othl Rules
GM Activity:
The othl requires it's GMs to be active in all league activities. Failure to participate will result in warnings and potention firing.
GMs must respond to emails from commish or fellow gms within 48 hours. GMs must keep their team competitive by sending lines regularly, especially when injury occurs. It is also mandatory for GMs to answer polls and special requests from Commish (i.e. Draft list, protection lists etc...). Remember with the STHS Client, you make your lines up to 10 games in advance, but are still responsible for making changes within those 10 days.
GM Behavior:
All GM's are expected to act civil to all other GM's in the league. Failure to do so, will result in anywhere from a warning to immediate dismissal from the league. Cheating will not be tolerated and will result in immediate dismissal from the league. GM's are expected to respond to trade offers within 48 hours even if the response is as simple as 'no thanks'. I would also like to see lines at least once a week from GM's as well as at least one post per week on the messageboard.
Sim Schedule:
The Commish will sim one game day per day during the regular season and one playoff series per day during the playoffs (OR we will probably do one round a night via MSN). Notice will be sent out if a double sim (meaning 2 sims of 1 game day within the same day) occurs -- one in the morning and one in the evening. The goal is to have at least 3 seasons per year.
Roster Size:
You must have 20 players in your professional roster including a minimum of 3 centers, 3 left wings, 3 right wings, 6 defensemen and 2 goalies. You can see whether your team is complete in the top right corner.
There are also 3 buttons available from the client:
Make Captain : Give the title of captain to the select player.
Make Assistant : Give the the title of assistant #1 or #2 to the select player.
Trade Available : Allows to tell other general managers that this player is available for trade.
Team Lines:
Gms are required to send lines at the beginning of each season/playoffs and to send updated lines if injuries occur throughout the season. I would like to have a set of lines from each GM a week whether you are making changes or not.
If updated lines are not sent when injury/suspension occur, the lines will be autoed by the STHS program.
Position Changes:
Position changes can be made at any time and each team will have 2 position changes per season. They will also be tradeable assests. Only forwards can move to one of the other two forward spots. Defensemen and goalies cannot have their positions changed.
Double Shifting of Players:
Forwards and defenseman can play on the 1st and 4th lines, 2nd and 4th lines or 3rd and 4th lines and only one power play line and only one penalty kill lines. The first offense by a team will result in a 500,000 fine, second offense will result in the player being suspended between 2 and 12 games (roll of 2-6 sided dice) and the third offense will result in the GM being removed from the league.
Farm:
Farm Streaks/Slumps will be turned off. All players with an OV of 57 or higher or makes more than 65,001 per season MUST be on the pro team. Any GM not following these rules may be penalized. Any player with an OV of 57 or higher or makes more than 65,001 per season that is in violation of the above rules for more that 5 games will be a HOLD OUT for the remaining of the season and WILL NOT BE RERATED for the next season.
**Dont underestimate the importance of the farm league in this sim. You can greatly improve your draftees or that cheap middle age player in the farm and promote to your pro roster to fill a space. if you run your farm with a bare minimum of players, they will rerate poorly.
Player Ratings:
Initial Ratings were from the 1942-43 season and were obtained from the FHL Forums and converted over to the STHS program. Ratings for players entering the league via Entry Draft/Free agency for following years are based on the overall career of each player and are done by the commish with input from the league. Draft ratings will posted for everyone to look at and have the commish make any changes.
Player Rerates:
Players will be rerated after the playoffs and the rerates are done by the STHS program. The rerates arent perfect and although there will be disagreements about them, we just have to go forward until a manual rerate process is in place.
Player Rookie/Veteran status:
To qualify for rookie status, a player cannot have played more than 15 games in any single preceding season and must be under 25 years of age. Goalies cannot play in more than 15 games in any single preceding season and must be under 25 years of age.
Trades:
GMs are allowed to trade all assets their team owns. This means players, money, draft picks and prospects. Trades will be done via the Message Board. Both GMs have to confirm the deal, then (and only then), the trade will be processed by the Commish. Trades will be completed after the next scheduled sim day. If a draft pick is included in a trade, GM�s must specify the round (1,2,3) , the year and also the team name if a GM possesses another team�s draft pick. Trading money in an effort to lower a player's salary will not be allowed. A GM is allowed to trade money to another GM, but that money will go into the receiving GM's team finances.
If half of the remaining GM's not involved in the trade email the commish within 24 hours of the trade that the trade is really uneven, the league will put together a committee of GM's from both sides (for, against) to relook at the trade and come to a final decision. The decision of the committee is final.
