MAJOR SIMULATED HOCKEY LEAGUE Major Sim Hockey League Rule Book Written by J.C Locas Commished by J.C Locas Assistant Commish: Francois Bartolomeu Web page maintenance: J.C Locas Web page URL: http://www.geocities.com/mshl98 Major Sim Hockey League is a fantasy league trying to simulate the experience of being a hockey teams general manager. You have absolute power of a hockey team. Trades, negotiations, who plays, who is benched, how big is your arena and how successful of a franchise you will have. So basically, Gm, coach, public relations, reporter and owner. 1.1 So you want to be an owner? 1.2 Things to remember. 2.1 How do we play this game? 2.2 House rules 2.3 Trading 2.3.1 Rookie GM protection 2.4 Coaching staff 2.5 The comitee 3.2 Contracts 3.3 Dealing with Free Agents 3.4 Free agency 3.5 Playing the market 3.6 Waivers 3.7 Types of free agents 3.8 Compensation table 3.9 Converting Salary into bonuses 4.1 Generating a successful franchise 4.2 Arena 4.3 Seating prices 4.4 Season tickets 4.5 Winning formula 4.6 Playoff and season end revenues 4.7 The team 4.8 The farm team 5.0 A season ends, another begins 5.1 Moving 5.2 Expansion draft 5.3 Entry Draft 5.4 Debt 1.1 So you want to be an owner? So you want to be an owner, eh? Well you must first answer these conditions. 1) Have an email address that is not web based or annonymous in nature (EX: Yahoo.com, Excite.com, juno.com, hotmail.com,ect...) 2) Have ICQ, MSN or AIM. ICQ is not a pre-requist but it is recomended in order to enjoy the MSHL atits fullest. 3) Register on the MSHL mailing list. Owners are required to participete fully in their teams. They must attend to drafts, player signings, trades, votings and the occasionnal promotional email. 1.2 Things to remember. First off MSHL is in no way the NHL. Although players have NHL names,the numbers they put up in the MSHL are not the same. We also have players from other hockey leagues. Some better than NHL players. Like we have said before. WE ARE IN NO WAY THE NHL. 2.1 How do we play this game? Well in a way you dont play the game. Players are rated in 10 different categories ranging from 0 (the lowest) to 9 (the highest). These stats are fed into a program that "plays" the games for you. Basically, your job is to make sure you have the strongest team out there. The actual "playing" is done interacting through emails and ICQ with other gm`s. 2.2 Age/retirement At 32, a player has 100% chance of comming back for another season. Each year after there chances of returning diminish by 10%. Hence, at 33 a player has 90% chance of returning. At 34 80% chance and so on. Goalie Play-time restriction Goalies can play a maximum of 60 games. Year End At the year end the following events occur 1) Player Awards (MVPs and accomplishment awards) 2) Player stats are updated 3) Play-off MVP handed out Off-season During the off season you may: 1) Take part in the Entry Draft 2) Sign your own players 3) Sign free agents 4) Vote on league mandates 5) Trade players 6) Change ticket prices 8) Move your team 9) Hire a head coach During Season 1) You can send players down to the farm team 2) You may make trades until the trading deadline 3) You may control who will be your goalie 4) Extend contracts 5) Set your own roster 2.3 Trading Players can be traded left and right. You can trade just about anything. A trade becomes official when the commish receives a confirmation email from BOTH involved parties. An answer is expected within 24 hours of each other or the trade is off. Confirmed trades are to be sent to the commish privatly and not through the mailing list. All trades involving a players aquired in a previous trade that has not been approved by the league will result in a fine of 1 million dollars per player. If this player begins a snowball of rejected trades the offending team will receive a fine of 1 million dollars per trade denied due to that player. 2.3.1 Rookie GM protection rule Rookie gms fall into a special category. We realise the MSHL is complicated and that several veterans will try to take advantage of the lack of knowledge from new GMs. Any trade deemed unfair by the league will be rejected. Furthermore, All trades reject by league due to a veteran GM trying to take advantage of a rookie GM in a trade were the veteran GM clearly has an advantage will be subject at league discretion to be fined 1 million dollars. This fine will double for every offense during the season. 2.4 Coaching staff Every team is expected to have 1 coach and at least 1 or 2 assistants. Coaches and assistants dont affect the team play. You can hire a coach by discussing it with the commish. 