WCFHL Rulebook
1.1 INTRODUCTION:
Welcome to the WCFHL rulebook. These rules
was originally inspired by the "WCHL", there has been a
number of changes through the seasons. They are still unique and
should only be applied to our specific league. These rules are
subject to change, but these will be the official rules for the
start of Season 14.
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If the rulebook is not sufficiently detailed
to cover a specific situation I reserve the right to decide what
is ‘intended’ in the rules and that will have the same
force and effect as the actual rulebook. Such rulings will be
posted on the messageboard.
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1.2 OWNER'S DUTIES:
This league is designed for entertainment
purposes only. The goal of the WCFHL is for every owner to
thoroughly enjoy the experience of acting like a real NHL General
Manager and Coach. However, if your idea of fun includes (but not
limited to): team collusion, cheating, lying, running multiple
teams or causing distress to any other GM via rude emails,
threats, or not respecting another persons beliefs, you will
promptly be removed from this league - no questions asked.
Whenever the "fun quotient" of the majority is
compromised by the inappropriate behaviour of the minority, this
league ceases to be entertaining. Please keep that in mind.
Another highly important rule that applies
to Team Owners is activity. All owners must play an active role
in managing their teams. No inactive owners will be allowed. In
order to remain active, each owner must do the following: check
your league related email messages at least once a day and reply
to all messages and offers (no matter how ridiculous or unfair
the offer may seem to you), have a current MSN account which you
use regularly OR be available to meet any GM in a chatroom to
undergo trade talks when necessary, make sure all your player
lines are current and injured players are removed from the above
mentioned lines when necessary, and you must care how your team
performs on a day to day basis - such as checking the web page
regularly for game scores and such. If any owner cannot remain
active, he will be removed. However, if an owner has a family,
work, or school requirement such as vacation or a series of mid-terms
in the horizon, this owner will be excused from his or her
requirement to remain active for the period of time that it takes
to accomplish the out-of-league task. All that is need is to
notify the commissioner in advance.
If any of these rules are not met, it could
be grounds for dismissal. We would like complete participation
and dedication from everyone in this league. If you feel that you
cannot fulfil these duties, then this may be the wrong league for
you. We are not trying to be "hard asses", we only want
to produce a top notch quality league that every owner can
appreciate and be proud to be a part of.
2.1 CONTRACTS
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.
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.
Prospects do not have salaries, but do cost
the team $1500 per person. This is for the junior club to take
care of your player.
The league minimum is $500,000 per year.
The league minimum is $11,200,000 per year.
Players being activated as prospects - when
signing their 1st contracts will always sign for 3 years. The
salary per year will be the same as his current salary in the NHL.
NHLPA has the official amount. Forwards and D-men will be
automatically activated when he has played 60 NHL games. For
Goaltenders this takes effect after 20 games.
2.1.1 SALARY CAP
The minimum amount a team must spend on
salaries for the pro roster is $38,000,000.
The maximum amount a team may spend on
salaries for the pro roster is $59,400,000.
No team will be allowed to spend more than
the maximum team salary, and league-enforced measures including,
but not limited to, forced waivers and forced buy-outs will be
applied to enforce this rule. No team will be allowed to spend
less than the minimum team salary, and the penalty for doing so
will be the loss of all draft picks
As a continuation of the previous rule, GMs
are expected to field competitive and profitable teams, and
throwing games by intentional roster mismanagement is unfair to
the other GMs and grounds for immediate dismissal.
2.2 RE-SIGNING PLAYERS
Requested salaries are sorted by position (Forwards,
D-Men, goaltenders) and rating level (Categories will be released
in the off-season as determined by the League Office). When a
player has to be re-signed the GM will be able to place him in
one of these categories and determine what the "target"
salary is in that group.
If the player is paid MORE than the "target"
salary he will ask only for a moderate raise of 25%.
If the player is paid LESS than this "target"
he will ask for a significant raise – 75% of the difference
between his current salary and the average. The player will
always ask for at least 25% raise.
