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FHL Rules
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OFFICIAL FHL OWNER'S MANUAL
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1996-97 Edition
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A. CODE OF CONDUCT/ETIQUETTE
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The following principles are intended to capture what is expected
from all participants and the spirit in which the FHL should
operate.
1. Each team is expected to respond to all trade inquiries
promptly.
2. Except where other matters make it simply impossible, each
team is required to respond to certain infrequent official
business such as allstar balloting.
3. Each team must inform the league of any change of address or
of any significant absenses.
4. Every team is expected to manage his team professionally and
in particular to promote the longterm well-being of his team.
5. No team shall deliberately attempt to undermine any other
team's participation or enjoyment, except to the extent that the
rules and good-willed common sense permits.
6. Any team that can no longer maintain a level of activity
appropriate to a serious league of this sort, must immediately
inform the league and will be relieved of all responsibilities.
7. The commissioner retains absolute control over all aspects of
the FHL. The commissioner may interpret or change rules at any
time in any way and without notice. The commissioner may suspend
or remove any owner from the league at any time. The commissioner
need never give any justification or explanation of any decision
he makes. Ordinarily the commissioner will not dismiss any owner
without consulting the rest of the league, but reserves the right
to do so. If the commissioner receives what he deems to be a
sufficient number of complaints about an owner, he will
ordinarily call for a vote of the league members. If 16 or more
owners vote for that owner's removal, he shall be removed
immediately, without right to appeal and without any explanation.
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B. SCORING
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1. The regular season is divided up into two week periods.
Periods start and end at a time fixed by the commissioner and
statistician.
2. Defencemen and forwards score in the following categories:
goals, assists, PIM (penalty minutes), +/- factor (DStat).
Goalies score only in goalie factor (GF). A team's score in each
of these five categories is the sum of individual player scores
in each category.
DStat = (+/-) - ((GP x team GF-GA)/(team GP x 4)) + (multiple x
GP) multiple = 0.5 for defensemen, 0.25 for forwards
GF = (2 x wins) + (ties) + (2 x shutouts)
+ ((0.15 x shots faced) - goals allowed)
3. At the end of each period the FHL Statistician will tabulate
team scores in each category. In each category the highest
scoring team gets 26 points, the second highest 25 points, and so
on, until the 26th highest scoring team gets one point. A team's
points in each category are added to give the team's score. Team
totals determine the teams standings in their divisions (their
real-life divisions). Points are not cumulative--at the end of
each scoring period and at the end of the season each team will
have from 5 to 130 points.
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Example: if Montreal are 5th in goals, 6th in assists, 26th in
PIM, 19th in DStat, and 2nd in GF, they score 22+21+1+8+25 = 77
points.
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C. TRADING
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1. Trades may involve players, cash, or draft picks. Once a trade
is agreed on, it must be reported to me in the following form.
Each team in the trade tells me what they're giving up and what
they're gaining as follows:
Subject: FHL TRADE YOUR_TEAM_ABBREVIATION
OUT: YOUR_TEAM,FIRST_NAME,LAST_NAME,POSITION,SALARY MONEY
DRAFT_PICKS AUCTION_BIDS
IN: OTHER_TEAM,FIRST_NAME,LAST_NAME,NUMBER,POSITION,SALARY MONEY
DRAFT_PICKS AUCTION_BIDS
Draft picks are represented by the team abbreviation followed by
the round number. ANA3 is Anaheim's 3rd round pick. T.B2 is Tampa
Bay's 2nd round pick. They retain their names even if they're
traded.
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E.g.
Subject: FHL TRADE L.A
OUT: L.A,WAYNE,GRETZKY,F,25 L.A,MARTY,MCSORLEY,D,12 L.A1, L.A2
IN: TOR,DOUG,GILMOUR,F,22 TOR,KEN,BAUMGARTNER,D,6 $15 MTL2 R3 R3
R4
Here LA gives Toronto Wayne Gretzky, Marty McSorley and its first
and second round draft picks. Toronto gives LA Doug Gilmour, Ken
Baumgartner, $15, Montreal's second round draft pick (which we
imagine Toronto owns), and two 3rd and a 4th round auction bids.
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2. Trades taking place during a scoring period are considered to
occur at the end of that period; your newly acquired player only
starts scoring during the following scoring period. If one party
does not report a trade it doesn't happen. Once the season has
started all salaries are considered paid. You neither pay for new
players nor receive credit for traded players.
