League Rules
Last Updated: July 15, 2020
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Positions and Governing
Bodies
- Board of Director(s) (BoD)
- Commissioner (COM)
- General Manager (GM)
- Assistant
General Manager (AGM)
-
Recommendation for GMs and AGMs
- Rules & Guidelines
- Aging Players
- Retirement
- Contracts
- Salary Cap
-
Releasing a Player
- Coaches
- Dispersal Draft
- Expansion Clubs
- Entry Draft
- Free Agency
- Free
Agent Types
-
RFA
-
UFA
- RFA
Compensation
-
RFA
Compensation Penalties
- Roster Minimums
-
Free Agents During the Season
- Makeweights
- Farm
Rosters
- Junior
Rosters
- Schedules & Season
Information
-
Pre-Season Schedule
-
Regular Season Schedule
-
Playoff Schedule
-
Goaltender Endurance
- Injuries
- Suspensions
- Waivers & Status
- Awards
- Hall of Fame
- Finances
- Skill Classes
- Arena Costs
-
Arena Purchase Guide
- Arena
Expenses
- Arena
Name Changes
- Paying
Your Team
- Bankruptcy
- Moving
Your Team
- Team
Name Changes
- Team
Logo Changes
- Farm Team Rosters
- Game Rosters
- Roster
Guideline
- Trades
-
League Participation
-
Media Posts
- League Operational Information
- Statistics &
Characteristics
- Player Naming
Guidelines
- Junior League
Operations
- Schedule of Events
- League Ownership
- Elections
- Rules Resources
- Rule Changes & Updates
POSITIONS AND GOVERNING BODIES
The BoD is the governing body of the league and vote on instituting rules changes and overall league focus and operations.
Number Appointed: There will be a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 7 persons appointed to the BoD. The number is dependent on the number of clubs that are active in the league at the time of election.
With 4 to 7 teams active in the league, the number of directors appointed is 3.
With 8 to 13 teams active in the league, the number of directors appointed is 5.
With 14 or more teams active in the league, the number of directors appointed is 7.
Who May Be Appointed: The only persons that may be appointed to the BoD are General Managers of active teams in the league.
Who Can Vote: Any person associated with the game, whether they are the COM, GM, AGM can cast a vote for who makes the BoD. Only one vote per person, not one vote per title.
Dismissal: A director may be dismissed due to the following reasons:
1) Their team is no longer active in the league. The director is dismissed and must be replaced immediately.
2) A vote is held by the BoD where the majority agrees the director in question should be dismissed. The director must be replaced immediately.
Replacing a Director:
If a director is dismissed or resigns at any point, the league must immediately
hold an election to fill the position.
Convening the BoD: The BoD is not required to convene on a regular
basis, however, they are required to correspond, at minimum, on any applicable
topic via email. This is designed to prevent any unjust prejudice towards
BoDs who cannot convene in person due to personal timing issues. At
minimum a BoD will respond within 72 hours.
Voting: The BoD is required to vote on all rule changes proposed for the league.
A BoD may abstain from voting, however, the BoD must specifically state they are abstaining. Lack of communication may result in dismissal.
On any vote, the majority will win and the proposal will pass.
On a tied vote, the proposal will fail.
Term: The BoD will be appointed for a term of two years. This term has nothing to do with the league's seasons. There may be 3-5 seasons occurring in the two year term.
Term Exceptions: A BoD that was voted in to fill a dismissed BoD will have a term of less than two years and will be required to vacate or run for reelection once the General BoD elections occur.
If a season has not been completed by the time BoD term has expired, the current BoD will remain until the end of the season. Immediately upon conclusion of the season, elections will occur.
The position of Commissioner is appointed by the BoD to govern the day to day operations of the league.
The Commissioner is responsible for website maintenance, trade approvals, season schedule creation, communication and enforcement of BoD policy change(s), dispute resolution, maintenance of the minor leagues, direction of any drafts (entry, expansion, dispersal, etc) in the off-season, and communication of team changes for simulation purposes. The COM appoints and can dismiss GMs. The COM is also responsible for keeping Rookie GMs under review for their first season in the league.
Term: The COM is appointed for a term of two years and may only be dismissed by the BoD.
Who May Be Appointed: The COM can be a GM but cannot be on the BoD.
Dismissal: If a COM is dismissed part way through the regular schedule or playoffs of a season, a new COM must be appointed immediately. The new COM will complete the tenure until a new COM is to be regularly elected. On dismissal the BoD should vote for a new COM, ideally in the same session that the COM was voted out so there is not a period with no COM.
Exception: If the COM is dismissed during the off-season and there is only one-two months prior to the regular election of a new COM, the BoD may elect to:
1) wait for the regular election date to appoint a new COM
2) appoint a temporary COM until the previous COM's term would have ended and hold another election.
3) appoint a COM permanently wherein the new COM will have a term of two years.
The GM is the person responsible for pulling the trigger on those last-minute trades. From the farm team to managing the team's expenses, the GM is where the majority of the focus of the league lies.
A GM can only be appointed or dismissed by a COM.
If a GM is unresponsive it may result in their dismissal from the league.
The GM is responsible for the appointment of any assistants (AGMs) to help in the running of the club. While the AGM may be doing the work, it is the GM that is ultimately responsible for any errors made by the AGM. If necessary the COM can veto an AGM's appointment.
Term: Indefinite until resignation or dismissal.
ASSISTANT GENERAL MANAGER (AGM)
The AGM is appointed by the GM. The GM may elect to dismiss an AGM at any time.
The AGM is responsible for anything that the GM needs assistance with.
Term: Indefinite until resignation or dismissal.
Recommendation for GMs and AGMs:
GMs can serve as the person who pulls the trigger on last minute trade deals. They also determine who will be moved up to the pro team and who will be sent back to the farm club. GMs are also responsible for signing players to contract and maintaining the team's finances.
The AGM can serve as the “Coach" where they will be responsible for setting team rosters, substituting players in for injured or suspended players and determining who the starting goaltender is.
Ultimately this is up to the GM to decide, however, using this format divides up the responsibilities evenly.
Players will fall into the range of 15 to ~45 and will fit into several categories as well as have several options available to them.
Age 15 - 17 These players are ineligible for the entry draft. They are junior players.
Age 18 - 20 If drafted, a player is available for pro or farm teams or can be sent back to the junior team.
Age 21 - 30 If the player is not on a pro or farm team roster, they are added to the free agent list.
Age 31 + Players are now eligible for retirement checks.
Players will age immediately at the start of each new season (see season itinerary) regardless of which league they are in (pro, farm, junior).
Immediately after players are aged, each player over 30 years old will be checked for retirement.
At age 31 and on, players are eligible for retirement. Players will be retired based on the UHS retirement rules which applies many factors such as age, team winning percentage, current contract / salary and so on.
If a player retires and is still under contract, the remainder of the contract is void. The team does not pay the player.
If a player has not played in 3 or more seasons they will be forced to retire by UHS.
