The International Hockey Association is a simulation of the real world of hockey. Participants become the GM's and take franchises just as one would in the NHL. They are responsible for running the franchise and strive each season to win the sacred trophy, "The Roy Cup". General Managers (GMs) are responsible for all aspects of their franchise, from finances to player administration. Budgeting and drafting is just as important as trading for the right players.
All games are simulated using the Fantasy Hockey League (FHL) Simulator.
GMs are responsible for player management. Moving players between the pro and farm rosters is critical due to injuries and player improvement. Moving players between rosters should be done with the GMEdit program.
A team's pro roster consists of a maximum of 25 players and a minimum of 20 players. The remainder of the team's players must reside on the farm roster. There is a limit to the number of players on the pro and farm roster. Players can be kept on the scratches list, however they get paid a full pro salary to eat hot dogs and drink beer (Mmmm beer) in the press box. You are better off sending unused players to the farm where they get paid 10% of their salary.
Each team has a game roster which is essentially the pro roster. The pro roster is made up of the game roster and the scratches roster. Players who do not play but are on the pro roster are assigned to the scratches roster. Those that do play are on the game roster. The game roster consists of 20 players. There are limitations to the players that compose the 20-man game roster. Exactly 2 goalies, and then at least 3 centers, 3 left wingers, 3 right wingers, and 6 defensemen. Then you may select 3 more players at your discretion to put on the game roster. Typically 3 forwards of each position are selected so that your team has 4 lines.
You are permitted to change the position of either Centres or Wingers at a 500 dollar charge, but you cannot change goalies Or Defencemen. Changing a player's position may result in a negative effect on his ability. GMs are able to set their game roster by submitting an .LNS file using the GMEdit program or a text file that contains this information. GMedit does not allow position changes, so you must email the Commish and/or Director of Hockey Operations and request a position change.
*NEW* Farm Minimums
Since injuries happen all the time, you never know when you'll need to call up a farm fostered player. Now due to the rules on farm player position changing, it will be enforced that all IHA franchises carry atleast 18 Skaters and 2 Goaltenders on the farm at all times (only exception is when you call one up due to injury).
Penalties on this are a 500,000 fantasy dollars fine for first infraction and 3 days to trade, sign for players to get within the guidelines
It is highly recommended that you use the GMEdit
Program as described below.
INSTRUCTIONS
Download the GMEdit program from FHLSIM
Website.
Unfortunately this is a 2Mb download. However it only has to be done
once. Run Setup.exe program and install the program in an appropriate
directory. Download and Unzip the league files as posted on the IHA
Home Page. Run GMEditor. Select "Load" under file options and
locate league files. Open them. Teams should appear on main screen.
Double click on your team and the team information window will appear.
First, set roster by selecting "Team Roster" at bottom of
screen. Your roster must contain 20 players total, with minimum 5 d-men
and minimum 3 players at each forward position. You must have 2 and only
2 goalies. When your roster is complete, "Roster Complete"
will appear in the upper right hand corner of the window. Double
clicking on any player's name will open the player information window.
It is recommended that you place one forward and one defencemen on the
scratches list or the computer will auto pick injury replacements Exit
and save changes to the roster. Select Team Lines. Place players in
appropriate slots by highlighting player's name in left hand menu and
then clicking on the box you want him to appear in. When all boxes have
been filled, select Save Lines. Enter your password when requested for
one or enter if there is no password. The program will tell you the full
path under which your lines file was saved. Email this file to the
Commish as an Email attachment. If
you are using Netscape Mail, you must first ZIP the file using a utility
like WinZip, before emailing in the zipped line file.
As the owner you may freely trade any asset your team possesses to another team for something in return. You are able to trade players, money, and draft picks. To complete your trade all parties involved must email the trade commish's link on site to confirm the deal, in the thread make sure to clarify how you want your new players assigned (pro or farm rosters).
All trade negotiations are private between GMs. It is normal practice to conduct trade offers by Email or MSN. It is considered a courtesy to respond to all offers no matter how ridiculous you feel they may be. Do not make trade offers with other teams until the first party has had a minimum of 24 hours to respond. In other words do not offer Selanne to two teams at once. Wait for the first GM to respond or 24 hours to pass.
Once 2 (or more) GMs agree to a trade, the deal must be confirmed by the trade Commish's and other GMs. This means you have to make sure you think your deals through carefully. The Confirmation is the last step.