2.5 The comitee There will be no "official" comitee members. When something needs a comitee ruling. The Comish will select a handfull of GMs (around 5) and get to discuss about the issue. Usually it's who ever is on ICQ at the time. 3.2 Contracts Players contracts must be 1-4 years duration. Player contracts are always one-way ( same salary in minors or pro) Teams cannot renegotiate contracts until the last year of the remaining contract but may convert salary. (refer to rule 3.9). Under no circumstances will a player renegotiate his contract if at the expiration of his contract he becomes an unrestricted free agent. They will always attempt unrestricted free agency. This also allows everyone a chance to get their favorite players. NO OTHER CLAUSES CAN BE PUT IN. No player will sign for less than he is making per season 3.4 Signing deadline You can begin signing your players as soon as they are drafted. You have until game #10 to sign your players. That gives you the Entry draft, expansion draft, breaks, pre-season and 10 games to sign your players. That is plenty of time to do the job. After game 10 players will strike and not play. 3.5 Free agency period The "free agent week" is no longer a week. A period of 48 hours will be allowed to beat or match contracts. If no one beats the highest offer within 48 hours, then the player is signed. They contracts can go on eternam. So in a sense there is no "week" but we will take the week to do only free agency things. Every bid must beat the previous bid in total value by 10% DEFINITION OF 48 HOURS: The time the update is sent, not the time a Gm sent the mail. After 7 days from the begining of "free agent week", the waiting period is reduced to 24 hours. DEFINITION OF 24 HOURS: The time the update is sent, not the time a Gm sent the mail. You can only have a maximum of 4 bids pending at any one time on any class of free agent. This will prevent who ever is in charge from getting emails with 32 offers. So if you offer a player a contract, make damn sure you want him. Example: Toronto has an offer pending on Probert, Ciccarelli, Chelios and Yashin, then he can't offer a deal to Yzerman until one of his offers signs or is beaten. The league ( being me ) and/or the free agent referee can eliminate any idiotic bids at their discression. That means, dont offer Steve Yzerman 4/100. You new Gm's are probably laughing, but it innevitably happens every year. If a bid would break a GM's salary cap ( salary cap being signed players minus free agents) , then the bid is rejected. You cannot place bids on your own RF2's and you cannot initiate bids on your UFA's. You can however outbid the first bid on your UFA's. The "player agent" can veto any contract if it deems it to low. After "free agent week" you are free to renegotiate contracts with your free agents of any class. 3.6 Dealing with free agents. Each team is assigned a player agent. This agent is a Gm from another division. Teams need to send offers to these agents and negotiate with them. Negotiations are to be done privatly and not through the mailing list. Mailing list deals will result in fines. Negotiations can last all year long. If a player is unsigned, he cannot participate in playoffs. Contracts are retroactive. If a player signs at mid- season, you must still pay the full contract. If a player is unsigned after the playoffs he automaticly becomes an unrestricted free agent, regardless of age. If at anytime the player agent or GM feels the other is being unreasonable, they can appeal to the comitee. The comitee will hear both sides and make a decission. It is the GM's job to seek out his player agent and conform to his way of dealing. It is not his job to seek you out. That doesnt mean player agents cannot initiate contract talks. Most will, at some time or another, send you an email regarding your players. 3.7 Types of free agents Players become free agents at the end of their contracts. There are 3 major classes of free agents. RF1: players 20 and under. No other team can negotiate this players contract or make another offer. RF2: Players 21 till 26. Other teams can make offers for these players. The team with the players rights may equalise the offer. If they choose to wave it,they will be entitled to compensation. Compensation can be anything from a dollar to several draft choices and players. We allow both GM's to work it out. If an agreement cannot be made, the comitee will here both sides and rule on the situation. RF3: Players that have been playing all year without a contract but who's team has had a change of ownership within the past season. Theses players can be bid on like UFA's However, the team can match the highest offer. If the offer isnt matched, the player is lost without compensations. UFA: Players 27 and up. These money hungry players will sign with the highest offer. It is a huge bidding war. The team possessing the rights to these players cannot receive compensation. UFA's cannot be traded. 