Trade Deadline:
The trade deadline will be set at 80% of the season. Both GM's must confirm no later than 11:59pm that day by both GM's. There will be no games the day of the trade deadline so that the league files can be updated before the next set of games.
All Star Game:
The othl will not play an all star game in an effort to move the seasons along. GM's will vote on players at the end of the season for the 1st and 2nd team all stars in the league.
Waivers:
25/15 Rule - every player older than 25 with already 15 played games at the pro team has to clear waivers when sent to the farm. Players younger than 25 don�t have to clear waivers. Once a player is on waivers, any team can put in a claim for him within 48 hours. After 48 hours the team that puts in a claim that is ranked highest on the priority list will receive the player. The priority list is based off of the standings starting the day the player is placed on waivers. If no team claims the player after 48 hours then the player will be sent to the team's farm. Teams that attempt to claim a player (successful or not) will be dropped to the bottom of the priority list for one week. After the end of the regular season, no player has to clear waivers anymore and can pass freely up and down between the farm club and the pro club.
Player retirements:
Free agents that are 32 years old or older and were not signed during the last season will retire automatically. A roster player is eligible for retirement when he turns 35 years of age. Below are the chances of a player retiring depending on his age. The chance of retirement is listed as a percentage.
**Special exemptions will be made for 'star' players to keep them in the league longer until their ratings and/or stats drop off.
Age 35: 10%
Age 36: 25%
Age 37: 40%
Age 38: 60%
Age 39: 75%
Age 40 and above: 90%
**The first 2-4 seasons will probably not see any retirements until the league gets a full complement of players in the league so that teams can field full pro and farm team rosters.
Player Buyouts:
Releasing a player from his contract will cost you 50% of his total contract value. (4y / $800,000 = releasing cost $1.6 million) Released players become unrestricted free agents and can be signed by any team except for the team that released the player at the league�s minimum salary ($250,000) or best offer. First come, first serve rule.
Coaches:
Coaches will not be used at this time and will not have an effect or change the outcome of games.
Suspensions:
Any team can submit a game tape to the league for review if a player has injured another. The player who was injured must be listed as "day-to-day" (DD) or longer. The player who caused the injury must be given a penalty by the simulator for the injury -- if no penalty was given, there can be no suspension.
The league uses a random die roll, based upon the injury, to determine if the player deserves suspension and for how long. For ease of use, 1 month shall equal 4 weeks, 2 months shall be 8 weeks and so on. Player reviews must be sent to the Commissioner within one (1) day of the incident during the regular season and one (1) day in the playoffs. The Commissioner will not look at reviews received after this deadline. Suspensions must take place immediately following the league decision and will carry over into the next season or playoffs even if the player is a UFA.
Length of Injury Percent Chance of Suspension Length of Suspension
Day to Day (DD) 20% 2 Games
1 Week - 2 Weeks 40% 4 Games
3 Weeks - 4 Weeks 50% 6 Games
5 Weeks - 8 Weeks 70% 8 Games
9 Weeks - 12 Weeks 80% 10 Games
Indefinite 90% 12 Games + additional role of 1 6-sided die for a total of up to 18 games
ENTRY DRAFT
There will be an entry draft after each season of players not in the othl that are in various leagues and clubs in north america and europe. Entry drafts will consist of 3-4 rounds. Ratings will be provided for each player entering the draft usually by the middle to end of the season.
Lottery:
Draft order is decided by a lottery of the teams that did not make the playoffs last season. After those teams, the order will follow the results of the playoffs with the Cup winner drafting last, Cup runner up next to last, etc. The draft lottery is implemented to discourage teams from losing to ensure themselves the 1st overall draft pick.
The 4 teams that didnt make the playoffs will be ranked from 5th to 8th place regardless of conference:
Probabilites for the first overall pick:
8th = 50%
7th = 25%
6th = 15%
5th = 10%
FREE AGENCY
Definitions:
RFA: Restricated Free Agents are players who are 29 or less after the playoffs and whose contracts expire (0). (players age 1 year after the playoffs and contracts go down by 1 year)
UFA: Unrestricted Free Agents are players who are 30 or more after the playoffs and whose contacts expire.
Maximum Contract Length: 5 years
Maximum Salary: 10% of salary cap
Minimum Salary: $40,000
Free agency is composed of 3 phases. The Negotiation Process, the Renegotiation Process and Open Market Process. The front page of the website will have the announcement of the start of each phase.
