Western Canadian Hockey League Constitution

Hello everyone and welcome to the WCHL. It is recommended that you look these rules over and if you have any questions, please contact either the Commissioner (Trent Allen at trentallen1@hotmail.com) or the Co-Commissioner (Kurt Fulmore at kfulmore@mymts.net) to get them answered.

These rules are subject to change. The WCHL has a procedure in place to solicit feedback from General Manager’s each season regarding league rules and any possible improvements, and in many cases General Manager’s are asked to vote on proposed rule changes. Any rule changes that are made will not take effect until all GM’s have been notified and a waiting period will take place so that all GM’s can adjust to the rule, unless the situation requires immediate action or immediate implementation of the rule won’t cause any adverse effects to any General Manager or team. Some rule changes will be solely at the discretion of the Commissioner, if deemed warranted. Rule changes will be done in the off-season, unless they must be made during the season for some unforeseen circumstances. The Commissioner has the right to enact rule changes as he sees fit to ensure the progress and integrity of the league.

Basic Information- The sim is set for a minimum of 40 players and a maximum of 50 regularly signed players per team. That is the pro team and farm team together. If a trade, signing, waiver claim, prospect creation or other player acquisition will make you go over or under these limits it will be voided, unless you provide an immediate remedy to the situation. Teams can also go beyond the 50 player limit by up to five players who are signed to a minor league only deal. These players are not under the possession of any team and are strictly used to help teams fulfill roster requirements for their minor league franchise. As they do not belong to any team, another team can sign them to a WCHL contract at any time.

The pro roster is set for a maximum of 25 players. That includes dressed players, healthy scratches, unsigned RFA’s and injured players. You must have a minimum of three of each forward position, six defensemen and two goalies, and 18 skaters and two goaltenders in your dressed line up. The other players, if you choose to carry them, will be healthy scratches. You must also dress a full line up on the farm team. If you don’t, the Commissioner can sign random players to your team at league minimums to fill any deficiencies.

Goalies can not play more than 4,100 minutes in the regular season. This total would be in effect regardless of the number of teams the goalie plays for and is not reset by a trade. Once a goalie exceeds this number he is suspended for the remainder of the regular season.

Point System- The sim awards two points for a win, one for a tie, and zero points for a regulation loss. An overtime or shootout loss will result in one point.

Schedule- Games will be simmed one scheduled day per calendar day unless stated otherwise. The regular season will be 82 games and the current NHL standard for playoff seeding will be used to determine what teams advance to the playoffs.

General Managers- All GM’s are expected to reply to all e-mails or other messages they receive. GM’s are encouraged to state if another GM has not responded to an e-mail they have sent out by posting the date of the e-mail, who it was sent to, and the fact there was no response, in this thread on the leagues message board: http://wchlforum.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=leaguea&action=display&thread=5288

Please provide a 72 hour window for GM’s to respond before posting in the thread.

GM Editor- All GM's need to use the GM Editor to edit their lines. The lines you send in are a file with the .lns extension. When you save your lines, don't put a password

General Manager Activity- GM’s will be required to submit their info for the GM bio page, as well as a picture if they want one.

We encourage all General Managers to be active in this league and we will reward General Managers who are active through a points system called the General Manager Activity Chart.

The activity chart keeps tabs on the point totals each GM has for doing various tasks in the league. This is a breakdown of the activity points:

Points earned for the following, how much and if they should be posted or sent to the e-mail address:

Player position changes: Maximum 1 point per day (e-mail)

Trades: 10 points per trade (posted)

Prospect creations: 3 points per prospect created (e-mail)

GM recommendation that we hire: 20 points (e-mail)

ASST. GM recommendation that we hire: 10 points (e-mail)

Lines: Maximum 1 point per day (e-mail)

Articles (minimum 300 words not including the title): 20 points each (posted)

Maintaining a team website (must be updated occasionally throughout the season): 50 points

Message Board Posts (deemed worthy by Commissioner): 1 point per post (posted)

Voting: 5 points (e-mail)

 

The GM Activity Chart will begin the first day of the pre-season and run until the commissioner declares a finish at or near the end of the following off-season. If a team has a GM transfer at some point during the season, the new General Manager will start at zero points and any points accumulated by the previous General Manager will be removed.

