North American Hockey League Rules
10/23/2003
All rules are subject to change; a message will be posted on the forum if any rules change.
North American Hockey League is based on real NHL teams and players, and is simulated with the FHL program from Batesoft.
GENERAL MANAGERS
Every GM that owns a team in the NAHL must agree to the following rules and is his responsibility to know these rules. The Commissioner has the right to fine or punish anyone that breaks these rules. Possible actions could result to expulsion from the league.
All GMs must be active in the league to maintain his position as GM. Every GM must perform their regular duties, such as sending in lines, trades, writing articles, and being actively involved in league activities. Those who are found to be inactive or suspected of being inactive will receive a warning email by the commissioner. If the GM does not reply to this email within 3 days, the penalty will be expulsion from the league. If you are going to be away for a few days, it is your own responsibility to let me know. Even if the reason is that you are going away for the weekend or have too much homework, etc.
All GMs must respect other GMs or anyone involved with the league. Any kind of disrespect will not be tolerated especially racist remarks or excessive use of foul language. I don�t mind swearing, as long as it�s not targeted at anyone in the league.
ALL OWNERS MUST BE ACTIVE
Be active or be gone. No excuses. Send in your lines, make player adjustments, be found on MSN for trade talks, post on the message board. There will be rewards for high level of activity.
PLAYER RATINGS
CD - Condition - How healthy the player is. "OK" indicates 100%.
IJ - Injury - How long the player is injured for.
IT - Intensity - Hitting, forechecking and fighting
SP - Speed - This indicates the player's skating speed.
ST - Strength - Indicates the player's strength and power.
EN - Endurance - Ability to play long, more productive shifts.
DU - Durability - The player's tendency to get injured
DI - Discipline - The player's tendency to get penalized
SK - Skating - Player's ability to stop, turn, accelerate and skate.
PA - Passing - The player's ability to pass the puck.
PC - Puck Control - The player's ability to control the puck.
DF - Defense - Ability to backcheck and play defense.
SC - Scoring - Player's shooting and goal scoring ability.
EX - Experience - The amount of experience the player has.
LD - Leadership - The player's leadership skills.
OV - Overall - The player's overall effectiveness.
IT - Goalie's likeliness to play the puck and cut down the angles
SP - Goalie's overall speed. Glove quickness and reaction ability
ST - Size in goal. A bigger goalie can take up more of the net.
EN - Ability to play long, more productive periods-games.
DU - The player's tendency to get injured.
DI - The player's tendency to get penalized.
SK - Ability to move around in his crease, side to side movement.
PA - Ability to play the puck out to the forwards.
PC - How well the player controls rebounds and gathers the puck.
- Players playing out of position will not perform to their full ability.
- The maximum of players on the pro roster is 23. The maximum on a team is 50.
- 20 players must be dressed for a game, thhis includes 2 goaltenders and 18 skaters.
- Teams must have at least 3 goaltenderss (pro and farm rosters combined)
- GM's must download the GM Editor program and the NAHL league files (which are constantly updated) to make their lines and e-mail them to the commissioner. Passwords are not needed.
RERATING PLAYERS
Rerates will be based on NHL potential. If Donald Audette has the potential to score 20-25 goals per season in the NHL, his offense will be rated according to his offensive potential and not his past 1-2 seasons of 5-10 goals. If Peter Worrell has 75 IT in the simulater but in the NHL he gets 27 fights and over 300 PIM. His IT and ST rating will probably go up to the maximum even if he gets like 20 PIM in the simulater.
After each season, players will be rerated by the FHL simulator based on their NAHL performance. The commissioner will then rerate players according to their NHL potential. Players that have career seasons or rookies that get a spot in the pro's.
PLAYERS AGE
To make things easier, we will ignore birthdays of players, if the player is 30 at the beginning of the season he will be 31 going into the free agent market, there will NOT be a set day for ages, if a players age is 29 at the beginning of the year he will be 29 at the end of the season. The software ages players at the beginning of each season and that is his age for the entire season. But After Playoffs, when the Off Season begins all players get their birthdays just before Free Agency (UFA).
SCHEDULE
Games will be simulated and posted whenever I get home from school or from work. I will do it every night but school and work come first. This all depends on the amount of time I have and the amount of work I must do on the league before updating. For example, I might have to read 20 emails one day and 40 emails another day. I must finish reading and updating the league with the emails you send me before I can update the website. This is very time consuming so expect delays in updates when there are massive demands.
LINES
If a GM doesn't send valid lines before the Match Day Deadline the team will get automatic lines and automatic rosters. The lines provided by the GM shall be GM Editor files. If the files are corrupt or the format is incorrect the Commissioner has the right to use Auto Lines. The GMs cannot choose to file complaints about such a decision. Auto lines means using The Simulators Auto Roster and Auto Lines function.
The Commissioner has the right to warn, fine and fire inactive GM s as deemed necessary. The Commissioner will then answer back with a public statement on the Home Page. Please note that this can change the Suspension in either direction. It can also result in a fine of money from the team itself.
