Post by furnaceface on Mar 23, 2020 2:14:48 GMT
Welcome to Hit The Net Hockey Rotisserie League. The following information is a set of rules, stipulations, and regulations that govern this league and its activities as it moves forward. Consider it the “Collective Bargaining Agreement” (CBA) of the Hit The Net Rotisserie Hockey League (HTNR). The rules as identified are current for the 2020/21 season.
League At A Glance
Here's an outline of the general structure of the league.
Format: Rotisserie
Cap for the 2020/21 season
Maximum NHL cap + 35%
Entry Fees ... $50
12 Teams
HTN Trade vote/Review Process ... 4 votes to trigger a review. This will be revisited and changed to 5 if 4 isn't working. The commissioner and mod team will review a trade and determine if foul play is suspected or any CBA rules have been violated.
Playoffs ... Top 8 qualify ... HTN format ... full details in section 9.0 of the CBA
Roster Settings ... Weekly: every Monday, one hour before first game starts.
Roster: 23 man ... 3C, 3LW, 3RW, 3U, 5D, 2G, 4 Bench, 3 IR slots ... 3 goalie limit
Scoring Categories:
-Skaters ... G, A, +/-, Give Away/Take Away Ratio, SOGs, Shootout Goals, Hits, Blocks, PIMs, Special Team Points & GW goals (1 category)
-Goalies ... Ws, SOs, Saves, GAA
Keepers ... 14 keepers ... 1 goalie, 4 d-men, 8 forwards, 1 utility position. The 1 utility keeper cannot be a goalie ... it can only be a forward or d-man.
Farm team ... 23 players, no goalie limit
Prospect eligibility: 30 GP for goalies and 60 GP for skaters. Same age rules as HTN. Playoff and preseason games DO NOT count toward this total.
Note: GMs are responsible for confirming the players they chose fit the definition of an eligible prospect. If a prospect is subsequently found to be ineligible, that player will be removed from the GM’s farm team and the GM may not select another player to replace him.
Annual amateur drafts would be last to first based on previous season’s finish, non-serpentine and up to 6 rounds, unless all rosters are full sooner.
Annual Free Agent draft ... pretty much what we do in the original HTN league. Players who are dropped at the keeper deadline join all the other free agents and form the pool of players for everyone to draft from. Last place team from the previous gets the 1st pick (or whoever owns that pick if it’s been traded), 2nd last or owner of that pick picks next, 3rd last next, and so on. Rinse and repeat for up to 9 rounds, or until all GMs pass because their rosters are full, or they’ve ran out of picks. Like the annual amateur draft, this draft will be non-serpentine.
CBA
1.0 General Rules
1.1 Summary
HTNR is a rotisserie keeper fantasy hockey league based on the same CBA as the original HTN points only league. This CBA is fundamentally the same as the CBA for the HTN points only league, but adapted to work for the new HTN Rotisserie league. Over time the two CBAs may diverge somewhat, but starting from the same common place should mean the two leagues remain similar when it comes to the finer rules of play.
The league is comprised of arguably obsessive NHL fans who wish to play the role of a General Manager within the league. The HTNR is run entirely online. The main communication tool utilized is the discussion forum located at hit-the.net/forum/index.php. Team by team administration, point accumulation, and all player transactions are organized through the Fantrax Hockey Pool Manager (Fantrax).
12 teams comprised of:
Up to 23 NHL level roster players with a minimum of 3 LW, 3 RW, 3 C, 3 U, 5 D, and 2 G per team. The four remaining optional reserve positions may be comprised of players from any position, with a limit of 1 reserve goalie ... that means a maximum of 3 goalies per team on your NHL roster. The 3 utility slots must be skaters (any F or D ... no goalies). The league will utilize a maximum of 3 IR slots. Rules for the IR slots are found elsewhere in this CBA.
Up to 23 prospect eligible players will form the farm systems for each team. A farm team can have a maximum of 5 goalies. Prospect eligibility will be as defined by this CBA.
Scoring: Rotisserie style based on categories outlined in the League At A Glance Overview
Teams will keep 8F, 4D, 1U (either F or D) and 1G from season to season.
Entry fee: $50
Prizes are:
Regular Season:
1st overall – $200
2nd overall - $100
3rd overall – $50 ... Free entry into next season
Playoffs:
Playoff Winner - $100
Finalist Loser - $50
(Fantrax cost $79.95 American)
1.2 Administration
The league is operated by a subset of the GMs. A moderator group reviews trades, ensures the CBA rules are upheld and the integrity of the league is guaranteed.
A league commissioner will ensure requests for changes/updates to Fantrax or the forum site are completed. The commissioner will be the final escalation point for any disputes. All decisions made by the commissioner shall be binding.
1.3 CBA Amendments
General Managers may request clarification or amendments to the CBA in the appropriate section on the HTNR site. The league administrators exercise the right to use their judgment in case of dispute or clarification concerning any clause of this CBA.
At the commencement of either draft no new rules or interpretations of rules will be allowed to be introduced. Follow the spirit of the rule, not the exact wording. When in doubt, assume all sneaky or rule bending ideas are not allowed.
1.4 GM Expectations
GMs are expected to be active in the league. Be prepared to devote at least a few minutes a day to the team during the season, and perhaps a few hours during the course of the off-season. GMs must regularly check the website for private messages, be alert for notices from the commissioner, vote on league events, and respond to trade offers from other GMs. Show an interest in the league and other teams. Administration and league staff work very hard to make this league work, please give back in the form of interest in your team and the league. Above all, have fun! This league is meant to entertain, it’s not meant to be work or cause a lot of sleepless nights (stress over a potential trade is expected!).
Draft activity
GMs are expected to be available during the draft or have provided a pick list to a fellow GM or the mod team should they be unable to attend the draft. All GMs MUST inform the mod team if they are on vacation during the draft and inform the GM who will be making picks for them. PENALTY: GMs who fail to make arrangements and/or fail to show up for their picks will be removed from the league and replaced by someone who will be an active participant in the league. The league’s mod team will make picks for that team based on an agreement source (ie, NHL Central Scouting Draft Rankings would be such a source for the amateur draft.)
1.5 Code of Conduct
It is expected GMs will conduct themselves in a friendly manner when interacting with their counterparts and when posting in general on the site. Treat others as you would want them to treat you. Attack the idea, not the person. Threads that degrade into personal attacks will be locked. GMs who continually attack other participants or act in a manner which doesn't represent the best interests of the HTNR will be asked to stop. If the GM continues to be an issue, they will be removed from the league at the discretion of the moderators. Their entry fee will be forfeited. Let's keep the league fun and entertaining for all.
1.6 Fair Play
It is expected GMs will ice a competitive team no matter where they are in the standings. GMs who are found to be benching productive players will have additional points added to their total. Whatever points the player(s) would have legitimately earned in the week, the GM will be given double those points. The GM will also be deemed ineligible for any prizes as a result of the increase. Logic will be used prior to invoking this rule. A GM who has a choice between two 4th line players and selects the incorrect one or a GM who does not activate a rookie who goes on an unexpected scoring streak will not be punished. A GM who places his non-injured top line winger on the bench and replaces him with an injured player will be punished.
GMs shall also conduct trades with the best interests of all parties involved. Trades where collusion is probable are not condoned and will result in expulsion from the league or at minimum severe penalties. For details see the trade section.
Fantrax alerts GMs regarding many issues that cause illegal rosters to help GMs ensure their rosters are up to date weekly. During the week, GMs are encouraged to keep their rosters current and in compliance with rules such as salary cap, player positions, and roster numbers. League administration will not update or adjust team rosters unless requested by the GM or in certain extreme circumstances such as a family death or similar emergency.
GMs who use any of the point penalties, outlined within the CBA, as a method to gain a better drafting position will be removed from the league.
Abuse of the Injured Reserve List, section 2.4, is considered an abuse of the Fair Play rule and will be dealt with according to the penalties outlined in this section.
