how we trade

Thank you Regulator Jim for the opportunity to address this important issue.

Before we begin it is nice to recall that never in five years to date has an AHHL trade found itself hauled on the carpet, much less rejected by the Commissioners or vetoed by the GMs at large.

One deal perhaps came close, but that was because of the to-that-point-unprecedented number of GMs involve (three), not the assets.

According to Rule 8d, all trades:

1. remain subject to Commissioner review, and
2. may, in any event, be voided by a majority vote of three-quarters (rounding fractions up) of non-involved owners

What this means in practice is that the trade partners do the deal through the website. That's it. But that's not all.

Where the fun begins is when a GM fails to adjust her roster, after the deal -- adjusting being a necessary thing, one finds, as the traded player or players tend to end up on one's bench. Even if the bench is already warmed by two bums.

So a deal is not really done until all rosters are re-set. If the weekly deadline passes in the meantime, well, Yahoo!™ in its wisdom has bound the hands of your ever-loving Commissioners...

That's a technical or should We say technological requirement.

By convention -- no less binding, We hope -- one of the trade partners posts the deal to the message board.

This is important because the website will record (and announce) player movement but not the exchange of draft picks.

Even if your trade does not involve picks, that, too, is as important (to post) as deals that involve picks.

What else?

Oh yes. The weekly deadline is now Sunday night, not Saturday as in previous years. As before the deadline is 11:59:59 Atlantic Time. Once again, this is driven by the website and We are unable to go back in time and re-process a Monday-submitted deal to make it effective Sunday.