Teams may pay up to 25% of the total
contract value as a signing bonus. But the players will never
agree to a lower base salary than the one they had earlier.
A modifier for contract length look like
this (3 years being a 'standard' contract)
1 year contracts – 10%
2 year contracts – 05%
3 year contracts. no modifier
4 year contracts + 10%
5 year contracts + 20%
There is a max contract length based on age
(Up to 26 – 3 years, 27-30 – 4 years, 31 or older
– 5 years)
PROCEDURE
1) Determine if the player is over or under
the "target" in his category
2) Calculate new base salary
3) Decide contract length
4) Calculate contract value (new base salary*contract
length)
5) Add or subtract percentage modifier for
contract length
6) Subtract signing bonus from contract
value
7) Determine new contract
EXAMPLE 1:
Player X (d-man, category 3) has a salary of
2 million. The "target" for his group (d-men, category
3) is 3 million. He will then ask for a raise of 750.000. That
adds up to a new base salary of 2,75 mill per year. I want to
sign him for 4 years, so that’s a contra ct value of 2,75*4
= 11 mill + 10% (for the 4 year contract) it ends up at 12.1
million for 4 years. To lower his base salary I choose to spend 2.1
million as a signing bonus (I could pay up to 25% of the 12.1
mill as signing bonus) making it 10 million in base salary + 2.1
mill SB. Final contract - 2.5 mill per year for 4 years + 2.1 SB.
This is a spread-sheet that should be very
helpful when it comes to re-signing your players.
2.2.1 "ARBITRATION" RULE
Some players may be placed in unreasonably
high groups in the Re-signing system. Each team will be allowed
to take up to 2 players to "Arbitration" which
essentially means this:
A Team may nominate 2 players for
arbitration, send the player names to me at bo_siemsen@city.dk and if
possible make an argument why this player should be cheaper to re-sign.
I will then determine what changes (if any) should be made ...
options include (but not limited to) move the player down a group,
give a percentage discount etc.
2.2.2
Each team can only re-sign 3 players who is 30 years old
or older per season. The players' age is determined as described
in rule 2.2.3. Starting in 2011 this rule will be changed to 3/29.
2.2.3 PLAYER AGE IN THE SIMULATOR
The players' age in the simulator is based on his age in the
real world. The Players age in the simulator is updated every off-season
when we go to the "next season". The cut-off date for
age-determination is July 1st. Any player born July 1st or later
in the year is a year younger than a player born prior to july 1st.
This age determination is done regardless of when the season
starts. It doesn’t matter if season 15 starts May 1st or
August 1st.
Examples:
After season 14 ends (in 2009) we will go to season 15 and all
players will become 1 year older.
Marian Hossa (born January 12th 1979), that will make his sim age
for next year - 30 years old. (2009-1979 = 30)
Brad Stuart (born November 6th 1979), that will make his sim age
for next year - 29 years old. (2009-(1979+1) = 29)
The +1 is because Brad Stuart is born after July 1st.
2.3 FREE AGENTS
Players regardless of age are Unrestricted
Free Agents if their contracts expire and they have not been
resigned.
Free Agency guidelines:
1. Average salary per year decides who gets
the player
2. Minimum increase compared to previous
offers is 50.000 per year
3. All Free Agents are signed to pro
contracts - not farm contracts.
4. You can offer up to 25% of the full value
of the contract as signing bonus. If you offer more than that,
the offer is invalid.
5. Signing free agents is allowed from the
beginning of Free Agency until the trade deadline. During
announced trade freeze’s it is not allowed to sign Free
Agents.
2.4 WAIVER WIRE
1) A player will be placed on waivers if he
is older than 24, has played 8 or more games in the current
season, and has been demoted from the pro roster.
2) A player will be placed on waivers if he
has a salary of at least 1.500.000$ and has been demoted from the
pro roster
3) At the first day of the regular season
any player with a salary of at least 1.500.000$ who is on the
minor league roster will be made available on waivers.