1.7 Retiring GMs
When a GM makes it known that he is planning on leaving, his team will be immediately taken over and operated by the league until such time as a new GM is found. For operational purposes, the league means the commissioners, or an appointee(s) of the commissioners. The roster of the outgoing GM's team will be immediately frozen, except for low level maintenance moves that the league needs to make to keep the roster legal, reserve injured players and find IR replacements if required. No trades or claims, other than for IR replacements, will be made by the league during this time.
2.0 Rosters:
2.1 Team Size
Each team will consist of a minimum of 19 players and a maximum of 23 players on their NHL roster. The roster will also contain a maximum of 23 minor league players.
2.2 Starting Line Up
Each GM must ice a team with the following number of players designated in each category:
3 Left Wingers
3 Right Wingers
3 Centers
3 Utility Players ... maybe only be forwards or d-men. Goalies cannot be used as a utility player.
5 Defensemen
2 Goaltenders
The remaining 4 reserve roster positions can be comprised of players in any position, but not more than 1 goalie. If a team is not compliant, the team will not accumulate points until the issue is resolved. Fantrax will identify if a team is not compliant at the top of the team page and on the illegal roster page for most occurrences. Salary cap floor violations are not tracked by Fantrax. The moderators may adjust the team if they suspect an illegal roster is intentional. Please see specific rules on fair play.
2.3 Eligible Major League Players
Any player who is or was NHL draft eligible is permitted to be signed to the NHL squad. This includes UFA players and players who are under contract in another league (KHL, SEL, etc). No undrafted/unsigned player under the age of 20 as of Sept 30 the current season is eligible.
During the off season a GM can elect to claim a UFA during the draft however the GM is taking a risk if the player is not signed by the start of the season as he will not contribute. All unsigned players will be given a cap hit of $999,999 until such time as they are signed by a club. During the season unsigned players must be listed as reserve players. They can't be used to fill an active slot.
2.4 Injured Reserve Players
Teams may place up to three players on the Injured Reserve (IR) list provided the player is marked as IR eligible on Fantrax. The replacement player may come from the team's farm team, the free agent/waiver pool or through trade. Players can only be placed on IR during the regular season. If a player is listed as IR by Fantrax, and he is in the free agent or waiver wire pool, he cannot be claimed. This is to prevent hoarding of players in the IR slots. Players listed on the IR can be traded though.
Clarification: IR eligible means that Fantrax shows a player with a red flag that has a white cross on it. A solid red flag player is not eligible to be placed on the IR list because he is actually listed as DTD in the NHL and is not on the NHL's IR list.
Cap Considerations
- While on the IR list, the player's cap hit does not apply to the team's salary cap.
- The replacement player cannot result in a team exceeding the cap ceiling.
- The team does not have to remain above the cap floor while a player is on IR.
Returning to Action
When the injured player returns to action in the NHL, the IR player must return to active or reserve status or be dropped IMMEDIATELY. If the player is not removed from IR prior to the next weekly cutoff period, mods will drop the player from the roster.
2.5 Player Position Eligibility
Fantrax will identify player position eligibility. Unlike the original HTN league, we will only go by Fantrax’s positions. With 3 utility slots allowed in this league, we shouldn’t need as much multi-position flexibility, and it will cut down significantly on the mod team’s work load to not have to track all the other sources for position eligibility.
2.6 Prospects – Minor League Farm Team
Players obtained in the prospects draft or claimed via free agency are designated as minor league players within your team on Fantrax. A player is designated a prospect if he meets one of points 1 OR 2 below, as well as point 3 and 4:
1) The player was eligible for the NHL draft. No Junior, Bantam, Peewee, Timbits, or other underage players may be selected.
2) Is under contract by an NHL team, or an NHL team holds the rights to the player (e.g. the player is in a major junior, college, or European league)
3) As a skater they have played in less than 60 NHL games, or as a goaltender they have played in less than 30 NHL games. Note: for goalies, an appearance counts as a GP. It doesn’t have to be a start.
4) Undrafted prospects must be 20 years old or older prior to Sept. 30th of each season.
Prospects must fall within the above parameters at the beginning of each season. The game statistics in Fantrax shall be used to identify games played. If a player passes the game threshold during a season they can remain on a team’s farm club for the rest of that season. Prior to the off season prospect draft, the player must be promoted, waived, or traded. Playoff and pre-season games do NOT count towards a prospect’s GP total.
Since housing ineligible players on the farm can have wide ranging and unforeseen negative impacts on the league play, we (the mod team) have decided that any team that is found to have players on the farm who are ineligible to be there will have that player either removed from their roster or returned to their NHL roster, and that team will forfeit the first available 4th round prospect pick that they own. If they don't have their own in the next upcoming draft, but own someone else's then that's the pick that will be forfeit. If they don't have on in then next upcoming draft then a 4th rounder from the following year's draft will be forfeit. If that still doesn't yield a 4th round pick, we'll start looking for 3rd rounders.
Note: If a farm team player surpasses the 60 GP mark during the season while on the farm (30 GP for goalies) they're fine. They don't have to be promoted until the following off season. This applies to players demoted or acquired by trade or from free agency/waivers and assigned to a farm team AFTER they've played their 60th (or 30th) game.
2.7 Prospect Callups
As of the lifting of the roster freeze, GMs may freely promote and demote their prospect eligible players. The player may only be moved down to the minors assuming they are under the games played threshold. Should a player pass the gamed played threshold during a scoring period (week) and is on a team’s NHL roster, the player will no longer be prospect eligible and cannot be sent back to the farm unless the player is on an emergency callup as an injury replacement.
Example: A prospect forward begins the season having played 45 NHL games. In November the prospect is called up to the NHL squad and scores 4 goals in the next 4 games (49 total games played). The GM promotes the prospect to the NHL squad. Over the next 3 weeks the prospect plays in 9 games (58 total games played). The following week, prior to the cutoff, the GM will have to decide to keep the prospect up with the NHL squad, thus promoting the prospect, or return the prospect to the minors, as he his slated to play 3 games and would pass the 60 GP threshold.
GMs are free to promote/demote prospect eligible players at will up until the roster freeze in the spring. At the roster freeze, for the remainder of the season, no player movement is allowed including prospect promotion/demotion. PENALTY: Promoting or demoting a prospect during the freeze will result in losing the prospect. A prospect called up as an emergency injury replacement is exempt from this clause.
2.8 Emergency Prospect Callup
If, due to multiple injuries, the GM cannot field a complete team of players from their NHL roster, the GM may call up a prospect from the minors on an emergency situation and send the player back down even if the prospect passes the 60 games played mark (30 for goalies). As soon as NHL roster players are healthy, the GM must place the minor player(s) back in the minors and activate the NHL level player. PENALTY: Failure to demote the minor league player will indicate the GM has decided to promote the player.
2.9 Off Season Prospect Moves
From the roster freeze until the keeper declaration, no prospect promotions or demotions allowed.
Forced Prospect Promotions
When keepers are declared, all forced promotions (players who have exceeded the GP threshold) must be made. Forced promotion players do not use up a keeper slot (until the following season of course.) PENALTY: If the GM does not promote or drop the forced promotion the GM will either be removed from the league or lose the forced promotion prospect(s). The form of punishment will be decided on by the mod team.
Lifting of Prospect Freeze
AFTER the keeper declaration deadline has passed GMs are free to promote/demote prospects up until the prospect draft starts. PENALTY: If a GM demotes a player who is no longer prospect eligible, the player will be removed from the team and added to the free agent pool.
During the Prospect Draft
No promotions, demotions, or drops are allowed. PENALTY: Dropped players will be added back to the GM's team. The promoted or demoted player will be removed from the team and added to the free agent pool. The player will be ineligible for the prospect draft. Prospects cannot be promoted, demoted or dropped again until after the UFA draft.
2.10 Games Played (GP) Quota
Teams must reach at minimum 1100 combined games played by the end of the season. Games will be calculated using the following parameters:
- Only the 19 active roster players for each week will be counted and added to the GP total.
- Reserve and minor league players for any given week do not count towards the GP total.
- Injury replacement players will count for the time period they are active.
- GP totals for players who are traded, dropped, or inactive will be retained for the weeks they were active.
