OFFICIAL PFHL OWNER'S MANUAL
Updated May 26th,2007

A. CODE OF CONDUCT
B. LEAGUE PLAY
C. TRADING
D. LINE CHANGES
E. PLAYOFFS
F. DRAFTS
G. WAIVERS/RELEASED PLAYERS
H. DISPUTE RESOLUTION
I. AWARDS
J. BUDGETS & FINANCES
K. FREE AGENCY
L. SIGNING ROOKIES/UNASSIGNED PLAYERS
M. RE-SIGNING/CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS
N. PLAYER ELIGIBILITY
O. BONUSES
P. RATINGS CHALLENGES

All rules are subject to change, but all changes will pass through the league's
Board of Governors before being made official.


DEFINITION OF TERMS


Franchise       -- corresponds to a PFHL team.  45 total players maximum are allowed
                in any franchise, including pro, farm, and prospect lists combined.
                (Regular Season Only)
Owners          -- consists of the GM, Coach and all others associated
                with a franchise.
GM              -- person responsible for roster changes of a franchise.
                NOTE: only this person's confirmation will be accepted
                for trades and other managerial duties.
Coach           -- person responsible for the construction of team
                lines/goalies. 
Pro Team        -- these are the players with which a coach can use to
                form an active roster.  There is a limit of 25 players
                including injured players. Injured players from the pro
                team can not be moved to the farm team.
Farm Team       -- these players can not be used by a coach, unless they have  
                been called up to the Pro Team.  Maximum OV rating allowed on the farm is 75.
                Except Goalies are unlimited
Active Roster   -- the 20 players who will play in a game.
Lines           -- There are sets for each of the following categories: 
                5 on 5, 4 on 4, 5 on 4, 5 on 3, 4 on 5, 3 on 5.  
                The format for sending lines to the league office is in Section D.
                IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED TO USE THE GM EDITOR UTILITY.
Board of        -- 5 members selected from the league ownership to oversee league operations
Governors       and vote on significant changes within the league.


Player Ratings
1. PLAYER ROSTER ITEMS - Skaters do receive FHL ratings if they have played at least
                       1 NHL game the previous season.  If not, these players would be placed 
                       on your team's prospect list until they meet the criteria, or released.

        CD: Condition. Determines the current health of the player in %. OK means 100%.
        IJ: Injury status of player. (Injury recovery times vary based upon each players
            durability rating.  Some players recover at a faster rate than others).
                DD: Day to day injury
                1W: 1-2 week injury
                3W: 2-4 week injury
                1M: 4-6 week injury
                3M: 2-4 month injury
                IN: Injured Indefinitely
                S#: Suspended for # games
        HD: Handedness
        IT: Intensity
        SP: Speed
        ST: Strength
        EN: Endurance
        DU: Durability
        DI: Discipline
        SK: Skating
        PA: Passing
        PC: Puck Control
        DF: Defence
        SC: Scoring
        EX: Experience
        LD: Leadership
        OV: Overall

7.2 TEAM SCORING ITEMS

        GP: Games Played
        G:  Goals
        A:  Assists
        P:  Points
        +/-: Plus Minus
        PIM: Penalty Minutes
        PP: Power Play goals
        SH: Short Hand goals
        GW: Game Winning Goals
        GT: Game Tying Goals
        S:  Shots
        PCTG: Shooting Percentage
        GS: Goal Scoring Streak (in games)
        PS: Point Scoring Streak (in games)


A. CODE OF CONDUCT


1. Each Franchise GM is expected to respond to all trade inquiries  
   as soon as possible.
2. Except where other matters make it simply impossible, each owner is  
   required to respond to certain infrequent official business.
3. Each owner must inform the league of any change of address or of any  
   significant absences.
4. Every Franchise owner is expected to manage his team professionally and  
   in particular to promote the long term well-being of his team. 
5. Every GM is to respect the views of others and participate in the 
   league to the best of his/her ability.
6. Every owner Must vote for the PFHL awards, and any other items the commissioner requests.




B. LEAGUE PLAY 


1.  The league uses Fantasy Hockey League software (FHL) to run it's games. 

2.  The franchise GM is responsible for conducting the roster movement  
    business of the franchise.  This involves negotiating trades, moving  
    players between the pro team and the farm team, and conducting drafts.
  * They are also responsible for the finances of the team.

