2020-21 Return to Play

[Shoalzie]

On behalf of the competition committee, I'm announcing our league format for the upcoming season.

For this season only, we will be realigning similar to the NHL:


However, we are also pairing up divisions to form two conferences.

The East and Central Division will be in the Wales Conference.
The North and West Division will be in the Campbell Conference.

Our regular schedule will feature 56 matchups over a 13-week period. The regular season will end on Sunday, April 11. The schedule will feature matchups against all league opponents but more matchups will be played within division and conference.

Our playoffs will begin Week 14 (Monday, April 12). For our playoffs this season, the top 8 teams in each conference will make the playoffs. Our league final will only run for 1 week instead of the usual 2 weeks because of the shorter season.

The trade deadline will be Monday, April 5 prior to the final week of our regular season. However, the NHL trade deadline doesn't actually occur until April 12.

Due to the shorter regular season, the GP limits will be prorated:

Skater GP Minimum: 525 games
Goalie Starts Limit: 45 starts
Goalie Starts Minimum: 20 starts

= = = = =

The realigned divisions are already setup on Fantrax. If you have any additional questions about our league format for this season, please post your questions here.

Thanks!

[Shoalzie]

NHL/BBKL Notable Events:

BBKL Regular Season
Week 1: Wednesday, January 13 - Sunday, January 17
Week 2: Monday, January 18 - Sunday, January 24
Week 3: Monday, Janaury 25 - Sunday, January 31
Week 4: Monday, February 1 - Sunday, February 7
Week 5: Monday, February 8 - Sunday, February 14
Week 6: Monday, February 15 - Sunday, February 21
Week 7: Monday, February 22 - Sunday, February 28
Week 8: Monday, March 1 - Sunday, March 7
Week 9: Monday, March 8 - Sunday, March 14
Week 10: Monday, March 15 - Sunday, March 21
Week 11: Monday, March 22 - Sunday, March 28
Week 12: Monday, March 29 - Sunday, April 4

*BBKL Trade Deadline: April 5

Week 13: Monday, April 5 - Sunday, April 11

*NHL Trade Deadline: April 12

BBKL Playoffs
Week 14: Monday, April 12 - Sunday, April 18 (Round of 16)
Week 15: Monday, April 19 - Sunday, April 25 (Round of 8)
Week 16: Monday, April 26 - Sunday, May 2 (Conference Finals)
Week 17: Monday, May 3 - Saturday, May 8 (BBKL Finals)

*NHL Expansion Draft: July 21
*NHL Entry Draft: July 23-24
*NHL Free Agency: July 28

[Shoalzie]

2020-21 Schedule Format

East/Central (Wales Conference) teams have 15 opponents in-conference, they can play each team twice (30 games) and for the remaining 10, play in-division for a 3rd game and in some cases, a 4th game.

For Wales Conference teams:

15 games vs. Campbell Conference opponents (1 game vs. each opponent)
25 games vs. in-division opponents (4 games vs. 4 opponents; 3 games vs. 3 opponents)
16 games vs. opposite division opponent (2 games vs. each opponent)

North/West (Campbell Conference) teams have 14 opponents in-conference, they can play each team twice (28 games) and for the remaining 12 games, play in-division for a 3rd and in some cases, a 4th game. The North Division could has the most balanced schedule.

For North teams:

16 games vs. Wales Conference opponents (1 game vs. each opponent)
24 games vs. North opponents (4 games vs. each opponent)
16 games vs. West opponents (2 games vs. each opponent)

For West teams:

16 games vs. Wales Conference opponents (1 game vs. each opponent)
26 games vs. West opponents (4 games vs. 5 opponents; 3 games vs. 2 opponent)
14 games vs. North opponents (2 games vs. each opponent)

[Jordan (VGK)]

Curious how you guys got to 525

[Jordan (VGK)]

Curious how you guys got to 525

Makes sense now didn't pick up on there being an extra week.

