I don't know if this is a thing people do, but I came up with a format for a fantasy league that uses the constraints of each person involved ultimately acting more as a General Manager. Therefore, this model requires sustained continuity. Every real-time NHL event has the same implications on the optics of each person's team each season and through subsequent seasons.

Starting up would ideally require a maximum of 32 people involved so that the person-to-NHL team ratio is equitable. Each person selects an NHL franchise, however, there is potential to employ strategy in this selection process. As the General Manager of the team of your choice, you thereby have the same access to draft capital as the actual General Manager of that respective team. For example, if you select the Arizona Coyotes who have 42 draft picks in the next three drafts, then by selecting Arizona as your fantasy team, you have then landed a windfall of draft picks that you could use in trades or as leverage.

Before I get too far ahead of myself, the beginning of this GM Mode Fantasy Format would entail a bit of a draft. Everyone would get the equivalent of one bingo ball in the cage, and a draft order would emerge. Each team has 50 draft spots in this opening draft equating to the maximum number of contracts allowed per team, however, they do not all necessarily have to be used, they can be swapped around as teams deem fit.

Throughout the regular season, your players will rack up points and that positions teams in or out of the playoff race. This is where it gets interesting. You can trade assets and/or players before the trade deadline to help your NHL franchise get to the Stanley Cup, or if you are too far out of contention, maybe recoup draft picks or help your AHL team win the Calder Cup. Trading for high point producers on playoff-bound teams in the actual NHL is an adept strategy as your playoff success hinges on that alone.

As the actual NHL playoffs go on, any players on your roster that made the actual playoffs give you a higher chance of winning it all. If your team scores the most points by the end of the first round of the actual NHL playoffs, then your team advances. However, your roster may begin to deplete over the course of the playoffs if you have players from eliminated teams on your roster. It is completely up to the GM of each team to have a strategy, and a clear-cut plan and know what to do by the trade deadline to ensure the result that they hope for. Buyers and sellers are just as evident in this as they are in real-time.

When the NHL draft comes along, be aware of what picks you have and which ones you do not currently have. You can trade up or down with the picks you have, but the selection that happens in real time goes to the owner of the pick in this fantasy league. You may have regretfully surrendered a franchise player, or you may have avoided a catastrophe, but like every other aspect of this, it requires the user to think critically to strategize how they would do what a General Manager would do.

When free agency rolls around, you decide if the players at the end of their contracts are worth keeping. If not, they are rendered free agents and any team can pick them up if they can fit their salary under the cap. If they are useful, make sure you stake your claim to them before July 1st!

This is the kind of interactive multiplayer fantasy league format that I think would be highly effective in not only determining the true power of the player's points in the NHL but also the ability to strategize like a General Manager as we see in a lot of ACGM posts. I think CapFriendly has the technology to implement something like this on the website, on account of the interactivity that the Armchair General Manager section provides on top of the points that players accrue constantly being updated. This has been my elevator pitch for GM Mode Fantasy League Format.