3.  The franchise Coach is responsible for determining a team's active  
    roster and for sending in lines to the Commissioner.
    (IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED THAT THE GM EDITOR UTILITY BE USED)

4.  The waiver rule will be implemented.  Please refer to Section G
    regarding the constraints involved.

5. Injuries will be posted after each game day.  Teams are responsible for
   submitting lines changes for injuries.
   If no update is submitted before game time, the commissioner will
   use his knowledge to add the best player(s) to the line-up of the
   injured team, or let the sim decide in most cases.
   Call-ups from the Farm to Pro Roster to cover injuries do not count
   against the salary cap.
   Injuries incurred during the preseason will be re-set at the start of the
   Regular Season.
C. TRADING

                  
1.  Trades may  involve players, draft picks, and money ONLY.  
    Future considerations are NOT allowed to be traded.
  
    The League offices will not rule on any external factors unless 
    sufficient proof of wrong doing is provided.  Teams have a duty to 
    provide all information necessary to a GM to analyze a trade.  This 
    includes the injury status of all players involved.  However, once a 
    trade is finalized, it is assumed that all GMs have full knowledge of  
    the status of the traded players.

2.  Trades are made by submitting e-mail to the League offices, and a copy
    to the other owner involved.  Once a GM submits a trade confirmation, 
    Line changes will be required.

3.  Both Owners must confirm the trade.

4.  The League Commissioner reserves the right to veto any trade if, in  
    the belief of the commissioner, the trades violates the spirit of  
    competition and goodwill of the league.

5.  Trading deadline is set at the 90% mark of the season.
    No trades will be made after that mark.
    THE LEAGUE WILL NOT ACCEPT ANY TRADES
    UNTIL A SPECIFIED POINT IN THE OFF-SEASON.

6.  A player placed on waivers cannot be traded until he is either claimed, 
    or passes waivers completely.


D: LINE CHANGES
You can change your teams lines anytime you feel it necessary.
This is the format and you MUST use if you are not submitting lines
via the GM editor utility.
You must also get it just right. 
I will show you an example below :

The first five lines should list the players who will be in your roster. 
There cannot be more than twenty altogether, with only 2 players 
designated as goalies. List jersey numbers for players as follows, 
separating each with a comma:

Centers
Left Wingers
Right Wingers
Defensemen
Goalies

Type "***" on a separate line

Then, still using jersey numbers, assign players to lines in the 
following order:

4 even strength lines (5 players).
2 5 on 4 power play lines (5 players).
2 4 on 3 power play lines (4 players).
2 4 on 5 penalty kill lines (4 players).
2 3 on 5 penalty kill lines (3 players).
2 Extra Skaters.
1 Starting goalie.


All said and done your lines should look something like this:

26,20,25,54
29,44,37,16
39,13,32,37
45,4,10,24,3,6
56,33
***
26,29,57,45,3
20,16,13,4,24
25,37,32,10,6
54,44,39,10,6
20,16,13,45,3
26,29,57,4,24
20,13,45,3
26,16,4,24
26,16,4,3
13,29,24,45
26,4,3
13,24,45
57,16
33

E. PLAYOFFS

1. The playoffs will be the top 8 teams from each Conference (top 4 in each division)
with the Division winners seated 1st and 2nd.
THE SALARY CAP IS NOT IN EFFECT DURING THE PLAYOFFS

F. ENTRY DRAFT
    
- This draft will include all teams.
- Draft Order will be as follows:
        1 - Lottery system for teams that did not make the playoffs
        3 - Reverse Overall Standings Order

-Lottery system
 Each team that misses the playoffs gets there name in a hat equal to 
what position they start in.  If there are 8 non-playoff teams then the 
worst team would get their name in the hat 8 times with each team higher 
getting their name in one less time.
 As the drawing is made, any team can only move up the order by a 
maximum of 4 positions, meaning the teams in positions 1 through 5 are the 
only teams who could pick 1st overall.  (Applies to first round only)

- Number of rounds in draft will depend  on the amount of players
  available in the draft. (usually 5 rounds)
-Each team is required to submit a list  to the Commish before each 
 round of the draft. Failure to do so results in the league dropping that 
 team's pick to the end of the round, and a designated person will pick
 for that team as they see fit.