TRADES
Owners can trade players, draft picks, prospects, and money.
To complete a trade, both parties have to send an e-mail to the commissioner with the details of the trade. Once the e-mails are in, the deal is final and cannot be revoked. I would appreciate it if players' names are spelled correctly.
TRADE DEADLINE
The Deadline for incoming trades is set at 80% of the Regular Season. The actual date will be set and communicated by the Commissioner. What happens when the deadline has passed is that no further trades will be carried through until trade re-opens again after next seasons draft. The GMs however, are free to negotiate trades with other GMs and Unsigned Players. Each negotiation is handled as usual, but the trades are not carried through, but rather put on hold. When the e-mail is sent it cannot be revoked!
WAIVERS
Only players 30 years and older that have played 20 games on the pro roster must pass waivers if they are sent down to the farm team. Players will stay on waivers for 2 days, during this time teams will have the opportunity to claim them. If nobody claims the player, he will go to the farm team. If a team claims him, they will have to assume the player's current contract and assign him to their pro roster.
During the offseason, any player can be sent to the farm team without having to clear waivers.
RELEASING PLAYERS
During the regular season a player can be released by his team at any time. If a player doesn't fit into the team future as per the GM vision and the team doesn't wish to resign him they may release him and he is open to any other team. Released players have to be paid 50% of their contract only if this is done in the season.
Once the contract bought out, the player will become a UFA until he gets a new contract. Any teams who wish to bring one of those players aboard will have to send an offer sheet to the Commissioner.
You must decide what is worth more for your club, your roster size / the players' salary / releasing the player.
FREE AGENCY
Basically, there are two main "TYPES" (not groups) of free agents in the league, RFA & UFA.
Restricted Free Agents (RFA) are players whose contract expires and are 30 and under.
Unrestricted Free Agents (UFA) are players 31 years of age or older whose contracts expire. The team they are on has no right to compensation but they can put a bid in for the player.
UNRESTRICED FREE AGENT
The player is 31 or older, and will sign with the highest bidding team without compensation. GM's will have 7 days after the end of the playoffs to send in offers to the commish to try and retain rights.
PLAYER AGENT
The Commissioner has the responsibility to act as Agent for the UFA's and negotiate their contracts. He is also used as a mediator in disputes. The Commissioner also has the ability to demand a trade of any player at any time for reasons like refusing to negotiate a new deal, lack of ice time or various other things.
There will be two agents for the league. One from the West and the other from the East so all contract negotiations concerning every RFA's are to be negotiated with them.
The league is going to be governed by the NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement of 1995 until the year 2004 when the new CBA comes into effect (or such time as a new NHL CBA is reached) any questions about contracts or salary or arbitration not covered in these rules, the Commissioner will be the ruling authority supported by NHL CBA guidelines.
SIGNING OF PLAYERS
You may try to renegotiate with any of your players at any time. Many who are UFAs at the end of the year, likely may wait until the end of the season to see what the market will bear like real life. But also, Colorado didn�t have much trouble resigning Roy, Sakic and Blake. So negotiate as you see fit.
You are starting the league with 50 million dollars in the bank as your balance. What revenues you make this year will be added and your expenses deducted. If over a few seasons your outgoing is more than your incoming you will have a problem. Just as in the NHL, you are a group of GMs that pay the salaries. If all of you offer millions and millions to average players then some of the same issues will arise. Keep this in mind during Free Agency.
CONTRACT EXTENSIONS
1. Any player in the last year of his contract can have his renegociated before he becomes a Free Agent.
2. Each top player of each team will not be paid over $10,000,000, if you are caught signing a player over $10,000,000 you will be fined $5,000,000.
3. 40 games must pass in the season before negociations can begin. Negociations can continue up till the last game of the Stanley Cup final after which players file for free agency.
4. Players under $2,000,000 cannot recieve a pay decrease.
5. Minimum salary a player can make is $300,000.
8. All negociations for contract extensions for RFA's will go through the leagues 2 player agents. When an agreement is reached it is sent in to the commissioner by the agent only.
9. Players cannot recieve more then a 50% pay increase unless player performance is far beyond anything that player has ever done before point wise.
ENTRY DRAFT
A three-round entry draft will be held after every season. Draft order is based on the NAHL regular season standings, from worst to best, with non-playoffs teams going ahead of playoffs teams. There will be no lottery.
All first round picks will be added to the farm team and the others will be sent on the prospects list.
COACHES
Head Coaches affect a team's play. Teams may fire or hire coaches anytime during the season. Fired coaches will be paid 100% of their salary. If a GM wants to fire a coach and hire a new one, email the commish, with your team, who you fired and hired. Teams may hire any coach at any time. But a change a coach means the team will be shaken !!!
COACH RATINGS
Coach ratings will also change from year to year. If a Coach takes his team to the finals in the NHL, his sim rating will likely go up. This is where the disadvantage to having a non NHL coach comes in.
