The Cazah League of Legends (CLL)

The League
The Cazah League of Legends (CLL) is a fantasy hockey league that was founded in 2014. The League is played on the Yahoo Fantasy Sports website/application and is well recognized as North-America's #1 Fantasy Hockey League.

Commissioner's Office
The CLL's Commissioner's Office (CO) consists of 3 officers who oversee all league decisions. The CO's primary objectives are to:
 * 1) Ensure that the CLL's Code of Conduct is followed by all 16 franchises
 * 2) Design and execute the CLL's short-term and long-term growth strategies

Active Franchises
The CLL follows a strict application and interview process when selecting General Managers. The league proudly has 16 franchises, each of which is run by a General Manager with a degree from the John Molson School of Business.

For a historical view of franchises, please see the Defunct Franchises page.

Global Footprint
The CLL is proud to home sixteen (16) franchises located in seven (7) different countries worldwide. 

Rosters
Each Club may roster up to 23 players on their team (19 active, 4 bench) according to the following distribution:
 * 3x Centers (C)
 * 2x Left-Wingers (LW)
 * 2x Right-Wingers (RW)
 * 5x Defensemen (D)
 * 2x Goaltenders (G)
 * 4x Bench (BN)

In addition, franchises are afforded the following special designations:
 * 3x Injured Reserve
 * 1x day-to-day (DTD) or out (O) eligible
 * 1x injury reserve (IR) eligible
 * 1x day-to-day (DTD) or out (O) eligible only due to Covid reasons (positions only available for the 2020-21 season)

Franchises are not required to have all roster spots filled at all times.

Schedule
The season consists of 20 matchups spanning approximately 22 weeks (schedule is per Yahoo's standards of that season). Franchises play against every other team at least one time during the season. Each franchise plays eight (8) out-of-conference matchups (1 matchup against every non-conference opponent) and twelve (12) in-conference matchups (at least 1 matchup against all seven (7) conference opponents and five (5) additional in-conference randomized matchups).

Conferences
The CLL annually consists of two conferences. Each conference consists of eight (8) franchises, which are split by a draft in which the previous season's finalists select franchises one by one following the draft. The previous year's Cazah Cup Champion has the right to claim the first selection or to defer to the finalist. The draft proceeds in snaking order.

Please refer to the Conference Draft page for past conference draft results.

Power Rankings
Every few months, the Cazah Power Rankings are released. The Power Rankings were founded by the New England Kodiaks franchise in 2018. Since the 2018-19 season, the Brampton Barnburners (GM Dylan Kerr) and Wyoming Wizards (GM Cody Kaplin) have produced the rankings. Please refer to the Power Rankings page for historic rankings.

Qualifications
8 Clubs out of 16 qualify for the postseason in the CLL. While conferences help determine schedule, they have no impact on the playoff seeding or format. Playoff seeding is determined by the teams finishing one (1) through eight (8) in total points through the regular season. The tie-breaker for teams with an equal number of points is their total number of wins (more wins being assigned the higher seed). The CLL playoffs operate in a non-reseeding format, so that teams can anticipate their upcoming matchup. This also facilitates the ability to organize the Annual Cazah Playoffs Bracket Challenge, which was founded by the Okinawa Owls during the 2019-20 season.

Finalists face off in a week-long matchup in pursuit of the highly coveted Cazah Cup.

Format
The CLL Playoffs Round 1: Quarter-Finals Round 2: Semi-Finals Round 3: The Cazah Cup Final Round 3: The Bronze Medal Consolation Final
 * Matchup 1: #1 vs #8
 * Matchup 2: #2 vs #7
 * Matchup 3: #3 vs #6
 * Matchup 4: #4 vs #5
 * Matchup A: [Winner Matchup #1] vs [Winner Matchup #4]
 * Matchup B: [Winner Matchup #2] vs [Winner Matchup #3]
 *  [Winner Matchup A] vs [Winner Matchup B]
 * [Loser Matchup A] vs [Loser Matchup B]

In the result of a playoff tie, the win will be awarded to the team that had a greater regular season record versus their opponent.

Length
The draft takes place once a year in September, preceeding the start of the NHL season. The draft consists of:
 * 18 rounds
 * 16 picks per round
 * 288 total draft picks

Format
Rounds 1 through 4 are snaking. Rounds 5 through 18 are non-snaking.

Order
In 2020, the CLL adopted a new draft order policy to disincentivize tanking. The draft order, starting in the 2021-22 season, will be based on the finish of all 16 CLL franchises. This means that the Cazah Cup Champion will earn the first (1st) draft slot, the finalist will receive the second (2nd), third (3rd), and so forth. Historically, the draft order has been randomized prior to each season.