The reward behind the GM activity chart is points GM's can use towards their players attributes. The most active team would receive 60 points, second most active 58 points, and decrease therein by two points per team with the least active team receiving two points. Points can be awarded to a maximum of 15 points per player, and five points per attribute. The maximum level an attribute can be increased to by using activity points at 90 (including goalies).

General Manager Dismissal- GM’s can be removed for a variety of actions, including but not limited to: Not voting on league issues, posting messages detrimental to the league, not replying to league e-mails pertaining to your team, or harassing another GM, or saying inappropriate things to another GM will be subject to a dismissal. If you have a problem with the league, speak to the Commissioner to have your problem dealt with. We will do our best to resolve any issue. Publicly airing problems in a negative manner only serves to undermine the league and its credibility, and that is not beneficial to anyone.

Players and Coaches attributes meaning- Player attributes are the numbers that appear by the players name on the rosters page. Here’s a definition breakdown:

CK: Checking, FG: Fighting, DI: Discipline, SK: Skating, ST: Strength, EN: Endurance, DU: Durability, PH: Puck Handling, FO: Faceoffs, PA: Passing, SC: Scoring, DF: Defense, PS: Penalty Shot, EX: Experience, LD: Leadership, MO: Moral, PO: Potential, OV: Overall.

Coaches have only sevenattributes: PH: Physical, OF: Offense, DF: Defense, PD: Player Development, EX: Experience, and LD: Leadership, PO: Potential

The WCHL uses the STHS simulator. Visit the STHS website to read up on this simulator and try to have any questions you may have answered: http://sths.simont.info/

Buying out a player/firing a coach- You may buy out a player or coach at any time. If a team releases a player, they must pay the released player 67 per cent of his remaining contract. If you buy out a player mid-season, the amount you owe him will be pro-rated. Buy outs do not impact the salary cap. If you buy out a player or coach you are not permitted to reacquire him until after one full season has been completed or a full calendar year has gone by, whichever comes first. A full season will mean a full 82 game season, so if you buy out a player mid-season, the full season requirement will not have be fulfilled until the following season is played in its entirety.

Retiring Players/coaches- When a player retires in the NHL; they will retire at the end of the current WCHL season. The end of a WCHL season will start when the playoffs are finished and end when the first day of the regular season of the following year is played. Therefore, if a player retires at any point considered to be the off-season, which includes the pre-season, he will be immediately retired in the WCHL. If a player hasn't played for two seasons or more, the Commissioner has the right to decide if that player retires or not. The same policy will apply to coaches.

Changing Players’ Positions- If you want to change a player's position, you must send the Commissioner a link from a reputable hockey source to show that the player can play that position. The source must be something that everyone in the league can access for free. Players positions can be changed at any point.

Coaches’ Salaries- Coaches contracts will be negotiated through the Commissioner. It is assumed the coach wishes to return at the maximum salary possible with his current team, unless the Commissioner requests a different contract during the off-season. The cap on coaches’ salaries is $6 million a season, and a maximum of five seasons per contract. Coaches whose contracts are up will consider offers from other teams unless his current team offers this maximum salary.

Coaches that are hired must have at least one year in the AHL recently or be a current coach or assistant coach in the NHL.

During the off-season coaches of a farm team can be hired by another team as the Head Coach of their pro team, even if still under contract to the team that has them on the farm team. Coaches will only leave a minor league coaching assignment to move to another team if they are getting a WCHL (pro) level coaching position. If a team’s farm team coach receives a pro team offer from another team, the original team reserves the right to fire their existing pro team coach and promote the farm team coach in question and match the offer that was given to that coach.

Re-Rates- Re-rates will be done after every second season. Re-rates are based entirely on NHL play and aren’t based on tournaments, such as the World Cup or the Olympics and do not include playoff performances at any level. Re-rates are based solely on NHL play and, in the event a player hasn’t played in the NHL much or not at all, on the highest level of league competition he has performed at. The same goes for coaches. Re-rates will be done in the off-season only.

Arguing ratings- Teams are allowed to argue ratings of a player or coach. Teams are allowed to argue up to three attributes per player on up to 10 players, or up to two attributes on a coach (the coach will count towards that 10 player limit). All arguments must be sent in one e-mail. Any request submitted that is based at all on another players rate in the WCHL will not be accepted. Successful arguments must be based on NHL play. Re-rate arguments can only occur in the off-season, after the player ratings are updated and will be requested by the Commissioner. If you submit re-rate requests, players cannot see a decrease in attributes, they will either increase or remain the same.

