************************ OFFICIAL WHL RULEBOOK ************************ This is the seventh release of the rules for WHL. All rules changes have to be approved by the Board of Directors. *********** CONTENTS *********** Definition of terms A. Code of Conduct B. League Play C. Expansion D. Trading E. Line Changes F. Streaks, Slumps and Random Farm Rerates G. Playoffs H. Retirement I. Rerating players J. Position Changes K. Entry Draft L. Special Free Agent Draft M. Waivers N. Free Agents O. Reserve Team P. Dispute Resolution/Arbitrator Q. Awards ********************** DEFINITION OF TERMS ********************** -GM -- person responsible for the roster management of a team. 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 who can bu used by the coach 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 7. -Organization - refers to all teams that together make the roster of a team: the Pro, Farm and Reserve. -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 available in the WHL Stuff Homepage. -Rookie -- A player/goaltender who has less than 15/5 regular season games played in his career in the WHL, and has been in the league for 4 years or less. -Prospect -- Status of a player in the first year after he has been drafted with a potential number -Day -- A day when a set of 12 games are played -WHL Ratings -- The updated set of ratings used for the rerates. The 1997-98 WHL Ratings consist of a merging of the Gothe and the Barron ratings. ********************* 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 GM is required to respond to certain infrequent official business such as All-Star balloting/award voting. 3. Each GM must inform the league of any change of address or of any significant absences. 4. Every GM 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 ***************** B.1 General 1. The league is using Hockey League Simulator 2 from Bethesda Software to run the games. A thorough knowledge of HLS2 is not necessary to participate in the WHL, however, it is helpful. It is also using Timothy Chan's League Manager for complementary functions and features, as well as some utility programs from Platinum Computing. 2. Games are played every 2 days by the Commissioner. Results, stats and other related documents are emailed to all GMs and Coaches, and posted on the web site. 3. GMs are responsible for conducting the roster movements of the team. This involves negotiating trades, moving players between the pro team, the farm team and the reserve team, conducting drafts, and voting for the All-Star Game and Awards. 4. Coaches are responsible for determining a team's active roster and for sending in lines and goalie rotations to the Commissioner. 5. An All-Star Game will take place after Day 42. B.2 Schedule 1. A 10 game Preseason takes place before the Regular season begins. The Preseason consists of 2 games against each of the 5 teams in the same division. 2. The Regular Season consists of 84 games. Each team plays 6 games against the teams in their division, and 3 games against each of the other 18 teams. B.3 Injuries and Suspensions 1. An Injuries and Suspensions report is sent to all GMs and Coaches after each Day. Players can get injured for 1 to 12 games. 2. If a player receives 15 or more PIM during one game, he automatically receives a 2 game suspension. Every additional suspension to the same player during the season and playoffs will get him an additional 3 games (2nd suspension = 4 games...) 3. Coaches are responsible for sending in new line-ups to accommodate the injury or 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. 4. During preseason, injuries can happen but no suspension will be given. 5. If a player happens to get suspended and injured on the same day, and the injury is longer than the suspension, then the player only has to miss the number of games of the injury. In other words they are not cumulative. B.4 Goalies Every team must have a minimum of 3 goalies in their organization at all times. *************** C. EXPANSION *************** 1. The number of teams in the league is currently 24. 2. The waiting list will not be on a first come first serve basis. All prospective GMs will be asked a handful of questions by the Board of Directors and the most appropriate GM will receive the expansion club. 3. A team can only be renamed during the offseason. Once the preseason has started, the name is set for the whole year. New GMs who take control of a team while the season is in progress have to wait until the offseason to rename the team. ************* 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. Rerates CANNOT be traded. If it is known that a trade is made with the purpose of getting players rerated by another team and traded back, the trade will be nullified. 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 Commissioner. Both GMs must submit a trade confirmation. When the second confirmation is received the players proceed to their new 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 his belief, the trade violates the spirit of competition and goodwill of the league. 5. Trading deadline is Day 74 and no trades will be confirmed by the Commissioner after midnight on the day that the games have 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 CST time zone. Here is a chart of time zone differences from CST: PST MST CST EST AST NST -2.0 -1.0 +0.0 +1.0 +2.0 +2.5 2. To make a line change, you can either send new lines in League Manager format (jersey numbers) using Linemaker or Line-Maker Pro ar any other program, or 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 the Line Template. 