Team: 2021-22 Custom Team

Initial Creation Date: Oct. 21, 2021

Published: Oct. 21, 2021

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Circling back on this idea I had from last year. Based on the theme of ACGMs I've seen today it seems like there's an appetite for this kind of scenario.

Here's the idea

Once a year, just as training camp concludes all 32 teams should have to submit a list of players who have been in the NHL/AHL for a certain time (let's say 3+ seasons) and are over a certain age (let's say 23 but maybe older for goalies cause they take longer to develop?) that make under one million against the cap who won't make the opening night roster. These players are then entered in the "misfit draft" before waivers take effect where each team can draft one of any of the players exposed, which would go in the order of last year's standings (last place team gets 1st OA and so on). The draft will only be one round and this will add some forced transactions (all 32 picks must be used) where teams won't be able to "sneak" their best fringe players through waivers. It would also force some teams to make a decision about prospects once they've completed their 3rd season (or more for goaltenders) in the AHL about making a spot in the lineup for them or trading them so as to not lose them in this draft.

The player chosen by a new team can be assigned to the AHL at any point in the season without having to go through waivers which would give them more value than a typical waiver pickup. The idea is to give players who are stuck from breaking in to the league with one organization the opportunity to make it somewhere else. This could also create a new form of trade currency as teams who are "going for it" may want more "misfit picks" to stock up on potential depth players who can be called up and sent down without any cap or waiver penalties and may be willing to trade futures for that luxury. It also might do away with the return for a player to be "future considerations" which I dislike seeing. Also more transactions = more fun

I obviously haven't ironed out all the details but just something I've been thinking about when you see fringe players (Ho-sang, Leivo, etc) stuck in the same spot year after year.

Assuming that all 7 of these players couldn’t crack the opening roster this is what the 7 Canadian Teams would potentially be exposing in the misfit draft if it were to be implemented for the 2022-2023 season since I believe they would all be 23 and older and have played more than 3 seasons in the NHL/AHL (ignore taxi squad).