Trade Confirm Format
example:
TO Detroit:
Teemu Selanne
1998 2nd Round Pick
500,000 cash
TO Anaheim:
Dominik Hasek
1998 1st Round Pick
Trades that appear to be corrupt or very one sided may be nullified at the discretion of the Commish and other GMs. This is to insure the integrity of the trading process. As well, all Trade disputes will be settled by the Commish. Disputes must be filed after the trade and within 2 game days.
Draft Picks can only be traded up to the fourth round.
The Trade deadline is when 80% of the league regular season games have been played. This can be seen by a marking line on the schedule page.
A maximum of 5 million dollars can be traded.
To release a player outright and no longer be committed to paying him a salary, you must offer a payout which is determined by the player's salary and contract years remaining.
You must pay 20% of year 1 salary plus 15% of year 2, plus 10% of year 3, plus 5% of year 4
If the player is released midseason, then the amount for year one is calculated as a percentage of games played.
e.g. Brett Hull is making $2,000,000 a year, is released halfway through year 1 of a 4 year deal. The payout is calculated as follows:
Year 1: 2,000,000 * .20 * .5 (half season) = 200,000
Year 2: 2,000,000 * .15 (full season) = 250,000
Year 3: 2,000,000 * .10 (full season) = 200,000
Year 4: 2,000,000 * .05 (full season) = 100,000
Total Cost to Buyout Brett Hull = 750,000
e.g. Bob Essensa is making $600,000 a year, is released with 2 full
years remaining on a 4 year contract. Payout would be:
Year 1: 600,000 * .20 (full season) = 120,000
Year 2: 600,000 * .15 (full season) = 90,000
Total Cost to Buyout Bob Essensa = 210,000
The released player then becomes an UNRESTRICTED free agent. He will take the best offer he receives within two weeks of becoming a free agent. Otherwise he will accept the league minimum on a first come-first serve basis. The League minimum is $300,000.
POW - For Everytime A Player Takes Player Of The week At The End Of The season They Will Recieve One Extra Point To Put On Any Of That Players Stats But There Overall.To bring more interaction to the game, owners are encouraged to submit press releases concerning their team, or the league. They may be fictitious newspaper articles, press conferences, letters, forums, or periodicals. Only your imagination will limit you. See the IHA Discussion board for more information.
All press releases should pertain to hockey and have little or no elements of subjects outside of our interest. When writing a press release you must use proper etiquette, and while rivalries are encouraged, they are not to be taken overboard. Posts that have questionable content may be removed. Please use your own judgment. Racial or hate posts will not be tolerated and GM�s who post as such will be dealt with swiftly.
GMs who use the mailing lists to send SPAM will be fined heavily, and if the activity continues, removed from the league.
You must dress 2 (and only 2) goalies for each game. All teams must have a third goalie on the farm so that in the event of an injury the pro team roster always has three goalies. Please draft a third goalie for the farm if you currently only have 2 goalies.
Players will age one year when the players are re-rated.
Players who retire during the NHL season will retire two years before they do in the IHA.
Players/Goalies can suffer from any type of injury in the IHA. Injuries in the simulated IHA league games are completely independent of NHL injuries. How long a player stays injured depends on the type of injury and the players DU (durability) rating.
Player ratings will not reflect the actual NHL player and will be changed (re-rated) every year to reflect the changing skill levels of the player. Only players who actually play in the NHL will be re-rated. Players who do not play a single NHL game, will not be re-rated and will be handled as outlined in the "Player Rating Exceptions" section. Also the IHA rosters will not be changed to reflect roster changes in the real NHL. This means that if the real Penguins trade Jagr to Boston, the IHA teams do not duplicate this activity. Ratings are redone based on the player's performance in the IHA.
Remember these stats are not based on a player's performance in the actual NHL. If a new prospect is touted to be the "next Wayne Gretzky" his ratings won't reflect this until he actually plays in the IHA and proves it.
Suspensions will occur randomly throughout the season. The simulator determines suspensions.
A coach can be fired at any time during the season. A coach who is fired must be compensated in a manner similar to players. If a team wants to hire a new coach, that team must first fire the old coach and then make an offer to the new coach. The minimum a coach will accept is listed on the coach ratings page.
Coaches will also be re-rated when players are. Also new coaches in the NHL will be added to the available list.
