One Month In: The Journey So Far
One month after launch, twenty franchises are in place, the league is built, and IceCore is ready for its first draft.
One month ago, IceCore Dynasty was an idea.
Today, it has twenty franchises, twenty General Managers, four divisions and a league ready for its first draft.
The road from one to the other has been a busy one.
One Month. A Lot Has Happened.
IceCore officially opened its doors one month ago.
Since then, the league website has been completed, the league structure has taken shape, and 40 applications arrived from experienced fantasy hockey players interested in building something designed to last.
Choosing twenty franchises from that group was not easy.
We were looking not simply for people who wanted to play fantasy hockey, but for General Managers who would be willing to build, compete, trade, plan ahead and contribute to a league that is intended to exist for many seasons.
After reviewing the applications, twenty franchises were selected and their permanent identities assigned.
The first IceCore General Managers are now in place.
And with them, the league has its foundation.
Twenty Franchises. Four Divisions.
The twenty franchises have now been placed into four divisions of five teams.
That process was more than simply dividing twenty names into four groups.
The schedule had to be built around the league’s specific divisional structure and playoff format, and a substantial number of individual matchups had to be manually adjusted to make the final schedule fit the rules.
It took time.
But the result is a schedule designed specifically for IceCore rather than a generic fantasy-league template.
The divisions are now set.
The franchises are set.
The schedule is set.
The GM cards in teams are ready.
And there is another important piece already in place.
A strong group of potential replacement GMs is waiting in reserve.
If a franchise becomes available before the season, IceCore already has experienced candidates who can step in without rebuilding the league from scratch.
The Rules Survived the Test
The past week has been spent doing something that is less visible, but perhaps even more important.
Testing.
A large number of data sets, salary distributions and hypothetical situations were examined to see how the IceCore systems behave over time.
That process was not always simple.
IceCore combines a salary-cap auction, permanent franchises, keepers, prospects, an Entry Draft, a deep roster structure and long-term salary history. There is no standard fantasy-league template that can simply be copied and expected to behave correctly.
So the rules have been tested against the situations that matter:
What happens when a player breaks out?
What happens when an undervalued player becomes a star?
What happens when a franchise wants to rebuild?
What happens when a team carries an expensive core?
What happens when the market itself changes?
The conclusion is clear:
The core IceCore rules remain in place.
But one part of the system has been refined.
A Simpler Salary Evolution
The original salary escalation system used three player categories.
That is being simplified.
The new system uses one universal base escalation plus a Value Bonus.
The base escalation is reduced from +5 to +4, while becoming floating within a controlled range. Its future level is influenced by the salary market the General Managers create themselves, rather than being permanently dictated by the Commissioner.
The Value Bonus then looks at how a player’s salary compares with the market benchmark for players performing at a similar level.
The philosophy behind the change is simple.
The Commissioner should not sit at a desk and decide what every player is worth.
The General Managers create the market.
They decide what players are worth when they bid on them, trade for them and choose which contracts to keep.
The salary system then works around those decisions, gradually correcting extreme differences between player performance and salary — without trying to dictate a fixed value for every player.
That is important because IceCore is a dynasty, not a redraft league.
A great decision made today should create an advantage.
A bad contract should have consequences.
A breakout player should be valuable.
And a player who consistently performs like an expensive star should not remain permanently locked into a bargain salary.
A Few Final Adjustments
A few other changes have also been made as the league was tested.
The Toilet Bowl has been added, using a format familiar from many fantasy leagues but adapted to IceCore’s Yahoo structure.
The annual escalation for eligible NA prospects increases on +1.
A salary floor has also been introduced to keep the keeper market from becoming distorted by unrealistically low total salaries.
These are refinements before start. I’m not a fan of changes during the game.
For the complete and current version of every rule, the Rules section remains the authority.
The First Draft Is Getting Close
All of this now leads to the moment when the league stops being preparation and becomes competition.
The live IceCore Salary Cap Draft is scheduled for:
September 20, 2026 · 2:00 PM PT · 23:00 CEST
Twenty General Managers.
Five hundred coins each.
A completely open player market.
And no way to know exactly what the next player will cost.
This is where the franchises begin to become real.
Still Interested? Keep Applying.
The first twenty franchises have been assigned.
That does not mean the door is closed.
If everything goes well and there is enough interest, I am willing to discuss opening IceCore 2.
So if you discovered IceCore after the first twenty franchises were selected, keep your application coming.
Strong candidates will remain in consideration, both as potential replacement GMs and as possible founding members of a future IceCore league.
The first league may be full.
The project is not.
One League. Twenty Different GMs.
Before the games begin, there is one final thing worth saying.
IceCore is a worldwide league.
Our General Managers will come from different countries, cultures, backgrounds and time zones. English will not be everyone’s first language.
That is part of what makes a worldwide league interesting.
So ask questions.
Use the chat.
Discuss trades.
Argue about players.
Be competitive.
But do it with respect.
Respect the rules, respect the other General Managers, respect different cultures and time zones, and give people some room when their English is not perfect.
The league should be competitive because the decisions are difficult — not because the people are difficult.
The Next Chapter
A month ago, there was no league.
There were no franchises.
No divisions.
No schedule.
No General Managers.
No salary market.
No rivalries waiting to happen.
Now all of them exist.
The website is ready.
The franchises are assigned.
The divisions are set.
The schedule is built.
The rules have been tested.
The draft is on the calendar.
And the first twenty General Managers are waiting to find out what they can build.
The next time we write a report like this, there will be players attached to those franchises.
There will be contracts.
There will be trades.
There will be winners and losers.
And eventually, there will be history.
One month down. The journey begins now.