A player placed on waivers will be available
to anybody who wishes to pick up the contract. After 48 hours the
player is placed on the farm team if no one has claimed him. The
team claiming a player on waivers will pay a fee of 100.000$ to
the team they claim the player from.
The initial Waiver order will be based on
the previous Regular season final standings.
After that - when a team claims a player
that team is moved from their current position to number 30 in
the waiver priority list.
2.5 TERMINATING A CONTRACT (excluding
retirement):
A team may terminate a player's contract at
any time; however, said team is obligated to pay a portion of the
player's remaining salary as one lump sum at the time of
termination. This process is referred to as "buying-out"
the remaining life of the contract. The amount that a team is
obligated to pay is 25% of the pro-rated life of the remaining
value of the contract. At the point of termination, the player
becomes a
2.6 PROSPECTS
Prospects are players whose rights are owned
by a team, but are not signed to a contract.
- Prospects/Players that are not listed on
any WCFHL roster, retained rights or prospect list can be
acquired through the Entry Draft. Any player with a full-time
contract is eligible for selection if not attached to a WCFHL
team already. Prospects who's rights are "owned" by an
NHL team is eligible for selection. As of the summer of 2010
players who has played in the NHL cannot be signed as Free Agents.
2.7 PURGED PLAYERS
If and when a player upon whom a team has a
retained right returns to the NHL/AHL and plays 10 NHL games, the
player can be submitted for ratings, and then re-signed. Such
players will automatically be given their NHL Contract for 1
season.
2.8 ACTIVATION OF PLAYERS
- Prospects can be activated (i.e.
transformed into a roster player) at any time when the player has
played 10 games (or more) in the NHL.
- Prospects will automatically be activated
(i.e. transformed into a roster player) when they have played a
specific number of games in the NHL. That number is 60 for
forwards and defencemen, 15 for goaltenders. In the off-season
the League may determine that a player will less than the
required number of games will be activated.
- Upon prospect activation, contracts will
be 3 years in length and the $ amount will be based the players
actual NHL salary when possible. If not, the WCFHL will decide a
fair salary.
- Free Agents signed and players re-activated
from the retained rights list cannot be activated/re-activated
and given a rating until the player is on an active NHL roster (playing,
not scratched etc.) during the NHL season or offseason until the
NHL Free Agency begins. Note, this only refers to players who
doesn’t already have a rating.
3. COACHES:
SINCE SEASON 11, THE COACH's RATING WILL
HAVE NO EFFECT ON THE GAMES.
A coach can be fired at any time during the
season and replaced by an available coach. The new coach is paid
the standard 2.000.000$ salary.
4.1 ROSTERS:
• Each team has to have a minimum of 20
players on their pro roster, including at least 2 goaltenders, 6
defenseman, and 3 of each forward position. Teams can have a
maximum of 23 players on the pro roster.
If a team exceeds its 23 man limit on the
pro roster, that team will be fined $100,000 per player, per day.
This can really pile up quickly, so watch your rosters. Basically,
if you check the page every day and follow your team's progress,
you will not have a problem staying within the 23 player limit.
Most times the sim will not allow you to call up a player if he
is the 24th player; however, it does not check if you made a 3
for 2 trade and the extra player pushes you over the limit. I
will be checking that ... and fining teams that do not demote a
player in a timely fashion. If a team is over the 23 player limit
for a long period of time, the WCFHL commissioner will step and
demote players on behalf of that team. Even if it means they have
to pass through waivers.
You can have as many farm players and
prospects as you want. However, there is a limit of 50 player
combined on the pro-team/farm-team. This was true when we used
the FHL Simulator. It might not be true with the STHL simulator
which we have been using from season 13.
Between seasons every player in the WCFHL
will be re-rated based on NHL performances.
4.2 PLAYER POSITIONS
The players can change positions by sending
a request with documentation to the game-playing Commissioner at
games@wcfhl.dk. The player must be listed in the new position at
a previously accepted site.
