Drafting procedures and policies

The Pierrefonds Minor Hockey Association (PMHA) will utilize the prospective coaches and directors in running its evaluation process. The evaluation process will be overseen by the PMHA executives.

A standardized draft process is used to equalize teams, so that all teams at the same level are as competitive as possible.

Please note: Any child that wishes to be sur-classed will have to be ranked in the top three of the highest level in the division they are attempting to be sur-classed to. All sur-class requests must be submitted and approved by the region of Lac St. Louis Hockey.

Evaluators will be any candidate coach for the level. During the first evaluation process, all evaluator submissions will be considered. For the final rankings, a trimmed mean average will be used.

PRIOR TO DRAFT DAY:

The team composition will be determined by the number of players in a level. This composition is dictated by Hockey Quebec as listed in the administrative manual.

By the third evaluation session, the directors of all levels M9-M18 (Novice to Midget) will have put the majority if not all of their coaches in place. All coaches are approved by the V.P. of Operations and President after an interview. Please note the coach’s child must be of the caliber of the level his parent wishes to coach. If a coach’s child is on the bubble (i.e.: could be drafted in A but not necessarily – see further on) their parent will not automatically be given a coaching position.

After the third evaluation session, the evaluators will submit a ranking to the VP of Operations. The VP of Operations will cross-reference the list prior to the fourth evaluation session.

The selected head Coaches may select one assistant coach OR manager prior to the draft.

The VP of Operations will provide the ice schedule to the directors until such time as the teams have been created. Directors will be running some of the on-ice evaluation sessions to get players ready for the upcoming season.

ALL coaches should be attending all evaluations for their category (i.e.: M9 (Novice) sessions for all sessions, no matter caliber). If a coach does not attend the majority of all evaluation sessions the VP of Operations holds the right to reject their rankings.

The VP of Operations will compile the final ranking. Goalies will be evaluated by the designated goalie coach appointed by the PMHA.

A player who played at a certain level the previous year is not guaranteed to play at that level in the second year. For example, a player who played Peewee A in their first year of Peewee may not play in Peewee A in their second year of Peewee. Players are evaluated on their current abilities in comparison to the rest of the group.

All double letter cuts must have been made prior to the single letter draft. Should there be an exception to this rule, it will be dealt with by the director of the level and the V.P. of Operations, either at the draft or after its conclusion.

A player who has been released, (cut) from the double letter try-out is not guaranteed any level in single letters (ex. A). They will be evaluated against their cohort in the single letter program to determine their appropriate placement.

Parents are permitted to make special requests (ex. Wishing that siblings remain on the same team, prior disagreements with certain coaches or other parents, etc.).

Requests must be made in writing and addressed to the VP of Operations (operations@hockeypfds.com) and VP of Administration (administration@hockeypfds.com) prior to the draft taking place.

There are no guarantees

The reason for the request will never be shared by the VPs

The request will not be announced unless the conflicting pick is attempted

Final draft rankings will be categorized in the following ways:

M9 and M11 (Novice and Atom)
Goaltenders
Skaters

M13 to M18 (Peewee to Midget)
Goaltenders
Forwards
Defensemen

Ranking categorization for M13 to M18 (Peewee to Midget) is performed in this manner to make sure that teams are well balanced at all positions. In the lower age levels, it is assumed that players are more adept to change between forward and defence. Due to team composition (needing to have defence and forwards) it is possible that a coach will have to move a player to a different position to balance game play.

DRAFT DAY:

Only the chosen head coach and their assistant coach are permitted in the draft

The PMHA follows a snake draft procedure:

In a snake draft, each coach has one pick in each round. Each team makes its first-round pick based on a predetermined order (order is determined by a number draw). When the first round is over, the team that picked last in the first round picks first in the second round — in other words, the draft snakes back and forth.

The director and V.P. Operations will place the children of the coach and assistant coach or manager in the proper round which is based on the child’s ranking in the evaluation before the snake draft starts. Non-parent coaches will have an opportunity to protect players from similar rounds as the opposing parent coaches with the approval of the executive overseeing the draft.

All draft discussion, player exceptions or requests, and the rankings of all players are confidential. It is mandatory that the draft remain confidential to ensure privacy of all players and families. Any failure to comply could result in sanctions against the offending party.

If a goaltender is chosen, the draft will continue until all goaltenders are drafted.

Once complete, the draft for skaters will start in reverse order.

Coaches will not be permitted to pick more defensemen than the predetermined quota allows. This quota is established by the executive member overseeing the draft.

When picking skaters, the coach may pick either defense, or forwards, respecting the quota on maximum defensemen. The coach may however pick fewer defensemen if so desired.

To determine the number of eligible players in a draft, a calculation is made by the executive member overseeing the draft. The number of players on each team is pre-determined by the aforementioned Hockey Quebec rule.

The executive committee member overseeing the draft will determine if the draft will hold 2 or 3 extra eligible rounds depending on the overall size of the level.
Ex. If drafting 2 A teams and it is pre-determined that there will be 15 players on each team and 2 extra rounds of eligibility, the draft will allow coaches to pick players up until the end of the 17th round.

Players considered on the bubble are those who are not guaranteed a spot in a level but are available for draft.

When the draft is underway, the coach may not select a player who is more than two rounds away from the current round.

Ex. For a team picking in round 2, the coach may not pick a player from round five on the master draft list. The coach would have to wait until the following round (round 3)

Should the situation arise that a player is not picked for more than three rounds, the executive member overseeing the draft will stop the draft, and notify the coaches the child must be picked in the following round.

This child is then offered to all the coaches in the following round.
If no one wishes to choose them at that point, their name is put into a hat and all coaches pick.
The coach who picks the player will add them to their draft in the current round.
If only one coach wishes to pick this player, they will add them to their roster.
If more than one coach wishes to have this player, their name will go into a hat with only the coaches who wish to acquire this player picking out of the hat.
The coach who picks the player will add them to their draft in the current round.

All coaches must fill out a draft sheet for their own information, the official one will be completed by the executive overseeing the draft and signed by all head-coaches.

If at the end of the draft, the coaches can not come to an agreement, they will again pick a number from a hat to choose their team name. (Barons, Royals, Marquis, Vicomtes, etc…).

Trading after the draft is complete is allowed but must be completed before the coaches sign the official draft sheet.

The executive committee reserves the right to investigate and disallow any trade they believe to be unfair
Ex. coaches may not trade players which are not considered to be of the same caliber

All documents provided by the executive committee member overseeing the draft, must be returned before the drafting coaching staff leave the draft room.

No copies of the rankings (paper or photos) are allowed to be kept by any coach present at the draft.

Any failure to comply could result in sanctions against the offending party.

All drafts must be reviewed for legality under the rules set forth by PMHA policy and Hockey Quebec rules. If it is found that the draft is invlid, the executive committee may require adjustments or re-draft.