2023 Regular Season Begins Sunday!

[Kevin]

The games matter now! The 2023 Regular Season is scheduled to begin on Sunday, January 1!

Rosters for both NHL and AHL teams must be compliant to league rules should be done no later than Saturday, December 31 at 10pm ET.

For the last two years, an absurd number of teams have been significantly fined for not being prepared before opening night. The way the last couple of days have gone, it seems like that trend is going to continue. It's still baffling to me after a month of free agency and two weeks of preseason games that there are still somehow three teams who don't have the minimum number of players required. It's time to reverse the trend! Any GM who does not meet the appropriate roster criteria -or- does not have lineups properly set for both NHL and AHL teams, will face severe fines or potential termination.

Roster rules are the same as described in the CBA: 13 forwards, 7 defensemen, and 2 goalies (with the option of one extra skater) on your NHL roster and the minimums for your AHL roster. Remember that the simulator does NOT enforce this, so it is up to you to make sure you are compliant! Just because you've set your rosters and lines for Game 1 does not mean that you have them set for Game 2.

This Saturday, the 31st, is going to count as a waiver processing day. If you lose any players to waivers on Friday or Saturday, this still must be accounted for on your opening night roster. If you are positioned to win a waiver claim any of these next three days, they will count towards the 23-man roster. Make sure you have made room for them on your opening night roster! Additionally and as always, ALL of your dressed skaters need to be in the main lineup!


I'm working on getting the new league file and regular season schedules posted. The entire schedule, especially the AHL schedule, will be in heavy flux over the next several weeks in order to adapt it to our calendar.


I remind you to double-check that your captains are in order for this season. The sim always clears AHL captains during training camp. I took care of some of this earlier in the week. It's up to do to take care of the rest and decide who your captains will be. Remember that this can have an effect on your team performance!


There's still going to be a little bit of fluxuation in the sim schedule the first few days of the season before it gets back to normal. Sunday's opening night sim will take place at 8pm ET. I'll be out Monday evening and my hockey schedule isn't set yet for Tuesday, so I have no idea what time the sim will be those nights yet. I'm hoping Eric can be available for both but we'll see.


Here we go, everyone. You've worked hard and waited patiently to get the season going. Let's see where your efforts take you this season!

[Predators]

Just a heads up, since there is no live AHL schedule quite yet, there is no option to 'Copy all Lines' for our AHL teams in the current league file.