OVERVIEW:
o Welcome to this league's rulebook. Here you will find most of the guidelines you will need to operate a franchise in this league. The league uses the FHL simulator and I assure you that it is the best on the market at this time. If you ever have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
o Any times referred to by the commish will be Eastern Standard Time.
GENERAL MANAGER'S DUTIES:
o Your main duty in this league is to have fun!! This league is for fun so please do not take anything that happens to heart. Be friendly to all the other managers, no matter how bad their trade offers may be. Keep in mind that not everyone feels the same way about all players.
o Managers must vote on end of the year awards, and any rule changes that might come up.
o Managers are to respond to all e-mails they receive and must notify the commish if they are going on vacation or will be busy for a few days because of work/school. You must respond to all trade requests regardless of how ridiculous you feel they may be.
o Managers need to keep their teams out of debt. If a team runs out of money, they can ask for money from the commish and pay it back.
PLAYERS:
o All players ratings will be based on the player's NHL performance. They will be rerated every off season depending on their performance in the WHF.
o Players can play other positions than they are listed at, but will not play to their full potential when they play out of position.
o Players that retire in the NHL will not retire from this league until their current contract ends. PROSPECTS:
o Prospects are players whose rights are owned by a team, but are not signed to a contract.
o A team can sign a prospect at any time. Contracts will be 3 years in length and the rating will determine the salary paid.
o To sign a prospect you must give the commish a webstie url that he can get info on the players and their college/minor league stats.
COACHES:
o A coach can be fired at any time during the season.
o If a team wants to hire a new, that team must fire the old coach and find out the other coaches real salary or he will be paid $ 500k.
o At the end of the season, Coach hiring will follow the free agent procedures.
INJURIES:
o All players are subject to injury, including goaltenders. The injury report will show the type of injury and the expected amount of time the player will miss.
o Players that are injured will have to be replaced in the lineup. This will have to occur before the next game played.
o Lines will be submitted using the GM Editor.
ROSTERS:
o Each team has a minimum of 20 players on their pro roster, including at least 2 goaltenders, 6 defensman, and 3 of each forward position. Teams can have a maximum of 25 players on the pro roster.
o You can have has many farm players and prospects as you want.
WAIVERS:
o Any player who is 24 years old or more, and has played at least 25 games in the league will be placed on waivers if a team sends him down to the farm team.
o Players who are 18-23 years old can be freely sent to the farm club.
o Once a player is placed on the waiver wire, any team may claim him for 48 hours.
o If two or more teams claim a player, the poorest record will get the player.
o If a team claims a player, he must be put on the pro roster; otherwise, he will be placed on waivers again.
o If a player is not claimed in 48 hours, he will go to the farm team.
o After the regular season is over, a team may send any player to the minor leagues without having to go through the waiver process.
o Once a player has made it through waivers in a given season, he may be recalled and sent down an unlimited number of times.
RELEASED PLAYER:
o Players that are released from their team will spend three days in the free agent market. After 3 days, the player will go to the highest bidder as determined by the Trade/Free Agent Committee(Commish and/or Devils GM).
o A player that does not sign an offer during the 3 day period will sign with the first team that him offers him $300,000 for the time between the 3 day signing period and the 1 week anniversary from the day he was released.
o Players not receiving an offer after 1 week will sign with the 1st team that offers him the league minimum ($150,000)
TRADES:
o An owner can trade players, draft picks, money, and prospects.
o Both teams must confirm all trades. A trade will not occur until this happens.
o The trade commish will review all trades. The trade commish is the GM of the New Jersey Devils and his decision is final, but the commissioner must retain the ability to veto any trade
o As for managers that back out of deals, there will be a warning the first time, fine of 3 million the second time, 5 million the third time and if they do it a 4th time they will be kicked out of the league without any questions.
SUSPENSIONS:
o Suspensions will occur randomly throughout the season. The simulator randomly determines these. Also, the commish can suspend any player he feels has acted detrimentally to the league.