Contracts are handled in separate stages:
Re-Sign: All GMs are allowed to make one offer per player per 20 hours until the deadline. The player will decide to either Accept, Decline, Refuse or Hold-Out. A GM cannot offer a new contract until the results of the previous offer have been determined. A new contract cannot be offered to a player unless the player is in the final season of their contract or it has expired.
Determination: All players that are unsigned by the deadline will be added to the free agency list. Any player whose is 21 or older will automatically be added to the free agency list. Any player aged 18 to 20 will return to the junior league until the next year where they will be eligible for drafting.
Deadline: The contract negotiation deadline generally occurs 2 to 5 days
after the Entry Draft has completed.
A contract for any given player may look something like $4M/3. This means
the player is earning $4M each season and is under contract to the team for 3
seasons.
Any contract offer to any player must be at least 75% of the player's previous
contract.
At the beginning of each season, any player not retired will have their contract
length reduced by 1. Any player with a contract length of 0 will need to
renegotiate a deal or risk losing the player to free agency.
A team acquiring a player through a trade must honour
the player's existing contract until it has expired.
If, for some reason, a player has never been signed to a contract, the league's
average contract will be used as the player's previous contract when calculating
whether the player will accept the team's offer.
Renegotiation: A player's contract may be renegotiated at any time
through the pre-season, regular season, or playoffs if they have 1 year remaining on their contract.
You can choose to have the new deal will
take effect immediately and will replace the player's old contract (with a financial penalty) or wait until the end of the season for the deal to take effect (contract extension). A GM
can negotiate only one contract offer per player per 20 hours. A GM cannot bank days.
At the beginning of the new season the player's contract is treated like
everyone else's.... it is reduced by 1 year.
Example: Player has a 3 year contract with 1 year remaining. You successfully negotiate a
2 year deal with the Player half-way through the Regular Season. You can choose to pay a fee to have the contract take effect
immediately or you can wait until the end of the season.
If you choose to wait, at the end of the season / beginning of the new season, the 2-year deal will take effect.
Offer Limitations: A player is only allowed to accept one offer per team per season. However, if the player has a pending contract extension, GM's will not be able to offer additional contract extensions. If a GM signs a player to an immediate 1-year contract and later trades that player, the new GM can offer a new contract to that player. If the player is then traded back to the original GM in the same season that player will be suspended from the league for the duration of the season or until they are moved to a new team.... Basically you can't do the ol' trade, sign and reacquire trick.
Each team must operate its team within the bounds of a minimum and maximum salary cap. This salary cap includes players under contract in junior leagues, pro and farm teams.
The minimum salary cap is $60M. All teams must be spending at least this amount in salaries by the beginning of the regular season or they will be subject to fines.
The maximum salary cap is $84M. All teams must be spending under this amount in salaries by the beginning of the regular season or they will be subject to fines.
Each season, the salary cap and floor will increase by 3%.
A player signed to a contract must make a minimum of $625,931 per year. Players that are in the juniors will only be paid out 10% of their pro contract.
Players that have been sent down to the farm club will be paid 25% of their pro contract.
A player's contract length can be anything not greater than 7 seasons. The player's contract value can not be higher than $17,728,700 per year.
If any team is over or under the salary cap:
1) The team will be fined 2x the money
they have been fined all season.
2) If the money the team is fined all season is $0, they will be fined
2x the amount they are over or under the salary cap.
3) The GM will receive a reminder to reduce his salary cap after the fine.
4) If a team is over or under the cap for 4 consecutive games, the GM will be
subject to dismissal.
If a team wants to release a player, but he is still under contract, meaning he does not have a contract of 0, the team will be required to buy out the remainder of his contract.
For example:
- Joe Moneybags
has a $2M/2 year deal.
- The North Bay
Centennials want to release him. We are half way through the regular
season.
- The
Base Amount would be $2M (full amount for 2nd year) plus $1M (half of
this year since they are half way through season) for a total of $3M.
-
Furthermore, the team is only required to pay 66% of the Base Amount, meaning
North Bay would only have to pay $1.98M ($3M * 0.66) to buy out Joe Moneybags.
If a player is released mid-way through a season, the 20 player minimum must still be met, otherwise the team will be fined.
Coaches play an integral role
in how your team performs. Coaches are rated on five skills (rated 1-9):
Offense: ability to generate bonuses for offense
Defense: ability to generate bonuses for defense
Development: ability to generate bonuses for players that are under 26 years of
age.
Experience: ability to generate bonuses for players that are 26 years or older.
Discipline: ability to generate bonuses against taking penalties.
Bonuses based on Skills:
Skill 1 = -2 Bonus
Skill 2 - 3 = -1 Bonus
Skill 4 - 6 = no Bonus
Skill 7 - 8 = +1 Bonus
Skill 9 = +2 Bonus
A coach will age and have a retirement chance that is similar to a player's. From age 51 - 60, a coach will have a +5% cumulative chance to retire. From age 61-65, the chance increases to +10%. At age 65, the coach will retire.
A coach contract is similar
to a player's contract. The salary range is $625,931 to $17,728,700. A
contract can be anywhere from 1 to 7 years.
A coach's salary does not count against the team's salary cap.
As long as there is another coach that is available for hiring, a GM may fire
the current coach at any time. To fire a coach, the GM is required to buy
out the remainder of the coach's contract.
Any player that retires will have a 30% chance of becoming a coach.
Should a team become bankrupt (poor financial planning by the GM), the COM be unable to find a new GM, or the BoD elect to disband a team, the players that are under contract will be drafted by the remaining active teams in the league.
The order of this draft is based on the Entry Draft ranking process.
All the players up for draft do not have to be drafted. Any player that is unselected will be added to the Free Agency list for future selection. Players moving to Free Agency will have their current contracts become void.
Teams are required to honour the existing contract for any player selected.
Selection Process: Each team should submit a list of their player selections ranked from most desirable to least desirable.
The BoD, in the off-season, may elect to add more teams to the league. The number of teams added is not a mandatory number, but must be agreed on by the BoD. Generally the BoD should not create expansion teams unless there are suitable GMs available in the waiting list.
GM Selection: The COM is responsible for the appointment of GMs for the new club(s).
Finances: Each new expansion team starts with $10M in their account.
Player Protection: The original teams may protect up to twenty players. The protected players can be of any position. Any player that is 22 years of age or younger is not eligible for the expansion draft; this being the case the team does not have to protect any such players.
Player Selection: The expansion team is allowed to select up to twenty players from the total list of unprotected players. These players will automatically shift to their new team.
Selection Process: If there are two or more expansion teams making selections each expansion team should send in their most preferred picks ranked from most desirable to least desirable. The list should contain as many players as there are picks multiplied by the number of applicable drafting teams.
Example: Three expansion teams (3) * Maximum # of Picks (20) = 60 players.
If an expansion team does not desire to use the maximum amount of picks they should have a backup plan ready in case their desired players are not selected.
Expansion teams will be ranked at the #1 position in the Entry Draft. If there are 2 or more teams, seeding will be randomly determined, however, all expansion teams will occupy the top spots for their first season.