Failure to meet the minimum games mark will result in a penalty to be assessed at the end of the season:
- For each game under 1100, the team will have 1 point added to their final point total at the end of the season.
- Any team under the minimum games will be ineligible for any prizes or playoffs for that year.
- The additional points will affect final standings for drafting purposes.
- The GM will be put on probation for the following season.
- GMs who fail to meet the GP quota for two years in a row will be removed from the league.
This quota will prevent teams from intentionally tanking throughout a year but gives the flexibility to a rebuilding team to have prospects and/or injured players on a team. There will be no limit on the amount of Red or Yellow flags a team can have on their Fantrax roster at any given time but a team must reach this GP mark.
GP totals for each team can be found on your team roster page in Fantrax and selecting the "Min/Max" tab which will calculate the totals and pace. Because Fantrax does not allow an option for counting goaltenders as part of the overall total Goalie game totals will be manually added at the end of the year. Fantrax does calculate goalie game totals separately so they can be easily added. Mods will be watching the GP Pace closely so please be aware of where your team's pace is throughout the year. Should the mods feel a team is severely under the GP quota, they will alert the GM and at their discretion remove the GM from the league for failure to comply.
Note: The 1100 GP threshold can be evaluated after each season to determine if it should be higher or lower.
3.0 Scoring
Only players on the active roster for the week will accumulate points for the team. Any points accumulated by the reserve players are not calculated. Any points accumulated by players in the minors will not be calculated.
Points will be accumulated via the regular rotisserie scoring formula. That is, teams will be ranked from 1st to last in each stats category each week, and the team that finished 1st gets the maximum points, and the team that finishes last gets one point in each category. So if there’s 15 teams, the maximum points that can be earned by the 1st place team in each category will be 15. The second place team gets 14 points, and so on.
4.0 Salary Cap
The cap ceiling will be the NHL cap plus 35% and the cap floor will be the NHL cap floor plus 17.5%.
The salary cap for The HTNR is equal to the cap in the NHL plus $20 million. The salary cap floor will be equal to the actual NHL cap floor plus $10M for any given season.
The salary cap and floor for the 2020/21 season are:
Maximum $81.5 million + $28.525M = $110.025M
Minimum $60.2 million + $10.535M = $70.735M
Salaries for active and reserve players are used to calculate the team cap hit. Prospect players are not included. Every team must be between these two figures at all times during the season. GMs may not make a player transaction that puts the team over/under the cap/floor. This includes trades, free agent signings (during the season) or any other acquisition. GMs are expected to clear up any cap issues immediately after a trade or acquisition. If a GM makes a transaction which violates the cap, and does not rectify the issue before the next weekly cut-off period, the team will be penalized 50 points for each week a team is in violation of the cap ceiling for floor. In the case of playoff contending teams, this will result in being docked 50 points, or in the case of teams that are out of contention for the playoffs, this will result in and addition of 50 points if that team holds it's own 1st round draft pick or picks. The admin team has the right to decide to apply or not apply these penalties depending on individual situations, and the admin team will determine whether a team is deemed it be in contention for the playoffs or not. For example, just because a team is not in a playoff slot doesn't mean they won't be deemed in contention. Additionally, any teams that receive a cap ceiling or floor violation will be subject to being disqualified from being eligible for prizes. Application of the point and prize penalties will be a the discretion of the admin team as sometimes extenuating circumstances exist, such as major personal issues (death in the family), but it should be expected that in most cases these penalties will be applied.
4.1 Salary Calculation
Salaries are calculated based on the player's actual cap hit. Fantrax will be used as the source for identifying the cap hit. Discrepancies in cap hit must be addressed with the league commissioner.
For ease of use and administration, in this league we will be just going with Fantrax’s numbers. There is one exception to this … if a player signs a new contract and Fantrax hasn’t updated it in a timely manner, the GM who owns such a player can ask the commissioner to over ride Fantrax and use the CapFriendly.com cap if need be.
4.2 Off Season
During the off season teams may exceed the salary cap by no more than 10%. GMs must be under the salary cap by the start of the regular season. If a GM obtains a player who puts the team over the salary cap by more than 10% in the off season, the GM will be forced to drop that player. If this event occurs during the draft, the player will be added back to the free agent pool. GMs who selected after the offending GM will not have first right to the player.
5.0 Player Transactions
5.1 Free Agency
You may drop a player off your team and sign a replacement from the free agents pool at any time through Fantrax.
Players are assigned to your NHL team, unless they meet the requirements of a prospect (less than 60 NHL games played for skaters, 30 for goaltenders),. If a player is prospect eligible, it is the GM's discretion as to whether to assign the player to his farm or his NHL team.
A GM cannot "churn" a player: the act of picking up a player, and then dropping the player in order to place them on waivers (typically as a method to prevent other GMs from acquiring the player). If a GM puts a player on waivers by adding and dropping a player within the same Lineup Period, the player will go straight back to being a free agent upon being dropped.
5.2 Waiver Wire
Waiver pickups are handled via Fantrax. Players will be listed as WW and claims will be processed according to the waiver list published on Fantrax. If there are multiple claims, the waiver order in Fantrax will be followed.
5.3 Starting Lineup
GMs are permitted to rotate players in and out of their starting lineup weekly. The lineup will be locked in for the week each Monday 1 hour before the start of the first Monday game.
5.4 No Movement Clauses
No-trade and no-movement clauses will not be honoured in the HTNR.
5.5 Trade Deadline
The trade deadline will fall the first Sunday after the actual NHL deadline. Trades as of 9:59 PM Mountain, 11:59 PM Eastern will be accepted.
6.0 Off Season
6.1 Keepers
Every off-season, as a GM you will lose several players to free agency. A GM may to protect 14 players as follows:
1 goalie, 4 d-men, 8 forwards, 1 utility position. The 1 utility keeper cannot be a goalie ... it can only be a forward or d-man.
Keepers must be designated before June 30th each year. Please ensure you post your keepers on the message board AND make your keeper selections within Fantrax. Note: in Fantrax minor league players you wish to retain must also be checked or you will lose them.
6.2 Prospect Draft
In every off-season, there will be a prospect entry draft. The draft is up to six (6) rounds in length, starting with the team with the lowest total points through to the HTNR champion (#12th place finish through to #1). If all GMs pass prior to the full 6 rounds then the draft is over at that point.
The draft will be a timed draft with 15 or 20 minute windows for each pick. If the GM misses their selection or selects an ineligible player, the draft will continue and the GM will select when possible. The late GM can only select from available players, they cannot claim a player taken after the GM's correct time slot. The prospect draft with be a straight draft for each round starting with the draft spot for the lowest finishing team in the regular season (12th place). Prospect draft picks may be traded, but all draft pick trades must be made prior to the start of the draft. Only prospect eligible players may be selected in this draft.
No promotions, demotions, or drops are allowed. PENALTIES: Dropped players will be added back to the GM's team. The promoted or demoted player will be removed from the team and added to the free agent pool. Prospects will be ineligible for the remainder of the prospect draft. GMs selecting ineligible prospects will have the prospect removed and will lose the pick.
Should a team obtain more picks than open positions the GM will need to trade players, picks, or both to free up open prospect slots. These trades MUST OCCUR BEFORE THE START OF THE DRAFT. Unlike HTN30, picks cannot be traded once the Prospect Draft starts. If a GM does not have a free prospect slot, the pick will be passed. If picks are traded GMs must obtain future value for the pick. A GM cannot trade for a pick later in the same draft. (If the GM cannot use a 2nd round pick, he cannot trade for a pick in the 3rd round of the same draft). PENALTY: If trades like this occur, it will be viewed as a form of collusion. Both GMs will lose the traded picks and the trading activity of the GMs will be reviewed by the moderators. The moderators may enforce additional penalties including to removal of both GMs from the league. Remaining players that go undrafted may be picked up via free agency during the season.
This draft will occur in July every year.
NOTE: It is the responsibility of all GMs to claim their picks on Fantrax. It is best, and most courteous to your fellow GMs, if you claim them as soon as you pick them. That way you other GMs won't think they're still available. If you fail to claim your picks by the first game of the season, they will go into the free agency pool and you'll lose them.
