NHA Important off season News

[Commish]

Well everyone, we've concluded another great year in the NHA. We've been going strong now for 8 straight seasons, and I don't expect to stop anytime soon.

First, I want to congratulate Chris and his Ottawa Vampyres for their championship run, which concluded with a Stanley Cup trophy to their name. I'd also like to congratulate Jim and the Purple Aces for making it all the way to the finals.

Second, I'd like to thank everyone who took part in the 2011 draft this past weekend. Friday night in particular was a night that I won't soon forget. I'm pretty certain we set a record for the amount of GM's in the chat room at one time. It was amazing.

With the 2010-2011 season behind us, I now need to focus my attention on getting ready for the 2011-2012 season. I will set forth all of the things that will be going on during the off season so that everyone has a good idea of what will be going on, but also a projected date for when we will start up with free agency.

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IMPORTANT NEWS

There will be a very important change for the league next season. I have decided to go forward with V2 of the SHTS software. There are two reasons for this.
1. V2 of the software is far more advanced then our current version. It offers the features that I believe will be beneficial to our league. Not only does V2 more closely resemble the NHL, but it also gives GM's even more control over their rosters and line-ups.

2. I recently upgraded to 1.1.15 of version 1 and am having nothing but issues with it. To be honest, with the problems I'm experiencing with this update, I see little choice other then for us to make the switch to V2.

I understand that many of you have used V2 of the simulator in other leagues and will have no trouble with the change. Others, including myself will have some learning to do, but in the long-run it will be worth our while.

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Trades

I will no longer be processing any trades until I have the ratings complete and the website updated with V2. The fact is, I can't really process any trades at this time because of the messed up 1.1.15 update. Feel free to discuss trade possibilities with one another, but understand that no transactions will be processed.

2011-2012 Ratings

I have already started work on the ratings for next season. I have a few more categories that I need to deal with such as Endurance, Penalty-shot, and Star power. The ratings themselves should take me about a month depending on how much I can get done both at home and at work.

NHA Awards

We still need to post the ballots for the NHA award nominees. The Art Ross, Maurice Richard, Conn Smyth, and Williams M. Jennings have already been decided. We need voting for the following:
Hart Trophy
Calder Trophy
Vezina Trophy
Jack Adams Trophy
Selke Trophy
Norris Trophy

Normally, I would take care of the voting and nominees myself, but with much work ahead of me in preparation for V2 of the simulator, I am looking for some help with the Awards.

I am asking one or two of you to volunteer with the posting of the voting ballots here on the message board. If I don't get any volunteers, then obviously I will take care of the awards myself, but they'll be delayed a while.

Free Agency

I am estimating a start date of March 1st for the beginning of free agency. I'm hoping that we can start much sooner then that, but it really depends on how quickly I can get our league ready for the new simulator.

I will continue to check-in on the message board on a daily basis and try to keep the activity going, but for the most part, my entire attention will be focused on getting ready for the new season.

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Feel free to offer your opinions on everything that will be going on for the next month and a half. We just concluded the 2010-2011 season, and I'm already excited for the 2011-2012 season.

[RavensGM]

I can help with awards if need be since that is fairly easy. Also need help working on getting the prospects ranking page back up to date? Those extras were always pretty cool. Have a couple boring days until Wednesday coming up.

[Commish]

I can help with awards if need be since that is fairly easy. Also need help working on getting the prospects ranking page back up to date? Those extras were always pretty cool. Have a couple boring days until Wednesday coming up.

I'll get back to you Alex....Thanks!

[Commish]

I'm making great progress with the ratings everyone. So far I have CK, FG done and am now working on the DI rating.

We will have a huge number of prospects created this season as well. In total, there will be 127 newly created players for the 2011-2012 season.

I'll keep all of you updated as I move through the ratings.

[Devils]

That's great news Mike. Let me know if I can help at all.

[BarracudasGM]

Mike, that's great. With the influx of the players that will be created, may I suggest the following:

- retire/remove players that have actually retired from the NHL (ie. Kariya)
- perhaps remove players that are no longer in the NHL/AHL or associated to the NHL. For example, players that have moved over to the KHL. (ie. Kovalchuk, Radulov, etc..)

Let me know if you need help. I am sure a bunch of us can look through each other's rosters to name players that can be removed with proof.

What do others think?

[Vampyre]

Mike has a list of retiring players.

Players like Kovalchuk and Radulov are not retired.

[Commish]

Mike, that's great. With the influx of the players that will be created, may I suggest the following:

- retire/remove players that have actually retired from the NHL (ie. Kariya)
- perhaps remove players that are no longer in the NHL/AHL or associated to the NHL. For example, players that have moved over to the KHL. (ie. Kovalchuk, Radulov, etc..)

Let me know if you need help. I am sure a bunch of us can look through each other's rosters to name players that can be removed with proof.

What do others think?

We have players that retire from the league every year there Desmond. As Chris said, I have a list of those guys that will be retired, I just need to post their names on the homepage.

You'll see players like Scott Niedermayer, John Graham, Mathieu Schneider and Pavol Demitra getting the boot. There are approx. 60 players who will be retired.

[Commish]

DI, ST, DU, AND EN (Endurance) are all finished with. Making great progress.

[Commish]

SK and PA all taken care of. I will be working on the SC and FO rating next. After that I only have DF, EX, LD, PS (penalty shot skill), and PO remaining for the skaters.

I hope to have the ratings complete by next Sunday. I'll then start rebuilding the league. I may need some help with some testing if anyone is interested.

[Devils]

Count me in as usual Mike.

[Hawks]

Het Mike !
If you need a hand with anything im good to go

[Commish]

woo hooo. I finally have the ratings for the 2011-2012 season complete. I'll now start rebuilding the league for V2 of the simulator. The league rebuild will take me about 2 weeks. After that, I'll update the site with the new files and post the UFA list with the new ratings.

I also have a list of retirees that I'll be posting on the homepage in the next couple days. I'd like to thank Pat for helping me out with the list.

We still have the NHA award ballots to create for this past season. Both Mark (Phantoms) and Alex (Ravens) have offered to help with the awards. I will be getting in touch with each of them to explain what is needed.

My top priority was to complete the ratings. Now that they're finished, we can start moving ahead with everything else.

[Devils]

This is excellent news. Great job Mike. BTW... I'm the Devils now.

[Commish]

This is excellent news. Great job Mike. BTW... I'm the Devils now.

Would you believe me if I said I was just checking to see if you were awake?