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. 3. If changes are to be made they must be sent in following every game. ********************************************* F. STREAKS, SLUMPS AND RANDOM FARM RERATES ********************************************* F.1 Streaks and Slumps The Streaks and Slumps option will be used at all times but with the following restrictions: 1. After the Preseason they will be reset. However, they will carry from the regular season to the playoffs. 2. Any player who is +/- 1 for 10 consecutive games will have his streak/slump reset to 0 3. Any player who is +/- 2 for 5 consecutive games will have his streak/slump reset to +/- 1 (doesn't apply to Preseason) 4. After the regular season, 2 streaks/slumps will be randomly selected in the pro roster of every team and be reset to 0. F.2 Random Farm Rerates 1. Random Farm Rerates that happen during the Preseason will be reset before the beginning of the regular season. 2. Players with the Prospect status are not allowed to keep a Farm Team Rerate. When it happens they are immediately reset to their original rating, except during Preseason, where they will be reset only after the Preseason is over. 3. All Random Farm Rerates that happened during a season and playoffs will be reset prior to the Rerating Procedures in the off-season. ************** G. 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 based 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. **************** H. RETIREMENT **************** 1. Here is the retiring table. When time comes to run the retirement procedure, the age on December 31st of the current year will be used. For example, in 1998 a player born any day in 1973 will be considered 25. Age Chance of retiring ---------------------------------------- 30 5% 31 10% 32 15% 33 20% 34 30% 35 40% 36 50% 37 55% 38 60% 39 70% 40 85% 41 100% ** ** doesn't count towards the maximum of 3 players in point 3 below 2. The decision for retirement will be decided upon by a random number selection by the Commissioner and/or the Director of Player Retirement. The random number will be between 1 and 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 (see 3. and 4. for exceptions). 3. Maximum number of players retiring per team is 3. If more than 3 players have to retire, only the 3 with the less NHL games played the previous season will retire. If more than 3 players have played 0 games, the 3 older will retire. For goaltenders, the number of games will be multiplied by 120% for comparison purposes. 4. The 24 players selected in the previous year's Special Free Agent Draft are ineligible for retirement. 5. Players who retire but are still in the NHL are eligible for a revocation of retirement, see Section K. Special Free Agent Draft 6. GMs have the possibility to retire any player in their team during the off-season, but this will not have any effect on the Retirement procedure. 7. A player who dies will be automatically retired at the end of the WHL season following his death, ie he is allowed to play till the end of the season plus one season from the moment of his death. This special retirement doesn't count in the normal retirement procedure, and the the player is still eligible for normal or voluntary retirement before he plays his "remembrance" season. ********************** I. RERATING PLAYERS ********************** 1. General Rerating After the end of the Playoffs and before the next season's entry draft, the following rerating procedure will be used: Criteria Factors #pla. effect Pro/Fa Method Range ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Young Player NHL, age 4 up both WHL Ratings unlimited NHL Superstar NHL 1 up both WHL Ratings unlimited NHL Counter. NHL, luck 3* up/down both WHL Ratings unlimited Random luck, age 2 up/down both Rerating Table +3/-3 Notes: 1.Players can't be rerated twice: if a player gets rerated, he isn't eligible for the next Criteria. 2.The age on December 31st of the current year will be used. For example, for the WHL5 rerating (in 1999), a player born any day in 1974 will be considered 25. 3.Players with the Prospect status arent't eligible for General rerating, see Prospect Rerating. * At least 1 of these 3 rerates must be down. First Criteria - Young Player -Factors: player's NHL counterpart, age -Number of Players: 4 -Effect: up -Description: players are chosen by the GM, and must be 25 or younger. A maximum of 2 players/goaltenders who have played at least 15/5 games in the previous season (2 Pro players) are eligible. A player rerated under this criteria will take the current WHL Rating of his NHL counterpart.Only players who have a new rating to take can be chosen. Second Criteria - NHL Superstar -Factors: player's NHL counterpart -Number of Players: 1 -Effect: up -Description: one player is chosen by the GM. A player rerated under this criteria will take the current WHL Rating of his NHL counterpart. Only a player who has a new rating to take can be chosen. Third Criteria - NHL Counterpart -Factors: player's NHL counterpart, randomly chosen -Number of Players: 3 -Effect: up or down -Description: All the players except the 4 rerated as Young Players, NHL Superstar, or with Prospect status are eligible. A player rerated under this criteria will take the current WHL Rating of his NHL counterpart. If a selected player doesn't have new WHL Rating, his rating will remain unchanged. At least 1 of the 3 players selected must be rerated down. Fourth Criteria - Random Age Improvement -Factors: age, randomly chosen -Number of Players: 2 -Effect: up or down -Description: Using a random number and the rerating table, each selected player will be allowed between +3 and -3 rating points. Then a random number will decide where every rating point is added/substracted. 