3.6 Waivers A player can be released from your roster. Teams have 24 hours to claim this player. The order of claim is from the worse team overall to the best. Also, teams must pay 75'000$ for this player. If no one claims this player, you are stuck with his contract. 3.7 Buying out contracts See rule 3.9. 3.8 Compensation table TALENT COMPENSATION GOALIE RATING ======= ============== ================== 90+ 80 player + 1st round pick 75+ 85+ 70 player + 1st round pick 70+ 80+ 70 player + 2nd round pick 65+ 75+ 60 player + 2rd round pick 60+ 70+ 60 player + 500'000$ 55+ 65+ 750'000$ 50+ 64- 450'000$ 49- THE WAY IT'S GONNA WORK ========================= The team that looses a free agent gets to select 2 players of the pre determined talent range or under within 48 hours .The team that aquires the free agent will select out of the 2 who he wants to give up within 48 hours. Example: Vancouver signes Bob Gratton (90) from Montreal. Montreal chooses 2 80 rated players or from the Vancouver roster Dick Fitzwell (82), Ricky Ricardo (87). Vancouver decides that they will give up Dick Fitzwell. If a Gm does not have a player of a determined talent pool then he must select from the next highest. Example: Vancouver signes Bob Gratton (80) from Montreal. Montreal chooses 2 70 rated players or from the Vancouver roster Dick Fitzwell (77), but does not have another 70 player. Then the next highest player rated must fill in the hole. If Vancouver had an 81 rated and an 88, then the 81 player would fill the hole. If no response is obtained within 48 hours in any team, the league will take over for the offending team and a fine will be given to the offending team 2 million dollars. 1 of those millions will go to the complaining team. An amount of cash can be selected instead of a player in the following fashion: 80 player up to 4 million $$ 70 player up to 3 million $$ 60 player up to 2 million $$ Deals can be reached between teams. Ex: Vancouver doesnt want to let Fitzwell go, so they deal with Montreal; I.P Frealy (75)+ 2nd pick (+1st round from the comp) !!!!!!! THE TEAM LOSING THE FREE AGENT HAS THE FINAL WORD WITHIN THE PARAMETERS OF THE FOREMENTIONNED GUIDE LINES !!!!!!!! The team that loses the free agent initiates the negotiations. A copy of the email must be sent to the league as well. Once the first demands are sent to the other team, both teams will be forbidden to trade until the matters are resolved. 3.9 Converting salary into signing bonuses Players with 1 year left may be bought out for 1/2 of their present salaries in order to be released. Before a team can renegotiate with this player, they must pass waivers. If unclaimed, the team may renegotiate with the player. Players with 2+ years can only be bought at full price. Teams that sign a player from another team through free agency may not convert any part of the contract for one full season regardless of duration. A team cannot endebt itself to convert salaries. 4.1 How to generate a succesfull franchise. Needless to say, winning is the key. It will determine everything. 4.2 Arenas A franchise begins with a brand new 15'000 seat arena. Seats can be added at a cost of 1 million for 1000. An arena can have a maximum of 21`000 seats. An arena cost of operation is 100'000$ / 1000 seats per season. At the end of the year a 15'000 will cost 1.5 million to operate. 4.3 Seatting prices You can charge what ever you want for seats to a maximum of 40$ 4.4 Season tickets A new franchise begins with 1500 season tickets. There are certain way of getting more season tickets. 1) Really good or frequent promos give you tickets 2) Webpages give you 500 tickets and generate 250 every season after. 3) Your end of season result determines your "bonus" in sales. Cup winner: +20% Season Champion:+10% Division Champion:+10% Season over .500: +10% Season under.500: -5% These are cumulative. 4.5 Winning formula The formula to know how many people are showing up to your arena goes as follows. (30'000xwinning %)+season tickets= Attendance. Multiply your attendance by your ticket price and you have your revenue. Revenue is calculated by 10 game stretches. 4.6 Playoff and end of season revenue. At the end of every season a team receives 3 million dollars in T.V and Radio contracts. Every team making the playoffs receives 1 million. Each additional round they get another million. Cup winners get an additional 2 million. 4.7 The team All Teams can have a maximum of 35 players signed and no less than 22. The Minor League roster can have maximum 15 players. For a grand total 35 players. What need to be remembered is that all players must fall under the salary cap. The Cap is presently set at 20 Million. 4.8 The farm team The MSJHL is the farm league to the MSHL. Every MSHL team will have a MSJHL team. Each MSHL team can send down players to its MSJHL team for development. 