NSHL Rule Book
Updated: November 1st, 2011
Be sure that you have read and fully understand the rules before applying for a position within the league. Rules will be enforced. The commissioner(s) may be contacted by email at: commish@nshlhockey.com
Forum
Registration is mandatory; it is also required that GM’s visit and post in the forum on a reasonably frequent basis as reassurance of their commitment to the league -- all it takes is a few minutes of your time. Those who fail to do so risk removal from the league.
Roster
Professional rosters will consist of a minimum of 20 and a maximum of 25 players. All others may be placed on minor-league affiliates. There is no enforced minimum roster size for the minor league affiliates; however, it would be in a GM’s best interest to properly maintain their farm roster. The maximum is the same as it is with professional rosters, 25. Teams may not use more than 20 players in a game, the max is 18 skaters and two goaltenders.
The total payroll of a farm team may not exceed $10 million in order to prevent GM's from unfairly reducing their cap figure.
Schedule
Each season will be a total of 82 games. There will be 16 teams in the playoffs, just as the NHL. After the offseason, there will be a two-day exhibition schedule prior to the official start of the regular season.
On sim days where there are fewer than five games, that day as well as the following day will be simmed. Example: If there are four games scheduled on Day 'Y', all of those games, as well as the games on Day 'Z' will be simmed together.
Salary Cap
New Salary Cap - $58 million dollars
New Salary Floor - $30 million dollars
Farm Salary Cap - $2 million dollars*
*Subject to potential change before season begins as I haven't completely thought it through
To calculate your cap hit, check the pro-payroll under your teams finances page.
To calculate the farm cap hit, check the farm-payroll under your team finances page.
At no point may a team exceed the cap limit. Offending GM’s will incur penalties according to the severity of their offense in the form of player suspensions. Salary Cap figures will be re-assessed as each season nears completion. Discussions may occur as necessary on the league forum.
Farm Rules:
*Subject to change as I haven't completely thought it through
- A player making any more than $2 million dollars cannot be on the farm
- Exception to the $2 million rule is if your purpose is to place a player on waivers
- If they clear, you must either buy-out the contract or send them back to the pro roster within 24 hours of clearing
Cap Violations
- A 'Salary Cop' will be hired to overlook finances and discipline those who break the rules. I have a name in mind, I will consult them at a later time.
- GM will have 24 hours to fix the problem
- Suspension of top player indefinitely until problem is fixed
- If problem isn't fixed after 10 games player could be subject to league auction where highest bidder can acquire the player
-
Exceptions to the cap are injuries and suspensions. Anything day-to-day or longer is exempt from the pro-payroll
Trades
Trading is self-explanatory. It goes without saying that negotiations should be kept private until a deal is finalized. All trades are submitted on the league forum for review by the league-appointed Trade Committee. All parties involved in the trade must confirm the deal and provide a brief explanation as to why they chose to perform the trade. Trades are processed in the sim the following day, after the Committee has voted. A two-to-one majority is required for approval.
Tradable assets include: Players, Draft Picks, Prospects, team funds, UFA Re-Sign slots, and UFA rights (after the season concludes).
Once a trade has been posted on the league forum, it is considered final and is subject to review by the Trade Committee. All parties involved must agree in order to rescind a deal once it has been posted.
GM’s who do not make the playoffs are permitted to carry out trade negotiations, and post trades for review at their own risk, if they so wish. The Trade Committee may opt to delay reviews until after re-rates are applied -- GM’s who post trades are held accountable, regardless. Teams involved in the playoffs may also carry out trade negotiations, but may not post trades until all playoff rounds are decided, not just their own.
The Trade Deadline occurs after approximately 80% of the regular season has been played. The specific “date” is indicated on the league schedule.
Waivers
Players age 25 and older who are sent from the professional roster to the minor league roster will enter waivers. They will remain on waivers 48 hours, even in the event of a double sim. During that time they may be claimed by another team. If no claims are made, the player is said to have "cleared" waivers, and will be placed in the minor league. Claims are made via e-mail; simply submit the name of the player which you are claiming. Only one claim can be made a time.
