a winners' league! Also, we think that $20 per year to play in a fun, hyper-competitive fantasy league is worth it, and we know you will too.

THE FORMAT

The format of the CFL is Head-to-Head Points with weekly scoring periods. CFL managers compete one-on-one to accumulate the most fantasy points over the course of a Game Week (usually one week... there are a couple "weeks", usually the first week, or around the All-Star break, that last 11 or 12 days instead of Monday-Sunday. These "weeks" are decided by Yahoo, not by The Capital PTBO). The team with the most points earns a win in the standings. Points reset at the end of each Game Week.

THE DRAFT

The draft will be hosted on Yahoo on September 28th at 7PM. This date is firm, and immoveable. Each manager will have 1 minute to make their choice, so be sure to populate your queue!

Justin here: Last year I started playing in a new league that is the biggest fantasy hockey league in the world, and many of the rules here are their inventions, as they have this thing down to a science. So, after seeing a change they put in place for this year, I have decided to add it to our league as well, as I think it makes a lot of sense. We're adding in a Round Reversal in the 3rd Round of our snake drafts... call it the "McDavid rule". This means that after the 2nd round, we'll repeat the same draft order for the 3rd round (so 20th overall will pick first in both the 2nd and 3rd rounds), and then the draft will continue to snake from that point forward. This means 1st overall has 1st pick, 40th pick, 60th pick, and 61st in the first 4 rounds, instead of 1st, 40th, 41st, an 80th.

***A CFL invention: the team who finishes 1st at the end of the season and is dubbed that year's CFL champion will receive the 1st overall pick in next year's draft, as another award for winning their league. The rest of the league will be placed in a draft lottery, with the 16th team being the most heavily favoured, and so on. As we said, this is a winner's league, so it's all about winning, and effort is to be rewarded. Teams on the bottom will have to improve their teams through draft, trade, or auction (more on this later), or continue to dwell in the bottom of the standings.

THE ROSTER

Teams have 20 active roster spots, allotted as follows:

-2 Centers
-2 Left Wings
-2 Right Wings
-4 Defensemen
-2 Utility (Forward or Defenseman)
-2 Goalies
-4 Bench
-2 NA slots

-4 Injured Reserve spaces+ (aka IR+)

Each team may hold up to 4 eligible players in their Injured Reserve+ spots (we do not draft for these spots). Players eligible for IR+ include those that Yahoo designates as “DTD”, “O” or “IR”. We do not control the player designations; that's Yahoo's job, and they don't always succeed in that regard, so be vigilant before gametime! When a player in an IR+ spot loses their IR eligibility, a manager may not make any other transactions until the ineligible player is removed from IR+.

Rosters may be set daily. Each player is ‘locked’ into their roster spot at the starting time of their team’s game.

As this is a keeper dynasty league, at the end of every season each manager will be asked to denote which TEN of their 20 players they will want to keep going into next season.

WAIVER ACQUISITIONS & FREE AGENCY

Managers are allowed a maximum of 4 acquisitions per week. Managers are allowed an unlimited number of acquisitions over the course of the season.

The CFL uses Yahoo's Standard Waivers and Free Agents rules for player acquisition:

Whenever a player is dropped, they'll be temporarily frozen for a period of 1 day after the following waiver resolution time (3:00am ET). During this time, all managers can make a claim to add the player, and player acquisition is based on waiver priority rank. If no one claims the player, the player becomes a Free Agent, which means anyone can add them to their team almost immediately, without competition from other managers. Unclaimed players after the draft will go on waivers before becoming free agents.

TRADING

Trading is allowed at any time between the conclusion of your draft and the trade deadline. The 2022-23 CFL trade deadline is February 22nd.

***A CFL invention: As we said at the beginning, the CFL is bringing its own inventions to the league in order to promote fairness and engagement, and specifically in this case to prevent undesirable trades. The top nine teams in the division can only trade among each other, and the bottom eleven teams can only trade among each other. For example, if you own the 6th place team, you can only trade with 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th, and 9th place teams. Ideally this rule would be unnecessary, but we have found in our experience that it's best to put this rule in place, rather than having issues in the future.

Once a trade is accepted, there will be a one day waiting period before it is processed by Yahoo (i.e., at 3am ET the morning after the 24 hour waiting period has expired). During the waiting period, other teams in the division may contact Justin or Mark (via Discord, or via email at capitalptbo@gmail.com) if they have good reason to believe the trade may be unfair, unbalanced, anti-competitive, or contestable for any legitimate reason. Justin, Mark, and the third commissioner will determine if they will veto the trade or let it stand. If one of the commissioners is involved in the trade, a league manager will be brought in as a temporary commissioner to help make the inevitable decision. We WILL flag unbalanced or unfair trades, and we will give reasons for doing so. Just be an adult, and don't do it.

THE PLAYOFFS

The top eight teams in the league standings at the end of the regular season qualify for a 3-round postseason tournament to determine a CFL champion.

If a playoff matchup ends in a tie, which in a points league is unlikely, the team with the higher playoff seed automatically wins the tiebreaker.

The CFL playoffs will end two weeks before the end of the NHL regular season, which is slated for March 26th, to avoid star players being taken out of the lineup, which can make or break your league playoffs.