Waivers is a system to better balance the league. Players on waivers are available to be picked up by the other teams in the league. The team with the highest priority will get the player before lower priority teams.
The Priority list will be initially based on the first round draft order from the annual entry draft. From this point on the priority list will be based on performance with the worst team overall having first priority and the best team overall having lowest priority. This order will be updated each time a player is placed on waivers.
Any player who has played 21 regular season games cannot be sent to the farm without first clearing Waivers. However players 23 or under will be exempt from Waivers no matter how many games they have played.
Once you claim a player from waivers you must pay the original team $75,000 in compensation.
If the team that originally placed the player on waivers wants to ensure that they will not lose him, they may elect to RECALL WAIVERS on that player. This must be done through an email to the Commish with your line files. A team can only place a specific player on RECALLABLE waivers once per season. This will be tracked on a recallable waivers web page and if the GM places the same player on waivers again later in the season it will automatically be NON-RECALLABLE waivers.
If you claim a player on waivers, you must place that player on your pro roster or else the waiver process begins again.
The waiver rules remain in effect after the trade deadline has passed. Once the playoffs begin you may move players freely from your pro roster to your farm roster.
There will be a draft conducted after every season.
The order shall be the same as that of the entry draft. First there is a draft lottery, designed to prevent weaker teams from deliberately losing in order to secure an outstanding top prospect. In the lottery, the non-playoffs teams' names are put into a weighted lottery. A weighted lottery assigns the highest chance of winning to the team with the worse record, the second highest chance of winning with the next worse record, and so on. The team that wins the lottery is moved up four places in the draft and no other team moves. Therefore, if the number 5 team's ball is drawn, they would move 4 slots into the number 1 slot (with the teams formerly in positions no.1, 2, 3 and 4 all dropping down one spot respectively). The final draft order is usually determined after the lottery, which generally takes place after the Stanley Cup has been decided. To Begin Next Season
Salaries are shown on the player vitals page, as well as the length of their contracts.
A player on the pro team will receive his full contract amount.
Any player with a contract of 2,500,000 or more is Not able to Be Played On The Farm.
League minimum for a contract offer is 500,000.
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.
Players on the pro scratch list and injured pro players receive the full salary amount.
The league minimum is 500,000.
Team Salary Cap starts at $55,000,000 per year and includes only the PRO payroll. This is a HARD CAP and can never be exceeded except for the trading deadline grace period as stipulated below and during the preseason. This cap includes injury replacements so you will need to leave room for emergency injury call ups (there are no emergency injury exemptions). This cap WILL take effect in the 2004 season.
a.) Preseason
Teams have until the end of the preseason to obtain a pro payroll below the cap.
b.) The Salary Cap Will Rise as Average Team Salary Rises.
If for example the beginning of 1998-1999 Season, the Average Team Salary was $27.48M/Year. If for example it escalates to $30M/year starting the 1999-2000 season, that is equal to a 9.17% increase. Therefore, the Salary Cap in this case would rise by 9.17% as well to a total of $34.9M/Year. (this example taken from another league). The salary cap will be adjusted at the end of each IHA season.
c.) Trade Deadline Grace Period
The trade deadline grace period is 10 days before the trade deadline. During these 10 days, any team can go over the cap. However, they must return their team payroll under the cap by the end of these 10 days or be forced to release a pro player(s).
d.) Exceeding Cap
A team cannot acquire or sign players where it would cause their team payroll to exceed the League Salary Cap. Doing so would make the trade or signing null and void.
If a team exceeds the cap they will have a set period of time (5 days) to correct this before the Commish would place a pro roster player on non-recallable waivers.
Income
Franchises generate revenue from ticket sales and concessions. Ticket sales are based on the performance of the team and the ticket price. Teams make money by having some franchise players (players rated 80+) or by having a good winning %. These things affect how the crowds will come to your games. GM�s will determine their ticket price and the number of seats in their arena, For every seat added to your arena it will cost you 10 dollars.
You may change your ticket prices at any time during the season, at the All star break and the beginning of the playoffs. If you team is in the negative dollar figures you will not be allowed to change your ticket prices due to glitch in the FHL program.
Expenses
The prime expense of a franchise is its payroll. Each player on the pro roster receives his full salary as listed on the player vitals page. Each player on the farm roster receives 10% of their listed salary thanks to the farm team paying the remainder.