Seeding: If there are two or more expansion teams, the expansion teams will be randomly seeded for both the Expansion Draft and the Entry Draft. This means that if a team is seeded first in the Expansion Draft they may not necessarily be seeded first for the Entry Draft. They will be randomly seeded twice. For the Entry Draft, expansion teams will always occupy the top of the draft in whatever order they have been seeded.
Compensation: In order to compensate the original teams for losing players and being bumped down in the Entry Draft, $1.5M will be awarded to each team for every expansion team that joins the league that season.
Example: Three expansion teams join the league. The other teams receive 3 * $1.5M = $4.5M as a one-time payment for compensation for the loss of players and draft picks.
Subsequent Expansion Drafts: Every team is subject to future expansion drafts, whether or not the team is one season old or performing at a .100 winning percentage. No team is exempt from an expansion draft.
The
order in which teams draft will be dependant on the group they fall into.
Teams will be divided into groups: Expansion Teams & Non-Playoff
Teams, Teams Eliminated in the First and Second Rounds, Teams Eliminated in the Conference Finals, the Maple Cup Finalists, and the Maple Cup Champions.
Expansion teams and Non-Playoff Teams will be placed in a lottery. Odds for the expansion teams will depend on the number of
new teams admitted to the league. If no expansion teams are added to the league, the odds are as follows:
The spots for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd overall pick are selected via the lottery.
Teams Eliminated in the First and Second Rounds are ranked next, the team
with the lowest points in the regular season drafting before teams with more
points. Teams Eliminated in the Conference Finals are ranked next, the team
with the lowest points in the regular season drafting before the team with more
points. The Maple Cup Finalists Team are ranked next.
The Maple Cup Championship Team will draft last.
The Entry Draft will last for five rounds where each team will make their five selections (unless they have traded their picks away).
Only junior players aged 18, 19, 20 and 21 are eligible for the draft.
All players selected in the Entry Draft must be signed to a contract by the league's contract / free agency start. Any player drafted not signed to a contract by this date will:
1) Return to their junior league team (age <= 20)
2) Become a free agent (age 21).
A player that is 20 or younger may be sent back to their junior team at the GM's discretion. At age 21 the player is automatically promoted to the farm team.
A player that is 21 cannot be sent to the junior league team and must either occupy a spot on the pro or farm roster.
A player returning to their junior team under contract to a pro team will only earn 10% of the value of their contract, but will not be available for future drafts unless their contract runs out.
Selection Process: The process is similar to that of the Expansion Draft. Each team should submit a list of players ranked from most desirable to least desirable. A list of players should contain a number equal to that of the number of teams selecting multiplied by the number of picks available to that particular team.
Example: # of Teams Selecting (6) * # of Picks Available (5) = List of 30 players.
Extra Draft Pick: Teams participating in all-star voting and other league activities (as determined by the COM) will earn ballots towards a draw to win an extra draft pick. The extra draft pick is slotted at the end of the second round before the start of the third round.
Entry Draft Contracts: All selected players have a 1% chance to refuse to play for the team they are selected by. The team still owns their rights and will need to move them to another team or else they'll lose them once free agency begins. All other players will be signed to a $899,595 / 3 year deal.
The Free Agency period is held over a period of time predetermined by the COM. Usually this period starts a few days after the entry draft and will last until the trade deadline.
During this time a GM will be able to make a bid on any player as long as their bid meets the minimum offer value required. Each player will have a different minimum offer value depending on the value of their last contract or the value of the last accepted bid. The minimum bid starts at $0.1 million or 75% the value of their last signed contract, whichever is higher.
When a player accepts a bid the clock starts ticking. All other GMs will only have 24 hours to make another bid on the player, otherwise that player will sign with the team that made the last accepted bid.
It is important to note here that if an offer is made that is declined the 24 hour clock does not reset.
There is an exception to the 24 hour clock. There will be no bids accepted by any team after the Free Agency period has been completed.
At the end of Free Agency if a player has not been signed they will not be eligible to be picked up until free agency begins the next season.
Qualifying Offers: When a player is a RFA, his team must offer a qualifying offer. This offer must be at least 75% of the value of the player's previous contract and must be made before Free Agency begins. If a team does not offer a qualifying offer to their RFA, the player will automatically become an UFA (thus, the team would not receive any compensation if the player signs with another team). A key item to note is the team must offer the minimum of 75% to the RFA... the RFA does not necessarily have to accept the offer (and may not, as they may wish to test the Free Agent market).
A team is allowed to trade away the rights to a player at any time. This is ideal for deal-making with teams that have RFAs.
The following steps should answer any questions as to how qualifying offers will work:
Player's contract was $4M/2 = $8M value. Team X holds the rights to the player.
Team X offers a contract valued at $6M (75%
min for qualifying offer).
a. Player accepts offer.
b. Player declines. Player will remain a RFA at
the Free Agent deadline. If Player accepts an offer by Team Y, Team X can
choose to keep Player using the same contract value that was offered by Team Y
OR Team X can receive compensation from Team Y and allow Player to sign
with Team Y.
Free Agency and Signing Entry Draft Selections
Any player selected in the entry draft has a 1% chance to refuse to play for the team that selected them. Hold-Out players must be moved to another team before free agency begins otherwise the drafting team will lose their rights to that player. A team acquiring a Hold-Out Player is free to offer them a contract before free agency begins.
If the player is 18 they will be eligible to be selected in the next entry draft.
If the player is 21 they will become a Unrestricted Free Agent.
RFA Any player that is under 28 years old is considered a restricted free agent. This means that if the player accepts a deal from another team the player's former team has the option of matching the contract length and value to retain the player or can claim compensation from the player's new team. The previous team has 48 hours to determine what they would like to do. If no decision is made, the league will allow the signed player to go to the new team in exchange for RFA Compensation.
If a RFA is not signed to a contract they will be ineligible to play unless signed by another team. The original owner of the RFA may claim compensation or retain the services of the RFA if another team signs him part-way through a season. In essence, the original owner still owns the RFA until the RFA turns 28 years of age.
While the team may have successfully qualified the player, if the player is over 28 when his contract runs out he will automatically become a UFA.
UFA Any player that is 28 years or older is considered an unrestricted free agent and may sign with any team he wishes with no consideration of his previous team. Any RFA that has not received a qualifying offer by their team before the Free Agent deadline will also be considered an UFA.
Teams that lose an RFA and choose to receive compensation instead of matching an offer will use the following chart to determine their compensation.
|
RFA Salary Value |
Compensation |
|
$0.626M to $1.474M |
No compensation |
|
$1.475M to $2.336M |
1x 3rd round pick |
|
$2.337M to $4.181M |
1x 2nd round pick |
|
$4.182M to $6.762M |
1x 1st round pick + 1x 3rd round pick |
|
$6.763M to $9.346M |
1x 1st round pick + 1x 2nd round pick + 1x 3rd round pick |
|
$9.347M to $10.821M |
2x 1st round picks + 1x 3rd round pick |
|
$10.822M+ |
3x 1st round picks |
RFA Contract Value: The value of the player's new contract for one season. If signed at $4M/4 ($4M per year for 4 years), the signing team is required to compensate with 1 first round pick and 1 third round pick.