INACTIVE MANAGERS

In the interest of fun and fairness for all in the league, managers are expected to remain reasonably active and competitive throughout the full NHL season. At minimum, this means making sure that:

1. Active players are in active roster spots, and not left on the bench.
2. Sit/start decisions are being made appropriately (don't bench McDavid for Bozak!).
3. Injured Reserve (IR) spots are being used effectively.

When a manager is not meeting the minimum expectations for being active and competitive, they will be considered 'inactive'. A league commissioner will reach out to an inactive manager via Discord to check in and offer support/guidance, with the aim of helping the manager re-engage. When a manager is deemed inactive, the following steps will be taken:

First time being inactive: Friendly reminder.
Second time: Repeat warning.
Third time: Removal from team (at the Commissioners' discretion).

Communication with managers will always be through email. If a commissioner cannot make contact with an inactive manager, the commissioners may assume control of the inactive manager's team and seek a replacement manager at their discretion.
We do understand when a manager is inactive for legitimate or extenuating circumstances, and will do all we can to accommodate a manager and their team in this situation.

If a manager has been removed from their team and would like to re-join the CFL, they will be placed in our wait-list league (Kinsmen Minor Fantasy League, or the KMFL), and will have to re-pay the appropriate entry fee when the time comes (more on this and the KMFL later).

Be an adult. Set your lineups.

THE CONTRACT YEAR

***A CFL invention... and the one we are most excited about! This is the biggest aspect of the CFL that sets it apart from other leagues. The Contract Year works as follows:

As we stated earlier, every fledgling manager in the CFL will buy in for $20 before our dynasty draft begins. The winner of the CFL every year will be immortalized in The Capital PTBO on our Wall of Honour, which will be on permanent display in the store. However, the winner of the CFL in years one and two will NOT receive a cash prize. Two cash prizes will be awarded in year three: the Contract Year. In every third season/Contract Year, the winner of the league that year will be awarded 50% of the overall cash pool, and the other 50% will be awarded to the player who has the highest overall ranking (based on league standings) over the three year period.

The other major wrinkle of the Contract Year: the Contract Year is every third season. If a manager fails to make the playoffs in the three years that end in the Contract Year championship, then that manager will be removed from the league. We call this the "playoffs or bust" rule. Again, we are trying to promote league engagement. Even if you are rebuilding, that should not take three years to do. Another way of putting it is that we don't want managers that are not competitive. We also like the idea of pressuring those teams that have missed the playoffs in the first two years of a "contract" to make trades, draft well, or feel compelled to participate in an auction to move into a playoff spot. IT'S A WINNERS LEAGUE. You make the playoffs once per contract at least and you have nothing to worry about. If you can't make the playoffs once in three years, then this isn't the league for you anyhow. At the end of the Contract Year, once the prize pools have been awarded, etc., everyone's record in terms of the "playoffs or bust" rule will be wiped clean, as we all start a new contract.

AUCTIONS

Although managers will only have to buy in to the CFL one time, the cash pool will grow over the course of the three years because of another wrinkle of the Contract Year. If a manager has to leave the league for whatever reason, or is removed by the commissioners due to inactivity/lack of engagement, then all other managers will have a chance to buy that team in an auction.

For example, let's say Mark is in 4th. Mark has to leave the league for personal reasons, leaving his 4th place team without a manager. If another manager with a lower ranking wants to move into Mark's 4th place squad, so that they can (1) own a better team, (2) land immediately in a playoff spot, and (3) increase their chances at finishing the Contract Year with a higher overall ranking to have a shot at half the Contract Year prize pool, they will have to purchase that team via auction. Mark's former team will be auctioned off to the highest bidder in a three day auction. Each team ranking corresponds to a dollar amount: bidding on the 16th place team starts at $20, 15th is $21, 14th is $22, etc. So, bidding on Mark's team would start at $32. Bids can only go up in one dollar intervals, and every manager is able to bid. Whatever sum of money ends up winning the auction for Mark's team will be added to the overall prize pool.

KMFL

The Kinsmen Minor Fantasy League is a riff on the main league team name, but was chosen for a reason. The KMFL will act as our waiting-list league for managers who are waiting for a spot in the CFL/"the show". However, only the KMFL teams in 1st-4th place will have the ability to participate in auctions for open teams, as laid out in the previous auction example for Mark's 4th place team. These 1st-4th KMFL teams will have the option, just like the other teams in the CFL, to bid in an auction to secure a team spot that has been vacated by a CFL manager. Until they secure that spot, they have to toil at the kids' table in the KMFL.

SHAWN CHAMBERS AWARD

Every season, the player who finishes 16th overall in the standings, otherwise known as dead-stinkin'-last, will be forced to change the name of their team to SHAWN CHAMBERS. Despite playing in over 600 career NHL games, Shawn Chambers has the distinction of being the worst-rated player in sports video game history. In NHL '93 for the Sega Genesis, Shawn Chambers was rated a 1. Yes, 1. So, dig your way out of last place or suffer the dubious distinction of playing the entire next season with the team name "SHAWN CHAMBERS".

There is only one way to rid yourself of the SHAWN CHAMBERS award, other than digging your way out of last place before the season ends, and that's to pay $100 to the prize pool. Hey, we said it's a winners' league.


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