Negotiation Process:
This phase will start after the playoffs have ended. Each GM will send the following information to the commish for every player on their team that is either a RFA or UFA that they wish to resign: Name, Age, OV, Current Contract and New Contract Offer in Dollars and Years.
Renegotiation Process:
Once the commish receives offers, he will then determine each player's chance of resigning based on the chart below. The commish will then roll the die to determine whether or not the player resigns with his respective team. If he does, the GM has no further action. If not, the GM gets two more chances to attempt to resign the player by either adding at least 10% to their previous offer or reducing the number of years for the contract. If the player doesnt sign by the 3rd attempt, he will become an UFA.
Each RFA will start out with a 50% chance of resigning and cant go higher than an 85% chance no matter what. Each UFA will start out with a 30% chance of resigning and cant go higher than 65% no matter what. The following chart provides information on how the percentage can go up or down:
Player's Age: 21 to 24; +10%
Player's Age: 25 to 27; +5%
Player's Age: 28 to 30; 0
Player's Age: 31 to 33; -5%
Player's Age: 34+ ; -10%
Every 15,000 over the player's current salary -- +5%
Every 15,000 below the player's current salary -- -5%
Contract Years is 2; +5%
Contract Years is 3; 0
Contract Years is 4; -5%
Contract Years is 5; -10%
Team Captain -- +6%
Team Assistant -- +3%
Team Made Pro Playoffs -- +4%
Team Made Farm Playoffs -- +2%
Team Missed Pro Playoffs -- -4%
Team Missed Farm Playoffs -- -2%
Team Won Pro Championship -- +6% (player had to appear in 50% of the games)
Team Won Farm Championship -- +4% (player had to appear in 50% of the games)
2nd Contract Offer -- -5%
3rd Contract Offer -- -10%
Open Market Phase:
Teams can bid on unsigned RFAs and UFAs on the message board. All players must be offered at least 40,000, the league minimum. You must also raise the highest bid at least 5,000. You can bid on as many players at a time that you want but if you bid on multiple RFA's, you better make sure you have enough compensation for all them or face heavy fines or removal from the league. If a player doesnt get bid on for 24 hours, he will sign with the team with the highest dollar offer (ie if team A offers 60,000 for one year and team B offers 50,000 for 2 years, the player will sign with team A). If more than one team bids the max on a player, then a lottery will be held among those teams, each with an equal chance, to sign that player. Free agency shouldnt last more than 7-10 days.
If a RFA gets an offer from another team, the team still owning his rights can match the offer within 48 hours or accept compensation - either the two teams agree on compensation or it will be handled by the league using the following:
New salary (per year) : compensation
$40,000 to $49,999 : 3rd Round Draft Pick
$50,000 to $59,999 : 2nd Round Draft Pick
$60,000 to $69,999 : 1st Round Draft Pick
$70,000 to $79,999 : 1st and 3rd Round Draft Picks
$80,000 to $89,999 : 1st and 2nd Round Draft Picks
$90,000 to $99,999 : Two (2) 1st Round Draft Picks
$100,000 to MAX : Three (3) 1st round draft picks.
**All compensation must be available in the next 3 seasons.
FINANCES & SALARIES
Cash to start with is $5,000,000 for each team. It�s not allowed to guide your franchise into debt. Gms will have one season to get the team out of debt. Failure to do so will result in firing of the GM and the team will be taken over by the commish until other GM can be found.
Ticket Prices:
Ticket prices can be changed at any time in the STHS Client and will take effect in the sim once you send in an updated set of lines with the new ticket prices.
Two-way Contracts:
Every player demoted to the farm team gets 10% of his pro salary (100% when playing at the pros) - after 20 games played with the pro team, it�s now a 1-way contract which means the player will get his pro salary no matter what.
Salary Cap:
Pro Salary Cap will be 2.0 million. You will not be permitted to go over this cap at any time which includes free agency as well as a trade. If a trade puts you over the cap, it will not be allowed to go through. If you are over the cap at any time, the first day will be a warning in which you have 48 hrs to correct as well as the suspension of 2 games for your highest paid player. Third day will result in a 5 million dollar fine (whether you have the cash or not). The fourth day will result in you losing your highest paid players at 50% of their contract value until you are under the cap.
At this time, there will not be a farm salary cap.
Rookie contracts:
Rookie contracts will be based on where the player is drafted. Rookie contracts will be monitored yearly and could increase. Standard contract length for rookies will be 3 years and will sign automatically based on the pay scale below.
