Keepers

Limits
This section outlines the minimum and maximum number of keepers required to be declared per team, and the maximum term any player can be kept cumulatively under the keeper status.


 * Minimum
 * zero (0) keepers per team


 * Maximum
 * four (4) keepers per team


 * Maximum Keeper Term
 * three (3) consecutive seasons

''Keepers will be released to the draft after three consecutive seasons under the keeper status. Regardless of how many years they spent with one team, any player that is designated a keeper for three seasons will be released to the draft.''

Position Allowances
This section outlines the maximum number of players by position that can be declared keepers, in any keeper scenario. You may not name more than the alloted number of keepers by positions in a keeper submission. Positions can officially be found on Yahoo! Sports on the Yahoo! fantasy page. Players with multiple position eligibility (C/W or W/D) can be considered keepers at either of their officially listed positions.


 * Centers (C)
 * two (2) in any scenario


 * Wingers (W)
 * two (2) in any scenario


 * Defensemen (D)
 * two (2) in any scenario


 * Goaltenders (G)
 * one (1) in any scenario

The purpose of position allowances is to prevent predatory hoarding, and subsequent constriction, of talent at certain positions.

Declaration
Keepers must be declared, at the maximum, within one (1) week preceding the start of the draft. Keepers can be submitted via the Yahoo-supplied form at any time following the final game played of the league championship.

Availability
General managers who have declared players keepers must have the appropriate compensation in place. A player cannot be declared a keeper if the general manager does not hold the appropriate draft pick compensation.

Missing Compensation
In the event the general manager does not hold the appropriate compensation, he has two options at his disposal:


 * 1) Trading for the missing compensation.
 * 2) Foregoing the next highest draft pick held by the team.

For example: suppose a keeper's compensation is a 5th round pick and the general manager in question currently does not have a 5th round pick. He may execute a trade to acquire a 5th round pick or he may may choose to give up his next highest pick, a 4th round pick, in order to successfully keep the player

Tiers
At the very foundation of The Conn Smythe Corner's keeper system is the Tier, which determines and denotes a player's keeper status and required keeper compensation.

Players are ascribed a Tier dependent on where they are selected in the draft. In the case where they are undrafted, they are automatically included in the lowest Tier. Players kept for consecutive seasons transition to the next highest Tier for each year they are kept.

Each Tier is described and detailed below. Compensations vary from Tier-to-Tier, and there is a cap for the number of players that can be kept from each Tier.

*X = denotes the round in which the player was drafted.

Players drafted in Round 1 CANNOT be kept under any circumstance.

Tier C: Rounds 7-13
*X = denotes the round in which the player was drafted.

Tier D: Rounds 14-23 & undrafted
*X = denotes the round in which the player was drafted.

Leveling Up
Designated keepers will automatically level up to the next Tier if they are kept consecutively by the same team. Players who were kept one season then traded and kept again by another club will not transition. Transitions only occur in the situation that the same team keeps the same player consecutively.

Players are considered transitioned following the end of the offseason, which is indicated by the keeper submission deadline. Players traded to other teams before the end of the offseason and the keeper submission deadline will not transition as they will not be kept by the same club once again.

Exemption
Keepers who are traded and re-acquired by the same team that originally kept within a year of the transaction will not be transition-exempt, and will thus transition to the next Tier. One keeper year + 1 day must pass before this exemption is applied.

A keeper year is defined as the amount of time between two consecutive keeper submission deadlines, inclusively.

2015-16
- D(d) denotes the player in question was downgraded to Tier D according to the downgrade rules in place at the time of the keeper submission.

- No(d) denotes the player in question was set to transition and subsequently was prevented from transitioning because he was successfully downgraded.