FINANCES
The salery cap for the rich teams in the 2003 season will be 55M. No teams may have a Pro Payroll over the 55M mark. If you are cought doing that your highest paid player will be suspended until you reduce your payroll.
Current Funds means your salery cap. Each team has a different cap just like in the NHL. If you have 45,000,000 as current funds you MAY NOT have a payroll over 45M. So if you have a pro payroll of 49M and as current funds you have 45M then you MUST dump 4M because you DO NOT have that extra 4M to pay the players saleries!
This is where the 55M comes in, some teams (rich teams) may have 78M as current funds but they must respect the 55M payroll. Why are we doing this? Because teams might have Pronger, Blake, Lidstrom on defense, Forsberg, Jagr, Tkachuk, Guerin, Bure up front and Roy, Joseph in nets.... Theses 10 players cost almost 100M!! It would ruin the league and make it impossible for the other teams to compete againts a power house like this. Its also not logical to have a team composed of an All-Star roster. In other words if your team has 78M as current funds you MUST have a payroll under 55M. If your team has 45M as current funds you MUST have 45M as payroll. If your team has 36M as current funds you MUST have 36M as payroll. Get it now?
The only time were you may be over the current funds in payroll is at the trade deadline. After the playoffs you MUST get your finances back to normal. Teams may enter the pre-season while being over and unbalanced but when the regular season starts your current funds MUST be even or under the pro payroll.
Players on the farm team will make 10% of their pro salary. However, if they have played 35 or more games on the active roster, they will be paid the full amount of their contracts.
Teams will earn revenue by selling tickets to their games. The amount a team earns depends on the arena size, attendance, and ticket prices. 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.
Additional revenue can be earned from:
1. Having a player in the all-star game : $600,000
2. Winning a post-season trophy : $1,000,000
3. Making the playoffs : $1,000,000
4. Making the Stanley Cup Finals : $2,500,000
5. Winning the Stanley Cup: $5,000,000
6. Writing an article for either your team or a trade : $500,000
All dollar amounts will be tabulated and awarded after each achievement.
FINANCIAL DIFFICULTY
If a teams Current Funds, as presented on the Finances Page, are negative for a period of time, the GM of the team will be required to take action. If this action is not sufficient, and at the end of the season, the team may be declared bankrupt by the Commissioner. Following this decision, one of the following occurs:
1- The team will be sold to one of the awaiting GMs (maybe best offer presented for the Board of Directors).
2- The Board of Directors can inject more money into the team. This is based on what the GM's plan to turn the financial situation around is. The amount of money is not likely to be very large, so the release or fast trading of expensive star players is likely to be required. The GM might be fired, depending on the situation!
3- The team will be dissolved, removed from The League, and the GM placed on the Waiting List.
ENDORSEMENTS
We introduce endorsements that will help teams generate revenue then from just ticket sales. Please keep in mind that this system will effect the overall financial system for the NAHL. As we go through the season and see the results of the endorsements, don't be surprised if rule changes are made to balance out the financial effects. I don't want teams becoming 100 million dollar teams in one season! I want the financial system to be a factor which all GMs have to think, plan and worry about.
For now we will run with the current guidelines and I will just lower the finances a bit in the sim. After the season we will make any necessary changes that we see fit.
ALL-STAR GAME
The All-Star game will take place around the midway point of the regular season. The game will be played between the Eastern and Western all-stars. The starting all-star line will be determined by the GM's, via popular vote. The rest of the players will be determined by the board of directors.
AWARDS
The NAHL will have year-end awards just like the NHL. The candidates for these awards will be selected by the Awards Committee. Once the candidates are established, the board of directors will decide the winner just like in the NHL.
The following awards will be given out at the end of each season:
Art Ross Trophy - Point-Scoring leader
Rocket Richard Trophy - Goal-Scoring leader
Wayne Gretzky Trophy - Assists leader
William Jennings Trophy - Goalie(s) With the Fewest Goals Scored Against
Bob Gainey Trophy - Player with Best Plus/Minus Record
Mike Bossey Trophy - Best Clutch Performer - Most GWG Goals
Tiger Williams - Most Penalty Minutes
Terry Sawchuk - Most Shutouts
These will be voted on by the board of directors:
Hart Trophy - Most Valuable Player
Norris Trophy - Top Defenseman
Vezina Trophy - Top Goaltender
Calder Trophy - Top Rookie
Selke Trophy - Top Defensive Forward
Conn Smythe Trophy - Playoff MVP
Jack Adams Trophy - Top Coach
Sam Pollock Trophy - Top General Manager
Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy - Qualities of Perseverance and Sportsmanship
Lester B. Pearson Award - Most Valuable Player as Selected by the NAHLPA
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy - Player who Displays Gentlemanly Conduct
Saku Koivu Award - Most Fragile Player
Rules written by Rob Blake, commissioner of the NAHL.
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