The following sites are acceptable as
documentation, other sites are not.
- http://www.forecaster.ca/denverpost/hockey/playerindex.cgi
- http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app?service=page&page=PlayerSearchPage
- http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/players
- http://www.nhlpa.com/
- http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/teams/players/
If you know a hockey-site that you would
consider a credible source for position changes, send a link to
bo_siemsen@city.dk and it will be looked at and subsequently
possibly accepted.
Due to the different rating system for
Forwards and Defencemen it is never allowed to switch a player
from Forward to Defence (or vice versa) during the course of the
regular season or the playoffs. Such a change can be made during
the off-season (and it may cause his rating to be adjusted).
4.3 INJURIES:
All players are subject to injury, including
goaltenders. The injury report will show the injury and the
expected amount of time the player will miss.
Players that are injured will have to be
replaced in the lineup. This will have to occur before the next
game played.
4.4 SUSPENSION REQUEST
If a club would like the league office to
pay special attention to an incident in which one of their
players was injured, they should send an email to the
Commissioner and he shall review the tape and the player could be
suspended if the incident calls for it.
4.5 LINES:
All teams (pro roster and farm roster total)
must have a minimum of 4 Centers, 4 Left wingers, 4 Right wingers,
7 defencemen and 3 goaltenders (this includes the “farmhand
goalie” that all teams have).
4.5.1 DOUBLESHIFTING
Each team is only allowed to doubleshift in
one 1 forward position and in 2 Defensive positions.
If a team is doubleshifting more players
than allowed (2 forwards for instance) the league will suspend
the best double-shifted player for 5 games. Yes – seriously.
4.6 LINES/ROSTERS IN PLAYOFFS:
No salaries are paid during the playoffs,
however the salary cap is still in effect. The roster limit is
still 23 players, but there are no waivers in the playoffs.
5.1 RATING INFO - FORWARDS and D-MEN
CH – Checking
Checking is the rating that determines how
many hits the player will deliver during the game. The rating is
primarily based on the number of hits that the player has
delivered per game in the NHL. Guideline – 1 hit per game
equals 65
FG - Fighting
This rating is an indicator of how eager and
willing the player is to drop the glove and fight. Most players
just have 35 – while those that we would call Goons have
much higher ratings in this category.
DI - Discipline
This rating is the same as in the FHL. A
player with low Discipline is more likely to take a penalty
SK - Skating
This rating shows how fast the player is and
how good he is at getting into good positions (offensively as
well as defensively).
ST – Strength
This rating will show how strong the player
is physically. As a basis the rating is based on the players
eight and weight. A player who is 6 feet and weighs 200 pounds
get 65 ST. If he’s taller and heavier he gets even stronger.
For this season I have made some individual
adjustments which means smaller players who plays a very physical
game and hits a lot (think Peca and Avery) will get extra
Strength points while bigger players who big but don’t use
their strength all that much (think Jason Allison, Eric Daze etc.)
will lose a few points compared to the size of the player.
DU – Durability
This rating is an indication of the players
tendency to get injured. It is also the rating that determines
how quickly he recovers from injury and fatigue.
PH – Puck Handling
The players ability to handle the puck. With
the old FHL simulator Puck Control used to be somewhat similar to
the Passing and Scoring ratings. That is also the case with Puck
Handling – though I have decided that all players will get a
minimum of 65 PH.
FO – Face Off Ability
This rating shows how good the player is at
face offs. The rating is based on how many face offs the player
takes and how high a percentage that he wins.
PA – Passing ability
Like the FHL - this rating shows how good a
passer of the puck that the player is.
SC – Scoring
This rating will show how likely the player
is to score a goal when given a scoring chance.
DF – Defensive ability
This rating shows how good the player is
defensively. Players who play a lot of Penalty Kill, blocks a lot
of shots and generally has a good reputation as a defensive
player. Defencemen who has a big tendency to join the rush and
push forward (occasionally leaving the team vulnerable) will tend
not to be all that good defensively.
