The Holiday weekend should have little effect on the rookie draft. The rookie draft takes place on a Tue, Wed, Thu, with the bulk of the "draft list shuffling" occuring on Tuesday and Wednesday night. The roster cuts are then made on Thursday evening and you've got all the way until the next Tuesday morning to put together your FA draft list. You should be able to get the FA first round draft list made up on Monday evening. I would be in favor of the 18th for the rookie draft. As for player eligibility, I thought that as soon as a player played in a game for the 2000 season, (prior to a "yet to be determined" deadline) that he becomes available for the rookie draft. Is this not correct?