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 - lots 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 2. Prospect Rerating This procedure will apply to players with the Prospect status. Prospect status is valid from day of draft through the end of season. Prospects available for the draft are given a "potential score". It is a number out of 50 which expresses what is thought to be the potential for development from the original rating. It is based on the player's Junior stats and/or Minor League stats. The players list and their original ratings is made by the Director of Drafting and Player Rerating, with the help of the Commissioner. All new players are given ratings of a minimum of 25 and no maximum. You can expect the best players to be rated around 65. Goaltenders have no maximum and minimum of 12 (but don't expect to draft a goalie rated higher than 60). Players with the highest ratings won't necessarily have the best potential. There will be all kinds of players available: higher ratings with lower potential (players who are most likely to step up in the NHL the next season), and lower ratings with higher potential (most likely still junior players). The Prospect Rerating procedure will be run twice: after Day 42 (or mid- season day, and after the Playoffs. Procedure: Roll a six sided dice 10 times. Multiply that number by the Prospect's "potential score" and use the chart below to determine the number of points allowed: Goalies points added on will be the chart points minus 2. 3000-2800=15 points 2799-2600=14 2599-2400=13 2399-2200=12 2199-2000=11 1999-1800=10 1799-1600=9 1599-1400=8 1399-1200=7 1199-1000=6 999-800=5 799-600=4 599-400=3 399-200=2 under 199=1 Their points will be added on randomly but in a way that preserves the type of player the rerated player is. If the players is awarded: -less than 11 points: the rating categories where one point is added will be randomly selected -exactly 11 points : one point will be added to every rating category -12 to 15 points : one point will be added to every rating category, then the rating categories where the remaining 1 to 4 points are to be added will be randomly selected A maximum rating of 72 is imposed on players through Prospect Rerating. For example, let's assume that a Prospect in the draft is given a "potential score" of 50. His ratings may be as follows: 4 6 4 5 5 5 6 6 5 4 5 = 55 A roll of 30 comes up at the mid point of season. That would result in a 1500 on the chart. He would receive 8 points for this. His new ratings could be: 4 7 4 6 6 6 6 7 6 5 6 = 63 Then at the second rerating let's say that he gets 12 points. He could now be: 5 8 5 7 7 7 8 8 7 6 7 = 75 But since the maximum is 72, 3 of those points would not be awarded and he could be: 5 8 4 7 7 6 7 8 7 6 7 = 72 (*The Prospect Rerating procedure will be run only at mid-season and end of season. The third rerate is removed. Prospects only have prospect status for one season, and are eligible to General Rerating. Prospects can get a maximum rating of 72 through Prospect Rerating. Base ratings might have to be revised.*) ********************** J. POSITION CHANGES ********************** 1. Changes of position are allowed only during the offseason and the All-Star Break. Here the preseason will be considered part of the offseason. 2. Any position change has to be justified (ie proof must be supplied for the adjustment to reality to be accepted). 3. Same rules apply for Handling (H) changes. 4. Jersey number changes can be done anytime. ***************** K. ENTRY DRAFT ***************** - This draft includes all 24 teams. - The order is reverse regular season overall standings order, except for the first 3 picks overall (first round), which will be awarded according to a weighed draft: First pick: 24th team has 50% chance (3/6) 23rd team has 33% chance (2/6) 22nd team has 17% chance (1/6) Second pick: if 24th team got 1st pick: 23rd team has 66% chance (2/3) 22nd team had 33% chance (1/3) if 23rd team got 1st pick: 24th pick has 75% chance (3/4) 22nd pick has 25% chance (1/4) if 22nd team got 1st pick: 24th pick has 60% chance (3/5) 23rd pick has 40% chance (2/5) - Number of rounds in draft is dependent on number of players in draft. GMs will be notified in advance of the number of rounds. In the eventuality that there isn't enough players for 6 rounds of drafting, a way to handle the traded picks will be figured out by the BOD. - Players involved in the Entry Draft will be divided in 2 groups: 1. The players who made their NHL debut in the previous season and are not in the WHL. These players will take the WHL rating if they have one, or ratings that reflect their abilities will be made by the Director of Drafting and Player Rerating 2. The Prospects: players who have just been drafted in the NHL and will likely make it to the NHL. These players will have lower ratings and a potential score of development. Original ratings that reflect their abilities will be made by the Director of Drafting and Player Rerating ****************************** L. SPECIAL FREE AGENT DRAFT ****************************** 1. Every player who has been selected for retirement from the WHL but has played at least one game in the NHL in the previous season is eligible for the Special Free Agent Draft. However, if a player has publicly announced his retirement from hockey he won't be eligible. 