Showrav Das Memorial Tournament
During the 3 weeks of the Cazah Cup Playoffs, an eight (8) team tournament runs in parallel on a third-party platform. These 8 teams, who finished the season 9 through 16, battle it out to earn higher draft pick placement. The winner of the bottom 8 tournament earns the 9th pick draft positioning, while the team that finished 0-3 over three weeks earns 16th.

Pick Trading
All franchises have the right to trade their pick positions for the entire draft, or a certain number of individual rounds. The only stipulation is that all franchises own an equal number of picks (18 total).

The DDO Rule
In an attempt to retain parity within the league, during the season (following the draft and up until the trade deadline), only draft picks from rounds 4 through 18 may be traded. All teams must retain a single pick within rounds 1 through 3.

Category Impact
All player categories for each week's matchup count towards the franchise's overall standings. They impact the overall standings in the following way:

Skaters
Skater categories are as follows:

Goalies
Goalie categories are as follows:

''Note that the league holds a strict requirement of three (3) minimum goaltender appearences during any given matchup. Failure to reach the minimum required goaltender appearences results in an 0-4-0 record for goalie categories that week. In the result that both franchises in a given matchup fail to meet the minimum requirement, both teams will earn a 0-0-4 record for goalie categories. An appearence is defined by a goalie being on the ice for 0:01 or more in any given NHL game.''

Restrictions
Each franchise may keep anywhere from zero (0) to three (3) skaters each season according to the CLL Keeper Guidelines. Franchises, however, do not have the right to keep any:
 * Players who have been drafted in the first two (2) rounds of the previous CLL Draft
 * Players who have not been signed to an NHL contract
 * Players who have been kept for three consecutive seasons
 * Players who have not dressed for a third (1/3) of games during the season (28 total games)

Costs
Players are ascribed a keeper cost based off of where they were selected in the previous year's draft. These costs denote the draft pick compensation required to keep them. It follows an X-2 formula (X being the round they were drafted in the previous year's draft).

Skaters who were not drafted, and therefore began the season on the Free Agents (FA) list, are eligible to be kept for a compensation following a Y-6 formula (Y indicating the final round of the draft). Currently, free agents can be kept for a round 12 pick, since there are 18 total draft rounds (18 - 6 = 12). Goalies follow the same X-2 formula, but should they have begun the season on the Free Agents (FA) list, are eligible to be kept following a Y-12 formula.

Additionally, should any franchise choose to keep a goalie, they must forfeit one (1) of their three (3) keeper slots. Therefore, a franchise keeping a goalie may only keep two (2) total keepers. No franchise may keep two goalies in a single season.

Required Picks
In cases where franchises own 2 picks in a respective round in which they hope to keep a player, the franchise is allowed to select which pick they would like to use as their keeper slot. (e.g. If Brampton wants to keep Kyle Connor in R9 and has picks R9P1, R9P10, R9P12, they may select R9P12 as their keeper slot)

In cases where franchises do not own a pick in a respective round in which they hope to keep a player, the franchise is allowed to select which pick they would like to use as their keeper slot in a preceding round.

(e.g. If Brampton wants to keep Kyle Connor in R9 and has no R9 picks, they may select any of their R8, R7, R6, etc. picks as their keeper slot)

Keeper Tenure
Keepers may only be kept for three (3) consecutive seasons, regardless of player ownership. Once a player reaches the third year of being kept, they will automatically be returned to the draft pool for the fourth season.

Current Keeper Pool
A list of historical keeper records can be found on the CLL Keepers page

Trade Requirements
In order for a trade to be validly consummated, franchises must be in control of the requisite players and/or assets at the time of the transaction. The only exception to this is 3-way transactions, whereby multiple transactions may be executed to arrive at the 3-way result. Otherwise, a franchise cannot trade away a player it does not own, nor a draft pick it does not own.

All players on the respective rosters are eligible to be traded. "No trade clauses" do not exist in the CLL.

Draft picks, however, must follow specific requirements. Franchises may only trade draft picks in the 6th round or later (see DDO Rule for additional details).

Franchises do not have the right to "swap back" players in any transaction. Should there be a trade in which players are traded back to their initial owners, an audit will take place for "intent" of whether the trade was valid before the transaction can take place.

Trade Review Process
Trades are reviewed by the Commissioner's Office (see Section 1.1) and by the Commissioner's Office only.