EX – Experience
How experiences is the player. Players who
has played a lot of season and/or has participated in long
playoff runs will have good EX ratings.
LD – Leadership
Somewhat similar to the EX rating. In
addition younger players who are named captains will also get an
increase in LD rating. In addition players who has a bad
reputation as lockerroom pests will get a lower LD rating.
MO - Morale
This rating will fluctuate depending on the
success of the team and the player individually. It is an
indication of how confident the player is at the moment. The
higher the better.
5.2 RATING INFO - GOALTENDERS
SK – Skating
This rating indicates how quick the goalie
is on his skates, moving coast to coast etc.
DU – Durability
This rating is an indication of the players
tendency to get injured. It is also the rating that determines
how quickly he recovers from injury and fatigue.
ST – Strength
This rating will show how strong the player
is physically.
SZ – Size
This rating will show how big the goaltender
is and thus how big a part of the net he takes up
AG – Agility
Overall agility and mobility of the
goaltender
RB – Rebound control
How good the goaltender is at controlling
rebounds
SC – Style Control
Overall style control
HS – Hand Speed
Speed of the glove hand
RT – Reflex time
Overall reflex speed
EX – Experience
How experiences is the player. Players who
has played a lot of season and/or has participated in long
playoff runs will have good EX ratings.
LD – Leadership
Somewhat similar to the EX rating. In
addition younger players who are named captains will also get an
increase in LD rating. In addition players who has a bad
reputation as lockerroom pests will get a lower LD rating.
MO - Morale
This rating will fluctuate depending on the
success of the team and the player individually. It is an
indication of how confident the player is at the moment. The
higher the better.
6.1 TRADES:
An owner can trade players, draft picks, and
money.
- Regarding Draft Picks - you may only trade
draft picks that are to be used in the next two drafts.
- Regarding players and prospects you are
only allowed to trade players/prospects that appear somewhere on
your team (Pro Roster, Farm Roster, Prospect List). Effectively
this means you can’t acquire and trade away a player on the
same day. It is to allow the trade board to go to work reviewing
a trade if necessary.
- You cannot trade more money than you have
in current funds.
Both teams must confirm all trades. A trade
will not occur until this happens.
All trade confirmations must be done on the
messageboard. When both teams have posted the deal it is official
(pending approval from the league office)
- http://wcfhl.proboards4.com/index.cgi?board=Trades
6.1.1 TRADE REVIEW
If you feel a trade is uneven you are
entitled to request a trade review. All you have to do is post a
message on the message board or you can choose to Email the
Commissioners Office at bo_siemsen@city.dk
. Once a trade review has been requested the trade in question
will be delayed until the Trade Review Board has voted on the
issue. Please make sure to explain why it is that you consider
the trade in question uneven.
The Commissioners office will then convene a
Trade Review board to review the trade.
The Trade Review Board will be selected at
the beginning of the season and they will serve for one season.
The board will (hopefully) be a diverse group of GM’s …
new’ish, Veterans, Contenders and rebuilders.
7 FINANCES:
There is a 56.8 Million dollar pro payroll
salary cap. Any team in violation will be given a warning. If the
problem is not solved quickly the league will solve it for you
even if it means sending players on waivers.
7.1 REVENUE
Teams will earn revenue in the following
ways:
1. Teams will earn revenue buy selling
tickets to their games. The amount a team earns depends on the
arena size, attendance, and ticket prices.
2. Ticket prices can be changed at any time.
3. You can purchase more seats for your
arena in the off season. Extra seats will cost $2000 per seat.
Teams can also earn extra revenue for the
following things:
$100,000 for each all star a team has.
$500,000 for winning your division.
$500,000 for making the playoffs.
$500,000 for being 1st seed in the East
$500,000 for being 1st seed in the West
$500,000 for winning the Presidents Trophy
$500,000 for winning your conference finals
series.