3. Trades must always satisfy the following conditions:
(i) they preserve active roster sizes at 20
(ii) they do not violate the 2Gs, 6+ Ds, 10+ Fs rule
(iii) reserve rosters do not exceed 10 players
Players retain their active or reserve status when traded. If
necessary, a team may use a roster transaction after a trade to
meet the above conditions. Trades that do not meet these
conditions are cancelled and may not be revised retroactively.
4. Trades during the first scoring period of the season are
considered to have taken place at the start of the season. Also,
the FHL imposes a trading freeze 7 days before the NHL's trading
deadline (sometime in March) until after the playoffs end.
5. Anti-Dumping Rules: Teams may not make hopelessly one-sided
trades.
(a) After the NHL Allstar Game and up to the trading deadline, a
team trading away a player with a salary over $5 may not
reacquire that player by trade prior to the following NHL Allstar
Game.
(b) In each trade, a Rating Value (RV) is calculated for each of
the two teams:
RV = (sum of the Ratings for each player being traded away) +
(8 x each draft pick being traded away) + (1 x each dollar being
traded away)
The higher of the two RVs is RV(h), the lower is RV(l)
Each trade must satisfy AT LEAST ONE of the following conditions:
(i) RV(h)/RV(l) < 1.25;
(ii) the team whose RV is RV(l) is placed 20th or lower in the
standings;
(iii) the teams exchange an equal number of players with salaries
of $20 or more AND an equal number of players with salaries of
$40 or more;
(iv) the teams receive the consent of the Commissioner.
Conditions (i) and (iii) are the main ones here and just about
any sensible trade will satisfy at least one of them. Condition
(ii) is there to create more trading possibilities for the very
worst teams as they look to the future. Condition (iv) is a
device to ensure that the other conditions (such as injury) don't
block trades that are clearly sensible. However, I believe the
other conditions are sufficiently easy to satisfy that it will
rarely need use.
In addition, no team may make trades that attempt to circumvent
these rules. In particular, the FHL forbids future considerations
trades involving players without the permission of the
commissioner. Only in rare instances will such permission be
given. The commissioner reserves the right to cancel any trade
without justification. Owners who feel a particular trade is
unreasonable in some regard or who have reason to believe that
certain trades involve attempts to circumvent the rules should
report the matter to the commissioner at once.
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D. RESERVE ROSTERS/FARM TEAM
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1. Each team may have a reserve roster of no more than 10 players
who may play any position. At the conclusion of the preseason, no
team may have a reserve roster of more than 5 players.
2. Players held in reserve are paid just like regular players,
but do not contribute to the team's scoring. During each scoring
period a team may make unlimited roster transactions. Such
transactions must respect positional distribution rules for the
active roster. Each team is granted 4 free roster transactions
during the season. Such free transactions are not tradable.
Subsequent roster transactions cost $5 each. A roster transaction
is defined as the movement of any number of players to or from
the active or reserve roster during a single scoring period.
Roster moves take effect at the end of the scoring period in
which the move is reported. Roster transactions are permitted
after the trading deadline until the end of the regular season.
They are also permitted during the playoffs, in which case the
transaction occurs at the end of the playoff round in which the
transaction is reported. At the end of the playoffs all players
are considered active.
3. Traded players retain their status from before the trade. It
requires a roster transaction to change it. By the end of each
scoring period a team must make appropriate roster transactions
to ensure that the roster conforms to active and reserve roster
rules.
4. Report roster transactions as follows (it's basically the same
as trades): Subject: FHL ROSTER MOVE YOUR_TEAM_ABBREVIATION
OUT: YOUR_TEAM,FIRST_NAME,LAST_NAME,POSITION,SALARY
IN: YOUR_TEAM,FIRST_NAME,LAST_NAME,POSITION,SALARY
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E.g.
Subject: FHL ROSTER MOVE L.A
OUT: L.A,WAYNE,GRETZKY,F,25
IN: L.A,JARI,KURRI,F,18
Here, L.A. is moving Wayne Gretzky from the active roster to the
reserve roster and moving Jari Kurri from the reserve roster to
the active roster. L.A will be charged $5 for making this move
unless it has free roster transactions remaining.
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E. PLAYOFFS
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1. Playoffs follow the NHL format. Top 8 teams per conference
qualify. The two division winners in each conference are
automatically seeded one and two. Pairings are determined by
conference position.
2. Each playoff round starts and ends at the same time as the
corresponding NHL playoff round. Teams score in goals, assists,
PIM, DStat and GF. The total in each category is the sum of the
team's total in that category during the regular season and a
multiple of the team's total in that category from the *start* of
the playoffs. The multiple is 25 throughout the playoffs.