Finances- There is a pro team salary cap, which matches the NHL’s salary cap. Whatever the NHL’s salary cap is at the start of the off-season is what will be the WCHL’s pro team salary cap for the upcoming season. To reflect the fact NHL teams can gain cap space by having contracts count for less as the season goes along, the WCHL increases the salary cap by 10 per cent between the start of the regular season and the trade deadline in four separate increments of 2.5 per cent each. The dates of those increases are announced early into the regular season after the schedule has been created.

There is also a farm team salary cap, currently set at $10 million.

Teams must stay out of debt. If a team goes into debt the league will auction off the player who is closest to the amount the team is in debt (or multiple players if one player doesn’t cover the amount) until the team is brought out of debt. Multiple infractions could lead to dismissal of the GM. Any trade involving cash that will see a team going into the negative in finances will be voided.

Team’s that have less than $10 million when a new GM takes over will automatically be raised up to that level.

Players on the farm will make 10 per cent of their pro salary unless otherwise stated or their contract calls for something different.

Owners cut – At the end of the playoffs, teams will have 10 per cent of the funds in their bank account removed. This is deemed to be revenues taken by the teams owners.

Ticket Prices- GMs can set their own ticket prices and can change ticket price at any time.

New GM’s are permitted one rollback/waiving of NMC’s and NTC’s - A new General Manager is permitted to roll one contract back to the players current NHL cap hit. The rollback would be paid for in cash at a rate of $1.50 per each $1 rolled back. The rollback is limited to only players on the teams' roster at the time the General Manager took over the team and cannot be used on acquired players. Additionally, any NTC/NMC's a GM inherits will be automatically waived. The roll back must be used within two weeks of being hired as the teams’ General Manager, with the date of being hired determined as the date the General Managers’ hiring was announced by the Commissioner.

Rivalries- Two teams can agree to a rivalry and wager any amount of money they wish on this rivalry. For the rivalry to be legit, both teams must agree. To apply for a rivalry both teams must e-mail the Commissioner matching details of the rivalry. You may have as many rivalries as you want, so long as you can cover all the wagers. If you can’t cover them, and they put you into debt, refer to the league rule regarding going into debt for more information on the consequences of doing so.

Additional League Revenues- This is meant to cover additional league revenues beyond game day revenues. The determination for this amount of revenue will see the total NHL league revenue, minus player benefits paid by the NHL, minus ticket sales (this is due to the fact WCHL teams already earn ticket sales themselves. Approximately two-thirds of NHL revenues are based on ticket sales), divided by 30 teams.

Ex: In 2013-2014, the NHL claimed $3.7 billion in total revenues and $120 million in player benefits.

$3.7 billion X 0.34 (0.66 is deducted for ticket sales, 0.66 equals two-thirds) = $1.258 billion.

$1.258 billion minus $120 million = $1.138 billion.

$1.138 billion divided by 30 teams = $37,933,333 per team.

 

Calculations will include the most recent revenues available.

Waiver Draft- Prior to the start of each regular season, a waiver draft will be conducted. During the waiver draft, any player who is in the minors and is 25 years of age or older is eligible to be drafted. Only players in the minors are eligible to be claimed. A team which claims a player must have room on their pro roster for the player, as any claimed player will be automatically assigned to the new teams pro roster. A team cannot have more than 25 players on their pro roster at any point during the draft and cannot have more than 50 players between their pro and farm rosters combined, excluding the five minor-league only contracts each team is permitted to have. Any player with a no movement clause (NMC) can not be demoted to the farm or otherwise made eligible for selection in the waiver draft and must remain on the pro roster and count against the 25 pro player limit as well as the salary cap, even if under the age of 25.

A deadline for rosters will be announced by the Commissioner prior to the waiver draft. Once that deadline passes rosters will be frozen for a period of one day and teams will be given that time submit lists of players they wish to claim in the order they wish them claimed. At the end of the one day period when rosters are frozen the Commissioner will conduct the waiver draft and players will be selected by teams who submitted lists in reverse order of the final standings from the previous season, with the last place team in the overall standings selecting first, second worst selecting second, and so forth with the order repeating in rounds until the end. Should a team run out of players on their list, fail to submit a list, run out of pro roster spots, run out of total rosters spots, or run out of salary cap space at any point in the waiver draft they will no longer be permitted to make a selection and will be removed from the waiver draft. The waiver draft will end when all teams have been removed. 