G. WAIVERS


1.  When a player is moved from the pro team to the farm team, he must  
first pass waivers.  The waiver priority list consists of the overall 
standings in reverse order. (Regular Season Only) 
We DO NOT use the waiver priority list on the waiver page.
A team must decide to acquire a player from waivers before their next game.
Every player is immune from waivers until they've played 10 games in the pros.

2. Waiver claims will cost the claiming team $100,000. The team losing
the player gets compensated this money.

3. Each team must send an e-mail to the commissioner regarding whether 
they wish to acquire a player from waivers.  If a team claims a player on 
waivers he is sent directly to the teams farm team.

4.  If a player on waivers is not claimed before the next game day, he is assigned to
his designated farm team.

5. A player 23 years old and under is immune from waivers!!!!!                   

G(a). RELEASED PLAYERS

1.  A Player released will become a free agent and can be signed by any
    team on a first come first serve bases.  The remainder of the contract
    must be paid out at 50% value.
    (ie) Player(A) makes $500,000.  2 years left on contract.
    $500,000 X 2 years = $1,000,000 X 50% = $500,000.
YOU CANNOT RELEASE A PLAYER IF YOU DON'T HAVE SUFFICIENT FUNDS.
Players can only be released during the regular season if it is to make roster
room after a trade or waiver claim (45-man roster limit)

H. DISPUTE RESOLUTION/ARBITRATOR

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 will
 use the following procedure for resolution of the 
problem:

1. The Commissioner will ask an the Board of Governors to act as Arbitrator 
with the teams in dispute .  
2. Each team makes its case to the Commissioner.
3. The Commissioner communicates the relevant facts to the Board of Governors
and gives the Arbitrators a list of possible decisions.
4. The Arbitrators 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. 


I. AWARDS

The following trophies will be awarded based on voting by each PFHL 
participant: 

Hart Memorial Trophy - League's Most Valuable Player.  Awarded
        to the player who contributed the most to his team's success.
        
James Norris Trophy - Defenseman of the Year.  Awarded to the 
        rearguard who displayed the best combination of defense and
        offense.
        
Vezina Trophy - Goaltender of the Year.  Awarded to the player
        who excelled as his team's `Last Line of Defense'.
                     
Calder Memorial Trophy - Rookie of the Year.  Awarded to the first year
        player who gave the most to his team.
        
Lady Byng - Most Sportsmanlike Player.  Awarded to the
        player who displayed the greatest amount of poise and control
        in the face of adversity.
        
Frank J. Selke Trophy - Best Defensive Forward.  Awarded to the player
        who displayed the best two way ability.
        
PFHL Award  - G.M. of the Year.  

Jack Adams Award - Coach of the Year.  

 

The following Trophies are awarded based on season stats:
        
Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy - League leader in goal scoring, regular 
        season

Art Ross Trophy - League leader in point scoring, regular season.
  
Bobby Orr Trophy - League's top scoring defenseman, regular season.

William Jennings Trophy - League's best team goals against average,
        regular season.

President's Trophy  - Top team, regular season.


        
The following Trophies are awarded based on PFHL Commissioner's Vote:
    
Conn Smythe Trophy - Playoff Most Valuable Player. 
           
The final Championship trophy is the PFHL Cup.

The Voting process is as follows:
Commish will pick the top 5 players for each award
Once the list is compiled, league-wide voting will commence.
Each owner will then pick 1st,2nd,and 3rd place for each award. 
5 points is awarded for 1st place votes,
3 points for 2nd place votes an
1 point for 3rd place votes
- The 3 top point getter's will be the nnominees with the top
point getter the winner.

There will be money awarded to the team whose player or G.M. who  wins any awards.  

The money break down will be  500,000 for winners.



J.  Budgets

1. Each player has a salary, based upon NHL salaries from the previous NHL Season.

2. Each team will be required to pay a salary for their coach of $500,000

3. Each team has a 21,000 seat arena, and ticket prices will not be  capped 

4. Players on the farm will be paid 10% of their contract while on the farm.  After 15 games
   in the Pros, their contract becomes 2-way, and they get paid the full salary regardless
   of being on the pro or farm.