Compensation: Compensation is determined by the annual average (AAV) outlined in the offer made by submitting club.
Compensation levels are adjusted each season based on salary cap.
The draft picks must available in the nearest entry draft, unless the compensation requires two or more draft picks in the same round: an extra year can be used to for compensation for these picks (if two 1st round picks are required, the club must have two 1st round picks available in the next three drafts). e.g. If an RFA signed in S43, the signing team must have the picks available in S44.
If the signing team has appropriate compensation as listed in the chart above, the team whose RFA is being signed to an offer sheet has to decide whether or not to accept compensation from the signing team, or to match the offer sheet and keep the RFA on their team.
If a GM of the signing team signs a RFA to an offer sheet and does not have appropriate compensation, they will be required to acquire the draft picks in the nearest entry draft or they will pay the RFA Compensation Penalty and the RFA will go back to free agency.
RFA Compensation Penalties
Should a team make a bid on a Restricted Free Agent and NOT be able to fully
provide compensation to the opposing team, the team bidding on
the RFA will be penalized:
1 - The RFA will return to free
agency... the rights will continue to be owned by the original team.
2 - The
penalized team will be forced to pay a fine to the league based on the
compensation that was originally required (please see the schedule of fine rates
per draft choices below).
Fine Rates for
Compensation
First Round Picks - $20,000,000 / pick
Second Round
Picks - $8,000,000 / pick
Third Round Picks - $6,000,000 / pick
Fourth
Round Picks - $4,000,000 / pick
Fifth Round Picks - $2,000,000 / pick
Example: if a RFA was offered $7.5 million per season, the compensation would be two First Round Picks and two Second Round Picks. The penalty for this would be $56 million ($20 million x 2 for the First Round Picks plus $8 million x 2 for the Second Round Picks).
Prior to the commencement of the regular season, each team must have a minimum of 20 players on the pro and farm team: 12 forwards, 6 defensemen, 2 goaltenders. Players under contract in junior league teams may not move up and do not count towards the minimum.
If a team is unable to ice a full roster, meaning they do not have 18 skaters (min 3 Centers, min 3 Left Wingers, min 3 Right Wingers, min 6 Defensemen) and 2 goaltenders, they may offer a contract to a free agent to fill in the spot. Purchasing free agents will be allowed up to the Trade Deadline during the season. After the Trade Deadline, a team must purchase the services of a makeweight.
If a team is unable to meet these requirements at any point throughout the season, they are allowed to purchase the services of “makeweights". Makeweights are players no team would ever touch and as such none have been offered a professional contract. For each makeweight a team needs, a fine of $3,500,000 will be paid to the league. Each makeweight is automatically signed to a one year contract to the team for the minimum salary amount.
Makeweights are available throughout the season. If a team has a number of injured players and is unable to ice a team, they are required to sign a makeweight for the remainder of the season. If a makeweight is signed and later on in the season the team can ice a full roster without the makeweight, they are not required to have the makeweight on the game roster. Makeweights must be kept until Contract time when the team can opt to release the player.
Makeweights will be created by the Commissioner and will have a total skill in the range of 0 to 33. Makeweight contracts start at $0.45M/1. Teams may negotiate for more, but cannot go below this league minimum.
A player that is injured or suspended in the pro team cannot be sent down to the farm team. Any player in the farm league will earn 25% of his salary per game. A minimum of 4 centers, 4 left wingers, 4 right wingers, 6 defensemen, and 2 goaltenders must be on the farm team at any given time. Farm team games will be simulated by the COM.
A GM should have a list of players that are under contract to the team but are still in the junior league. A player can only be promoted from the junior league during the Off-Season or Pre-Season portion of the season and does NOT count as a selection. The number of junior players a team can have is limited only by the amount of money the team is willing to pay.
A short pre-season schedule will be played to allow GMs to evaluate their newest players. There will be no injuries or suspensions occuring during the pre-season, however, any player that was suspended from the prior season will be unable to participate. Any missed games during the pre-season will not count towards their suspension.
The COM will decide on the length of the schedule. It is highly recommended to set the schedule up in such a fashion that each team will play each rival the same amount of times, whether or not they are in the same division. This means that the schedule should be set up where each team will play each other team 3, 4, 5, whatever number of times and it will not be dependent on division or conference.
It is recommended that the league operate its schedule on a basis of each team playing 2-4 games per week or have each team play one game each day.
Standing Tiebreakers are handled in the following manner.
If Points are tied for two or more teams we go to:
1 -
Wins. Team with the most wins will rank higher.
2 - Goal Differential: GF - GA. Team with the highest differential
will rank higher.
3 - Season series head-to-head. In the case of two teams, the team with the
most points against the other team this season will rank higher. In the
case of three teams, the record of team A against both team B and C will be
compared against the other two teams?head-to-head record. Team with
highest points ranks higher. Head-to-Head record ties are handled by using
step 1 and 2. This should only be used if there
are only two teams tied.
4 - The team with the highest Goals For
during the season will rank higher.
5 - If there is still a tie, a random number of 1 to 10 will be assigned to the
teams. Highest number means a higher ranking.
Each season's playoff schedule and format is determined by the COM and will be decided upon prior to the commencement of the regular season schedule. It is recommended that the league use the 7 game series format.
Goaltenders have a limitation on how many consecutive games they play. While the GM may not know the actual characteristic value of the goaltender, it is generally accepted that the goaltender should not play more than 5-6 consecutive games. The goaltender's FA characteristic will be known by the COM. For every consecutive game that a goaltender plays above it's FA score, there is a 10% cumulative chance that they will be injured. Injury times are randomly generated whether the goaltender plays in 1 game over FA or 9 games over FA. The goaltender will be injured at least as many games over their FA they played.
A goaltender's consecutive game value will be reset to zero at the beginning of each playoff round to allow a team to play their starting goaltender more often.
Example: Goaltender Joe Schmoe has a FA of 5. He has been played for 8 consecutive games. At the end of his eighth consecutive game he has a 30% chance of being injured. The COM checks and sure enough, Joe Schmoe is injured. The COM randomly generates a time of 5 games that Joe Schmoe will be injured. He would have been injured for at least 3 games since he played 3 games over his FA.
Through the course of a season, a player may become injured. Any player that is injured cannot be moved down to or from the farm or junior team. An injured player will still be paid.
Injuries do not carry over from one season to the next. It is assumed that the player has had whatever treatment is necessary to recover and return to duty.
There is a 1 in 10,000 chance that a player could suffer a career-ending injury. If this occurs what happens next is based on the injured player's age.
Age 30 and lower: player
misses 50 games.
Age 31 and higher: player has chance to retire based on age: please see
retirement rules outlined above (5% for 31, 10% for 32, etc). If the
player does not retire, they will miss 50 games.