6.3 NHL UFA Draft
All available players during the summer (including prospects not selected in the prospect draft) will be put into a dispersal draft. The order of the draft is determined with the last-place team at the end of the HTNR regular season selecting first through to the top finishing team, and it is a non-serpentine draft. Ties are broken by the team with the most goals first, then the team with the most goalie wins.
The draft will be a timed draft with pre-determined time slots for each pick. If the GM misses their selection or selects an ineligible player, the draft will continue and the GM will select when possible. The late GM can only select from available players, they cannot claim a player taken after the GM's correct time slot. Prospect eligible players may be selected however they must be placed on the NHL team until the conclusion of the draft. The draft will last for 9 rounds, or until all GMs pass because their rosters are full or they’ve ran out of picks. At the conclusion of the draft, any GM can sign free agents to round out their 23 man roster if their roster was not filled out during the draft.
During the draft, teams may exceed the NHL salary cap by no more than 10%. If the GM acquires a player who places the team over the cap by more than 10% the GM will be required to drop that player and select another. The offending GM will only be able to select from available players.
Should a team obtain more picks than open positions the GM will need to trade players, picks, or both to free up open slots. These trades MUST OCCUR BEFORE THE START OF THE DRAFT. If there is no open roster spot the pick will be skipped.
When picks are traded (prior to the draft) GMs must obtain future value for the pick. A GM cannot trade for a pick later in the same draft. (If the GM cannot use a 2nd round pick, he cannot trade for a pick in the 3rd round of the same draft). PENALTY: If trades like this occur, it will be viewed as a form of collusion. Both GMs will lose the traded picks and the trading activity of the GMs will be reviewed by the moderators. The moderators may enforce additional penalties including to removal of both GMs from the league. Remaining players that go undrafted may be picked up via free agency during the season.
The draft will likely occur during August or September every year.
NOTE: It is the responsibility of all GMs to claim their picks on Fantrax. It is best, and most courteous to your fellow GMs, if you claim them as soon as you pick them. That way you other GMs won't think they're still available. If you fail to claim your picks by the first game of the season, they will go into the free agency pool and you'll lose them.
7.0 Trading
7.1 Eligibility
Any player, prospect, dispersal draft pick or entry draft pick can be traded, except during roster freeze periods or during the prospect draft. In team-to-team trades, each team must receive some player or draft pick (a team cannot get nothing in a trade).
Teams may not trade salary cap space and the old owner of a player cannot pay part of that player's salary once he is traded to the new team.
7.2 Notification
All trades must first be posted and accepted by both trading partners on Fantrax. Once the trade has been accepted on Fantrax, one GM must begin a new thread in the appropriate Trade Talk forum with an appropriate title (ie Calgary-Anaheim deal) and outline the details of the trade. This includes all player information and draft pick details. The other GM simply replies to the thread confirming the deal.
7.3 Disputes and Fair Trades
It is expected GMs will conduct trades with their mutual best interests in mind.
7.4 Conditional Clauses and Future Consideratons
Trades involving conditional picks, players to be named later, future considerations, etc. are not allowed. Simple
Collusion
Trades where collusion is clear or where a GM is clearly dumping players or draft picks for less than proper value will not be allowed. Based upon the severity of the incident and prior history, the GM(s) involved may be removed from the league.
Trade Review
All GMs will receive an automated message from Fantrax detailing each trade and each trade will be posted on the forum. Should GMs wish to have the trade reviewed by the moderators, the GM will need to vote against the trade in Fantrax within 2 days of the trade. If a trade is flagged by 4 or more GMs, the trade will be reviewed by the mods. The process is as follows:
- The mods will post in the trade thread that the trade is under review.
- The mods will investigate the trade which may include discussions with the GMs involved in the trade.
- The mods will then vote on the trade.
- Should the trade committee be deadlocked, the commissioner will make the deciding vote.
- If the trade involves mods they will be recused from the vote.
- If the the trade involves the commissioner he will be recused from the process and the vice-commissioner will be the deciding vote in the case of a tie.
8.0 Prizes
Prizes are based on 12 teams
Regular Season:
1st overall – $200
2nd overall - $100
3rd overall – $50 ... Free entry into next season
Fantrax Fee ($79.95 American)
Playoffs:
Cup Winner - $100
Cup Finalist - $50
8.1 Tie Breakers
Ties in the standings will be resolved using the following criteria:
Tie breaker 1 - The team leading in the most scoring categories (not necessarily the team in 1st in the most categories, but the one of the two tied teams that leads the other in the most categories)
Tie breaker 2 - (if required) - Leader in the STPGWGs category.
Tie breaker 3 - In the unlikely event a third tie breaker is needed, it will be most goals.
The above apply to all tie breaker scenarios: end of season prizes, and playoff awards. The same tie breaker rules will also be used for end of season ranking to determine draft order.
9.0 Playoff Format
The top 8 teams from the regular season make the. If any teams in the top 8 are vacant or have been excluded from prizes for CBA violations, then the next highest ranking team(s) bump up into the playoffs.
Rosters are frozen as of the start of lockdown for the final scoring period of the regular season. You go into the playoffs with the team that brung you to the dance.
The top ranked teams get to pick their opponents for each round. So whoever finished 1st during the regular season gets to choose who they want to face in the opening round, then the 2nd place team picks his opponent, and so on. This process is repeated for each round.
At the end of each round the winning team in each match up gets to cannibalize players from the team he beat that round. This applies for each round.
The team with the most points in final match up wins the HTN playoff championship. The playoff scoring system is the same as the regular season scoring system. Since we start with 8 teams rather than 16 teams, to avoid having the final match up over after the conference finals, the final match up will run through to the end of the Stanley Cup final round. In other words, it runs for two rounds.
If a GM fails to choose an opponent when required, he gets the lowest ranked remaining team.
If a GM fails to pick their players from their defeated opponent when required, too bad. Snooze you lose. However, if that GM is defeated in his next round, his opponent gets to pillage players from both his team and the team he beat in the previous round but failed to pillage. This is only fair to his opponent in the upcoming round.
Cannibalized players: a max of 6 players at any positions, but including a positional max of 1G/2D.
i.e. You don't have to cannibalize a goalie if you don't need one; you can grab 6 forwards if you wanted to.
Tie Breaker: Most goals is the 1st tie breaker, most goalie wins as the 2nd tie breaker and lowest team cap hit as the 3rd tie breaker.
The final matchup will go for two rounds of the NHL Playoffs ... the Conference Finals and the Cup Finals. For the final matchup and the final matchup only, daily roster moves on Fantrax will be enabled should one or both teams have reserve players available.
Playoff Prizes:
Cup Winner - $150
Cup Finalist - $50
10.0 Key Dates
Key Dates
Salary Cap Deadline – Noon, first day of the NHL season
The trade deadline will fall the first Sunday after the actual NHL deadline. Trades as of 9:59 PM Mountain, 11:59 PM Eastern will be accepted.
HTNR Trade Freeze begins – Midnight EST on the Sunday after NHL Trade Deadline.
No trades are allowed from then until trading is open on July 1st. During the trade freeze waiver wire and free agent pickups are allowed until the roster freeze.
Roster Freeze – At lockdown for the final scoring period of the NHL regular season.
No waiver or free agent pickups are allowed from then until after the annual Dispersal Draft is complete.
HTNR Playoff Champion crowned – On completion of the final game of the NHL playoffs
Entry Fee Deadline June 30th
GMs who have not paid by this date will not be allowed to make any trades and face losing their team.
Keeper Deadline - June 30th
GMs must specify which players they are keeping for the coming. If no selection is made, the GM will be removed.
Off season trading begins July 1st provided keepers are declared and entry fees are paid. If a GM has not declared keepers or paid their entry fee they may not make any trades. GMs are encouraged to begin trade discussions as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. A trade freeze does not mean talks freeze.
HTNR Prospect Draft - July/August
HTNR UFA Draft - August/September
Roster Freeze Lifted - the day after the Dispersal Draft @ Noon (MT)
GMs may begin picking up players off waivers or from the free agent pool at that time. There will be no priority order … first come, first served.