$1,000,000 for winning the Stanley Cup.
4. Remove a prospect from your prospect list
and you will be given $50,000 for your team.
5. And finally there's the participation
payoff. If a GM takes an active interest in making the league
more entertaining they will be financially rewarded. Such rewards
can be paid out to GM's who run drafts, run All Star Game, writes
league News articles (Power Rankings, Hot N' Cold, Trade comments,
Movers and Shakers etc etc). Each article is worth $500,000.
Assisting the commissioners with various
tasks through the season will also be rewarded.
7.2 BANKRUPTCY
If a team finishes the season with negative
funds it will be considered bankrupt. Bankrupt teams needs to
raise cash immediately. That will be done by holding an auction
... 'selling' a player for cash. Effectively it means that the
Commissioner decides on 3 'decent' players from the bankrupt
teams' roster (one forward, one defenceman and one goaltender).
Bidding will start at the exact amount that the team is in the
red. These 3 players will be put up on auction for 72 hours. When
the 72 hours has passed the GM of the bankrupt team has to decide
which player he wants to sell - and which two he gets to keep.
The team who wins the auction has to be able
to afford the player within the salary cap. Otherwise their offer
is void.
8. DRAFTS:
In the WCFHL you can/will encounter three
types of drafts:
8.1 ENTRY DRAFT
In each off-season the WCFHL will run an
Entry draft similar to the NHL Entry Draft.
8.1.1 Draft Order
Draft order will be determined by final
WCFHL regular season standings of the completed WCFHL seasons
since the most recent WCFHL Draft. Teams not making the playoffs
will enter a lottery to determine the 1st round order.
8.1.2 ELIGIBLE PLAYERS
All players that are eligible for the NHL
entry draft will be included in the WCFHL entry draft.
A list of player names from the most recent
NHL draft will be provided each year, and will be ranked
according to actual NHL Draft order. In addition to the players
selected in the most recent draft, the GM's may also select any
player “off list” who is not associated with any wcfhl
team and has played less than 10 games in the NHL. To be eligible
for the Entry Draft the player’s NHL rights must be owned by
an NHL Franchise.
Owners 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.
8.1.3 Penalty for non-participation
If a GM does not participate in the draft (either
by being online for the live draft or by sending in list) his
team will be awarded a random player ranked lower than their
current draft position. Not participating is not recommended.
8.2 EXPANSION DRAFT
The WCFHL will expand in the first off-season
following an NHL Expansion. At the present time there are 30
WCFHL teams.
Existing clubs may choose either of the
following protection plans:
1. Up to 5 defense men, 9 forwards, and 1
goaltender OR
2. Up to 3 defenseman, 7 forwards, and 2
goaltenders.
Each club must expose for claim at least the
following players who meet the experience requirements indicated
below:
ONE GOALTENDER -- For clubs protecting one
goaltender, no experience requirement. For clubs protecting two
goaltenders, either 10 NHL games played in the 1998-99 season or
25 NHL games played over the last two seasons (1997-98 and 1998-99).
A goaltender must have played in a minimum of 31 minutes in a
game before it would qualify as a game played for these purposes.
Games played include regular season and playoff games.
ONE EXPERIENCED DEFENSEMAN -- Either 40 NHL
games played in the 1998-99 season or 70 NHL games played over
the last two seasons (1997-98 and 1998-99). Games played include
regular season and playoff games.
TWO EXPERIENCED FORWARDS -- Either 40 NHL
games played in the 1998-99 season or 70 NHL games played over
the last two seasons (1997-98 and 1998-99). Games played include
regular season and playoff games.
8.3. EQUALIZATION DRAFT
The WCFHL will if necessary run equalization
drafts in the offseason. Such drastic measures will only be taken
if the Commissioner feels it is absolutely necessary for the good
of the league. The exact scale (and rules) of an equalization
draft must be announced at least half a season in advance. If no
announcement has been made – no draft will take place.