If another player causes the career-ending injury they will miss 50 games regardless of whether the injured player retires or not.
Suspensions are handed out using different rules for the pro, farm and junior system.
Pro League Suspensions: A player (the culprit) will be suspended for an equal number of games as the Injured Player will miss ONLY if the Culprit was given a Game Misconduct penalty during the game. If there is no Game Misconduct given to the Culprit there will be no suspension.
Farm & Junior League Suspensions: A player (the culprit) will be suspended for an equal number of games as the Injured Player will miss regardless of whether a Game Misconduct penalty was assigned. Farm League Culprits are always suspended when they injure another player.
Suspensions carry over from regular season to playoffs and from playoffs to the next regular season.
A suspended player cannot be sent down to the farm team and cannot be moved up to the pro team.
A suspended player will still be paid. This money is assumed to be paid to the league as a fine for the suspension.
Any player that was protected or selected in the Waiver Draft will be marked as a "Pro" player. Any player that cleared the Waiver Draft will be marked as a "Farm" player.
During the regular season or playoffs, if a player designated as "Pro" is sent down to the farm team, they will be put on waivers for 36 hours. At any other point in the season, waivers are not applicable. When the player is sent down they may not be moved back to the pro team until they have cleared waivers.
Any player that is designated as "Farm" will automatically clear waivers immediately.
If a "Pro" player passes through waivers without being claimed, their status will automatically change to "Farm" for the duration of the season. This means that they will automatically clear waivers for this season if they are sent down to the farm team again.
A player on waivers is still paid as if on the farm team if the team plays a game during the 36 hour period.
There is a Priority Order that will be used to determine who will get a player when two or more teams are interested in picking up the player. The Order is based on the reverse order of the current regular season team standings. The team that is higher on the Priority Order will be the team that picks up the player.
A team pays $307468.47 when successfully claiming a player from waivers.
A player claimed on waivers is automatically sent to the new team's pro roster and retains the "Pro" designation.
If after a player is picked up from waivers and is placed again on waivers, if the original team picks up the player from waivers again, the player will then be designated "Farm" and automatically assigned to the farm team of the original team. By picking up a player in this fashion, the rule that prevents teams from re-acquiring players during the season will not be triggered. The original team would be considered the team that places the player on waivers first during the season.
The team will also be responsible for making sure their salaries are still under the cap, as the team will be responsible for picking up the remainder of the player's contract.
There are several different awards that are available. Some awards are decided by statistics while others are selected by the GMs of the league.
MVP - Most Valuable Player as
voted by the GMs.
MV Defenseman - As voted by the GMs.
MV Goaltender - As voted by the GMs.
MV Rookie - If applicable - as voted by the GMs. The Most Valuable Rookie
award can only be given to a player that is playing in their first Pro season,
regardless of the number of games played, and is 18-, 19-, or 20-years old.
Top Scorer - Player with most points.
Three Stars - top three players in each game.
MVP of the Playoffs - awarded based on the Three-Star selections during the
playoffs.
Process: For a first star a player is awarded 5 pts, for second star
3pts, for third star 1pt. The player with the most points at the end of
the playoffs will be awarded the MVP of the Playoffs award. If there is a
tie, the player with the most first place stars will win. If there is
still a tie, the Commissioner will decide who wins.
All award winners are given $500,000 towards their team's account.
The Maple Cup - Teams winning the Cup will be awarded with $5,000,000.
Teams that make the playoffs
are awarded $500,000.
The team that earns 1st overall is awarded $1,000,000.
Journalism Award - The top three GMs with the most media stories posted will be awarded money for their team. To qualify, a GM must have at least 5 media stories posted in the Media Stories forum. A media story must be at least 3 paragraphs or significant enough to qualify. Basically one-two-three line media stories will not qualify. Whether a media story qualifies is at the Commissioner's discretion. The GM with the most media stories in a season will earn $500,000. 2nd most media stories will earn $300,000. 3rd most media stories will earn $200,000.
Three Stars (added in season 5)
Player selection process:
- all players that have scored 2+ goals are placed in the hat.
- all players that have 3+ points are placed in the hat.
- all goalies with a 90%+ save percentage are placed in the hat (minimum 40
minutes played).
- if game had only one goal, the player with the GWG will be placed in the hat.
- the player that scores the GTG will be placed in the hat.
Selection Conditions (based on players in the hat):
a - if player has scored GWG he is 1st star.
b - if goalie has a shut-out he is 1st star.
c - if a and b are true, the goalie gets 1st star and the player gets 2nd star.
d - if the game is a 0-0 tie, the goalie with the most saves gets 1st star, the
other goalie gets 2nd star. If both goalies have the same amount of saves,
the home goalie gets 1st star, the visiting goalie gets 2nd star.
e - if player scored the GTG he is 1st star.
f - all other star positions are determined randomly from the remaining players
in the hat.
g - if there are no other players in the hat, the remaining players from the
game are randomly selected.
Other awards will be added by the BoD as the league develops.
The Board of Directors will nominate players to be eligible for induction into the Hall of Fame. Players are inducted into the Hall of Fame from votes cast by members of the league. Every member gets ones vote regardless of whether they hold more than one position. The following restrictions are in place on any player being inducted. Once a vote is cast it cannot be changed.
The players are taken from the Retirement list from two season's ago: For example, in season 10 we will be voting on players that retired at the beginning of season 8 (they didn't play in season 8) plus any carryovers from previous voting rounds.
- The player must be retired.
- The player must have received at least one vote in the previous season's Hall
of Fame voting.
- The player cannot already be in the Hall of Fame.
- The player must have played in at least thirty games in his career.
Players are grouped into three categories: Forwards, Defensemen, Goaltenders. Each member may cast one vote for a player in each category.
Voting will progress throughout the entire run of the season. The results will be formally announced at the end of the season along with the award winners.
The players with the most votes in each category will be inducted into the Hall of Fame. If there is a tie between players in a category, neither player will be inducted.
If the "None of the Above" option has more votes than any player, no one from that category will be inducted.
Any player that does not receive a vote will never be eligible for future Hall of Fame inductions.
Any player that receives at least one vote and does not be inducted will be eligible for voting next season.
Each team earns revenue based on the number of tickets sold during the regular season and playoffs. The formula generally follows a format of $TicketPrice * #TicketsSold for each game. The cost of your ticket price is compared directly against the league average ticket price.
The amount of tickets sold directly reflects the records of the two teams playing as well as any streaks and any marquee players in the lineup. The price of tickets affect the amount sold. The higher the cost of the tickets, the less you will sell.
Ticket prices may be changed by the GM at any point of the season.
The maximum ticket price allowed is $132.59.
The maximum ticket price allowed will increase by 3% each season.
Norman (aka Normal) Players
A norman player is defined as any skater or goalie that has a rating of 11 to 94.
Superstar Players
A superstar player is defined as any skater or goalie that has a rating of 95 or higher.
The number of norman and superstar players on both teams grant bonuses to attendance.