Picks 1-5: 65,000
Picks 6-10: 62,500
Picks 11-15: 60,000
Picks 16-20: 55,000
Picks 21-25: 52,500
Picks 26-30: 50,000
Picks 31-35: 45,000
Picks 35 to end: 40,000
Team Endorsements:
there will be no endorsements at the beginning of the league. Finances will be monitored on a yearly basis to determine if this is needed.
Arena renovations:
In the beginning of the league, arenas will not have seats added to the them. As the league grows and salaries increase, this option will be revisited on a seasonly basis.
Team Relocation:
Relocation will not take place at the beginning of the league and will be reviewed on a yearly basis.
Expansion:
The league will probably expand around the 3rd/4th season. Details will come out at that time.
Waiver Draft:
There will be no waiver draft during the beginning of the league, but here are the rules: The Waiver Draft takes place after the Open Market Phase of the FA and prior to the start of the season. Teams protect 18 skaters and 2 goalies. Players 23 and under are automatically protected. Draft order is reverse standings from last season. If a team selects a player in a round, that team is moved to the bottom of the order. If a team selects a skater/goalie, the team has to unprotect a skater/goalie from their list. The team that loses a skater/goalie can either take the skater/goalie that the other team unprotected or accept compensation. All picks must be available in the next 2 draft years. Waiver draft will have 2 rounds or ends if no player is selected in a round. Only one player per team can be selected per round. Teams cannot lose more than 1 goalie and cannot lose more than 2 players (2 skaters or 1 skater and 1 goalie).
Waiver Draft Compensation:
Players 70OV+ Two 1st round draft picks
Players 65-69OV 1st round draft pick
Players 60-64OV 2nd round draft pick
Players 55-59OV 3rd round draft pick
Players 50-54OV $250,000
Players 49OV and under no compensation
Awards:
GM's will vote on the calder, vezina, norris, gm of the year, etc. Other trophies will be given out based on regular season accomplishments like the president's trophy or rocket richard trophy.
Player Roster:
Abbrevations:
STHS offers 16 different rating categories (14 categories for goalies). The overall can be removed during the creation of the roster page, since it is useless in the STHS.
CK = Checking
FG = Fighting
DI = Discipline
SK = Skating
ST = Strength
DU = Durability
PH = Puck Handling
FO = Face Offs
PA = Passing
SC = Scoring
DF = Defense
EX = Experience
LD = Leadership
MO = Morale
PO = Potential
OV = Overall
Players Roster Reduce Rating
IT = Intensity
PY = Physique
PC = Puck Control
SC = Scoring
DF = Defense
ME = Mental
PO = Potential
OV = Overall
Players Stat
GP = Games Played
G = Goals
A = Assists
P = Points
+/- = Plus/Minus
PIM = Penalty Minutes
HIT = Hits
HTT = Hit Received
SHT = Shots
SHT% = Shooting Percentage
SB = Shots Blocked
PP = Powerplay Goals
SH = Shorthanded Goals
GW = Game Winning Goals
GT = Game Tying Goals
EG = Empty Net Goals
HT = Hat Tricks
MP = Minutes Played
P/20 = Points per 20 Minutes
FO% = Face off Percentage
FOT = Face offs Taken
PSG = Penalty Shot Goals
PSS = Penalty Shots Taken
GS = Current Goal Scoring Streak
PS = Current Point Scoring Steak
WG = Current Goal Scoring Slump
WP = Current Point Scoring Slump
Goalies Rosters Full Rating
SK = Skating
DU = Durability
ST = Strength
SZ = Size
AG = Agility
RB = Rebound Control
SC = Style Control
HS = Hand Speed
RT = Reaction Time
EX = Experience
LD = Leadership
MO = Morale
PO = Potential
OV = Overall
Goalies Rosters Reduce Rating
PH = Physique
RB = Rebound Control
SC = Style Control
HS = Hand Speed
RT = Reaction Time
ME = Mental
PO = Potential
OV = Overall
Goalies Stat
GP = Games Played
W = Wins
L = Losses
OTL = Overtime Losses
PCT = Save Percentage
AVE = Goals Against Average
MP = Minutes Played
PIM = Penalty Minutes
SO = Shootout
GA = Goals Against
SA = Shots Against
A = Assists
EG = Empty net Goals
PS% = Penalty Shots Save %
PSA = Penalty Shots Against
Coach Rating
PH = Physical
DF = Defense
OF = Offense
PD = Player Discipline
EX = Experience
LD = Leadership
PO = Potential
Important Notice: The Potential rating for players and coaches is only used in the rerate function of the simulator. It does NOT affect player's performance at all.