"3/ Add in a minimum point total to receive the bonus. Perhaps 40 point minimum. How you get to 40 points does not matter, what you do after 40 points does not matter. But at least all teams will need to put up a few wins. If you don’t make the 40 point floor there is no punishment, you just don’t get the bonus that might otherwise come to you."
Paul, by this line of thought, say I finish a season with 39 points. I wouldn't be punished for no reaching this "minimum" total, however I wouldn't receive the +10 bonus to my top draft pick. By taking away any bonus that's being punished.
Now I understand that everyone would like a level playing field, but the fact is some of our GMs know what they are doing (or at least appear to) and set forth a team that does well every season. There was a reason for have a 19 game min. GP for playoff eligibility. For those of you that weren't here when that was put into place, it was to prevent GMs from playing their "best" players 18 regular season games the sending them to the minors only to call them back up when the playoffs started. IMO that leveled the playing field because GMs had to decide if they were going to use up a season on a player or not. It's also why there's the "true" rookie replacement rule as well.
The whole idea of making it so GMs have to have a set number of players play 20 games is a bit of a joke. Since each of us has paid money to take part in the MLD, none of us should be able to tell any GM how to run their teams. If next season another GM wants to roll with an "Iron Man" lineup, then knock yourself out. Just imagine if OKP's team made the playoffs and went on to win the Cup? Nobody would say a word about it, and I think there would be more then a few to try that approach too.
If there are realistic rule changes (I,e, length of season for skaters, goalies, or FP) please speak up. Personally, I'd like to see the draft talent get bumped up, drop the SC bonus, and go with the +10 for non-playoff teams first rd pick. To really even things out add +8 to 2nd Rd picks, and +5 to 3rd Rd.
I'd also like to see an actual punishment meted out to GMs that use "illegal" players. Right now if you use a player that passes the 612K salary, and said player isn't your FP then you have to retire that player. If it happens in the playoffs, said team should have to retire the player immediately, and lose their #1 pick in the next draft.