Trades- You can trade for players, prospects, draft picks or cash. Teams cannot trade for future considerations of any type. Both sides of the trade must post the trade on the league message board before it will be processed, and if a player agent is agreeing to waive a NMC/NTC he must post this as well before it is processed. Both posts must have the exact same trade within 72 hours.

If a player is placed on waivers, he cannot be traded until after he comes off waivers. If a team trades a player, and then places him on waivers after the trade but before the player is moved to his new team, the player will be removed from waivers.

Trade Deadline- The trade deadline is after 77 per cent of the regular season has been played. Any trades sent in after the deadline will be processed after the playoffs are concluded.

Free Agency- There is two types of free agents: Restricted and Unrestricted. If a player is 29 or older and his contract has expired, he is an unrestricted free agent. If a player is younger than 29 and is coming off a contract with a WCHL team, he is a restricted free agent. The Commissioner will post a date for when players’ ages will be used to determine UFA/RFA status at the start of the season. All offers on extensions for free agents, both UFA and RFA, go to the player agent during the regular season. There will be open bidding on all of the free agents at the end of the playoffs. The limit on contract length is one to five years with a year is defined as one WCHL season. The minimum signing salary is $650,000. Teams cannot bid on their own RFA's during free agency. If a player reaches the end of the third round of the playoffs and teams have not resigned the RFA player by this point they cannot bid on their player again until after the off-season is completed (all free agency periods are done). Teams can still match offers to a RFA if the player accepts an offer from another team.

Players under the age of 29 who are new to the league (such as European players coming over to North America or college UFA signings) or players who are not qualified by their team are also UFA’s. They will be treated the same as regular UFA’s, unless they are aged 24 or younger. If 24 or younger, they can sign a contract this is a maximum of three years at a maximum of $925,000 per season and cannot be offered NTC’s or NMC’s.

Teams can go over the salary cap for the off-season, but will have to be back under the salary cap prior to the waiver draft.

All players who are eligible to be UFA’s after the season will have a ‘random roll’ conducted, using the random number generator at www.random.org. If a player rolls a 98, 99 or 100 out of 100 different numbers, he will elect to go automatically to free agency and ignore any offers from whichever teams owns him, including if he is later traded to a different team. All random rolls will be done prior to the season.

All UFA’s will be signed in the off-season free agency unless player meets all of the following criteria; (1) He is 21 years of age or older, (2) He is playing in a professional hockey league in North America (3) His rights are not owned by any NHL club (4) His rights are not owned by any WCHL club. The Commissioner reserves the right to send a player to open bidding mid-season should a player unexpectedly become a UFA such as through a buyout.

UFA Player demands- Players agents will provide a list of player demands for all UFA’s prior to the start of UFA to provide a guideline for what the players are looking for in a contract. Players are not restricted to signing with teams who meet those requirements, and can sign with another team if the Player Agent feels it presents a better offer.

No Movement Clause/No Trade Clause- Players can be offered a No Movement Clause (NMC) as part of contract negotiations. If a player has a No Movement Clause this means the player cannot be traded, waived or demoted to the minor leagues, unless the players’ agent agrees to do so. Outside of the Player Agent waiving a NMC, the only other way to move a player with a NMC is to buy him out of his contract. See ‘Buying Out a Player’ for more information on this.

Teams can also offer players a No Trade Clause (NTC). A NTC prevents a team from trading a player but they can assign him to the minor league team. A player agent can waive a NTC as well.

Once a Player Agent waives a players clause, it is waived permanently and will not carry forward with the player to his new team. Only the GM of the team that has the player can request the player waive his No Movement Clause.

A formula has been established to determine the cost for a player to waive his NTC or NMC:

Four factors should weigh into the cost of a player waiving his No Trade Clause; 1) Number of years left on his contract, including the current season, 2) The players age, 3) The overall ranking of the team he's going to and 4) The overall ranking of the team he's leaving.

Numerical value is given to each of those four criteria. For number of years left on the contract (Factor 1), this formula only applies for players with two or more years left on his contract. Those in the final year of their deal have a different formula. For the players age (Factor 2) it is inverse. Anyone 39 or older gets the numerical value of 1 and anyone younger than 39 sees that number value go up one per year (38 =2, 37=3, 36=4, etc.) to a maximum of 22 for age 18. For the overall ranking of the team the player would be going to (Factor 3), this reflects the overall ranking of the acquiring team at the moment the trade is processed. For the overall ranking of the team he's leaving (Factor 4) it would again be inverse, meaning the 30th ranked team would be valued at 1 and each team higher in the overall rankings the number would go higher, with the top ranked team being valued at 30. For factors 3) and 4), if in the off-season then the last seasons standings will be used.