Each team will begin with an arena that has a seating capacity of 15,000. Teams are free to upgrade their arenas, adding up to an additional 5,000 seats. It will cost $1000 to add 1 seat to the arena. If the team wants to add more seats, they will have to build a new arena, which is quite costly. The maximum size for an arena is 25,000 seats. Teams are only allowed to upgrade arenas during the off-season (in the period of playoff elimination to a day before the pre-season begins).
| # Seats | Cost |
| 10,000 | $20M |
| 11,000 | $22M |
| 12,000 | $24M |
| 13,000 | $26M |
And so on- The basics of the formula are: 1 seat = $2,000.
Teams will be charged a maintenance fee of $307.48/seat through the simulator at the start of each season. This cost will increase by 3% each season.
As the owner of your arena, you can change the name of the arena during the off-season. This period runs from the Awards of the previous season to the first draft of the next season. Your name change will cost you $2M and must be approved by the Board of Directors.
After every regular season game, your team will pay its players. If the regular season is 40 games long, you will pay your players 1/40th of their salary after each game.
A player in the pro league
earns 100% of his salary.
A player on the farm team earns 25% of his salary.
A junior prospect will earn 10% of his salary.
If a player earned $1,000,000, he would be paid (based on a 40-game regular
season) $25,000 (pro team), $6,250 (farm team), $2,500 (juniors) after each
regular season game (whether he is on the game roster or not).
At any point, if your team ends up with a negative account balance, you will be suspended as the GM and will be required to explain to the COM as to why you should remain. You should be prepared to have a plan to get your account “back to black". Depending on how far your team is in debt, this means trading expensive players away for less expensive and obviously a less skilled team. If the COM does not feel you should remain as GM and you feel that you should, the case may be brought up to the BoD for a final decision.
As GM, if you feel that you want to explore an entirely different market and really feel the need to move your team, you can do so. But be prepared to pay through the nose. We're talking approximately $100,000,000 to move the entire team to a different city, whether or not it is just a few miles away. This cost does not reflect what you will need to spend on a new arena to showcase the city's newest sports franchise. You *could* try to arrange a deal with an existing arena, however, they are already committed to another professional franchise. If a league team has already left an existing arena (either by moving to a different city or built a different arena), your team may be permitted to sign a lease with that old arena. The chances of signing the lease are based on your team's winning percentage for the last five seasons. If you purchase a new arena in the same city there will be no moving fee.
As GM, you may want to change just the nickname of your team. This will cost you $5M if the new nickname for your team (not the City name) is approved by the Board of Directors. You can only perform this change during the off-season... the period from the Awards of the previous season to the first draft of the next season.
As GM, you may want to change the logo of your team. This will cost you $2M each time you change your logo.
For any game played, regular season or playoffs, a team must have a minimum of 3 centers, 3 left wingers, 3 right wingers, 6 defensemen, and 2 goaltenders dressed. A team cannot dress more than two goaltenders. A team must dress 18 skaters (being a combination of forwards and defensemen).
A player is not allowed to be double or triple shifted. A player is allowed to be on only one 5on5 line, one 4on4 line, one 5on4 line, one 5on3 line, one 4on5 line, and one 3on5 line. A skater may not dress as a goaltender and a goaltender may not play on a line.
All players listed in the game roster must be in the pro team and must not be currently injured or suspended.
If a game roster is not complete or is ineligible due to illegal lines, problems with players not being on the pro team or being injured or suspended, the lineup will be created automatically by the computer - which you may not want. For each infraction the team will be fined $100,000.
GMs of teams can trade money, draft picks, and players to other teams. A GM that is in their rookie year will have all of their trades monitored by the COM. If the COM believes the trade being made is unfair the trade will be void. This rule is designed to ensure that a GM cannot come into the league for one year and totally wreck a team and then leave.
Money: GMs can trade any amount of money that they currently have in their account.
Entry Draft Picks: A GM can trade any draft pick up to three seasons in the future. There are 5 rounds per Entry Draft, so a GM has up to 15 draft picks to trade away. Example: We are currently playing in Season 5 (S5). The GM can trade any draft pick from S6, S7, and S8, as well as any draft picks the GM has acquired through trades from other teams.
Players: A GM may trade any player that they currently have under contract. This includes junior players. Players who are suspended or injured cannot be traded under any circumstances. Players from pro and farm teams that are traded are automatically placed on the other team's farm club. The GM will then make a request to promote the player from the farm to the pro team. Any player still in the junior system remains in the junior system. The right to the player is the only thing that changes hands. When a player is traded their contract is traded with them. A new contract cannot be negotiated until the current contract has expired. The new team should prepare for an increased financial burden (depending on the player).
Future Considerations: GMs must trade *something*, either money, draft picks, or players and cannot trade “future considerations".
Re-Acquiring a Player in same season: If a GM loses a player, either by trade or buy-outs, and re-acquires that same player later in the season, that player is ineligible to play for the team for the remainder of the season. He will be eligible to play next season. Or if the team trades him to a team that the player didn't play on this season. The rule is exempt for waiver re-acquisitions if the team re-acquiring the player was the original owner at the beginning of the season.
All GMs can earn ballots toward the Extra Draft Pick by participating in league voting, making media posts, and tweeting.
- 4 ballots are awarded for nominations and voting in a league-wide
vote (All-Stars, Awards, Hall of Fame, etc.).
- 1 ballot is awarded for every 40 words in media posts a team makes each season.
The media post must meet the minimums as outlined in the Media Post section.
- 1 ballot is awarded for every tweet a team makes each season on Twitter.
- BoD cannot earn extra ballots for
participating in BoD-only votes, however, they may earn them by participating in
regular league-wide votes.
- If a team doesn't win the Extra Draft Pick they
are awarded $25,000 per ballot.
All GMs can make media posts in the UHS website. A post must be at least 200 words in order to qualify for cash and the weekly ballot. There is no limit to the number of posts a team may make.
if the post qualifies, the team will earn $500 / word for the post.
Additionally, teams will earn a ballot towards the Extra Draft Pick for every 100 words each season.
In order to qualify for money and ballots, a media post must be originally authored by the poster. It is acceptable for the poster to use something that they did not create, however, they must clearly denote the post was not originally created by them. These posts will not qualify for money or ballots. Should the poster not clearly show the post was not originally created by them they will be subject to severe fines and possible ejection from the league.
Teams will earn a ballot towards the Extra Draft Pick for every tweet each season.
LEAGUE OPERATIONAL INFORMATION
All characteristics for players, typically being those of their ability to score goals, pass the puck, lead their team, etc, are invisible. These characteristics are only available to the COM.
GMs will be making their decisions based on the statistical records of each individual player, goaltender, and coach.
The reason for this to allow a GM to truly manage their team based on their production and not just make trades based on a player's Overall characteristic.
A lot of research has been done into this aspect of the league and more often than not a GM will base most of his judgement on one or two characteristics (mainly OV).
