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NFHL Rules

**Rules Will Be Enforced To The Fullest Starting In 2005 Season**

GM Requirements

All general managers must have a valid email address, and AOL Instant Messenger name.  If these two things are not met, most likely you wont be accepted into the league.  We strongly push for ACTIVE general managers, and we want people to move players, and create the team they seem fit.  If a GM is not active, at the end of each season I (PJ) will determine whether they are remaining in the league, or if they are fired.  As a note, I did fire a GM halfway through Season 2004 because he did not trade, send in lines, move roster players around, or even hold conversations with other teams to further better his team.

Trading

Trading among teams is allowed.  If a mutual agreement is met on a trade, a team must post on the message board, state the team they are, and post the FULL NAMES/DRAFT PICKS/PROSPECTS/MONEY.  If you trade a player and a prospect, label each player with their respected title. 

Example:

Boston Gets: Mario Lemiuex - Player; Kari Lehtonen - Prospect

Pittsburgh Gets: Brian Rolston; Bostons 1st Round Draft Pick Year 1; $500,000 Cash

After the post is made, the other team must reply to the trade.  Once that is done, the trade will be approved or denied.  If denied, a revision may be made.  On another note, if you do not wish to trade people, simply state that at the beginning of any conversation.  Do not be an asshole, just simply say you arent interested in trading.  This should stop people from spamming you with "Do you want to trade?" questions.  Finally, if a trade is agreed, and one team backs out, evidence must be given to the owners that this trade was agreed upon.  If evidence shows that the trade was agreed by both teams, the trade WILL BE PUT THROUGH.

Trading Restrictions

With draft picks, you can only trade a limit of two draft picks per trade.  You have one pick per year, so trade wisely.

Trade Deadline

The trade deadline occurs when 80% of the regular season games are played.  At that point, trading ends, and no trades will be accepted until after the NFHL Playoffs are completed.  Shortly after the trading among teams will reopen.

Draft

Each team has one draft pick per season and every player picked in the draft will be placed in the prospects section of your team. Age has a big factor in rating when being activated so be smart about activating younger guys.

http://www.hockeysfuture.com

To determine what their rating will be when they are activated, follow this chart:

HockeysFuture has made a change in ratings, and they are giving ratings, and a grade of whether they will reach their potential. The grades go from A to F, A meaning the player will reach full potential, and possibly go further, and F meaning they will not reach potential at all, and are a complete bust. If a player is an A rating, they boost .5 in rating, if they are B they reamin the same rating, if C they lose .5 in rating, if D they lose 1 in rating, and if they are F they lose 2 in rating. This is to fairly portray the younger prospects.  For activating prospects, you are only allowed to activate 5 prospects per season and 3 during the off-season.

Restricted Free Agents

If a player is under 31 years of age, your team holds the rights to that player.  If their contract is up, you have a chance to resign them, but a raise must be given for the player to want to remain with your team.  Also, the players interest in the team has an affect.  If a player feels he isnt being used right, he will most likely try to sign elsewhere.  Ample amount of time will be given for each team to resign any RFA's.  If in case a player does not sign, during the Free Agency period, you can make another offer on your player, or match offers from other teams.  If you do lose a player to another team, and they are a RFA, you will be compensated as follows:

Player Overall          Compensation

Under 70                       None

             70-77             1st Round Draft Pick

             78-83            Two 1st Round Draft Picks

               84+            Three 1st Round Draft Picks

If compensation can not be met, your bid will not be taken.

Unrestricted Free Agents

Any player who is 31 years old or older is considered an unrestricted free agent.  Each team can resign ONE UFA.  Also, the players interest in the team has an affect.  If a player feels he isnt being used right, he will most likely try to sign elsewhere.    The remaining UFA's will go into the Free Agency.  During Free Agency Round 1, each team bids on the people they would like on their team.  You can send in one bid on one player, or one bid on fifteen players.  In Round 2, only teams that bid on a player can now try to sign the free agent.

Example:
 

Marian Gaborik - Bidders in Round 1 were Tampa Bay, Colorado, Ottawa, Detroit

In Round 2, only those 4 teams can bid on Marian Gaborik.

In Round 3, any players remaining can be bid on by any team.  The best offer for the player will win.