The formula is Factor 1 x Factor 2 x Factor 3 x Factor 4 x 1,000

Here's a few examples of the formula:

Player X has 5 years left on his deal and is traded from the top ranked team in the league (value of 30) to the worst team in the league (value of 30) and is 18 years old (value of 22) the score would come out at 99,000

Player Y has 2 years left on his deal and is traded from the bottom ranked team in the league (value of 1) to the best team in the league (value of 1) and is 39 years old (value of 1) the score would come out at 2

Player Z has 3 years left on his deal and is traded from the 14th overall ranked team in the league (value of 16) to the 10th overall team in the league (value of 10) and is 29 years old (value of 11) the score would come out at 5,280

Now, according to the formula, all scores are multiplied by 1,000. This number equals to the cost to buy the player out.

So Player x would = $99 million, Player Y would = $1 million (see reasoning below) and player Z would = $5.28 million

 

Notes about the formula:

-The minimum buyout is $1 million

-The buyout can only be used if the agent gives approval for the No Trade Clause to be waived. The agent retains full right to refuse to waive a NTC.

-An additional 10 per cent is added onto a buyout if it is a No Movement Clause being bought out.

-The absolute maximum for a contract to be waived is $108.9 million and the least is $1 million

For players in the final year of the deal they would want more control on where they are going as they would likely only waive to go to a team that's clearly in the post-season, so the percentage of the season that is left would be factored in. Formula would be the same with the percentage of the season remaining added in and the escalator reduced from 1,000 to 100:

The formula is Factor 1 x Factor 2 x Factor 3 x Factor 4 x percentage of the season left represented in full numerical value X 100

Factor 1 is always a value of 1 as it is a UFA to be.

 

The formula makes it beneficial to trade a player up in the standings and makes older player more willing to waive for less than a younger player would as younger players do have a greater chance of having more shots at the cup.

The calculation is done at the time the trade is processed.

The agent retains full authority on if a NTC/NMC is waived. The formula is only used if the agent grants permission for the NTC/NMC to be waived.

 

UFA Timeframe- There are multiple free agency periods. In the first period, players with the last name starting with letters A through M are available. The second period covers players in N through Z. The third period is for players who received no bids in those periods, or players the agents elected to move to this flight due to below market value bids, as well as anyone the Commissioner decides to hold over to this period.

For unrestricted free agents all teams are limited to one bid per player and they submit those bids to the respective agent. The agent then could pick the top two bidders and offer them the chance to submit a second improved bid before the agent decides where the player signs. Agents are not obligated to give a reason for why any team is eliminated or selected. Each bid to a player must come in an individual email.

Players who can be signed outside of free agency- Teams are free to sign any of their prospects of their prospect list at any point in the season. The only other players who are not in the league that a team may sign outside of the free agency period must meet all four of the following criteria at the point a request to sign said player is submitted to the Commissioner:

-The player must not be on any other WCHL teams prospect list, pro team or farm

-The player must be playing professional hockey in North America

-The player must be 21 or older

-The player must not be affiliated with a NHL team (contract or rights)

 

Teams Signing UFA’s Must Keep Them for at least Half a Season- UFA’s that sign with a team do so on the belief they will be playing for that organization. The UFA must be with the team that signed him for at least 41 games (half a season) before he can be traded. He doesn’t have to play 41 games, but he has to stay with the team until the team has played at least 41 games.

RFA’s- RFA’s have the right to shop their services to other teams, however, the team that holds the RFA’s rights has the right to match any bid on the player or receive compensation if the RFA signs with another team. Below is a list of draft pick compensation if a team decides not to match an offer sheet. This compensation chart will follow existing NHL standards unless otherwise stated by the Commissioner.

