A pool has up to 20 poolers. Playing is free for poolers, and the draft room opens on computer, phone or tablet. Your account and your picks are the same everywhere: you can start the draft on your computer and finish it on your phone.
Snake draft or third-round reversal
The snake draft is the default rule: the order reverses every round. Whoever picks last in round 1 picks first in round 2.
The other rule is the snake draft with a third-round reversal. Round 3 repeats the order of round 2 instead of going back to round 1's, then the snake carries on as usual. With four poolers, it looks like this:
| Round | Snake | With third-round reversal |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | A B C D | A B C D |
| 2 | D C B A | D C B A |
| 3 | A B C D | D C B A |
| 4 | D C B A | A B C D |
The commissioner chooses the order rule in the draft settings, before the draft starts.
Join order or random draw
The starting draft order comes from one of these two settings:
- Join order, the default: poolers pick in the order they joined the pool.
- Animated lottery: the commissioner opens Watch the lottery again, then clicks Run the lottery. The whole group watches the draw. They can click Replay as long as the draft hasn't started.
The draw needs at least 4 poolers in the pool. If nobody has run the draw before the start, Estrade draws the order when the draft starts. Changing the settings after a draw doesn't redo the order: you have to run the draw again.
The Give compensation points to the last-place teams in the draw setting is checked by default. The first half of the order gets nothing, then each spot gets one more point. With 8 poolers, that gives 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4. These points don't count in the standings: they're used to bid on a waiver claim during the season. Without a draw, the setting does nothing.
The pick clock
The commissioner chooses the time per pick for the live draft: 30 seconds, 60 seconds (the default), 90 seconds, 2 minutes, or unlimited. During the draft, the draft room shows the clock, and the YOUR TURN banner shows the time left to the pooler who is on the clock.
The clock runs on the server, not in your browser. If your phone drops off, the turn keeps running, and Estrade applies the pool's rule when it runs out.
The draft queue and auto-pick
Each pooler prepares their queue before draft night: their list of players, in their order of preference. They fill it from the catalogue, filtered by position, team or status. When the clock runs out, Estrade drafts the first player in the queue who is still available. Players already taken are skipped, and if the salary cap is on, a player who would put the pooler over is skipped too.
Auto-pick from queue is on by default. Each pooler can turn it off. Then Estrade never picks for them. The pool's When the clock runs out rule decides what happens next, and the same goes for an empty queue.
The commissioner has two options for this rule:
- Skip to the next pooler, the default: the pooler loses that pick and doesn't get it back later.
- Wait for the pooler to pick: the draft waits, with no clock, until the pooler picks or the commissioner picks for them.
A limit per NHL team
The commissioner can also set a maximum number of players from the same NHL team per pooler, from 1 to 20. The setting is empty by default, so there's no limit. The limit applies to the draft only, not to trades or waiver claims, and NHL team slots don't count.
TV mode
For a draft night where everyone is in the same living room, TV mode shows the draft room full screen, for a TV or a projector. There is nothing to click.
The slow draft
When draft night ends before the draft does, the commissioner switches to a slow draft. Each pick then lasts a few hours, and Estrade notifies the pooler who is on the clock. The draft room and the queue work the same way as live.
The time per pick for the slow draft is off by default, or set from 1 to 24 hours. The draft always starts live. Without a slow draft time, the commissioner can't change the pace: it has to be set before the start. They can also Switch back to live when the group gets back together.
When a pooler loses their connection
During the draft, the draft room shows when the pooler on the clock is offline. The clock keeps running, and the pool's rule plays out when it runs out: auto-pick from the queue, skip to the next pooler, or wait.
While the clock is running, the Draft for button shows up next to the offline pooler. It opens the available players, and the pick is made in the absent pooler's name. When the draft is waiting for a pooler, or is paused, the badge and the button go away: the commissioner uses Commissioner powers.
Commissioner powers
In the draft room, Commissioner powers gives five tools:
- Draft for the pooler on the clock, if they're away.
- Undo the last pick: the player becomes available again and the turn goes back.
- Clock pace: Switch to slow draft or Switch back to live.
- Pause, with a reason everyone sees, then Resume the draft.
- Finish the draft, after seeing how many picks are left.
To start over, Reset the draft is in the pool settings. A practice draft lets you test all these settings before the real draft night: nothing is kept at the end, and it doesn't need a pass.
Before you start the draft
Creating the pool, inviting your group and setting up the draft cost nothing. The pool's pass is paid before you start the draft. Before draft night, check that every pooler has joined the pool, that the commissioner has set the order and the clock, and that everyone has prepared their queue.