At times, the league waivers page lists waiver priority in the incorrect order. Waiver priority will always be determined by the league standings. Similarly, any claims that are made will not be reflected on the waivers page. However, GM's who make claims will be notified that their claims have been received, and GM's whose players have been claimed will be notified before their player is moved to his new team. And so, the waivers page should only be referred to when determining whether players are on waivers, and nothing more.
Any player, once waived, cannot be traded for the remainder of that season. Once the playoffs conclude, the player will then again be eligible to be traded.
Free Agency
When contracts expire, a player becomes a Free Agent. Unrestricted Free Agents are those without a contract, aged 27 or older, to be signed during the offseason. Notice will be given to announce the official start of open free agency.
Restricted Free Agents may be tendered offers during the open free agency period. However, compensation must be given to the team that owned the players’ rights previously. (See chart below)
After the Trade Deadline passes, GM’s are allowed to begin negotiating with their pending Free Agents, both Restricted and Unrestricted. No more than 3 Unrestricted Agents may be re-signed in this way. All others will enter open free agency. Pending FA's, re-signed at age 26, will still be considered of restricted status. However, they may choose not to sign in order to enter open free agency.
Open free agency will be carried out on the league forum. GM’s will place bids on players, and the player will sign with the highest bidder. If no other GM has bid on a player, you will be expected to create the thread yourself. Bidding for each individual free agent ends after 24 hours without a bid.
Proper bidding format:
Player Name
Your Team
Annual Salary/Total Years + Signing Bonus and/or No (Trade/Movement) Clause
Role on Team
GM’s may have only two active offers (winning bids) at a time. Offers may not be made if they push the offering team over the salary cap. When bids are made, total contract value will take precedence of annual salary.
Players signed in this way may be traded no sooner than a week (7 sim days) before trade deadline of the first season under the new contract. Players who have signed with a No Trade Clause or No Movement Clause may “waive” said clause in the final week (7 sim days) leading up to the trade deadline, provided it is their last year under contract, and they are traded to a playoff team.
No Trade Clauses will remain in effect for the duration of a contract, even if a player changes teams via Waivers. It can be said that the Clause applies to the contract, rather than the player's agreement with the team that offered the contract.
Restricted Free Agent Compensation:
Salary Compensation
$450,000 - $650,000 1 Years Salary
$650,001 - $1,000,000 3rd Round Pick & 1 Year’s Salary
$1,000,001 - $1,500,000 2nd Round Pick & 1 Year’s Salary
$1,500,001 - $3,000,000 1st Round Pick & 1 Year’s Salary
$3,000,001 - $5,000,000 1st Round Pick, 2nd Round Pick & 1 Year’s Salary
$5,000,001 - *$8,000,000 (2) 1st Round Picks, 2nd Round Pick, 3rd Round Pick, 1 Year’s Salary
All compensatory picks must be the original property of the team tendering the "offer sheet", and must be of the nearest draft.
Minimum salary - $450,000/year
Maximum salary - $8,000,000/year
Releases
In order to release a player, GM’s notify the commissioner by e-mail. When releasing a player, 2/3 of his annual salary will be deducted from your team funds. Players that have been successfully released immediately become Unrestricted Free Agents and may be tendered offers by anyone in the Free Agency section of the league forum where other GM’s may also bid. The 24-hour rule applies.
Player Re-Ratings, Appeals
Player re-rates will occur during the off-season, prior to the start of open free agency. Each team will be given the option to appeal the re-rating of one of their players. To do this, send an email to the commissioner detailing your complaint, and containing evidence to support your claim. Adjustments will be made at the commissioner’s discretion.
General managers are allowed to appeal the DI ratings of their players each offseason. Each GM is allotted 15 points to distribute freely among their players however they wish.