FREE AGENTS:
o Restricted free agents are players whose contract expires and are under the age of 30. The teams they are on have the right to match any offer given to them, or they have the right to compensation.
o Unrestricted free agents are players 30 and over whose contracts expire. The team they are on has no right to compensation.
o In the case of both restricted and unrestricted free agents, the original team may elect to presign the 2 players in order to avoid the free agent signing period. All other free agents will be put in the pool.
o A team may resign a potential free agent at any time during the season. An unrestricted free agent will only resign with a team until one week after the trade deadline. After that he will decide to "test the water".
o Compensation can either be negotiated between the two teams or if no agreement can be reached the compensation will be as described in the following table:
o NEW CONTRACT VALUE: COMPENSATION
o $150,000 TO $500,000= 2ND ROUND DRAFT PICK
o $500,001 TO $1,000,000= 1ST ROUND DRAFT PICK
o $1,000,001 TO $2,500,000= 2 1ST ROUND DRAFT PICKS
o $2 ,500,001 TO $5,000,000= 3 1ST ROUND DRAFT PICKS
o $5,000,001 AND ABOVE= 4 1ST ROUND DRAFT PICKS
o If a team has more than one applicable draft pick then they will offer either their own or the one that is highest in the draft order.
o There will be 3 days of bidding. After the 3 days the highest bidder gets the player.
o Each team will present a list of the free agents they wish to bid on (max 5 restricted - not including players on your own team, (no limit on unrestricted players).
o Free Agents who are 30 and over who do not receive any bids will be left in the waiver pool and will be available until the season begins at $300,000. If they are not signed by opening night, their salary drops to the league minimum ($150,000).
o If your bid is accepted as the highest then you MUST take that player at the salary you have stated. Participation in the voting process is indication enough that you are willing to pay for the player.
o In the case of restricted free agents, the original team has the option to match the highest offer at the end of day 3 and thereby retain the player. Otherwise, they can release the player in return for the appropriate compensation.
o If there are still free agents left there will be another bidding round. Bidding rounds will continue until all free agents have been signed or until there are no more bids for free agents. If there are unrestricted free agents that no team has interest in signing, they will be placed in a free agent pool an teams can sign them at any time for the league minimum salary at any time during the season. If no team is willing to pay the player the assigned amount, it can be assumed that they are "holding out" or are in the minor system. If at the end of the following season, there is still no interest in the player, he will retire.
SALARIES:
o Salaries are shown on the player vitals page, as well as the length of their contracts.
o A player on the pro team will receive his full contract amount.
o A player on the farm team will receive 10% of his salary. When a player is called up to the pro league, you must pay him his full salary.
o The league minimum is $150,000 per year.
o Players signing their 1st contracts will always sign for 3 years. The commish will decide how much a player will receive per year, up to a max of $950,000 per year. If the manager does not pay the stated amount, then the player becomes an unrestricted free agent. .
REVENUE:
o All teams will start with $40,000,000, including any new teams we might add in the future.
o Teams will also earn revenue in the following ways:
Each off season I will award a yet undecided amount of money to each club. This represents TV revenue the league earns. It will never exceed $5,000,000.
Teams will earn revenue buy selling tickets to their games. The amount a team earns depends on the arena size, attendance, and ticket prices.
Ticket prices can be changed at any time.
Attendance will be based on whether a team is playing well and if the team has any star players, (80 plus in ratings), for the fans to watch play.
You can purchase more seats for your arena in the off season. Extra seats will cost $2000 per seat
o Teams can also earn extra revenue for the following things:
$250,000 for any player who receives an end of season award, or any major team award such as most improved team, lowest GAA, and having the best record during the regular season.
$100,000 for each all star a team has.
$300,000 for winning your division.
$400,000 for making the playoffs.
$500,000 for winning your conference finals series.
$1,000,000 for winning the Stanley Cup.
DRAFTS:
ENTRY DRAFT:
o The entry draft will occur each off-season. All players that are eligible for the NHL entry draft will be included in this leagues entry draft.
o Draft order will be determined by the final league regular standings.
o A list of player names will be provided each year, and will be ranked according to their minor league performance.
o Managers are encouraged to research the players eligible for the entry draft, as there will not be any ratings to assist the owners in this process.
RATING TERMS:
o CD= Condition. The condition your player is in. If this is around 90, he can play at around 90% of his potential. The lower his condition is, the better his chance of injury.
o IJ= Injury.
o IT=Intensity.
o SP=Speed.
o ST=Strength.
o EN=Endurance.
o DU=Durability.
o DI=Discipline.
o SK=Skating.
o PA=Passing.
o PC=Puck Control
o DF=Defense.
o SC=Goal Scoring
o EX=Experience.
o LD=Leadership.
o OV=Overall.
o Overall is based on the following: D-men are rated higher if they have a higher DF and ST, forwards if they have a high SC and PA and goalies if they have SP and PC