Keep in mind that if your team becomes bankrupt you may lose your franchise. It is a good idea to keep at least $1,000,000 cash on hand in case of emergencies. For example, when you promote someone to your pro roster you are now paying their FULL salary!
Try and keep in mind the players on your farm team. They will be ready in a couple of years to move up and get some ice time so someone has to lose some of theirs. You don't want to be paying $1,000,000 to Clarke Wilm who is only seeing 6 minutes a game! (Check IT stats for ice time)
If your team is losing money you will receive a warning from the commish after that penalties can be the commish can taking your team away from you or being unable to sign UFAs..
The best way to watch your current money situation is by watching the current funds for your team. For example if you have 5 mil in current funds you cant give say Joe Doe a new contract worth 6 mil per year up from 1, as you have to have the money on hand to cover the first year. Same goes for trades you cant take on salary you cant pay.
Total Team Roster will be limited to a maximum of 50 players. This works out to a minimum of 20 and maximum of 25 on the pro roster. With 20-25 on the farm roster. If a team exceeds the maximum, they will be forced to release a player (with compensation) or place a player on waivers.
Holdout players who end up on the teams prospect list are not included in the 50 player roster limit. Once they are re-rated and can play again they will then be counted as any other player.
You are permitted to change the position of forwards, At league price, but you cannot change goalies or defensemen. You cannot make a forward a defensemen or vice-versa. Changing a player's position may result in a negative effect on his ability. Only players on the Pro Roster can have their positions changed. If you call up a farm player simply to change his position and then send him back down, the position change will be reversed.
Where two or more teams are in dispute over some matter, like a trade, and the IHA rules do not cover the matter in dispute, the league will use the following procedure for resolution of the problem:
1. The Commish will ask an anonymous owner to act as Arbitrator with the teams in dispute having the right to request that certain owners not function as Arbitrator.
2. Each team makes its case to the Commish.
Should a GM act unprofessionally either in his press releases or other writings, then the IHA reserves the right to penalize the GM as follows:
Monetary fine of up to $1,000,000 (fantasy money)
Release a player from his team at random
Removal from the league.
There are two types of free agents in the IHA, restricted and unrestricted. Restricted free agents are players whose contracts expire 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. Unrestricted free agents are players 30 or over whose contracts expire and also any rfas who are non tendered by their team.. The team they are on has no right to compensation. Remember the salary cap is set at 55 million for this season.
Also you can only offer a contract that you can afford to pay via current funds. For example if you current funds are 10 million than you can offer John Doe a max of 10 million per year.
Prior to the free agent season the commish will release a schedule for the free agent season containing the following
re-signing deadline
RFA non tender deadline
First bids for UFA due date
Second bids for UFA due date
Final UFA bid due date (if nec)
RFA round 1 bids date
RFA round 2 bids due date (if nec.)
RFA rights owning team last chance to match offer or setup compensation.
Please send your bids to [email protected].
GMs are also allowed to non-tender RFAs agents. The commish will announce a date when GMs can submit a list of non-tendered players who will then become unrestricted free agents.
During the Season
To re-sign a player during the season contact the player agent for your team. They will act just like NHL agents do so if you lowball a player he may no longer negotiate with you or in the same token if he has been playing in your city for many years he is more likely to re-sign with your team. You can only re-sign a player in the last year of his contract.
A group of 3 will examine all the bids to determine the best
UFAs
Round 1 of bids - all teams can submit bids (remember you have to stay under the salary cap and that if you were losing money last year adding a big contract isnt gonna help that). We narrow these to the 5 best bids who then have the option of making another bid
Round 2 of bids - 5 Best bids are narrowed again to the 3 best. They have the option of making another bid.
Round 3 of bids - Of the final 3 bids the best is determined and the gm receives the player
note: you can withdraw your bid by notifiying the commish. If only one bid is recieved for a player that team gets the player automatically
RFAs
Round 1 of bids - anyone can make bid (Including the team owning the rights). It will be narrowed to best 3
Round 2 of bids - 3 finalist resubmit a bid if they wish. The best bid is determined
Owner of the players rights gets option to match offer if not compensation is then decided upon
The team owning the rights can not low ball his own player his offer to his RFA must include a raise.
Finally for both when you send in an email with your bid be sure to put the name of the player(s) you are bidding on in the subject line of your email. Please send your bids to [email protected].