5. The league will have a $68,000,000 payroll salary cap.  Any franchise over the cap, must
   make arrangements to trim the payroll below the cap level before the next game day.
   The commissioner reserves the right to fine teams or demote players to make a team
   compliant.  *** An exception will be made if someone is called up to cover an injury, but
   this person must be sent back down as soon the player recovers, regardless of whether this
   player is subject to waivers or not. ***

6. A Team's income will not  be capped 

7. CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS DURING THE REGULAR SEASON IS PROHIBITED.


 
8.  Teams that make the playoffs will be awarded the following sums

1st round-$500,000
2nd-$750,000
finals loser-1.5 million
finals winner-2.0 million



K. Free Agents

If a player is 30 at the beginning of the season he is 30 going
into the free agent market, there will NOT be a set day for ages, 
if a players age is 29 at the beginning of the year he will 
be 29 at the end of the year. The software ages players at the beginning
of each season and that is his age for the entire season. 

If a team does not have a player signed by the end of the 
designated signing period, the player will ignore all attempts to sign and
will test the free agent market.

A player will become a restricted free agent when his contract expires 
(unrestricted if he is 31 or over when it expires)

Anyone sitting on the Unassigned players list can be picked up on a 
first-come, first-serve basis in a specified time in the OFF-SEASON ONLY !  
The same rules apply to signing a free agent on this list as signing a rookie.

If a Free Agent from a teams roster does not get picked up after Free Agency, he will be released 
from that teams roster and will go to the Unassigned Players list.  They will also be draft eligible.


SIGNING PERIOD:

After every season there will be a set date where you will have a
timeframe to place your bids on players.    Once the signing period is over,
all posted bids are final and the highest bidding team gets the player
according to the rules below.

If you don't make a qualifying offer for your own RFA before the deadline and no other teams bid on them, 
they will be transferred to the Unassigned list.
A qualifying offer is a mandatory 1 year contract @ 100% of the players listed salary

NOTE: Once a player is signed to a contract, he will have that contract
until the contract expires or he is signed to another. If a player retires in the NHL,
he will also retire in the PFHL, but you will be forced to pay out the contract in a 
lump sum once the player has not played any games in the NHL the previous season.


RESTRICTED FREE AGENTS:

A player that is under the age of 30 when his contract expires
becomes a restricted free agent. Signing a restricted free agent
means the signing team is required to compensate the previous owner
with draft picks.

The current owner of the RFA has the right to match the offer or take compensation 
for a player if a qualifying offer is submitted by the owning team.

Compensation in the form of draft picks will be given to teams who
choose not to match a restricted free agency contract. Compensation
is decided by the amount the restricted free agent is signed for.
(ie: bid format is : Signing Bonus money X #years = bid)

Draft pick compensation terms are as follows.

TERMS: This chart shows the compensation for the total bid amount:

   7,500,001 and above      - 5 first round picks
   6,000,001 to 7,500,000   - 4 first round picks
   4,500,001 to 6,000,000   - 3 first round picks
   3,000,001 to 4,500,000   - 2 first round picks
   2,000,001 to 3,000,000   - 1st round pick
   1,000,001 to 2,000,000   - 2nd round pick
     500,001 to 1,000,000   - 3rd round pick
     250,001 to   500,000   - 4th round pick
                  250,000   - 5th round pick


NOTE:
You can't bid on a free agent requiring compensation of a pick(s) you don't 
have, including multiple bids.  The compensation picks start at the current year.
The following conditions apply :
- One of the picks must be for the next  draft and belong to the bidding team.
- The bidding team must have a first rouund pick available in subsequent years
- The owner taking compensation can elecct to combine picks for more recent years
(ie, 2 firsts next year and 1 in the following year, or 3 next year only, or 
any combination if negotiated with the bidding team).  If the teams cannot come
to an agreement on this, then the compensation will be first round picks in 
consecutive years, and the picks must be owned by the bidding team.
*** In the case of tie bids the team that offered the higher signing bonus 
will be the winner.  If this does not resolve the tie, the commish will
roll a dice to determine the winner.