11.0 Questions, Comments or Help
If you have questions, comments or need help, please feel free to post or contact one of the moderating team and we will do our best to answer. Enjoy the season.
League At A Glance
Here's an outline of the general structure of the league.
Format: Rotisserie
Cap for the 2020/21 season
Maximum NHL cap + 35%
Entry Fees ... $50
12 Teams
HTN Trade vote/Review Process ... 4 votes to trigger a review. This will be revisited and changed to 5 if 4 isn't working. The commissioner and mod team will review a trade and determine if foul play is suspected or any CBA rules have been violated.
Playoffs ... Top 8 qualify ... HTN format ... full details in section 9.0 of the CBA
Roster Settings ... Weekly: every Monday, one hour before first game starts.
Roster: 23 man ... 3C, 3LW, 3RW, 3U, 5D, 2G, 4 Bench, 3 IR slots ... 3 goalie limit
Scoring Categories:
-Skaters ... G, A, +/-, Give Away/Take Away Ratio, SOGs, Shootout Goals, Hits, Blocks, PIMs, Special Team Points & GW goals (1 category)
-Goalies ... Ws, SOs, Saves, GAA
Keepers ... 14 keepers ... 1 goalie, 4 d-men, 8 forwards, 1 utility position. The 1 utility keeper cannot be a goalie ... it can only be a forward or d-man.
Farm team ... 23 players, no goalie limit
Prospect eligibility: 30 GP for goalies and 60 GP for skaters. Same age rules as HTN. Playoff and preseason games DO NOT count toward this total.
Note: GMs are responsible for confirming the players they chose fit the definition of an eligible prospect. If a prospect is subsequently found to be ineligible, that player will be removed from the GM’s farm team and the GM may not select another player to replace him.
Annual amateur drafts would be last to first based on previous season’s finish, non-serpentine and up to 6 rounds, unless all rosters are full sooner.
Annual Free Agent draft ... pretty much what we do in the original HTN league. Players who are dropped at the keeper deadline join all the other free agents and form the pool of players for everyone to draft from. Last place team from the previous gets the 1st pick (or whoever owns that pick if it’s been traded), 2nd last or owner of that pick picks next, 3rd last next, and so on. Rinse and repeat for up to 9 rounds, or until all GMs pass because their rosters are full, or they’ve ran out of picks. Like the annual amateur draft, this draft will be non-serpentine.
CBA
1.0 General Rules
1.1 Summary
HTNR is a rotisserie keeper fantasy hockey league based on the same CBA as the original HTN points only league. This CBA is fundamentally the same as the CBA for the HTN points only league, but adapted to work for the new HTN Rotisserie league. Over time the two CBAs may diverge somewhat, but starting from the same common place should mean the two leagues remain similar when it comes to the finer rules of play.
The league is comprised of arguably obsessive NHL fans who wish to play the role of a General Manager within the league. The HTNR is run entirely online. The main communication tool utilized is the discussion forum located at hit-the.net/forum/index.php. Team by team administration, point accumulation, and all player transactions are organized through the Fantrax Hockey Pool Manager (Fantrax).
12 teams comprised of:
Up to 23 NHL level roster players with a minimum of 3 LW, 3 RW, 3 C, 3 U, 5 D, and 2 G per team. The four remaining optional reserve positions may be comprised of players from any position, with a limit of 1 reserve goalie ... that means a maximum of 3 goalies per team on your NHL roster. The 3 utility slots must be skaters (any F or D ... no goalies). The league will utilize a maximum of 3 IR slots. Rules for the IR slots are found elsewhere in this CBA.
Up to 23 prospect eligible players will form the farm systems for each team. A farm team can have a maximum of 5 goalies. Prospect eligibility will be as defined by this CBA.
Scoring: Rotisserie style based on categories outlined in the League At A Glance Overview
Teams will keep 8F, 4D, 1U (either F or D) and 1G from season to season.
Entry fee: $50
Prizes are:
Regular Season:
1st overall – $200
2nd overall - $100
3rd overall – $50 ... Free entry into next season
Playoffs:
Playoff Winner - $100
Finalist Loser - $50
(Fantrax cost $79.95 American)
1.2 Administration
The league is operated by a subset of the GMs. A moderator group reviews trades, ensures the CBA rules are upheld and the integrity of the league is guaranteed.
A league commissioner will ensure requests for changes/updates to Fantrax or the forum site are completed. The commissioner will be the final escalation point for any disputes. All decisions made by the commissioner shall be binding.
1.3 CBA Amendments
General Managers may request clarification or amendments to the CBA in the appropriate section on the HTNR site. The league administrators exercise the right to use their judgment in case of dispute or clarification concerning any clause of this CBA.
At the commencement of either draft no new rules or interpretations of rules will be allowed to be introduced. Follow the spirit of the rule, not the exact wording. When in doubt, assume all sneaky or rule bending ideas are not allowed.
1.4 GM Expectations
GMs are expected to be active in the league. Be prepared to devote at least a few minutes a day to the team during the season, and perhaps a few hours during the course of the off-season. GMs must regularly check the website for private messages, be alert for notices from the commissioner, vote on league events, and respond to trade offers from other GMs. Show an interest in the league and other teams. Administration and league staff work very hard to make this league work, please give back in the form of interest in your team and the league. Above all, have fun! This league is meant to entertain, it’s not meant to be work or cause a lot of sleepless nights (stress over a potential trade is expected!).
Draft activity
GMs are expected to be available during the draft or have provided a pick list to a fellow GM or the mod team should they be unable to attend the draft. All GMs MUST inform the mod team if they are on vacation during the draft and inform the GM who will be making picks for them. PENALTY: GMs who fail to make arrangements and/or fail to show up for their picks will be removed from the league and replaced by someone who will be an active participant in the league. The league’s mod team will make picks for that team based on an agreement source (ie, NHL Central Scouting Draft Rankings would be such a source for the amateur draft.)
1.5 Code of Conduct
It is expected GMs will conduct themselves in a friendly manner when interacting with their counterparts and when posting in general on the site. Treat others as you would want them to treat you. Attack the idea, not the person. Threads that degrade into personal attacks will be locked. GMs who continually attack other participants or act in a manner which doesn't represent the best interests of the HTNR will be asked to stop. If the GM continues to be an issue, they will be removed from the league at the discretion of the moderators. Their entry fee will be forfeited. Let's keep the league fun and entertaining for all.
1.6 Fair Play
It is expected GMs will ice a competitive team no matter where they are in the standings. GMs who are found to be benching productive players will have additional points added to their total. Whatever points the player(s) would have legitimately earned in the week, the GM will be given double those points. The GM will also be deemed ineligible for any prizes as a result of the increase. Logic will be used prior to invoking this rule. A GM who has a choice between two 4th line players and selects the incorrect one or a GM who does not activate a rookie who goes on an unexpected scoring streak will not be punished. A GM who places his non-injured top line winger on the bench and replaces him with an injured player will be punished.
GMs shall also conduct trades with the best interests of all parties involved. Trades where collusion is probable are not condoned and will result in expulsion from the league or at minimum severe penalties. For details see the trade section.
Fantrax alerts GMs regarding many issues that cause illegal rosters to help GMs ensure their rosters are up to date weekly. During the week, GMs are encouraged to keep their rosters current and in compliance with rules such as salary cap, player positions, and roster numbers. League administration will not update or adjust team rosters unless requested by the GM or in certain extreme circumstances such as a family death or similar emergency.
GMs who use any of the point penalties, outlined within the CBA, as a method to gain a better drafting position will be removed from the league.
Abuse of the Injured Reserve List, section 2.4, is considered an abuse of the Fair Play rule and will be dealt with according to the penalties outlined in this section.
1.7 Retiring GMs
When a GM makes it known that he is planning on leaving, his team will be immediately taken over and operated by the league until such time as a new GM is found. For operational purposes, the league means the commissioners, or an appointee(s) of the commissioners. The roster of the outgoing GM's team will be immediately frozen, except for low level maintenance moves that the league needs to make to keep the roster legal, reserve injured players and find IR replacements if required. No trades or claims, other than for IR replacements, will be made by the league during this time.