Cap Hit of offer sheet

Draft Pick Compensation

$1,339,575 or below

None

Over $1,339,575 to $2,029,659

Third-round pick

Over $2,029,660 to $4,059,322

Second-round pick

Over $4,059,323 to $6,088,980

First-round and third-round pick

Over $6,088,981 to $8,118,641

First-round, second-round and third-round pick

Over $8,118,642 to $10,148,302

Two first-round picks, second-round pick, third-round pick

Over $10,148,302

Four first-round picks

 

Draft picks must be from upcoming draft years. If the compensation is four 1st round draft picks for example, there must be at least one first round pick from the nearest draft, at least one from the second nearest draft, etc. until all draft picks are awarded. If a team has four first round picks in the upcoming draft, all four will be used as compensation. If the compensation calls for picks from different rounds, the picks must come from the nearest draft year. For example, if the compensation is a 1st round draft pick and a 3rd round draft pick, both picks must come from the nearest draft year. If the compensation were to be two 1st round picks and a 3rd round pick, one 1st round pick and the 3rd round draft pick must come from the nearest draft year and the second 1st round pick can come from the next draft year (or from the nearest draft year if the acquiring team has two 1sts in the nearest draft year). If the team making the bid has multiple picks which would qualify as compensation, the team losing the player gets to select which picks are to be used as compensation.

If a RFA has a bid in free agency that is accepted by an agent, the team that holds the players rights cannot trade the player until after deciding if they will match the bid or not. Teams will have 72 hours to match the offer or take the compensation. If the team does not make a decision by the time the 72 hour period expires they are forced to accept the compensation. If the team declines to match the bid the player is automatically transferred to the bidding team.

The ‘Ryan O’Reilly Rule’- A RFA that is signed by, and eventually goes to, another team has an automatic one season No Trade Clause applied to his contract.

Pulling Bids- Any bid on an RFA or UFA during free agency that is pulled will result in a $500,000 fine. For each additional bid that is pull, the fine will rise by an additional $500,000 (IE, 1st pulled bid = $500,000, 2nd pulled bid= $1 million, 3rd pulled bid= $1.5 million, etc.). A team cannot pull a bid on a player and continue to bid further on said player without permission from the Commissioner.

Qualifying RFA’s- All RFA’s are automatically qualified for the team, unless the team wishes to leave an RFA unqualified, thus allowing the player to become an UFA. The team must state they wish to allow an RFA to become a UFA however. Qualifying offers must be submitted to the player agents no later than the end of the second round of the playoffs. The end of the second round of the playoffs will be defined as when winners of all series in the second round (pro and farm) are determined. Player agents must declare which players accept their qualifying offers no later than the end of third round of the playoffs. The end of the third round of the playoffs will be defined as when winners of all series in the third round (pro and farm) are determined. A RFA must be given a 10 per cent raise if they make less than $1 million in order to retain their rights. If they make $1 million or more then they can be offered the same salary for the qualifying offer. If the player is making under $1 million but a 10 per cent raise would bump him above $1 million, the qualifying offer is capped at $1 million. Agents are free to settle for contracts that do not met these standards, this rule is only for the purpose of retaining a RFA’s rights.

Player Salary Cap- The player salary cap will be 20 per cent of the overall team salary cap.

Players not in NHL maximum salary- In the absence of an NHL salary, the player cannot make more than double the league minimum salary. This doesn’t apply to a player who has played in the NHL the previous season but is just currently without a contract in the NHL or any other league, or a player signed in UFA.

Hold Outs- Agents (with the approval of the Commissioner) will issue a player holdout in extreme situations, usually defined as a player being assigned to the farm, when there are clearly less talented individuals on the pro team, getting approximately equal playing time/depth position. A two-week hold out would be initiated where the player would demand to be promoted, or traded. At the end of the two weeks the agent would make note (thus worsening the chances at resigning other players) and the player would refuse to resign with the team. Hold outs only to players who are waiver exempt (24 or younger).

Retiring players could refuse demotion- Agents are permitted to prevent a player from going to the farm in a retirement situation. This rule is the ‘final year clause,’ and is solely for players who have retired in real life, but not yet in the WCHL. It would stop these guys from going to the minors as it’s unlikely a player would want to finish his last season in the minors. It is assumed anyone that has retired in the NHL but not in the WCHL has essentially declared their intentions to retire at the end of the season in the WCHL. Both agents would need to approve a players demand to refuse to go to the minors. If said ‘real life’ retired player is assigned to the farm by his WCHL team, the agents can say he refuses to go. The team can then either keep him on the pro team or not. If they elect not to keep him on the pro team, the player is waived. If the player is claimed, he goes to the claiming team, who then also has to keep him up on the pro roster. If he isn’t claimed, then the player can be released at no cost (a mutually agreed termination of the contract) and whichever agent responsible can post him to the message board and take in contract offers, which will all be one year contracts with a no movement clause and the agent can send him to the best team in their opinion. If there are no offers, the player is retired immediately. If a retiring player is on the team of an agent, the commissioner will replace said agent in this process.