First and last names of all NHL Players, Goaltenders and Coaches have been compiled into an extremely large list. All players created, from makeweights to rookies in the minor leagues, have randomly generated names. We will likely have odd combinations, like Mark Fedorov (as an example), but that's what makes this a fantasy hockey league. This league is not based on real NHL players, but we're sure that we're bound to get a Gretzky or Lemieux... now whether they're at the same skill level remains to be seen.
The junior league will have their regular season and playoffs conducted at the same time as the pro and farm league. The junior league operations will be handled by the COM and results and statistics will be communicated to the GMs for the next pro Entry Draft.
No trades or anything *complicated* will occur during a junior season. The schedule will be run and stats will be collected.
1. AGE PLAYERS - All players are aged by 1 year.
2. RETIREMENT - All players over 30 years old, regardless of contract, are checked for retirement. Anyone retired is permanently removed from the team's roster.
3. AGE CONTRACTS - All contracts are decreased by 1 year.
4. DISPERSAL DRAFT - If a team folded the previous year, its players are now up for grabs.
5. EXPANSION DRAFT - If the BoD have chosen to expand, the new expansion team(s) are allowed to draft unprotected players from the other teams in the league.
6. ENTRY DRAFT - All teams have 5 draft picks in every Entry Draft (unless traded away) to select Junior league players.
7. CONTRACT NEGOTIATION DEADLINE - If a GM has been unable to negotiate a contract with a player on his team by this time, the player will become a Free Agent. Any player not under contract by this point will be removed from the GM's team. No further contract negotiations can be held (other than the Free Agent rounds below).
8. FREE AGENCY - Any player not under contract may be bid on. GMs will make bids on players they are interested in from the start of Free Agency through to the Trade Deadline. Free Agency closes at the same time as the Trade Deadline.
9. ROSTER MINIMUMS / MAKEWEIGHTS - All teams will be checked to make sure they have the minimum amount of players and minimums for positions filled. Any team that is short will need to make this up by hiring Makeweights. Hiring of Makeweights can occur through the season as Injuries and Suspensions may occur to prevent a GM from icing a team.
10. PRE-SEASON - A short Pre-Season schedule is played. There will be no injuries or suspensions during this schedule. Any player still under suspension cannot play. Games missed from the Pre-Season do not count towards their suspension time. Teams will typically play each other once.
11. WAIVERS - Teams must can now send down older players through waivers to their farm team. Any player not claimed on waivers is then granted the "Farm" designation for the duration of the season. There is no limit on the number of players a team can lose to waivers. There is also no limit to the number of players a team may claim from waivers.
12. REGULAR SEASON - The Regular Season is played out. The Trade Deadline is usually held when 75% of league games have been played. This is up to the COM to set. No trading is allowed after this point until the next season.
13. PLAY-OFFS - All series must be 7 games. The race for the Cup. 'Nuff said.
14. AWARDS - GMs & players are awarded for the season's performance.
15. FINANCES - All teams pay their players and any costs as applicable.
16. OFF SEASON - Player characteristics are updated based on their performance during the regular season. Elections may be held during this time only for Board of Directors. Commissioner elections should be held at this time. If a team wants to move, the GM may do so only at this point. Once the new season begins, arena, city, and name changes will not be allowed.
Statistics, data files, and anything related to the operation of the league are owned by Jon Lau. Teams / Clubs are also owned by the league. If a GM leaves or is removed, s/he cannot take the team with them and cannot tell the league to stop using them or the name. Articles that are written by GMs are still owned by the author, however, by submission of the article the author agrees to allow the league use for display on web pages, newsletters, etc indefinitely. In English: The GM still owns the article, but the league is allowed to do whatever it wants with the article without permission from the GM. If the GM leaves the league, the league is still allowed to use the material without consulting the author. Just because a GM leaves we don't want to have to sift through (potentially) years worth of documents and articles to remove them.
Board of Directors - General elections for the BoD may be held once every two years (not seasons). The election must be held during the off-season, otherwise the current BoD will extend their term to encompass the remainder of the season. If a BoD member is removed for any reason, a new BoD member will be chosen to take his/her place immediately, whether it is half-way through the season or at the end of the season. An exception can be made if the General BoD elections are being within the month. If at any point the BoD is required to make a decision or vote, all BoD spots must be filled, regardless of when the next General BoD elections are being held. Any BoD member voted in to fill a vacant spot has a shortened term and will need to run for re-election during the next general BoD elections. The COM will conduct the elections. Any member of the league may vote in the BoD elections.
Commissioner - The BoD elects the COM to a term of two years (not seasons). If a COM is removed for any reason, the BoD may decide to do one of three options (as listed above under the Commissioner position description). COM elections can be held at any time. Permanent (two-year term) COMs voted in should be done so during the off-season, however, it is not required.
For research on rules and regulations I looked at several leagues as well as adapted my own personal rules that I created for my own private leagues.
Major Sim Hockey League
Mario's Fantasy Hockey League
Transworld Hockey League
Net Surfers Hockey League
Ferrone Hockey League (my own private league)
As the league grows I am sure many of these rules will be reviewed, changed, modified, fried, poached, etc?but that is the nature of the beast.
Once the league launches, rules changes can be implemented by the BoD or COM. All rule changes will need to get approval from the BoD.
May 19 2013
- Amended media
article rules to include posts that were not originally created by the poster.
April 27 2013
- Added
section for League Participation.
- Added section for Media Posts.
-
Updated the Wildcard Draft Pick in Entry Draft to Extra Draft Pick.
April 8 2013
- Added the new
RFA Compensation Penalties rules.
March 21 2013
- Updated multiple rules to reflect changes that were
approved by the Board of Directors and Commissioner.
August 26 2006
- Free Agency now runs until the trade deadline.
- Added rules governing a qualified RFA that is older than
30: they automatically become UFAs.
August 22 2006
- Added rules governing entry draft selections becoming
RFAs.
July 4 2006
- Goaltender fatigue is reset at the beginning of each
playoff round.
July 2 2006
- Added rules governing Coaches.
June 23 2006
- Added rules governing how the MVP of the Playoffs award
is handed out: Based on the Three-Star selections during the playoffs.
June 6 2006
- Edited League Rules to remove old and outdated rules
and updated the rules to reflect the current set of rules we are using.
- Added rules concerning Three-Stars awards (to start in
season 5).
- Added rules concerning Farm Team operation (to start in
season 6).
April 25 2006
- Waiver Draft rules have been updated. If a team
makes a selection in the waiver draft, they are now required to unprotect
another player to ensure they only have 20 players protected.
April 12 2006
- Protection Rules have been updated. Teams are now
required to protect up to 20 players, regardless of their position. Junior
players are still exempt from protection.
April 5 2006
- Free Agency rules have changed. The 3-round
system has been removed in favour of allowing UHS to handle free agent offers.
Free Agency now revolves around a 24-hour clock during a set Free Agency period.
March 28 2006
- Hall of Fame rules updated: minimum 30 career games to
be voted in; None of the Above rules added; elaboration on the retirement list
used for hall of fame hopefuls.