2.0 Rosters:
2.1 Team Size
Each team will consist of a minimum of 19 players and a maximum of 23 players on their NHL roster. The roster will also contain a maximum of 23 minor league players.
2.2 Starting Line Up
Each GM must ice a team with the following number of players designated in each category:
3 Left Wingers
3 Right Wingers
3 Centers
3 Utility Players ... maybe only be forwards or d-men. Goalies cannot be used as a utility player.
5 Defensemen
2 Goaltenders
The remaining 4 reserve roster positions can be comprised of players in any position, but not more than 1 goalie. If a team is not compliant, the team will not accumulate points until the issue is resolved. Fantrax will identify if a team is not compliant at the top of the team page and on the illegal roster page for most occurrences. Salary cap floor violations are not tracked by Fantrax. The moderators may adjust the team if they suspect an illegal roster is intentional. Please see specific rules on fair play.
2.3 Eligible Major League Players
Any player who is or was NHL draft eligible is permitted to be signed to the NHL squad. This includes UFA players and players who are under contract in another league (KHL, SEL, etc). No undrafted/unsigned player under the age of 20 as of Sept 30 the current season is eligible.
During the off season a GM can elect to claim a UFA during the draft however the GM is taking a risk if the player is not signed by the start of the season as he will not contribute. All unsigned players will be given a cap hit of $999,999 until such time as they are signed by a club. During the season unsigned players must be listed as reserve players. They can't be used to fill an active slot.
2.4 Injured Reserve Players
Teams may place up to three players on the Injured Reserve (IR) list provided the player is marked as IR eligible on Fantrax. The replacement player may come from the team's farm team, the free agent/waiver pool or through trade. Players can only be placed on IR during the regular season. If a player is listed as IR by Fantrax, and he is in the free agent or waiver wire pool, he cannot be claimed. This is to prevent hoarding of players in the IR slots. Players listed on the IR can be traded though.
Clarification: IR eligible means that Fantrax shows a player with a red flag that has a white cross on it. A solid red flag player is not eligible to be placed on the IR list because he is actually listed as DTD in the NHL and is not on the NHL's IR list.
Cap Considerations
- While on the IR list, the player's cap hit does not apply to the team's salary cap.
- The replacement player cannot result in a team exceeding the cap ceiling.
- The team does not have to remain above the cap floor while a player is on IR.
Returning to Action
When the injured player returns to action in the NHL, the IR player must return to active or reserve status or be dropped IMMEDIATELY. If the player is not removed from IR prior to the next weekly cutoff period, mods will drop the player from the roster.
2.5 Player Position Eligibility
Fantrax will identify player position eligibility. Unlike the original HTN league, we will only go by Fantrax’s positions. With 3 utility slots allowed in this league, we shouldn’t need as much multi-position flexibility, and it will cut down significantly on the mod team’s work load to not have to track all the other sources for position eligibility.
2.6 Prospects – Minor League Farm Team
Players obtained in the prospects draft or claimed via free agency are designated as minor league players within your team on Fantrax. A player is designated a prospect if he meets one of points 1 OR 2 below, as well as point 3 and 4:
1) The player was eligible for the NHL draft. No Junior, Bantam, Peewee, Timbits, or other underage players may be selected.
2) Is under contract by an NHL team, or an NHL team holds the rights to the player (e.g. the player is in a major junior, college, or European league)
3) As a skater they have played in less than 60 NHL games, or as a goaltender they have played in less than 30 NHL games. Note: for goalies, an appearance counts as a GP. It doesn’t have to be a start.
4) Undrafted prospects must be 20 years old or older prior to Sept. 30th of each season.
Prospects must fall within the above parameters at the beginning of each season. The game statistics in Fantrax shall be used to identify games played. If a player passes the game threshold during a season they can remain on a team’s farm club for the rest of that season. Prior to the off season prospect draft, the player must be promoted, waived, or traded. Playoff and pre-season games do NOT count towards a prospect’s GP total.
Since housing ineligible players on the farm can have wide ranging and unforeseen negative impacts on the league play, we (the mod team) have decided that any team that is found to have players on the farm who are ineligible to be there will have that player either removed from their roster or returned to their NHL roster, and that team will forfeit the first available 4th round prospect pick that they own. If they don't have their own in the next upcoming draft, but own someone else's then that's the pick that will be forfeit. If they don't have on in then next upcoming draft then a 4th rounder from the following year's draft will be forfeit. If that still doesn't yield a 4th round pick, we'll start looking for 3rd rounders.
Note: If a farm team player surpasses the 60 GP mark during the season while on the farm (30 GP for goalies) they're fine. They don't have to be promoted until the following off season. This applies to players demoted or acquired by trade or from free agency/waivers and assigned to a farm team AFTER they've played their 60th (or 30th) game.
2.7 Prospect Callups
As of the lifting of the roster freeze, GMs may freely promote and demote their prospect eligible players. The player may only be moved down to the minors assuming they are under the games played threshold. Should a player pass the gamed played threshold during a scoring period (week) and is on a team’s NHL roster, the player will no longer be prospect eligible and cannot be sent back to the farm unless the player is on an emergency callup as an injury replacement.
Example: A prospect forward begins the season having played 45 NHL games. In November the prospect is called up to the NHL squad and scores 4 goals in the next 4 games (49 total games played). The GM promotes the prospect to the NHL squad. Over the next 3 weeks the prospect plays in 9 games (58 total games played). The following week, prior to the cutoff, the GM will have to decide to keep the prospect up with the NHL squad, thus promoting the prospect, or return the prospect to the minors, as he his slated to play 3 games and would pass the 60 GP threshold.
GMs are free to promote/demote prospect eligible players at will up until the roster freeze in the spring. At the roster freeze, for the remainder of the season, no player movement is allowed including prospect promotion/demotion. PENALTY: Promoting or demoting a prospect during the freeze will result in losing the prospect. A prospect called up as an emergency injury replacement is exempt from this clause.
2.8 Emergency Prospect Callup
If, due to multiple injuries, the GM cannot field a complete team of players from their NHL roster, the GM may call up a prospect from the minors on an emergency situation and send the player back down even if the prospect passes the 60 games played mark (30 for goalies). As soon as NHL roster players are healthy, the GM must place the minor player(s) back in the minors and activate the NHL level player. PENALTY: Failure to demote the minor league player will indicate the GM has decided to promote the player.
2.9 Off Season Prospect Moves
From the roster freeze until the keeper declaration, no prospect promotions or demotions allowed.
Forced Prospect Promotions
When keepers are declared, all forced promotions (players who have exceeded the GP threshold) must be made. Forced promotion players do not use up a keeper slot (until the following season of course.) PENALTY: If the GM does not promote or drop the forced promotion the GM will either be removed from the league or lose the forced promotion prospect(s). The form of punishment will be decided on by the mod team.
Lifting of Prospect Freeze
AFTER the keeper declaration deadline has passed GMs are free to promote/demote prospects up until the prospect draft starts. PENALTY: If a GM demotes a player who is no longer prospect eligible, the player will be removed from the team and added to the free agent pool.
During the Prospect Draft
No promotions, demotions, or drops are allowed. PENALTY: Dropped players will be added back to the GM's team. The promoted or demoted player will be removed from the team and added to the free agent pool. The player will be ineligible for the prospect draft. Prospects cannot be promoted, demoted or dropped again until after the UFA draft.
2.10 Games Played (GP) Quota
Teams must reach at minimum 1100 combined games played by the end of the season. Games will be calculated using the following parameters:
- Only the 19 active roster players for each week will be counted and added to the GP total.
- Reserve and minor league players for any given week do not count towards the GP total.
- Injury replacement players will count for the time period they are active.
- GP totals for players who are traded, dropped, or inactive will be retained for the weeks they were active.
Failure to meet the minimum games mark will result in a penalty to be assessed at the end of the season:
- For each game under 1100, the team will have 1 point added to their final point total at the end of the season.
- Any team under the minimum games will be ineligible for any prizes or playoffs for that year.