[Shoalzie]

Just like in math class, I'll show my work:

If we're figuring out how to scale these numbers (pro-rate them)...we're playing only 13 weeks compared to our traditional 21 weeks.

13 / 21 = 0.619 (61.9% percent of a normal season length)

Skater GP: 850 x 0.619 = 526.19 (round down to 525?)

Goalie Starts Limit: 70 x 0.619 = 43.333 (round up to 45?)

Goalie Starts Minimum: 35 x 0.619 = 21.666 (round down to 20?)


= = = = =

Calculated Revised limits:

Skater GP Minimum: 525 games
Goalie Starts Limit: 45 starts
Goalie Starts Minimum: 20 starts

[Jordan (VGK)]

A+

[Shoalzie]

Makes sense to round down on minimums and round up for limits.

[CasperX22]

So what is the point of playing a divisional schedule if we are going to just take the top 8 seeds in each conference for the playoffs?

[Bruyns]

So what is the point of playing a divisional schedule if we are going to just take the top 8 seeds in each conference for the playoffs?

Same reason NHL had more division games when they were East and West 1-8. No real reason I guess, breeds some familiarity.

Took a long time to come to agreement on everything, there were like 7 votes on issues and a lot were 4-3 so not everyone was 100% for every decided outcome just like we don’t expect the league will be. It’s a messed up season and we thought playing only 6-7 teams and ignoring the other 25 wasn’t our best option so we deviated from the NHL with no Covid affecting fantasy. We talked about divisional playoffs, or re-seeding and a simple 1-8 like we’ve seen in the past won out.

[kyuss]

I believe division winners will get seed #1 & #2 in the conference though?

[Bruyns]

I think we agreed on that

[CasperX22]

So what is the point of playing a divisional schedule if we are going to just take the top 8 seeds in each conference for the playoffs?

Same reason NHL had more division games when they were East and West 1-8. No real reason I guess, breeds some familiarity.

Took a long time to come to agreement on everything, there were like 7 votes on issues and a lot were 4-3 so not everyone was 100% for every decided outcome just like we don’t expect the league will be. It’s a messed up season and we thought playing only 6-7 teams and ignoring the other 25 wasn’t our best option so we deviated from the NHL with no Covid affecting fantasy. We talked about divisional playoffs, or re-seeding and a simple 1-8 like we’ve seen in the past won out.

That's a really long way to say I don't know, but appreciate the honesty.

[Shoalzie]

I think we would've used in-division play only if the CC voted on using the NHL's playoff format. The schedule format was voted on after the playoff format and conference alignment was determined.

Our schedule makes more sense since are using conferences in addition to the temporary divisions. We have a schedule where you do get play the opposite conference teams once but the majority of the schedule is still within your division and conference.

[Jordan (VGK)]

So what is the point of playing a divisional schedule if we are going to just take the top 8 seeds in each conference for the playoffs?

Same reason NHL had more division games when they were East and West 1-8. No real reason I guess, breeds some familiarity.

Probably a travel reason that drove that schedule.

[Shoalzie]

What the NHL did with their RTP was respond to the virus and seek to limit exposure around the league. Keeping travel limited and limiting opponents should prevent a wider spread.

The CC voted on which parts of the NHL we wanted to adopt for thus season. This is very much a unique season much like last year. We obviously have to run a shorter season because of the NHL.

Our hope is 2021-22 is back to normal and we also have Seattle joining the league.

[Matthew]

So what is the point of playing a divisional schedule if we are going to just take the top 8 seeds in each conference for the playoffs?

One thing we agree on

[Shoalzie]

Division play does matter since the winners of the divisions get the top 2 seeds. It's not that much different from the old Eastern/Western top 8 format. Conference and division games matter for playoff position and there's a reward to winning your division title.

Again, this was an issue voted upon within the CC and the decision was made by the majority vote. Several issues passed with a 4:3 simple majority. Other issues passed unanimously.