The CO has a strict policy that states that each franchise should have the right to manage their team in the way that they see best fit. The only reason that the CO will scrutinize, and potentially intervene in a trade process, is if they deem there to be misconduct. Misconduct can be defined as collusion between two franchises or the use of external assets in a trade as defined by CLL regulations (outside of currently owned players and draft picks).

The CLL and its CO have proudly not vetoed a trade in the league's history.

Add Limits
The CLL adopted add limits during the 2017-18 season, which indicated teams were unable to pick up more than 5 players per week.

For the 2019-20 season and beyond, the pick-up regulation was changed to a two-pronged approach, where:
 * Franchises have a 60 pick-up limit for the season (averaging out to 3 adds per week across the 20 week season)
 * Franchise may pick-up a maximum of 6 players during a single matchup

For the 2020-21 season, due to a shortened schedule spanning twelve (12) weeks, the max pick-ups for the season is 42 (12 weeks x 3.5 pick-ups = 42).

Waivers
Players will follow a 48 hour waiver period when: The waiver order is set following the annual draft in the reverse order of the draft (e.g. pick 16 has waiver priority 1). Once a player is added through a waiver claim, the franchise's waiver priority is descended to the bottom of the list (priority 16).
 * The draft results are inputted into Yahoo
 * Players are dropped by a franchise

Season Recaps
2021-2022 CLL Season

2020-2021 CLL Season

2019-2020 CLL Season

2018-2019 CLL Season

2017-2018 CLL Season

2016-2017 CLL Season

2015-2016 CLL Season

2014-2015 CLL Season

Records
All of the league's records can be found under the CLL Records page

The Cazahs
All of the league's award winners can be found under the Cazahs page

All-Time Stats
The table below highlights the all-time stats of active franchises (sorted by winning percentage):

The W% is calculated as (Wins / Wins + Losses + Ties), in other words, the franchise's overall percentage of wins over total matchup categories

The WL% is calculated as (Wins / Wins + Losses), in other words, the franchise's all-time overall percentage of wins vs. losses

The Code
The CLL is a League with monetary implications and which triggers a relentless pursuit of the highly coveted Cazah Cup. The League is as serious as any when it comes to a competitive fantasy sports environment. General Managers participating in the CLL are expected to recognize and respect the fact that commitment is a necessity to remaining a part of it. Below are several key parts of the CLL's Code of Conduct.

Lineups
General Managers are expected to set their lineups on a regular basis. Should a General Manager elect to be inactive in setting his lineup, the CO has the right to sanction the franchise and flag this GM for offseason review. As a daily fantasy league, the CLL franchises require continual and consistent maintenance.

Financials
All general managers must support the continuing operation of the League by collectively accounting for any League-related cost. Any expenses or costs will be transparently detailed in full. All franchises are asked to pay their fees within two (2) weeks of being asked to do so, or may be suspect to sanctions and/or expulsion. The league's finances are run by the league's Chief Financial Officer, Tee Tanoli, who also owns and operates the Peshawar Hashashin franchise.

League Contribution
The league asks that all franchises contribute to the league's growth and/or entertainment value of the CLL. Teams are not forced to do so, but not contributing can be considered as a factor if the Commissioner's Office is considering welcoming in a new franchise.

Zero Tolerance
General managers are expected to remain professional at all times with their peers and in the publication of press releases issued by each franchise's communications department. While the league highly encourages trash talking and at times, cheap shots, it has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to 'offside' communications (e.g. racism, anti-semitism). The league is extremely proud of it's multicultural franchise ownership and believes diversity is a key factor in driving the league forward. Any 'offside' comments as deemed so by the Commissioner's Office will result in severe sanctions and likely expulsion.

Sanctions
The Commissioner's Office reserves the right to sanction any franchise for not following the above pieces of the CLL Code of Conduct. The CO has free-reign to decide on the severity of all sanctions.

Franchise Turnover
The Commissioner's Office may choose to place any franchise on probation and or ask them to leave the league prior to the start of a CLL season. These cases have only occured in the league when General Manager's: General Managers hold the right to step away from the league at any point during a given off-season (assuming the league has a minimum of 4 weeks notice prior to a CLL Draft). The franchise will become defunct and the CLL will invite another GM that has applied to the Commissioner's Office and has undergone our thorough screening process.
 * Are inactive in setting their lineup
 * Are not actively participating in the league
 * Have consistently made trades that the CO deems to be damaging to the competitive nature of the league
 * Have numerous outstanding complaints against them on the record that the CO deems to be serious
 * Have made comments that the CO deems to be 'offside' and do not comply with the league's zero tolerance policy