In a box pool, there's no draft and no draft night to organize. The commissioner prepares boxes of players, and each participant picks one player per box, whenever it suits them, before the deadline. Several participants can pick the same player: nobody loses a player because someone else picked them first.

Filling in a grid

A grid is a participant's set of picks, one per box. The participant opens My grid, picks a player in each box, answers the tiebreaker question if the commissioner asked one, then waits for the deadline. As long as the deadline hasn't passed and the grid isn't locked, they can change their picks whenever they want.

A participant sees another member's grid only once that grid is locked. Nobody can copy their neighbour before the deadline.

Playing is free for participants. For the grids to lock, the pool has to be covered by a pass, or by the commissioner's Team or Organization plan.

The boxes

The commissioner sets the number of boxes. By default, there are 6 forward boxes, 3 defenseman boxes and 1 goalie box. They can add a box of NHL teams, where the participant picks a team instead of a player. There must be 3 to 20 boxes in all.

Each box has 6 options by default, and the commissioner chooses between 2 and 12. Estrade generates the template: players are ranked by value according to the pool's scoring, from the best box to the last. So the first forward box brings together the best forwards, and the last one the lowest-rated. A player is in only one box.

The commissioner can add a player or a team, rename a box, remove a box, move an option to another box of the same kind or remove it. Regenerating the template replaces their edits.

When the commissioner publishes the grid, sign-ups open. From then on, the boxes and the tiebreaker question don't change. The deadline and the replacements can still change until the lock.

The deadline

The commissioner sets the deadline in the pool's time zone. Estrade suggests one: 30 minutes before the next game, rounded down to the quarter hour. If the deadline falls after the first game of the night, the editor warns the commissioner that that night's games won't count.

At the deadline, complete grids lock, as long as the pool's pass is paid. A grid is complete when every box has a pick and, if the commissioner asked a tiebreaker question, the participant has answered it. A grid that's incomplete at the deadline doesn't lock and doesn't count. Participants with an incomplete grid get a reminder 48 hours and then 2 hours before the deadline, and those whose grid just locked get a confirmation.

If the pass isn't paid at the deadline, the pool doesn't lock and the grids can still be changed. As soon as the pass arrives, the lock happens.

Points

The standings are calculated with the pool's scoring, the same as in a drafted pool: each goal, each assist and each goalie win earn the points the commissioner set. A grid's total is the sum of its picks' points. A player picked counts all their games from the grid's lock.

The games on the day of the lock count only if the lock comes before the day's first game. Otherwise, points start the next day. This rule stops anyone from picking while knowing a result that counts.

The tiebreaker question

The tiebreaker question is optional. The commissioner asks it before publishing, for example "How many goals will the Canadiens score this season?". Each participant answers with a number. When the question exists, a grid without an answer is incomplete.

After the lock, the commissioner enters the Correct answer. On equal points, the grid whose answer is closest goes ahead.

Bonus questions

The commissioner can add 0 to 3 bonus questions before publishing. Each one is worth points, 8 by default, added to the total of a grid with the correct answer. A bonus question is one of these kinds:

Top scorer: the player who finishes the regular season with the most points, goals and assists combined. In a tie, each tied player is a correct answer. The question earns nothing until the regular season is over.
Player (typed in): the commissioner enters the player who is the correct answer themselves, once the pool is locked.
Number: the commissioner enters the exact number, and the closest answer wins the points, ties included.

Answering bonus questions is optional: a grid without answers still locks. A participant can answer as long as their grid can be changed, but no longer once a question's correct answer is known. A participant can see the others' locked grids, bonus answers included: that's why answering closes as soon as the correct answer is known.

Replacing a player

In a season grid, replacements are allowed by default, three in all. Once the grid is locked, the participant can replace the player in a box with another option from the same box. The pick never changes boxes.

The new player counts from the usual start rule, and the old player's points stay earned up to the day before. The commissioner sets the replacements:

They allow them or turn them off.
They set the number of replacements, from 0 to 50.
They choose whether they're counted per season or per month.
They can limit them to injured players. The status of the player being replaced is what counts.

These settings, like the deadline, can change between publishing and the lock.

Late entries

By default, a box pool refuses participants who arrive after the lock. The commissioner can check Accept late entries after the deadline. The late participant then fills in their grid, and clicks Lock my grid when it's complete. Their points start under the same start rule, from that moment.

For someone who doesn't have an account, the commissioner can use Add a grid for someone. This creates a spot in their name: the commissioner fills in the grid, and the person can claim it later.

Number of participants

A drafted pool has up to 20 poolers. A box pool has no limit on sign-ups: Estrade doesn't close the door on the 21st participant.

With the pool's regular pass, the lock accepts 20 complete grids at most. Above 20 complete grids, the pool doesn't lock without the Grand Pool Pass or an Organization plan for a company league. The Grand Pool Pass also serves as the season pass for that pool. A Team plan doesn't lift this limit of 20 grids.

When 20 grids are already locked, a late participant is refused without the Grand Pool Pass or an Organization plan, and the commissioner gets an alert, at most one a day.

The second chance

In a playoff box pool, the commissioner can turn on a second chance, off by default. When the 8 first-round series have a winner, they open a second grid, generated from the clubs still alive, to fill in before the first known game of round 2. Only the spots whose main grid is locked play it, with their own standings.

Standings, the crowd and groups

The standings of locked grids update as the games go on. They also show the night's movement, and monthly standings.

If at least 5 grids lock at the deadline, Estrade builds the crowd's grid: in each box, the option most picked by the locked grids, and for each bonus question the most common answer. It's chosen only once, at the pool's lock: late participants who push the pool over 5 grids later don't create one. It sits in the standings without entering them: it only shows the rank it would have.

Groups are for smaller groups inside a big pool, for example a department or a family. A participant creates a group or joins one with its code, and they can belong to three groups at most. The group has its own mini-standings. The commissioner can also prepare a group with no members, and only they can remove a name from a group.

To choose between a box pool and a draft, read how to run a hockey pool.