Prospects
Activating prospects may be done during the offseason. Ratings will be based on descriptions and information found at Hockey’s Future. To request a prospect be created, send an email to the commissioner. It is asked that you send all requests at once and not individually.
In every draft, there will be three players chosen at random as "diamonds in the rough." One will be from the second round, and two from the third. The GM who drafted one of these players is given several points to distribute to the player however they wish -- three points if taken from the 2nd round, and five points if taken in the 3rd.
Players will be "Rookies" the season that they play their 25th NHL game. Players aged 27 or older do not qualify.
Position Changes
Players who actually exist in real life (ie. those not created by the sim) may have their positions changed so long as proof is provided that they play the desired position. TSN is the ideal source.
For players which have been created by the simulator ("fake players"), GM's may make three position changes (in total, not per player) each season. Forwards must remain forwards, defensemen must remain defensemen, and goaltenders must remain goaltenders.
All requests should be submitted by e-mail to the commissioner.
Retirement
Players age 35 and older are subject to potential retirement. Retirement occurs at random -- the older the player, the greater the odds they retire. Retirements for the next season are announced around day 80 of the current season.
Training Camps
Beginning in Season 5, the training camp format will be revamped. During the offseason, GM’s will have the opportunity to send 1 player to training camp for a fee. Any player, regardless of age, so long as their OV rating is 74 or lower, may be sent to a training camp. These camps will promote certain player characteristics at the minor cost of others in order to more clearly define player identity. Details can be found here.
In addition, GM’s will be allotted 8 “training points” to be distributed to whomever they wish. Training points are applied to player attributes. Any individual player may be given no more than 4 points. No more than 2 points may be used on any single attribute. You may not use a training camp and training points on the same player. Example of training point usage:
# Player PO HD CD IJ IT SP ST EN DU DI SK PA PC DF SC EX LD OV
33 Eric Belanger C L OK 70 67 75 90 86 65 72 72 75 77 74 70 77 78
+2 +2
# Player PO HD CD IJ IT SP ST EN DU DI SK PA PC DF SC EX LD OV
42 Tuomo Ruutu C L OK 82 83 81 89 69 48 82 71 69 65 79 58 74 80
+2 +1 +1
(2 + 2+ 2 + 1 + 1 = 8 Points)
Captains/Assistant Bonus EX/LD Points
Captains receive EX +5, and LD +10, as well as an automatic NMC.
Two assistants receive EX +2 and LD +2
Both the captains and assistants are named during the offseason. This is the only time that a captain can be stripped of the 'C' in lieu of anyone else. The captain's NMC will expire at the end of the regular season, and so he can be traded (or mentioned in talks) before he or anyone else is designated captain for the following season. This would make naming team captains another regimented offseason task like UFA re-signings, etc.
As a side note: each team's captain should be a player unlikely to be traded. Thus, this shouldn't adversely affect trading.
With each successive season as captain, the player will earn additional training points. These points can be used only on the captain himself. The points will be given out once he is confirmed as captain again. I would say: 1 point after one season, 2 points after two seasons, etc. The bonus depends on consecutive terms. So if your captain in season 7 will not get two points if he's named again in season 9 without being captain in season 8.
Assistants have no NMC, and so their trade eligibility is not affected. However, I think that when an assistant is moved, and a new assistant is named in his place, he will not receive an EX/LD bonus.
Finances
Managing team finances is an important responsibility for all GM’s. Revenue is earned through ticket sales, which increases in proportion to the number of “superstars” a team possesses. A “superstar” is defined automatically by the sim as a player with an OV rating of 80 or higher. Ticket prices also affect sales, and may be adjusted at any time by sending an e-mail to the commissioner. By default, prices are set to $40 per ticket; you may view your current prices in the GM Editor. A link to the details of your team’s finances can be found on the league roster page.
Rules are subject to change. Issues or concerns can be raised on the league forum. The Commissioner is available to answer questions.