3. At the end of each round, the remaining teams are ranked in
each category (just like the regular season). The ranks are
summed and this gives the team's overall score. Playoffs are
head-to-head. Therefore, to beat your opponent and to advance to
the next round of the playoffs you need achieve a higher score
than your opponent (with the usual tiebreakers applying).
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F. PROTECTION/DRAFT/AUCTION
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The following occur in order prior to start of next season:
1. The Paycheck. Each team has $400 added to its cash balance and
a player trading freeze is imposed.
2. The Cut (Part 1). Each team reduces its roster to a maximum of
25 players. This is the only way to dispose of players prior to
the cut that takes place after the auction (see below). Any
player retained at this point must appear on your 20-30 man
roster at the start of the auction. Before the auction, no roster
may exceed 30 players.
3. The Draft. Any player not on one of the FHL rosters (after 2)
is eligible for the draft, regardless of whether he has ever been
on an FHL roster or has played in the NHL. Players are drafted by
teams over four rounds in reverse order of regular season
position (but with a weighted lottery for teams that do not make
the playoffs). We won't have time for a real draft. Instead, each
team draws up a list for each round and gets the highest ranked
player remaining in that round once its turn comes. After this,
teams add eligible players from their NHL team so that their
roster has 20-30 players and satisfies position distribution
rules.
4. The Protection. Teams determine the status of each player on
the team subject to certain restrictions. There are several
player classifications:
(i) Players under contract (C players): Next season, each team
may protect up to 10 players via a contract. This effectively
protects the player for the number of years of the contract,
though see below for my remnant of the special auction. The
player's salary = current salary + (5 x number of years on
contract). So if one gave a $30 Gilmour a 3 year contract, his
salary becomes $45 per year for the next three seasons. Once a
player's contract is up, he becomes a free agent. There is one
expensive way to extend contracts (see below). Amongst its
contracted/drafted/under 22 players, a team may name up to two
franchise players (F players). They are treated like other
contract players except they are absolutely invulnerable to bids
from other teams.
In future seasons, teams may only offer contracts to players
drafted the previous season or to players who were under 22
players the previous season. Once a player's contract has
expired, he must become a free agent. In future seasons, there is
one further restriction. A team cannot add to its contracted
players if it already has more than 15 players under contract.
Teams can de-contract a player. The cost is half his yearly
salary. He then must become a $0 free agent. A team may change
it's franchise players from season to season and may never have
more than 2 franchise players at the start of the auction.
(ii) Free agents (FA): these players have no contract, they are
like our current unprotected players. All start out with whatever
salary the owner wishes to assign. They are very vulnerable in
the auction (see below). All players added from one's NHL team
fall in this category (whether under 22 or not).
(iii) Under 22 players (U22): any player aged under 22 can be
protected simply by adding $5 to his previous season's salary or
doubling the salary, whichever is less. Once over 22, he can be
offered a contract if the owner wishes. This will allow teams to
develop young players and then commit to long term contracts if
the player develops as hoped for. U22s can be designated as Cs if
the owner chooses, but they then count against the team's player
limit for Cs. An U22 may be named an F without it counting
against the team's player limit for Cs, but it does then use up
one of the team's Fs.
(iv) Drafted players (Ds): Drafted players get paid $1 with two
exceptions. First, if a player was drafted in the 1st round of
the draft and he is a player cut under rule 2 above, his salary
is the same as his FHL salary the previous season. If a player is
drafted (in any round) by the team that cut him, his salary is
the same as his FHL salary the previous year. Ds may be named Cs
or Fs and in both cases this counts against the team's player
limit for Cs and Fs (unless the player is an U22, in which case
the rules for U22 apply).
Player types C, F, U22 and D correspond to our protected players
and type FA to our unprotected players. I'll use the terms
"protected" and "unprotected" below to indicate these respective
groupings.
5. The Payday. All salaries get paid at this point and are
deducted from the team's cash balance. After this, the player
trading freeze is lifted.
6. The Auction. There is only one auction. It lasts three weeks
and on each day, Monday to Friday, throughout the three weeks,
each team can make one bid. Bids fall into three categories:
those for unprotected players, those for protected players and
trades.
(i) unprotected players Bidding for an unprotected player is
rather like bidding for an unprotected player in the current
regular auction setup. Two types of bid are possible: a single
year contract or a multi-year contract. A single year bid is just
a bid of a fixed amount, a base salary (like in the old regular
auction). If successful, it secures the player for one year after
which he becomes a free agent again. A multi-year bid consists of
a base salary ($0, $1, $2, $3, $4, $5, $10, $15, $20 etc etc in
increments of $5) plus an additional salary for the length of the
contract ($5 per year of the contract with the first year costing
$0). No matter what type of bid is entered, players agree to the
contract with the highest base salary. If highest base salary is
tied, the player accepts the contract with more years. There is
no compensation (see below). Thus, whatever salary the team
starting out with the player assigns, a bid for that player must
have a base salary that at least matches that amount.