5.0 Another season ends, another begins Here is what happends at seasons end. 5.1 Moving I have no problem with moving and changing. However, you play your first game you are stuck there till the end of the season. Moving will have it's cost. Moving from city: 3 Million Change of name and logo: 2 Million A team may endebt themselves by moving. Owners that aquire a team in mid season may move a franchise for free after the present season but before the next season. After the first exhibition game, it is too late. 5.2 Expansion draft Players must be protected for the expansion draft. The formula changes every year. The commish will inform you of the formula of protection. 5.3 Entry Draft The commish will send out a list of available prospects. You must choose in this list. The draft order is from worse to best team with expansion teams comming in at the 4th pick.The lenght of the draft also changes every year. 5.4 Debt If a team finishes in debt at the end of the season, they will loose entry draft rounds. The penalty will result as follows: ====================================== Debt Round lost ====================================== over 3 million 2nd round over 5 million 1st round The team will also be placed on probation. More than 2 concecutive seasons in debt and the GM will be kicked out. Also a GM loses the picks for next season as well. A rookie GM is not subject to probabtion on his first season. Example: California begins the season with 3.5 million dollars debt. That would mean he loses all 3 of his draft rounds and cannot trade those rounds until the debt is paid back. These rules are not the ten commandments. They are not edged in stone. They can change at any moment. If you need further explanations email me at mshl98@yahoo.com 81+ nothing 72+ nothing 72-80 1pt 60+ 1pts 60 - 71 2pts 59 or less 2pts 59 and less 3 pts. So I was thinking during the off season a team can send a maximum of 5 guys to a camp to boost ratings at the folowing prices: Forwards Goalies 72-80 500K 60+ 400K 60 - 71 350K 59 or less 200K 59 and less 200K. Here are some of the new rules. This season UFA's are at 27. Next season begins the 28. If anyone needs clarification, please let me know. Rerate protection rule 0.600 = 0 spots 0.500 = 2 spots 0.400 = 4 spots 0.300 = 6 spots Salary cap elevated to 25 million Must have 30 signed players at all times. No more, no less. Should a trade occur to unbalance the team. The offending has 24 hours for call ups or send downs or the league stepes in and does it for them. Minimum of 3 signed goalies. League minimum 200k Contract maximum leinght is now 5 seasons. UFA age is 28 Here are some rules to be in effect as of next season. ( So as soon as the cup is won and everything is updated.) Salary cap will be 25 million (don't celebrate too fast!) Out of that you must have 26 signed players, including 3 goalies. There will be no more third goalie rules as far as salary is concerned. So 3 goalies, full price. MSHL teams must have 26 players at all times. Should a trade reduce or increase numbers, the offending team has 24 hours to call up or send down a player or the league imposes a 100k fine and will send down the weakest overall player. Contracts maximum length is increased to 5 years. UFA's can renew contracts before contracts are over. But just remember, they never sign for less that they already make. The 1st year counts towards the signature year and it can be a fairly expensive decision to make. UFA age is 28 again. Players will not retire till 35. Players with contracts may retire. Players with contract will have a 20% chance of retiring. No contracts 50%. After 40, players with contract will have 35% chance, without 80% Once a player contract has expired, he will tempt the market. (No off season offers to UFA's) Players over 38 never sign or resign for more than 2 years. Property players in the CSHL under 28 CANNOT be poached. Teams may only assign 15 prospects to the CSHL. CSHL players all make 100k. Their salary does not count towards cap. If a player with a contract is sent down, the team must buy out the remaining year -100kCSHL salary (Example: Send down Bob Saget 4/400. The team owes him 300 (400-100) duration is erased. Players over 28 may sign with any MSHL team at anytime. (they are UFA's anyways) (There will be more refinement to CSHL rules, but this is an indication of where it's going) Any player with or without a contract does not have to clear waivers if under 28. Players over 28 need to clear waivers. Players with contract sent to the CSHL will have 1 year of their contract bought out minus 100k and the term will be discontinued. Example send down Joe Smith 3/350, the team will pay 250k (350-100k) and he is counted as 0 years.