- The additional points will affect final standings for drafting purposes.
- The GM will be put on probation for the following season.
- GMs who fail to meet the GP quota for two years in a row will be removed from the league.
This quota will prevent teams from intentionally tanking throughout a year but gives the flexibility to a rebuilding team to have prospects and/or injured players on a team. There will be no limit on the amount of Red or Yellow flags a team can have on their Fantrax roster at any given time but a team must reach this GP mark.
GP totals for each team can be found on your team roster page in Fantrax and selecting the "Min/Max" tab which will calculate the totals and pace. Because Fantrax does not allow an option for counting goaltenders as part of the overall total Goalie game totals will be manually added at the end of the year. Fantrax does calculate goalie game totals separately so they can be easily added. Mods will be watching the GP Pace closely so please be aware of where your team's pace is throughout the year. Should the mods feel a team is severely under the GP quota, they will alert the GM and at their discretion remove the GM from the league for failure to comply.
Note: The 1100 GP threshold can be evaluated after each season to determine if it should be higher or lower.
3.0 Scoring
Only players on the active roster for the week will accumulate points for the team. Any points accumulated by the reserve players are not calculated. Any points accumulated by players in the minors will not be calculated.
Points will be accumulated via the regular rotisserie scoring formula. That is, teams will be ranked from 1st to last in each stats category each week, and the team that finished 1st gets the maximum points, and the team that finishes last gets one point in each category. So if there’s 15 teams, the maximum points that can be earned by the 1st place team in each category will be 15. The second place team gets 14 points, and so on.
4.0 Salary Cap
The cap ceiling will be the NHL cap plus 35% and the cap floor will be the NHL cap floor plus 17.5%.
The salary cap for The HTNR is equal to the cap in the NHL plus $20 million. The salary cap floor will be equal to the actual NHL cap floor plus $10M for any given season.
The salary cap and floor for the 2020/21 season are:
Maximum $81.5 million + $28.525M = $110.025M
Minimum $60.2 million + $10.535M = $70.735M
Salaries for active and reserve players are used to calculate the team cap hit. Prospect players are not included. Every team must be between these two figures at all times during the season. GMs may not make a player transaction that puts the team over/under the cap/floor. This includes trades, free agent signings (during the season) or any other acquisition. GMs are expected to clear up any cap issues immediately after a trade or acquisition. If a GM makes a transaction which violates the cap, and does not rectify the issue before the next weekly cut-off period, the team will be penalized 50 points for each week a team is in violation of the cap ceiling for floor. In the case of playoff contending teams, this will result in being docked 50 points, or in the case of teams that are out of contention for the playoffs, this will result in and addition of 50 points if that team holds it's own 1st round draft pick or picks. The admin team has the right to decide to apply or not apply these penalties depending on individual situations, and the admin team will determine whether a team is deemed it be in contention for the playoffs or not. For example, just because a team is not in a playoff slot doesn't mean they won't be deemed in contention. Additionally, any teams that receive a cap ceiling or floor violation will be subject to being disqualified from being eligible for prizes. Application of the point and prize penalties will be a the discretion of the admin team as sometimes extenuating circumstances exist, such as major personal issues (death in the family), but it should be expected that in most cases these penalties will be applied.
4.1 Salary Calculation
Salaries are calculated based on the player's actual cap hit. Fantrax will be used as the source for identifying the cap hit. Discrepancies in cap hit must be addressed with the league commissioner.
For ease of use and administration, in this league we will be just going with Fantrax’s numbers. There is one exception to this … if a player signs a new contract and Fantrax hasn’t updated it in a timely manner, the GM who owns such a player can ask the commissioner to over ride Fantrax and use the CapFriendly.com cap if need be.
4.2 Off Season
During the off season teams may exceed the salary cap by no more than 10%. GMs must be under the salary cap by the start of the regular season. If a GM obtains a player who puts the team over the salary cap by more than 10% in the off season, the GM will be forced to drop that player. If this event occurs during the draft, the player will be added back to the free agent pool. GMs who selected after the offending GM will not have first right to the player.
5.0 Player Transactions
5.1 Free Agency
You may drop a player off your team and sign a replacement from the free agents pool at any time through Fantrax.
Players are assigned to your NHL team, unless they meet the requirements of a prospect (less than 60 NHL games played for skaters, 30 for goaltenders),. If a player is prospect eligible, it is the GM's discretion as to whether to assign the player to his farm or his NHL team.
A GM cannot "churn" a player: the act of picking up a player, and then dropping the player in order to place them on waivers (typically as a method to prevent other GMs from acquiring the player). If a GM puts a player on waivers by adding and dropping a player within the same Lineup Period, the player will go straight back to being a free agent upon being dropped.
5.2 Waiver Wire
Waiver pickups are handled via Fantrax. Players will be listed as WW and claims will be processed according to the waiver list published on Fantrax. If there are multiple claims, the waiver order in Fantrax will be followed.
5.3 Starting Lineup
GMs are permitted to rotate players in and out of their starting lineup weekly. The lineup will be locked in for the week each Monday 1 hour before the start of the first Monday game.
5.4 No Movement Clauses
No-trade and no-movement clauses will not be honoured in the HTNR.
5.5 Trade Deadline
The trade deadline will fall the first Sunday after the actual NHL deadline. Trades as of 9:59 PM Mountain, 11:59 PM Eastern will be accepted.
6.0 Off Season
6.1 Keepers
Every off-season, as a GM you will lose several players to free agency. A GM may to protect 14 players as follows:
1 goalie, 4 d-men, 8 forwards, 1 utility position. The 1 utility keeper cannot be a goalie ... it can only be a forward or d-man.
Keepers must be designated before June 30th each year. Please ensure you post your keepers on the message board AND make your keeper selections within Fantrax. Note: in Fantrax minor league players you wish to retain must also be checked or you will lose them.
6.2 Prospect Draft
In every off-season, there will be a prospect entry draft. The draft is up to six (6) rounds in length, starting with the team with the lowest total points through to the HTNR champion (#12th place finish through to #1). If all GMs pass prior to the full 6 rounds then the draft is over at that point.
The draft will be a timed draft with 15 or 20 minute windows for each pick. If the GM misses their selection or selects an ineligible player, the draft will continue and the GM will select when possible. The late GM can only select from available players, they cannot claim a player taken after the GM's correct time slot. The prospect draft with be a straight draft for each round starting with the draft spot for the lowest finishing team in the regular season (12th place). Prospect draft picks may be traded, but all draft pick trades must be made prior to the start of the draft. Only prospect eligible players may be selected in this draft.
No promotions, demotions, or drops are allowed. PENALTIES: Dropped players will be added back to the GM's team. The promoted or demoted player will be removed from the team and added to the free agent pool. Prospects will be ineligible for the remainder of the prospect draft. GMs selecting ineligible prospects will have the prospect removed and will lose the pick.
Should a team obtain more picks than open positions the GM will need to trade players, picks, or both to free up open prospect slots. These trades MUST OCCUR BEFORE THE START OF THE DRAFT. Unlike HTN30, picks cannot be traded once the Prospect Draft starts. If a GM does not have a free prospect slot, the pick will be passed. If picks are traded GMs must obtain future value for the pick. A GM cannot trade for a pick later in the same draft. (If the GM cannot use a 2nd round pick, he cannot trade for a pick in the 3rd round of the same draft). PENALTY: If trades like this occur, it will be viewed as a form of collusion. Both GMs will lose the traded picks and the trading activity of the GMs will be reviewed by the moderators. The moderators may enforce additional penalties including to removal of both GMs from the league. Remaining players that go undrafted may be picked up via free agency during the season.
This draft will occur in July every year.
NOTE: It is the responsibility of all GMs to claim their picks on Fantrax. It is best, and most courteous to your fellow GMs, if you claim them as soon as you pick them. That way you other GMs won't think they're still available. If you fail to claim your picks by the first game of the season, they will go into the free agency pool and you'll lose them.