The best bids will be determined by the following factors:
Length
Amount
Play for a contender
Age, want to win cup
Ice time (ex I might be on a contender but 3rd line isnt what the player wants)
Whether the offer will cause trouble with the league salary structure. (ex offering a 2nd liner double everyone else)
In the case of restricted free agents, the original team has the option to match the highest offer or receive the appropriate compensation.
Restricted free agents may also end up holding out part way into the season.
|
Bid $ per year |
Restricted Free Agent Compensation |
|
$300,000- |
No Compensation |
|
$700,000- |
3rd round pick or |
|
$1,200,000- |
2nd round pick and 4th
round pick or |
|
$2,000,000- |
2nd round pick and 3rd
round pick or |
|
$2,700,000- |
1st round pick and 2nd
round pick or |
|
$3,500,000- |
1st round pick and 2nd
round pick or |
|
$4,200,000- |
1st round pick and 1st
round pick and 3rd round pick or |
|
$5,000,000 and higher |
1st round pick and 2nd
round pick and 3rd round pick and 4th round
pick or |
The team losing the player will have the right to choose between draft picks and player as listed above. The team paying the compensation must provide 3 players in the appropriate range for selection by the other team. In the event of a compensation dispute, the IHA board will decide on the compensation to be awarded.
Awards will be given out at the conclusion of each season's playoffs. All Awards are are going to be voted by the general managers. Here is the prize if your team, or your players wins an award:
|
Regular Season |
|
Division Leader |
$100,000 |
|
Conference Leader |
$150,000 |
|
League Leader |
$200,000 |
|
Most Goals |
$100,000 |
|
Hard Trophy |
$200,000 |
|
Gretzky Trophy |
$100,000 |
|
Defenseman Trophy |
$100,000 |
|
Rookie Trophy |
$100,000 |
|
Goaltender with Lowest GAA |
$100,000 |
|
Goalie Trophy |
$100,000 |
|
Enforcer of The Year |
$100,000 |
|
Team with Fewest GA |
$100,000 |
|
Post Season |
|
Bailey Cup Winner |
$1,000,000 |
|
Bailey Cup Loser |
$500,000 |
|
Conference Championships |
$250,000 |
|
Division Championships |
$100,000 |
|
Each playoff home game |
$50,000 |
|
MVP in Playoffs-(Based on votes) |
$125,000 |
CD: Condition. Determines the current health of the player in %. OK means 100%.
IJ: Injury status of player.
DD: Day to day injury
1W: 1-2 week injury
3W: 2-4 week injury
1M: 4-6 week injury
3M: 2-4 month injury
IN: Injured Indefinitely
S#: Suspended for # games
HD: Handedness
IT: Intensity
SP: Speed
ST: Strength
EN: Endurance
DU: Durability
DI: Discipline
SK: Skating
PA: Passing
PC: Puck Control
DF: Defence
SC: Scoring
EX: Experience
LD: Leadership
OV: Overall
TEAM SCORING ITEMS
GP: Games Played
G: Goals
A: Assists
P: Points
+/-: Plus Minus
PIM: Penalty Minutes
PP: Power Play goals
SH: Short Hand goals
GW: Game Winning Goals
GT: Game Tying Goals
S: Shots
PCTG: Shooting Percentage
GS: Goal Scoring Streak (in games)
PS: Point Scoring Streak (in games)
PLAYOFF BIDDING
Betting At The End Of The Regular Season, We Are Haveing A Draw For The Roy Cup Winner, Each Team Can Bid 1 Million Dollars
On Any Of The 16 Teams That Make It And The Winner(s) Takes The Pot.
CAMPS
This Is A trainning Camp Geard For Those 24 And Under In Age, And 72 And Under In Rateings, You Can Only Send A Max Of
2 Guys A Season And Each Guy Could Only Go Once, Camps Cannot Be Traded, Camps Begin After The Playoffs End And After
The Rerates Have Finished.
Phil Esposito Camp - +9 SC +7 PC +7 SK +5 PA 5 million
Yvan Cournoyer Camp - +9 SP +7 PC +7 SK +5 PA 5 million
Marcel Dionne Camp - +9 PA +7 PC +7 SK +5 ST 5 million
Vladimir Konstantinov Camp - +10 DF +7 PC +7 PA +10 IN 5 million
Tony Esposito Camp - +7 SP +7 SK +7 PA +7 PC 6.5 million