The NFHL Network newest segment Coaches Corner will provide analysis, comments and feedback regarding the NFHL.

March 3rd, 2008

The NFHL introduced the "Trade Rule" for the 2005/06 season which allowed for the first time a player to be acquired not on a teams roster. The main reason for this rule was to compensate for a team that lost a high scoring player later in the season due to injury. In prior seasons without this rule a team that lost their second best forward for example would not be able to utilize the extra players on the roster. Since the "Top 10" forwards points are counted it was unlikely that the 11th best forward would accumulate enough points to overtake the injured players points. The first season the rule was used only one player could be traded and the following year this was increased to two.

The rule now in its third season has increased the interaction in the league. The rule will be changed for the 2008/09 season which will incorporate new transactions. The trade rule for next season will reflect a more realistic comparison to the NHL. For example in the NHL when a player is injured he is not traded. This will be the case in the NFHL next season. A NFHL player that is injured can now be placed on the Injury Reserve but can not be traded. Next season with the expanded Farm Team it will be essential for an owner to have "balance" and "depth" beyond the regular active roster. One would think that the Injury Reserve would make it simpler for the NFHL GM. That would all depend on the performance of the GM. If the farm team does not have adequate replacements for injured players a team may find themselves without much benefit. With the trade effectively being used for improving a team based on player performance and not injury should lead to some interesting GM decisions next season. Trade decisions will have to be evaluated based on cap room availability, transaction availability and more.

The new Transactions and the Farm Team will be discussed further in the next segment of the "Coach's Corner"