****************************** OFFICIAL WHL OWNER'S MANUAL ****************************** This is the updated third release of the rules for WHL. All rules are subject to change, but all changes will be made public before being made official. ********************** DEFINITION OF TERMS ********************** -Franchise -- corresponds to a WHL team. 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 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. Players on the farm team have a random chance of increasing or decreasing their abilities. -Reserve Team -- these are players who are owned by a team but aren't active. The number of players on the Reserve Team can never exceed 5. -Active Roster -- the 20 players who will play in a game. -Lines -- there are 18 line combinations that need to be constructed by the franchise coach. There are 3 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 located in a different document. -Rookie -- A player who has less than 15 games played in his career in the WHL. ********************* 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 such as All-Star balloting/award voting. 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 longterm well-being of his team. 5. When sending mail concerning the WHL, please start subject line with the header WHL:. ***************** B. LEAGUE PLAY ***************** 1. The league uses Hockey League Simulator 2 from Bethesda Software to run its games. A thorough knowledge of HLS2 is not necessary to participate in the WHL, however, it is helpful. 2. There are currently 24 teams who play an interlocked unbalanced schedule. Games will be played everyday by the Commissioner at 8:00PM EST. "Boxscores" of all games played will be sent to all franchise owners. There will be a 74 game schedule. 3. The franchise GM is responsible for conducting the roster movement business of the franchise. This involves negotiating trades, moving players between the pro team, the farm team and the reserve team, and conducting drafts. 4. The franchise Coach is responsible for determining a team's active roster and for sending in lines and goalie rotations to the Commissioner. 5. The waiver rule will be implemented. Please refer to Section G regarding the constraints involved. 6. If a injury should occur, a message will be posted to the mailing list explaining who was injured and for how long. The coach will be responsible for sending in new line-ups to accommodate the injury. 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 player's team. 7. If a player gets 15 or more PIM during one game, he will automatically receive a 2 game suspension. The coach will be responsible for sending in new line-ups to accomodate the suspension. 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 suspended player's team. 8. An all-star game will occur around game 37. *************** C. EXPANSION *************** 1. The number of teams in the league will never surpass the number of 24. 2. The waiting list will not be on a first come first serve basis. All prospective GM's will be asked a handful of questions by the Board of Directors and the most appropriate GM will receive the expansion club. ************* D. TRADING ************* 1. Trades may only involve players/draft picks, and future considerations. However they may consist of any number of players in any combinations. 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. Both GM's must submit a trade confirmation to the commissioner. When the second confirmation is received the players proceed to his traded team. Also, line changes will be required whenever a trade confirmation is submitted. 3. After a trade new players are sent to the farm team. If you wish them to be on your pro team you must send a request to the commissioner. 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 game 64 and no trades will be made after game 64 has been played. ****************** E. LINE CHANGES ****************** 1. Changes must be in by the time the game is to be played. You may want to send them early, due to network lag and possible confusion due to time zone differences.) Note: The League Commissioner is located in the EST time zone. Here is a chart of time zone differences from EST: PST MST CST EST AST NST -3.0 -2.0 -1.0 +0.0 +1.0 +1.5 2. Send all line/roster changes with subject "WHL: "Team Name" Changes. 3. To make a line change, send the changes ONLY (in point form if possible) to the league commissioner. If changes are great, or you wish to send many line changes, please use the format defined in Lines Format. Example (of line change in point form): Put M. Recchi on RW 5 on 5 Line 2 Put P. Housley on RD 5 on 5 Line 3 Make S. Burke starting goaltender for game against Detroit then put Vernon back in for the game against Montreal. 4. If changes are to be made they must be sent in following every game. I.E. Don't send in goaltending/line changes for games in advance as they will likely not be used. ************** F. PLAYOFFS ************** 1. The top eight teams in each conference will qualify for the playoffs. The top two teams in each conference will be granted the top two seeds and the following six will be granted their position on total points. Every playoff series is a best of seven game series. The first place team in the conference will play the eighth place team, the second will play the seventh, the third will play the sixth , and the fourth will play the fifth. The team with the highest point total will have home ice advantage. **************** G. RETIREMENT **************** 1. a. Players from the ages of 17-30 have a 100% chance of returning for the following year. b. Players between the ages of 30 to 34 lose 5% off of their percentage chance of returning for the following year. c. Players between 35-38 years of age lose a 10% chance of returning for the following year. d. And; players between the ages of 38-40 lose 20% chance of returning for the following year. 2. The decision for retirement will be decided upon by a random number selection by the Commissioner. The random number will be between 1-100 and will be decided upon by a computer program. If the random number is higher than the player's chance of returning to the league then the player will retire. ********************** H. RERATING PLAYERS ********************** After the end of the Playoffs and before the next season's entry draft, the following rerating scheme will be used: 1. For each Pro Team, randomly select 5 players and find out their age. 2. Using a random number and the rerating table, find out by how many points each selected players improve. 