Example: Gilmour is unprotected at $8. If no one bids for him,
he stays with his current team for one year at $8. Team A bids
$10. Team A would then get Gilmour for one year at $10. Team B
bids a multi-year bid of $20 (base salary $10). Team B would get
Gilmour for 3 years (first year is $0) at a salary of $20. Team
B's bid beats Team A's bid. Team C comes along and bids $15 for
one year. Team C now beats Team B because of the higher base
salary. Now note that this means Gilmour prefers a one year
contract at $15 per year over a three year contract at $20 per
year. Obviously that's unrealistic, but it has to be this way to
keep the contracts shortish if you think about it for long
enough.
(ii) protected players The effect of a bid for a protected player
depends upon the status of the player. If he is a C player, the
bid raises his current salary by $20 and adds one year to his
contract (this latter case is your way of extending contracts I
mentioned above--simply bid for your own guy). If he is a D
player or an U22, his salary is raised by $10.
Once a protected player has been bid for once, no further bids
may be made against him. At the end of the auction, the original
owner has the right to match the bid. F players are invulnerable
to these bids. Each team may only make 3 such bids in the course
of the auction and may not successfully bid against a single team
more than once. Once a team has received 3 successful bids
against protected players, all remaining such players become
ineligible for such bids. A team may, if it chooses, surrender
all 3 of its bids and convert another of its original C players
to an F player, though not one that has previously been bid for
by another team. These bids cannot be traded. A successful bid
against a protected player requires compensation. Compensation
shall depend upon the length of the contract the player was
previously signed to. One year contract=4th round draft pick, 2
year contract=3rd round pick, 3 year contract=2nd round pick, 4+
year contract=1st round pick. U22 and D players are considered to
have 4 year contracts for this purpose. If the bidding team does
not have such compensation, the bid is invalid.
(iii) Trades To make a trade just costs you your bid for that
day. I shall assume that in such trades the full salary burden
travels with the player. Thus, if I trade $20 Smith to you for
$30 Brown, I will lose $10 and you will gain $10. Of course, cash
can be included in such deals to offset these changes. These
trades must involve the exchange of an equal number of franchise
players. Also, if a trade is made and on the same day one of the
players in the trade is bid for, the entire trade is cancelled.
The order in which I will process bids on a given day is as
follows:
(I) conversions of C players to F players
(II) bids against protected players
(III) bids against unprotected players
(IV) trades
In (II) and (III), higher bids are processed before lower bids.
7. The Cut (Part 2). Rosters must be cut to 20 players (2
goalies, at least 6 defensemen and at least 10 forwards) for the
active roster and at most 5 players (no position restrictions)
for the reserve roster. Players who are cut are no longer under
your control. You do get credited for the salaries of those
players. Note that if you cut contracted players at this point,
the de-contracting rules apply (see above).
8. The Waiver Draft. There is no compensation after the auction.
Teams with rosters of less than 25 may pick up cut players in the
waiver draft. You get one pick per round per player needed to
make your roster up to 25. The team with the lowest total salary
gets first pick. The draft has as many rounds as are necessary.
The salary of a picked player is whatever his salary was prior
when he was cut. In the event that a team has $0 remaining, has
an illegal roster, and there are insufficient $0 players
remaining to make the roster legal, the commissioner will
arbitrarily assign players to the team's roster to make the
roster legal.
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G. MIDSEASON WAIVERS/SUPPLEMENTARY DRAFT
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This draft no longer exists.
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H. DISPUTE RESOLUTION
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Where two or more teams are in dispute over some matter, like a
trade, and these rules do not cover the matter in dispute, the
league has successfully used the following procedure for
resolution of the problem:
1. The Commissioner will ask an anonymous owner to act as
Arbitrator with the teams in dispute having the right to request
that certain owners not function as Arbitrator.
2. Each team makes its case to the Commissioner.
3. The Commissioner communicates the relevant facts to the
Arbitrator and gives the Arbitrator a list of possible decisions
doing his best not to reveal the identities of the teams involved
(often this is impossible).
4. The Arbitrator makes a decision and communicates it to The
Commissioner without having to offer any justification for the
decision.
5. The Commissioner communicates the decision, which is final and
not subject to further negotiation, to the owners.
To allow this process to work, owners should not attempt to
discover the identity of an Arbitrator and anyone being asked if
they are an Arbitrator should respond, "Arbitrator? What
Arbitrator?"
