The Rules of the Waiver Draft

Well, I was thinking about moving this pool to a weekly waiver system, but moving away from the traditional waiver draft was not only going to be a little more time consuming, but it did lend itself to controversy and trouble that I wasn't prepared to really deal with. So, the Waiver Draft is back, but I wanted to make sure that I had something a little more tangible on the blog site to say, this is what we're doing and how we're going to do it. The process really doesn't change, it just gets laid out properly moving forward. This could very well be the post that I turn to every year and make changes to, as the years go by.

First, let's go over the dates.  The 2018 season is 27 weeks long, which is perfect, when we divide this year into three segments.  Officially, the Waiver Draft would start on the Monday of Week Nine, we'd go through the drops and picks through the week and then all that has been changed would go live on Monday of Week Ten.

This season, Week Nine begins on Monday, November 27th and that mean's that players dropped and picked up will assume their new position on Monday, December 4th, the start of Week Ten.  With that being said, there is one late game on Sunday, November 26th, Edmonton in Boston, but if we're fairly clear on what the first few picks may look like in the standings, we might start early.

The second Waiver Draft, officially begins on Monday, January 29th and players go live on Monday, February 5th, but the end of Week Seventeen is also the NHL All-Star Weekend.  Unfortunately, the players taken in this Waiver Draft won't count in the All-Star Game mini-game, but last season, there were 44 players going to the All-Star Game 3-on-3 tournament and they were all taken in the pool after the first Waiver Draft last year, so I won't really have to make any changes, because all the players going, should have already been picked.

Next up on the things to know, the available players!  I currently run a list (click here for the list) of the top 200 available players that were not taken in the original draft.  This number could increase, if necessary, but at the moment, it's only 200 players in all three position levels.  If you haven't started your research into who is playing well and who might take the place of some injured, demoted or underachieving players, then your team is probably doing quite well.

Then it is all about the draft itself. The format, this has evolved over the years, but the most important point of the Waiver Draft is to either make your team more competitive, get your team into a good position in a mini-game or just to get healthy and have a full compliment of players to watch.  So, how we go about doing this is two guaranteed rounds of drops and picks, the order determined on Monday morning after the weekly statistical audit and the order will go from last place (25th) to top spot (1st) for both rounds... last to first, last to first.

The draft will be conducted via phone, text messages or e-mails, however I have you listed in my database, so be on the lookout for those sorts of reminders.  If I only have one mode of communication with you, that's the way I'm going to do it.  Let's make it work, people!  Once the pick before has been made, I am making it a rule that the next pick only has 24 hours to complete their selection, hopefully with more than enough notice.

I have also implemented bonus rounds, if we finish the Waiver Draft before the end of the night on that Sunday, this would be the time where you could swap out injured players, if you had some remaining or you suffered a major injury in that week, you would at least have the chance to swap out that player for a healthy body.  This may be used as an advantage in some ways, so it is advised to choose your drops and picks carefully.  The bonus round will be first come, first serve for players, so after the second round is complete and you're itching to make one more move, I would try to be on top of things, just to make sure you get who you want.

I think that should just about do it.  Stay tuned to the blog, I will usually post a mock Waiver Draft, just for shits and giggles.  It usually helps me, when people haven't been watching and they'll just take whoever I had chosen for them, if they are still available.  Beware of land mines!  Mwah ha ha!