How fantasy hockey works, what MonPool does, and how it does it. No runaround.
If this is your first league, start here. Nothing below is specific to MonPool: this is how fantasy hockey works in general.
A group of people splits up the NHL's players, then everyone collects the points their players produce over the season. Whoever collects the most wins.
Each participant, called a manager, builds a roster by picking players in turns. A picked player belongs to one manager only: as soon as someone takes him, he is off the board for everyone else. That is what makes the draft strategic.
It is the most common way to spread the picks fairly. The order reverses every round: the first pick of one round becomes the last pick of the next.
In other words, if you pick first in round one, you pick last in round two, first again in round three, and so on. Without it, whoever drafts first would take the best available player every round and the league would be decided in advance.
MonPool uses the snake format, and the draft room shows the fold, the moment the order turns around.
A league works well from four or five people, and most groups run between six and twelve. The more managers, the faster the good players go and the tighter the draft gets.
The number of seats is computed from the chosen roster, in a private league as in a public one: the bigger the roster, the fewer the seats. In a public league, joining closes when it fills up or as soon as the draft starts.
Creating the league and adding managers takes a few minutes. The draft is the real event: count thirty minutes to two hours depending on the number of participants and picks per roster.
After that, the season runs itself. Standings update from the NHL's official statistics; there is nothing to tally by hand.
MonPool is open to everyone during its beta. All it takes is an email address: you receive a code, enter it, and your account is created. You can then create your own league or join your group's.
To join your group's league, the administrator invites you by email address: sign in with the address that received the invitation, or the match will not happen.
An administrator can also hand you an invitation link, in the group chat for instance: it opens, you sign in, and you land in their league's waiting room.
Public leagues, open to every member of the platform, will arrive later: the Search screen will list them when they recruit.
Yes. The beta is entirely free: no subscription, no credit card, no ads.
Nothing is required: MonPool opens in the browser on your phone, tablet or computer, no app store involved.
But the platform installs to your Home Screen in one tap, like a real app: full screen, faster, and notifications that reach you even with the app closed. Installation is offered when you create your account, and stays available after.
There is none, on purpose. You enter your email address, we send you a six-digit code, you type it in, and you are in. A fresh code is sent for every sign-in.
One less password to remember, and one less password to get stolen.
Yes. MonPool is fully bilingual, French and English, and the interface follows the preference saved in your settings. Members of the same league each read the platform in their own language.
A valid email address, a nickname, and if you feel like it, an avatar and your favourite team. That is all.
Mind the nickname: it is unique across the whole platform and it is permanent. It is the name your crew will see everywhere, in the standings and in the draft room, so pick it well.
The favourite team is more than a flag: its colours add touches to MonPool's theme. And for the avatar, the cropping tool can swap your photo's background for a studio backdrop, right on your device, without the photo going anywhere.
By a random draw, and one you can verify. Before the room opens, the platform publishes the fingerprint of a secret seed; when it opens, the seed is revealed and the order follows from a calculation with no randomness left. The draw page shows the full demonstration.
The result: nobody, not even the administrator, can influence the order or redraw it until it suits them.
The administrator sets the date and time, then opens the room with one click when the moment comes. Everyone can be at their own screen at home, or the whole group can gather around one table: both work.
The room is live. Other people's picks appear on your screen without refreshing, you see who is present in the room, and you always know who is on the clock and when your turn is coming.
Only if the league decided so before the draft. When the timer expires, an eligible pick is made automatically. For regular-season pools, the engine estimates points using your scoring rules, current and previous production, remaining games and player availability. This is an estimate, not a guarantee. Rookies without enough history, playoff pools and unavailable data use the MONPOOL PREDICTIONS board, then past production. Without a limit, no turns are skipped.
The administrator can draft on an absentee's behalf. There is no ranking list to prepare in advance; the only automatic pick is the time limit's, when the league has set one.
No. A pick is final the moment it is recorded, like in a real draft. That is what guarantees nobody walks anything back, and it is also what makes the moment worth something.
The administrator builds the scoring at league creation. The base is classic: skaters' goals and assists; goalies' wins, overtime losses and shutouts. Up to eighteen statistics can be added on top as needed, from shots to hits to games played to hat tricks, each worth whatever value you give it.
Forwards, defensemen and goalies can carry different values, and whole teams can be drafted too: their wins and overtime losses then score points, just like players.
Optional extra rules stack on top: dropping each roster's worst picks from the total, capping how many points a single pick can bring in, and choosing the tiebreaker. Everything can be changed freely until the draft launches; after that, the rules are frozen for the season and nobody can move them mid-race.
On game nights, statistics and standings refresh automatically about every fifteen minutes. A consolidation pass then runs every morning to lock in the previous night's official results, including the corrections the NHL sometimes publishes after the fact.
Straight from the NHL's public API, the same source that feeds the official game sheets. Nothing is typed in by hand, so nothing can be forgotten or fudged by accident.
Yes. The administrator sets the number of trade windows at league creation, then triggers them manually or schedules them on fixed dates, where they open on their own.
When a window opens, each manager takes a turn at bat, from last place to first: they give back one pick from their roster and take a replacement among the available players, or they pass. An email lets everyone know when their turn comes.
When a regular-season trade timer expires, the engine compares eligible replacements against keeping the lineup, including retroactive scoring, caps and dropped picks. It only trades when the estimated gain exceeds a safety margin. Otherwise, or when data is not reliable enough, the lineup is kept. This applies to every manager. In playoff pools, an expired turn is still passed without a trade.
Yes. Rosters and the draft room carry health and form badges: the injured and suspended with their status, players missing their team's games without explanation, and hot or cold streaks over the last seven days.
Enough to draft and trade with your eyes open, without checking somewhere else.
Yes, through three channels that back each other up: the platform's bell, email, and, if you turn them on, the installed app's device notifications, which reach you even with the app closed.
The essentials are always covered: the reminder the day before the draft, your turn in the draft or a trade window, invitations, and the final results when the season wraps. Roster injuries and a morning recap of last night's points can be added by choice; everything is set in the settings. Nothing else: no newsletter, no marketing email.
Yes, the MonPool leaderboard: every account collects career points across all its leagues, season after season, with wins, podiums and draft stars as counters. It is the long-run bragging rights that follow your nickname from league to league.
It runs your league, period. No ads, no reselling, no ad tracking. Your league statistics are visible only to your league's members, and our privacy policy says everything else in plain language.
On our Facebook page, facebook.com/monpool.ca: new features, the season's highlights and sign-up openings are announced there. Inside the app, the Headlines screen follows NHL news, and notifications warn you of your leagues' key moments.
Write to us at team@monpool.ca. A real person answers.
Ready to try it? MonPool's beta is open to everyone: your account can be created right now.