3. Using random numbers, select the categories for the improvement points. RERATING TABLE: Age Number Bonus Comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------- less than 21 10% +3 -A player enters the league. He is not a 20% +2 tried and true player yet - he can go 20% +1 both ways 20% +0 10% -1 (50% better, 20% same, 30% worse) 10% -2 10% -3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 21 to 25 20% +3 -By now a player has passed the rookie 20% +2 stage - lot's of room to improve 20% +1 30% +0 5% -1 (60% better, 30% same, 10% worse) 3% -2 2% -3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 26 to 28 5% +3 -A player is in his peak - not much 5% +2 movement either way 10% +1 60% +0 10% -1 (20% better, 60% same, 20% worse) 5% -2 5% -3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 29 to 32 5% +3 -Coming off peak, still not a lot of 5% +2 movement. More chance of retirement than 10% +1 of becoming a bad player 50% +0 10% -1 (20% better, 50% same, 30% worse) 10% -2 10% -3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 33 and more 5% +3 -Now a player is getting old, but he still 5% +2 has a lot of lasting power. 70% chance he 5% +1 won't change by more than 1 point. 35% +0 30% -1 (15% better, 35% same, 50% worse) 10% -2 10% -3 ***************** I. ENTRY DRAFT ***************** - This draft will include all 24 teams. - Draft Order will be the: 1 - Reverse Regular Season Overall Standings Order - Number of rounds in draft is dependent on number of players in draft. GM's will be notified in advance of the number of rounds. - Players involved in the Entry Draft will be rookies from the previous year's rookies as well as any other player who returns to the NHL and is not currently listed in the WHL. ******************************************* J.1 WAIVERS- SENDING PLAYER TO FARM TEAM ******************************************* 1. Any player sent from the Pro to Farm roster must first pass Class I waivers. The Class I waiver draft list consists of the current overall standings in reverse order. A team must decide to acquire a player from waivers before its next game. A player acquired on waivers will proceed to a franchise's Pro Team roster ONLY upon all lower ranked franchises passing on their option. 2. To claim a player from waivers, a team must have at least 1 free spot in its Pro Team (i.e. 24 or less players) and 14 players or less in its Farm Team, or release players until this condition is satisfied. 3. A team can claim more than one player off waivers on a particular day, but they will be in the last position of the draft list after a first player has been claimed. 4. 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 team's Pro Team. 5. If the player sent to the farm team goes unclaimed , then he reports to the Farm team of the team that sent him down to the Farm roster. 6. Players can be added to the pro team in emergency circumstances (ie. injuries) for three games and the player can be passed back down to the Farm team without passing waivers. 7. These rules will be implemented after game 5. At this time, the GM's will hopefully have a feel for who they wish to be in the "MAIN" Starting Line-up. *********************************************** J.2 WAIVERS - RELEASING AND CLAIMING PLAYERS *********************************************** Releasing a player: Entails the GM's decision to remove a player from their farm team roster because the player is of no purpose to the GM. 1. CLASS I Free Agency: Occurs when a player is sent to the farm team. OR is the first step that a released player must proceed through. Time Frame: Occurs between 1 game once the teams have been notified of the players on waivers. A Class I Free Agent is claimed the claiming team must release a player. 2. CLASS II Free Agency: If he goes unclaimed, he becomes a CLASS II Free Agent. Which follows the same principle as Class I Free Agents except no player needs to be released by the claiming Team. The reverse standings order will be used as the priority list. 3. CLASS III Free Agency: If he goes unclaimed between another series of games (3 games), he becomes a CLASS III Free Agent. No player needs to be released by the claiming team and the first team to claim the player will receive him. We'll use First Come, First Serve Basis. 4. RELEASED PLAYERS: He CANNOT be claimed by the Releasing Team. All players unclaimed will be put in a free agent list and will be available to be signed at any time in the regular season. No Free Agents may be signed after the regular season's schedule is over. 5. TERMINATED PLAYERS: After a released played goes unclaimed, the GM of the releasing team has the option of releasing him to the league. In other words, he's free to be claimed by anyone on a first come first serve basis. If claimed, no extra releasing is required. If he goes unclaimed for 24 hours after this final release, he will be terminated from the league. ******************* J.3 RESERVE TEAM ******************* The players who are owned by a team but aren't active. The number of players on the Reserve Team can never exceed 5. Once the season is started, players can't be added to the farm team in any way. The only moves permitted with the Reserve Team are: 1. release a player from Reserve: he becomes a Class III Free Agent 2. sign a player to a farm team contract This prevents a team from claiming all the players who pass through waivers and send them to their Farm Team. Hence, the Reserve Roster is a place to put new draftees or extra Farm Team players that the team could need during the season. The players' stats can't go either up or down, since they are not controlled by the program. *********************************** K. 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 has successfully used the following procedure for resolution of the problem: 1. The Commissioner will ask an anonymous owner to act as Arbitrator with the teams in dispute having the right to request that certain owners not function as Arbitrator. 2. Each team makes its case to the Commissioner. 3. The Commissioner communicates the relevant facts to the Arbitrator and gives the Arbitrator a list of possible decisions. 4. The Arbitrator makes a decision and communicates it to The Commissioner without having to offer any justification for the decision. 5. The Commissioner communicates the decision, which is final and not subject to further negotiation, to the owners. ************ L. AWARDS ************ The following trophies will be awarded based on voting by each WHL participant: - James Norris Trophy (Top Defenseman) - Vezina Trophy (Top Goaltender) - Hart Memorial Trophy (League M.V.P.) - Calder Memorial Trophy (Top Rookie) - Lady Byng Memorial Trophy (Sportmanship) - Frank J. Selke Trophy (Best Defensive Forward) - Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy (Dedication to the Game) - King Clancy Memorial Trophy (Leadership On & Off the Ice) - Jack Adams Award (Top Coach) - Executive Trophy (Top GM) - 1st & 2nd Team All-Stars - All-Star Rookie Team The following trophies will be awarded based on season stats by the commissioner: - Alka Seltzer Trophy (Best Plus/Minus) - Art Ross Trophy (Most Points in the Season) - Conn Smythe Trophy (Playoffs M.V.P.) - Presidents' Trophy (Best Record in Season) - William M. Jennings Trophy (Fewest Goals Against) Michael Hebert Web Hockey League Commissioner September 24, 1996