March 27 2006
- Hall of Fame rules are added to the league.
February 15 2006
- Players are only allowed to accept one contract offer
per team per season.
December 9 2005
- Rookies are now considered to be any player that is
playing in their first TJHL Pro season and is 18-, 19-, or 20-years old.
November 26 2005
- Changed the rules to allow the COM to also be a GM.
The COM is still not allowed to be a member of the Board of Directors.
November 8 2005
- Added rules governing unsigned RFAs.
October 20 2005
- The level that was used to indicate whether a player
was marquee or not was too high and led to a season where there were no marquee
players. The level had been changed from 80/65 (skaters/goaltenders) to
70/56 (skaters/goaltenders).
September 22 2005
- Changed the draft order from worst to first to a group
system: Expansion, Non-Playoff, Playoff, and Maple Cup Championship teams.
- Waiver Draft and Distribution Draft orders have been
updated to reflect the new draft order system.
September 19 2005
- Added career-ending injuries to the league. 1 in 10,000
chance for a career-ending injury to occur.
September 18 2005
- Updated suspension rules to eliminate suspensions for
high PIMs during a game. Players are now suspended if they injure an
opponent.
July 31 2005
- Added tiebreakers for team standings in the Play-off
section.
July 29 2005
- Added the Waiver Draft. This will be held between
pre-season end and beginning of the regular season. This will also mark
any player as either "Pro" or "Farm" status. Waiver rules have been
updated to reflect the new Status addition. If a player is selected via
waivers through the regular season, they will be moved to the new team's PRO
CLUB. Previously they were sent directly to the new team's farm club.
However, since the selected player did not pass through waivers successfully,
they are still considered Pro and should remain on the new team's pro club... as
they will be available for selection if the new team tries to send them to the
farm.
July 27 2005
- Closed a loophole that allowed teams to upgrade their
arena during the season. Upgrades should only occur during the off-season.
July 14 2005
- Added a Journalism Award. The top three GMs with the most media stories posted will be awarded money for their team. To qualify, a GM must have at least 5 media stories posted in the Media Stories forum. A media story must be at least 3 paragraphs or significant enough to qualify. Basically one-two-three line media stories will not qualify. Whether a media story qualifies is at the Commissioner's discretion. The GM with the most media stories in a season will earn $500,000. 2nd most media stories will earn $300,000. 3rd most media stories will earn $200,000.
July 9 2005
- Team Roster Minimums. Roster minimum now set at 20 players. Minimum of 12 forwards, 6 defensemen, 2 goaltenders. Furthermore, minimums must include 3 Centers, 3 Left Wingers, 3 Right Wingers.
April 10 2005
- Releasing a Player. Teams can now buy out the remainder of a player's contract at any point of the season.
April 1 2005
- Team Logo Changes. Teams are now charged $2M each time their logo is changed.
- Free Agency During the Season. Teams may now purchase free agents during the season only if they cannot ice a team. This applies up to the Trade Deadline. After that a team will be required to purchase the services of a makeweight.
- Makeweights. Skill range is 0 to 33. Minimum contract offered must be $0.1M / 1.
- Updated League Rules to reflect change in ownership of the league and the removal of the ACTDRGM position.
- First Season of Operation rules have been removed.
March 10 2005
- Arena Name Changes. Teams can now change the name of their arena during the off-season for $2M. Must be approved by BoD.
- Team Name Changes. Teams can now change the name of their team during the off-season for $5M. Must be approved by the BoD.
March 9 2005
- Finances. Ticket prices will not automatically fluctuate based on season. Teams are allowed to change their ticket prices at any point of the season. All changes must be approved by the Commissioner. Teams no longer receive the additional 35% merchandise bonus per game.
March 6 2005
- Waivers. A prospect may be called up to the pro team to replace an injured or suspended player. The prospect can be sent back to the farm club within 24 hours of the injured/suspended player's recovery without being eligible for waivers.
February 26 2005
- Injuries. Player injuries do not carry over from one season to the next.
February 21 2005
- Awards. Added award money to teams for players that win awards.
February 20 2005
- Updated Expansion Rules. Included compensation of $1.5M to each team for every expansion team that joins the league that season. This compensation is a one-time payment for players lost in the expansion draft and draft picks lost in the entry draft.
- Added rules governing Renegotiation. This allows teams to renegotiate any Player contract at any point in the pre-season, regular season or playoffs.
- Added Qualifying Offers to the Free Agency section. This rule governs what teams must offer to their RFA in order to keep their rights during the Free Agency rounds. Qualifying offers must be at least 75% of the player's previous contract value.
- Contracts. The minimum offer that a player can be offered is 50% of their previous contract value.
- Contracts. If a player has never signed a contract, then the league's average will be used as the previous contract with regards to the calculation of whether the player will sign with your team.
February 12 2005
- Updated Suspension Rules. Suspensions are now one game for every PIM over 15 that a player incurs, instead of one game for every 2 PIM over 15. Changed suspension rules regarding injured players. If a player has 10 or more PIM in a game and a player on the opposing team was injured, that player will now serve an amount of time equal to the injury time. Previously a player had to have more than 15 PIM to be applicable for an Injury Suspension.
February 8 2005
- Updated Free Agency. Rounds for bidding reduced from five to three. Added rule to Free Agency so that bidding for a player from round to round must always increase from the previous round's bid. Added rules about matching a RFA's last contract value. If the contract is not matched, the RFA will sign with current team. If current team offers lower bid than previous contract value, the RFA automatically becomes a UFA.
February 7 2005
- Updated Salary Cap rules. Players in the farm team are paid 25% of their contract each game they are in the farm system. Teams are now fined 100% of the difference if they exceed the salary cap for each game they play until they have corrected their payroll.
February 1 2005
- Added entry draft rule to expansion teams. Expansion teams will occupy the top spot(s) in the Entry Draft for their first season.
January 23 2005
- Added rule to Waivers. Teams may place a player on waivers permanently.
January 14 2005
- Changed the Roster minimums from 4 C, 4 LW, 4 RW, 6 D to 18 Skaters on the pro team. Added info about award money for the Championship Cup winning team.
January 8 2005
- Updated the Waivers rules. A player on waivers can not be moved back up to the pro team until they clear waivers. Other waivers rules had grammatical updates.
November 27 2004
- Instituted the Waivers rules.
November 26 2004
- Changed
finances to allow teams to pay players after each game instead of one lump sum
at the end of the season. Roster minimums for the pro team were
established (4C, 4LW, 4RW, 6D, 2G).
November 14 2004
-
Pre-Season information added.
November 9 2004
- Rules
updated to tweak grammar. Farm Team Players rules were incorporated for
players that remain down in the farm team for the entire season (gives them a
chance to improve).
November 2 2004
- Rules
for First Season of Operation was changed to incorporate salaries and contract
lengths for players selected during inaugural draft.
September 9 2004
- Rules "HTMLized"
with minor tweaks. League has not begun yet.
September 7 2004
- Final rules put in place for the league prior to start.