UN-RESTRICTED FREE AGENTS:

A player that is 31 or older when his contract expires will considered
a unrestricted free agent and no compensation will be given to sign.

BIDDING FORMAT:

EVERY BID MUST BE SUBMITTED IN THE FOLLOWING FORMAT
    
The bids will be in a #years X signing bonus = Total bid (signing bonus).

Example  "I bid 1.2 million a season for 4 years on (player X) = 4.8 million
This total is paid out now if it's the highest bid, and his assigned salary is 
paid throughout the duration of the contract.  The total bid amount is deducted
from the team's bank account immediately upon winning the bid.

*** In the case of tie bids the team that offered the higher signing bonus 
will be the winner.  If this does not resolve the tie, the commish will
roll a dice to determine the winner.

*** A team's bids will become null if they place more dollar value bids than they
currently have in their bank accounts.


L. Signing Rookies / Unassigned Free Agents

The money shown below is the signing bonus paid to sign rookies or players off the 
Unassigned Players list :

If you sign the player to a 1 year deal : $250,000
If you sign the player to a 2 year deal : $300,000
If you sign the player to a 3 year deal : $500,000
If you sign the player to a 4 year deal : $750,000
If you sign the player to a 5 year deal : $1,000,000

Rookies recently drafted must be signed to contracts, or released by the start 
of the Regular Season.  
They will then be paid their assigned NHL salary for the contract duration.

Anyone sitting on the Unassigned players list can be picked up on a
first-come, first-serve basis in a specified time in the OFF-SEASON ONLY !
2 players may be claimed per day, per the commissioner's time-frames.


M. Re-Signing / Contract Negotiations

**** OFF-SEASON ONLY ****

PLEASE USE THE CONTRACT NEGOTIATOR TOOL ON THE WEBSITE

I will allow owners to ATTEMPT to extend contracts, 
but in doing so must use the probability chart, each owner gets 3 tries
at resigning a player before he will opt out for the free agent market.
(A PLAYER'S CONTRACT MAY NOT BE EXTENDED PAST 5 YEARS.)
For example, if a player has 2 years left on his contract, you cannot 
give him a 4-year extension.

                           Contract Length
                          1    2    3    4    5

               25%       50%  35%  20%   10%  0%     
               
Signing Bonus  50%       70%  50%  30%   10%  0%     CHANCE

               100%      80%  70%  60%   50%  40%    OF
 
               200%      90%  80%  70%   60%  50%    SIGNING

additional factor-Length left on current contract.
no years-add nothing
1 year-add 5%
2 years-add 10%
3 years-add 20%
4 years-add 40%

When submitting a contract offer via the negotiator, an email will be sent to the team owner
and the commissioner verifying the success/failure of the offer.

*** Any offer that fails on a 3rd negotiation by any one team, that player then becomes a free 
agent as they are listed
*** Any team that attempts to extend a players 1+ contract and fails 3 times, that player
becomes an unrestricted free agent
*** If a player with a zero contract is traded to another team having 2 or less negotiation
attempts, the new team gets 3 fresh attempts.

N. Player Eligibility.   
Players Must play at least 1 game in the NHL to remain on a teams roster for
following year, or be placed on that teams prospect list. Any player that is a hold out 
for a full year (NHL) will not be removed, but placed on the team's prospect list.  
Any player that was injured for the entire NHL season also becomes that team's prospect.
That players PFHL contract will be dissolved, and once the player returns to the NHL, 
that player will automatically be given a new 1 year contract.

(NOTE : Forwards positions may be changed according to the owners preference at a 
designated point prior to the start of the regular season.  Once the regular season starts,
these positions are locked in for the remainder of the season).