6.3 NHL UFA Draft
All available players during the summer (including prospects not selected in the prospect draft) will be put into a dispersal draft. The order of the draft is determined with the last-place team at the end of the HTNR regular season selecting first through to the top finishing team, and it is a non-serpentine draft. Ties are broken by the team with the most goals first, then the team with the most goalie wins.
The draft will be a timed draft with pre-determined time slots for each pick. If the GM misses their selection or selects an ineligible player, the draft will continue and the GM will select when possible. The late GM can only select from available players, they cannot claim a player taken after the GM's correct time slot. Prospect eligible players may be selected however they must be placed on the NHL team until the conclusion of the draft. The draft will last for 9 rounds, or until all GMs pass because their rosters are full or they’ve ran out of picks. At the conclusion of the draft, any GM can sign free agents to round out their 23 man roster if their roster was not filled out during the draft.
During the draft, teams may exceed the NHL salary cap by no more than 10%. If the GM acquires a player who places the team over the cap by more than 10% the GM will be required to drop that player and select another. The offending GM will only be able to select from available players.
Should a team obtain more picks than open positions the GM will need to trade players, picks, or both to free up open slots. These trades MUST OCCUR BEFORE THE START OF THE DRAFT. If there is no open roster spot the pick will be skipped.
When picks are traded (prior to the draft) GMs must obtain future value for the pick. A GM cannot trade for a pick later in the same draft. (If the GM cannot use a 2nd round pick, he cannot trade for a pick in the 3rd round of the same draft). PENALTY: If trades like this occur, it will be viewed as a form of collusion. Both GMs will lose the traded picks and the trading activity of the GMs will be reviewed by the moderators. The moderators may enforce additional penalties including to removal of both GMs from the league. Remaining players that go undrafted may be picked up via free agency during the season.
The draft will likely occur during August or September every year.
NOTE: It is the responsibility of all GMs to claim their picks on Fantrax. It is best, and most courteous to your fellow GMs, if you claim them as soon as you pick them. That way you other GMs won't think they're still available. If you fail to claim your picks by the first game of the season, they will go into the free agency pool and you'll lose them.
7.0 Trading
7.1 Eligibility
Any player, prospect, dispersal draft pick or entry draft pick can be traded, except during roster freeze periods or during the prospect draft. In team-to-team trades, each team must receive some player or draft pick (a team cannot get nothing in a trade).
Teams may not trade salary cap space and the old owner of a player cannot pay part of that player's salary once he is traded to the new team.
7.2 Notification
All trades must first be posted and accepted by both trading partners on Fantrax. Once the trade has been accepted on Fantrax, one GM must begin a new thread in the appropriate Trade Talk forum with an appropriate title (ie Calgary-Anaheim deal) and outline the details of the trade. This includes all player information and draft pick details. The other GM simply replies to the thread confirming the deal.
7.3 Disputes and Fair Trades
It is expected GMs will conduct trades with their mutual best interests in mind.
7.4 Conditional Clauses and Future Consideratons
Trades involving conditional picks, players to be named later, future considerations, etc. are not allowed. Simple
Collusion
Trades where collusion is clear or where a GM is clearly dumping players or draft picks for less than proper value will not be allowed. Based upon the severity of the incident and prior history, the GM(s) involved may be removed from the league.
Trade Review
All GMs will receive an automated message from Fantrax detailing each trade and each trade will be posted on the forum. Should GMs wish to have the trade reviewed by the moderators, the GM will need to vote against the trade in Fantrax within 2 days of the trade. If a trade is flagged by 4 or more GMs, the trade will be reviewed by the mods. The process is as follows:
- The mods will post in the trade thread that the trade is under review.
- The mods will investigate the trade which may include discussions with the GMs involved in the trade.
- The mods will then vote on the trade.
- Should the trade committee be deadlocked, the commissioner will make the deciding vote.
- If the trade involves mods they will be recused from the vote.
- If the the trade involves the commissioner he will be recused from the process and the vice-commissioner will be the deciding vote in the case of a tie.
8.0 Prizes
Prizes are based on 12 teams
Regular Season:
1st overall – $200
2nd overall - $100
3rd overall – $50 ... Free entry into next season
Fantrax Fee ($79.95 American)
Playoffs:
Cup Winner - $100
Cup Finalist - $50
8.1 Tie Breakers
Ties in the standings will be resolved using the following criteria:
Tie breaker 1 - The team leading in the most scoring categories (not necessarily the team in 1st in the most categories, but the one of the two tied teams that leads the other in the most categories)
Tie breaker 2 - (if required) - Leader in the STPGWGs category.
Tie breaker 3 - In the unlikely event a third tie breaker is needed, it will be most goals.
The above apply to all tie breaker scenarios: end of season prizes, and playoff awards. The same tie breaker rules will also be used for end of season ranking to determine draft order.
9.0 Playoff Format
The top 8 teams from the regular season make the. If any teams in the top 8 are vacant or have been excluded from prizes for CBA violations, then the next highest ranking team(s) bump up into the playoffs.
Rosters are frozen as of the start of lockdown for the final scoring period of the regular season. You go into the playoffs with the team that brung you to the dance.
The top ranked teams get to pick their opponents for each round. So whoever finished 1st during the regular season gets to choose who they want to face in the opening round, then the 2nd place team picks his opponent, and so on. This process is repeated for each round.
At the end of each round the winning team in each match up gets to cannibalize players from the team he beat that round. This applies for each round.
The team with the most points in final match up wins the HTN playoff championship. The playoff scoring system is the same as the regular season scoring system. Since we start with 8 teams rather than 16 teams, to avoid having the final match up over after the conference finals, the final match up will run through to the end of the Stanley Cup final round. In other words, it runs for two rounds.
If a GM fails to choose an opponent when required, he gets the lowest ranked remaining team.
If a GM fails to pick their players from their defeated opponent when required, too bad. Snooze you lose. However, if that GM is defeated in his next round, his opponent gets to pillage players from both his team and the team he beat in the previous round but failed to pillage. This is only fair to his opponent in the upcoming round.
Cannibalized players: a max of 6 players at any positions, but including a positional max of 1G/2D.
i.e. You don't have to cannibalize a goalie if you don't need one; you can grab 6 forwards if you wanted to.
Tie Breaker: Most goals is the 1st tie breaker, most goalie wins as the 2nd tie breaker and lowest team cap hit as the 3rd tie breaker.
The final matchup will go for two rounds of the NHL Playoffs ... the Conference Finals and the Cup Finals. For the final matchup and the final matchup only, daily roster moves on Fantrax will be enabled should one or both teams have reserve players available.
Playoff Prizes:
Cup Winner - $150
Cup Finalist - $50
10.0 Key Dates
Key Dates
Salary Cap Deadline – Noon, first day of the NHL season
The trade deadline will fall the first Sunday after the actual NHL deadline. Trades as of 9:59 PM Mountain, 11:59 PM Eastern will be accepted.
HTNR Trade Freeze begins – Midnight EST on the Sunday after NHL Trade Deadline.
No trades are allowed from then until trading is open on July 1st. During the trade freeze waiver wire and free agent pickups are allowed until the roster freeze.
Roster Freeze – At lockdown for the final scoring period of the NHL regular season.
No waiver or free agent pickups are allowed from then until after the annual Dispersal Draft is complete.
HTNR Playoff Champion crowned – On completion of the final game of the NHL playoffs
Entry Fee Deadline June 30th
GMs who have not paid by this date will not be allowed to make any trades and face losing their team.
Keeper Deadline - June 30th
GMs must specify which players they are keeping for the coming. If no selection is made, the GM will be removed.
Off season trading begins July 1st provided keepers are declared and entry fees are paid. If a GM has not declared keepers or paid their entry fee they may not make any trades. GMs are encouraged to begin trade discussions as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. A trade freeze does not mean talks freeze.
HTNR Prospect Draft - July/August
HTNR UFA Draft - August/September
Roster Freeze Lifted - the day after the Dispersal Draft @ Noon (MT)
GMs may begin picking up players off waivers or from the free agent pool at that time. There will be no priority order … first come, first served.
11.0 Questions, Comments or Help
If you have questions, comments or need help, please feel free to post or contact one of the moderating team and we will do our best to answer. Enjoy the season.