European returnee rule- Any player who in real life goes to Europe after he has played professional hockey in North America can be automatically moved to the prospect list of the WCHL team he plays for. The player in question will be eligible to remain on the prospect list until the age of 29. If the player returns to a North American professional hockey league before the age of 29, he will have to be re-created before the end of the WCHL season during which (or immediately if he returns during a WCHL off-season) he returned to North America or be allowed to leave as an unrestricted free agent. If a team owns his rights, said player can be re-created at any point during the current season. If not created he must go to UFA  regardless of age. If the player becomes eligible to be recreated only after the WCHL trade deadline is passed, he can be recreated but not actually placed on the teams’ roster until after the season (including playoffs) is over.

For any player who is under the age of 25, as determined by the age date supplied by the league each season, he can be left on the prospect list as a prospect with the requirements for activating a prospect applicable. Any European prospect at the age of 25 cannot be kept on the prospect list unless he had been previously created and reassigned to the prospect list as per the above noted rule.

Farm only contracts – In order to fill farm teams to be able to ice a full line up, teams are able to sign up to five players to farm only contracts. This means the players signed to such a deal will only be eligible to play for the farm team and are not property of the WCHL club. They cannot be recalled to the pro roster. Players on farm only contracts cannot be claimed in the waiver draft, however if another team wants a player on a farm only contract they can sign said player. A player will only accept an farm only deal if the player agent agrees to the contract.

Contract Extensions and Signing Bonuses- Teams can also offer signing bonuses to resign players. Teams can offer a signing bonus of up to 25 per cent of the contract. Ex: If you offer a player a five-year contract at $5 million per season, that equals $25 million over the life of the contract. You can add a signing bonus of 25 per cent of that amount (in this case that would be $6.25 million) to the offer. This applies to all contracts except rookie contracts or veteran UFA's signed outside of free agency. Signing bonuses don't count against the salary cap and would be just deducted from a team’s bank account.

Once a player signs a contract extension, the salary of that extension will take affect the following season. Other items on that contract however, such as but not limited to No Trade Clauses and No Movement Clauses, will take effect immediately after the contract is approved by the Commissioner.

UFA Contract Extension Period- UFA’s-to-be will only be willing to talk about a contract extension over the final half of the regular season. In other words, from game forty-one of your teams’ season until the playoffs start. Once the playoffs start, any unsigned UFA’s will be testing the market.

Agents- For defensemen and goaltenders, the Player Agent is Patrick Matthews (Pittsburgh Penguins GM) patrick.matthews@gmail.com For forwards, the Player Agent is unfilled but will be managed by the commissioner. For players aged 23 or younger, regardless of position, contracts will e handled by Mike McFarland (michaelwmcfarland@hotmail.com) When submitting an offer to a player to an agent, GM’s must wait five consecutive days before requesting further follow up. If agents are away or otherwise unavailable the five days doesn't begin until they return or are available again.

Salary Arbitration- In the event a contract can't be agreed to between the Player Agent and the team, a team can request salary arbitration. Salary arbitration is limited to only RFA players. Teams can argue one player at a time until such time as the commissioner sides with the agent. The Commissioner would decide between offered salaries from the GM and the Player Agent only. In the event the Commissioner is also serving as the Player Agent for the player in question, a second Player Agent will step in to serve as the arbitrator.

Waivers- When sending a player to the farm team, if they are 25 years of age or older they are subject to waivers. It is the GM’s responsibility to see if a player is subject to having to clear waivers or not. When a player is placed on waivers, other teams have 48 hours to claim the player. The order of claim will be the worst team first, as of the end of the 48-hour period. As well, to claim a player, you must have room on your pro roster and the required cap space for that player, as any claimed player is placed on the claiming teams pro roster immediately.

Prospects- If you wish to sign a prospect, you will be required to find information on the player and up to date statistics to aid his creation. You will e-mail the name of the player, along with the information and statistics to the Commissioner. The amount a prospect will sign for is dependent on the round in which a player was drafted in the NHL draft.

