MFHL Rules

**Special thanks to Jason Feebs from MHFHL for his help with my questions as well as for the rules format.

All rules are subject to change; a message will be posted on the forum if any rules change.

The Mule Fantasy Hockey League is based on real NHL teams and players, and is simulated with the FHL program from Batesoft.

 Basic Rules

- All owners must have ICQ, and must be seen online regularly. Please authorize all the other GM's and add them to your contact list as well.

- Owners must check their e-mail often, and must respond to league e-mails as quickly as possible.

- Owners must be polite to each other and have to co-operate with the MFHL staff members.

- Owners must notify the commisioner if they will be away for a period of time.

- Owners are strongly encouraged to write team reports, which can be posted on the MHFHL message board.

-An owner cannot have more than one team.

-Cheating will NOT be tolerated. We will not allow lopsided trades to go through, and if collusion is suspected, you will be removed from the league.

*ALL OWNERS MUST BE ACTIVE* - This includes being found on ICQ for trade talks, sending in lines, trading with other teams, writing team reports, and voting on league awards.

 

Rosters

Player Ratings
CD - Condition
IJ - Injury Status [DD: Day to Day | 1W: injured 1 to 2 weeks | 3W: injured 2 to 4 weeks | 1M: injured 4 to 6 weeks | 3M: injured 2 to 4 months | S#: suspended for # of games]
HD - Stick Hand
IT - Intensity
SP - Speed
ST - Strength
EN - Endurance
DU - Durability
DI - Discipline
SK - Skating
PA - Passing
PC - Puck Control
DF - Defense
SC - Scoring
EX - Experience
LD - Leadership
OV - Overall

- The maximum number of players on the pro roster is 25.
- 20 players must be dressed for a game, this includes 2 goaltenders and 18 skaters.
- Teams must have at least 3 goaltenders (pro and farm rosters combined)
- Players playing out of position will not perform to their full ability.

GM's must download the GMEditor program and the MFHL league files (which are constantly updated) to make up their lines and e-mail them to the commissioner. Passwords are not needed.

 

Player Rerates and Retirement

1. After each season, players will be rerated by the FHL simulator based on their MFHL performance. However, at the conclusion of every season, each team will be allowed to re-rate 5 players based on their NHL performance. If the GM chooses, he may replace one of these NHL based re-rates with ONE based on a player's MuleFHL performance.
2. Players will retire when they have become Unrestricted Free Agents that are not claimed by any team in the league...basically when they are deemed useless by everybody. Therefore, players who retire in the NHL may not retire in the MFHL. However, the maximum playing age in the MFHL is 40, so all players will automatically retire when they turn 41.
3. Players' ages will increase before the free agency period after each season.

 Schedule

Each team will play 82 games during the season.
2 FHL days will be simulated everyday.

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.
Please make sure that the subject of the e-mail includes both teams involved in the trade, eg. Subject: Philadelphia/Carolina Trade
and when draft picks are involved, please specify which year and which team, eg. PHI 1st round pick 2001
I would also appreciate it if players' names are spelled correctly.

If a trade looks suspicious or lopsided, it will be reviewed.

 Waivers

Only players 27 years and older that have played 30 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

Teams may release a player at any time during the season. Released players have to be paid 50% of their contract, and they will be placed on waivers for 2 days.

 Free Agency

A player becomes a free agent when his contract expires, that is, his contract length goes down to 0.
Unrestricted Free Agent - the player is 30 or older, and will sign with the highest bidding team without compensation.
Restricted Free Agent - the player is under 30 years old, and his team has the right to match any bids from other teams, or accept compensation based on the player's new contract.

. During each MFHL season, teams will be allowed to re-sign 3 players who will avoid free agency (players with [1] listed next to their salary on the Vitals page). These players' salaries will increase to 130% of their current contract. GM's will have until 4 days after the trade deadline to send in those contract extensions.
o:p>

 Prospects

Prospects are found on the Futures page. They are owned by a team but do not have an MFHL rating yet. To sign a prospect, send an email to the commissioner with a reasonable contract offer.

 Entry Draft

A five-round entry draft will be held after every season. Draft order is based on the MFHL regular season standings, from worst to best, with non-playoffs teams going ahead of playoffs teams. There will be a lottery.

 Coaches

Coaches affect a team's play.
Teams may fire or hire coaches anytime during the season. Fired coaches will be paid 50% of their salary.
o:p>

 Finances

The salary cap is 50 million dollars.
Teams cannot be in debt.

The maximum length of a contract is 4 years.
The miminum salary is $150, 000.

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 on their contracts.

Ticket prices can be changed at anytime during the season.

Arena capacity can be changed only in the off-season. Each additional seat will cost $1000. Each arena capacity has already been increased by 1,000 – consider it a gift.

 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 line-ups will be voted upon by the GM's, and the rest of the rosters will be determined by the MFHL staff. Each team must have at least one representative in the game.
The city hosting the all-star game will be chosen randomly, and once a city has been picked it will be removed from the draw until all the remaining cities have hosted a game. The revenue from the ticket sales at the game will be awarded to the city's team.

 Awards

The following awards will be given out at the end of each season:
Art Ross Trophy - point-scoring leader
Rocket Richard Trophy – Most Goals
Ron Greschner Award – Most Injuries
Scott Stevens Award – Most Hits

These will be voted on by the GM's:
Hart Trophy - Most Valuable Player
Norris Trophy - Best Defenceman
Vezina Trophy - Best Goaltender
Selke Trophy - Best Defensive Forward
Calder Trophy - Best Rookie
Alexei Yashin Award – Most Hated Player
Kim Gernack Trophy – Best GM

If you would like to propose that an award be added, please contact Scott Usher, the Assistant Commish.