O. Bonuses
Teams will be awarded various financial/Draft bonuses for league participation :
- responding to league-wide votes
- sending press releases league-wide (eiither team or league based articles)
- submitting line changes
- etc.
These monies will be added to team bank accounts at a specified time in the off-season.
A 5-star rating will be awarded by the commissioner as he deems worthy :

* $0
** $500,000
*** $1,000,000
**** $1,500,000
***** $2,000,000


P. Ratings Challenges
-Once the ratings have been officially released by the PFHL Commissioner, he will
permit challenges to the SP/SK ratings by stating your case to him.
ALL CHALLENGES MUST BE SUBMITTED TOGETHER AT ONE TIME.
-You have these options for challenging  ratings :
Challenge up to 5 individual stats on any combination of players.
(ie : challenge SP on players A,B,C,D and E)
(ie : challenge SP or players A,B,C and SK on players D & E)
YOU MUST GIVE VALID ARGUMENTS FOR EACH STAT AS TO WHY YOU THINK A CHANGE IS NECESSARY.

The decision of the Commissioner on a revised rating, if applicable, is final.
Q. Expansion
PFHL Expansion Rules for after season 10.

Teams;
The 4 expansion teams cities will be 
Flatlands- Churchill
Wheatfield- Flin Flon
Oil Patch- Jasper
Chinook- Banff

Logos and Nicknames will be what the new GM's select.


Protection of players: 
All ages of players will be what they are at the end of season 10. 
And Full rerates are used.

All players on any roster 21 years old and under will be protected. 
These players cannot be drafted in the expansion draft.
16 established teams will be required to protect 15 players. 
One player has to be a goalie. 
The other 14 players can be forwards/defensemen/goalies. 
These players are 22 and older.
The protected lists will be emailed to the commish coyotes1965@shaw.ca 
from there I will make up a list of protected and not protected.


Expansion Draft:
The expansion draft will be 25 rounds of 4 teams in a snake draft. 
Lottery system 4 teams names will be put in a hat
and a person that has nothing to do with the league will pull the names from the hat.
(i.e. my wife or my son).
Expansion teams can draft from the unassigned list or off the available list from the established teams.

The 16 established teams will only be allowed to lose maximum 8 players total. 
They can only lose maximum 1 goalie total in the total of 8 players. 
so that means they can lose 8 skaters or 7 skaters and 1 goalie.
All undrafted players from established teams will go back to their team.


Prospect Draft:
The top 4 picks will be the bottom 4 established teams from standings of combined seasons 9-10.
Next 4 will be Expansion teams again in lottery format.
The last 12 will be established teams in order of standings combined of seasons 9-10
Lottery system 4 teams names will be put in a hat
and a person that has nothing to do with the league will pull the names from the hat.
(i.e. my wife or my son).
 

Finding Expansion GM's
1st I think it's best that we keep our teams we have and no old GM take over a expansion team. 
Most teams should still have a good nucleus of players to keep. 

I will post on the FHL board looking for GM's for expansion. But I will question some of these Gm's hoping to find good GM's.
If you know someone that could be able to take over a team send my way.
If you send someone my way your team will be awarded $10,000,000  and a draft pick at end of the prospect draft.

PFHL Finances:
All expansion teams will awarded $ 100,000,000.
As I think most owners in the NHL have money when they started LOL.
All established teams under $100,000,000 will be bumped up to $100,000,000.
You can go over the salary cap when injuries to your roster make you do so.
But you will be required to be under when that player returns.

Salary Cap:
The PFHL salary cap will be (NHL CAP + $10,000,000 round up to the nearest Million)
i.e.: NHL Cap = 54,600,000 + 10,000,000 = 64,600,000 rounded up to = 65,000,000
So we wait to see what the NHL does for their cap this summer.

Free agency:
After the expansion draft free agency will open up. 
Contracts will be offered ( I hope on contractor waiting for bug to be fixed )
All refused contract offers will become RFA's or UFA's depending on the rules of age.
Unassigned players will be UFA's for any team to bid on. As with past Free agency.


Player roster requirements:
All teams must have 3 goalies  8 defensemen 5 centers 5 left-wingers 5 right-wingers on their pro and farm rosters combined.
You can have more this is just the minimum.


Playoffs:
Season 10 all 16 teams will make the playoffs. Regular season will be for positions. 
Seasons after season 10 and expansion will be the top 8 teams from each conference east and west.
16 teams make playoffs 4 will miss. 

Robert Rutkowski
PFHL COMMISH
http://ca.oocities.com/coyotes1965/PFHLindex.html