This is the pay scale for signing draft picks:

1st round pick: $925,000

2nd round pick: $881,250

3rd round pick: $837,500

4th round pick: $793,750

5th round pick: $750,000

6th round pick: $706,250

7th round pick: $662,500

 

Players who sign their first contract at age 18-21 are required to sign three-year entry level contracts; players age 22-23 will be required to sign two-year deals; and players age 24 or older will be required to sign a one-year Entry Level contract.

In rare occasions, a player will go undrafted until he’s past the age of 21 and then he will get drafted by a NHL team. If that happens and a team has already signed him, he will be immediately released at no cost to the team and will be reserved for selection in the respective entry draft.

Any prospect that has played 30 or more NHL games (including playoff games) must be created by the end of the current WCHL season in play or be allowed to walk as a UFA. Additionally, any prospect who turns 25 will be made a UFA if not signed by the end of the current WCHL season in which he turned 25. The same date used to determine when a player is UFA as outlined under ‘Free Agency’ will be used to determine when a player is 25. Any prospect that turns 25 but has spent his entire career to that point since being drafted in Europe, or who was never created while in North America and has since returned to Europe, cannot be signed or created and will be released at the end of the WCHL season in which he turns 25.

Awards- At the end of each season, awards will be handed out. With each piece of hardware comes a monetary award as well. These are the amounts received by the team that has the winner of the following awards:

Hart Trophy: Given to the player deemed to be the player of the year. Award: $2 million

Conn Smythe: Given to the player deemed to be the best player of the playoffs. Award: $1.5 million

Vezina: Given to the best goaltender in the regular season. Award: $1.5 million.

Rocket Richard: Given to the player with the most goals in the regular season. Award: $1 million

Art Ross: Given to the player with the most points in the regular season. Award: $2 million

Ray Bourque Award (+/-): Given to the player with the best plus/minus in the regular season. Award: $500,000

Selke: Given to the forward deemed to have shown the best two-way performance. Award: $1 million

Jennings: Given to the team with the lowest goals against average (GAA). Award: $500,000

Calder: Given to the best first year player during the regular season. Award: $500,000.

Norris: Given to the best defenseman in the regular season. Award: $1.5 million.

WCHL/WCHLPA Award of Excellence: Given to the best player on a team that missed the playoffs: Award: $1 million.

General Manager of the Year Award: This will be awarded to the General Manager deemed to have done the best job over the season. Award: $1 million

1st and 2nd All-Star Teams: Voting of the first and second all-star teams will be done via a league wide vote of General Managers. Teams with a first team all-star will receive $500,000 per position. Teams with a second team all-star receive $250,000 per position.

 

Entry Draft- The Entry Draft will be held after every second WCHL season. This is so the WCHL draft can be in sync with the NHL draft as two WCHL seasons are simmed per calendar year. The draft will be seven rounds long. Any player taken in the WCHL Entry Draft must have been picked in that corresponding year's NHL draft. The draft order will be determined using all 30 teams' combined point totals over the two seasons. The team with the least amount of combined points over the two seasons gets 1st pick, next fewest gets 2nd pick and so forth. The results of the Draft Lottery (as described below) can impact this order for the first round of the draft.

The draft is conducted via e-mail and teams will be given 24-hours to make their pick. If a team times out on their selection, that team will be given auto picks (defined as the highest drafted player from the NHL draft of the same year still available). Teams, including those who are left to auto pick, can still submit a list to the Commissioner who will draft on your behalf. Teams not on auto picks can also designate a proxy to draft on their behalf.

Draft Lottery- There is a draft lottery, which will follow the NHL’s draft lottery. The Commissioner will conduct the draft lottery during the playoffs and only the top 14 draft picks will be involved in the lottery, with three lotteries being held to determine the top three selections. All selection slot changes will only apply to the first round. The odds of winning the lottery differ depending on the round, for better details see the 2016 Entry Draft results here: http://wchlforum.proboards.com/thread/10733/2016-wchl-entry-draft-lottery

The Draft Lottery will change in accordance with the NHL’s draft lottery for the drafts the NHL uses those changes.

The tiebreakers for draft positioning (prior to the draft lottery) will be: 1. Total wins 2. goal differential 3. ROW wins. If still tied after this the Commissioner will determine the order by random drawing of number using www.random.org

Team Relocation- WCHL teams can only move when an NHL team moves. The WCHL will relocate such a team when this occurs.