Waivers

Since we've run into problems of people losing players because the waivers messed up, we do not run a waiver wire, so any player can be put on the farm. With that said, we are trying to make this a real life hockey situation, so any star players that play on the farm more than 10 games a season will retire. No stars like Joe Sakic or Steve Yzerman would play on the farm. Also, any player over 35 years of age on the farm will retire as well. YOU WILL LOSE THESE PEOPLE AT ANY POINT IN THE SEASON IF YOU BREAK THIS RULE.

Unsigned Players

Players who are unsigned are basically players dropped from teams around the league.  If you want an unsigned player, you must pick up the contract they are under.  Any teams can pick up any unsigned players.

Retirement

At any point a player can retire now.  If their interest in playing is low, and they are old, such as 35, they will retire.  Also, their condition has a part with if they will retire or not.  The 40 age rule is no longer in affect, because a player can now retire at any given time.  This is fair warning, and it makes the game more realistic, to have unexpected retirements.

Budget

Each team will start out with 20 million dollars.  This is needed to keep your team from going bankrupt.  If you load your payroll, and your team isnt winning, or attendance is low, you will lose money.  Be smart, and make sure your team can break even, or make money each season.  A team with talent, and a high payroll can work because the team will make money.  A team with a high payroll but they lose a lot will not work, because revenues will go down.

Salary Cap

This system is brand new, and is being tried out by the owners of this league.  It may or may not work, but give us at least two seasons to see how things go.

There will be a 50 million cap for the first two seasons of play, after that the cap will drop down to 45 million and remain there for the rest of the seasons that we have. Any team over the cap will lose the most highly paid player and he will then be granted to the team with the lowest Pro Salary. 

Buildings

To start, your team is given the 19,000 seat building.  If you wish, you can purchase a larger building for the set seats/prices below:

19,000 Seat Arena = $19 million

19,500 Seat Arena = $19.5 million

20,000 Seat Arena = $20 million

Farm

Each team must have one center, left wing, right wing, and goalie.  Two defensemen are also needed.  If a farm team does not have this, a prospect must be brought up to fill the position.  You can trade/drop/add farm players as you wish, as long as you have those spots filled.

Coaching

Coaches affect the performance of your team.  The better the coach the better the team performs.  You can not trade coaches, but you can fire them, but a new coach must be rehired right away.  You can view available coaches under the Coaches category on the main page.

Sims Per Day - NEW

There will be a sim of 1 day per day for maxium participation by the 12 GMs of the league.  During playoffs though, there will also only be 1 day per sim to ensure that each GM in the playoffs as full knowlege of injuries and hot/cold streaks of his players. This is so GMs can change lines if they feel they don't have proper chemistry in the playoffs.

That is our format, and it will not change.

Player Statistics

The stats of players are based on their performance each season.  If a player does well or does poorly, his stats could go up or down, or remain neutral.  There are different categories for each skill, and this breaks it down:

HD = Handedness

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

Injuries/Suspensions

A player can get injured at any time, or suspended for doing something wrong.  This explains the extent of the injury or suspension:

S# = Suspended for "#" games

CD = Condition

OK = 100% Health

IJ = Injury Status Of Player

1W = 1-2 Week Injury

3W = 2-4 Week Injury

1M = 4-6 Week Injury

3M = 2-4 Month Injury

IN = Injured Indefinitely

Awards

These are the awards the league will give out at the end of the season.  Anything with an asterisk next to it means the general manager's of the league vote on it.

Stanley Cup (League Champion)

Prince of Wales (Eastern Conference Champions)

Clarence S Campbell (Western Conference Champions)

Art Ross (Most Points In Season)

Calder (Rookie Of The Year) *

Conn Smythe (Playoff MVP)

Frank J Selke (Best Defensive Forward) *

Hart Memorial (League MVP) *

Jack Adams (Best Coach) *

James Norris (Best Defensemen) *

Lady Byng (Most Sportsmanlike) *

Presidents Trophy (Best Record In League)

Rocket Richard (Most Goals)

Vezina (Best Goalie) *

William M Jennings (Team With Least Goals Allowed)

Lester B Pearson (Outstanding Achievement and Excellence) *

With voting on awards, each general manager must give in three rankings for First, Second Third in each category.  A first place vote will receive three points, second place gets two votes, and third place gets one vote.  After all general managers get their votes in, the awards will be announced.