2. Every eligible player is rerated using the new WHL Ratings. 3. If less than 24 players are eligible, the 8 teams non-playoffs are assured of a pick, and the remaining teams to take part in the draft are randomly selected. 4. The Special Free Agent Draft most likely consists of one round. Depending on the number of players available, there might be a second round added. 5. The order is reverse regular season overall standings order. 6. All picks are non tradable. 7. The players who aren't selected retire. 8. This is where players making a comeback after retiring from the WHL in a previous season will go as well, instead of going into the Entry Draft. 9. The players selected in the Special Free Agent Draft are automatically protected from retirement the following season. ************* M. WAIVERS ************* 1. Players can be moved freely between Pro and Farm during the Preseason. 2. Any player sent from the Pro to Farm roster must first pass waivers (see 5. for exception). The waiver draft list consists of the current overall standings (pct.) in reverse order. A team must decide to acquire a player from waivers before the next Day's games are played. A player acquired on waivers will proceed to the franchise's Pro Team. 3. 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). If not, then another current Pro player must be sent to the Farm for the claimed player to be allowed to report to the Pro Team. If a team's GM claims a player off waivers with a full Pro Team and fails to satisfy this condition before the next Day's games, the claimed player will be put back in waivers. 4. 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. 5. 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. 6. A player/goaltender who played 20%/10% or less of the games in the current season can be sent to a team's Farm Team without going through waivers. (example:the team has 35 games played, so a player with 7 games or less or a goalie with 3 games or less can be sent down...) 7. During the Playoffs, no player can be sent down to the farm team through waivers. Players can only go up to the Pro team during playoffs. ***************** N. FREE AGENTS ***************** 1. At any time a GM can release players from his team. Released players become Free Agents and join the Free Agents list. Players released during the offseason will either join the Free Agent list (if they have played at least 1 game in the NHL during the previous season and haven't announced their retirement), or be retired with the voluntary retirement status otherwise. 2. The Free Agents list is composed of released players and undrafted players from the last Entry Draft. At the end of the season all the players on the Free Agents list automatically retire. 3. Free Agents can be signed anytime except during the playoffs. 4. If a Free Agent is offered a contract by more than one team on the same day, the team with the least players in its organization gets him. In case of an equal number of players, the team who signed a player last will let the other get the player. 5. If a team offers a contract to more than one Free Agent on a particular day, after signing a first player the team moves to the bottom of the priority list.. ****************** O. 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 7. Once the regular season has started, players can't be added to the reserve team in any way. The only moves permitted with the Reserve Team then are: 1. release a player from Reserve: he becomes a Free Agent 2. sign a player to a farm team contract The Reserve Team is a place to put new draftees or extra Farm Team players that the team could need during the season. Also, players on the Reserve Team are protected from farm team rerates, since they are not controlled by the simulator. *********************************** P. 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 GM to act as Arbitrator with the teams in dispute having the right to request that certain GMs 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 GMs. ************ Q. AWARDS ************ The following trophies will be awarded based on voting by each WHL team (either the GM or the Coach votes): - James Norris Trophy (Best Defenseman) - Vezina Trophy (Best Goaltender) - Hart Memorial Trophy (League's Most Valuable Player) - Calder Memorial Trophy (Rookie of the Year) - Lady Byng Memorial Trophy (Sportmanship) - Frank J. Selke Trophy (Best Defensive Forward) - Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy (Dedication to the Game by a GM: League Involvement) - Jack Adams Award (Coach of the Year) - Executive Trophy (GM of the Year) - 1st & 2nd Team All-Stars - All-Star Rookie Team Note: Nominations for Hart Trophy will be picked among the 24 Team MVPs chosen by each team's GM. The following trophies will be awarded by the League based on the regular season stats: - Alka Seltzer Trophy (Best Plus/Minus Record in the regular season) - Art Ross Trophy (Most Points in the regular season) - Maurice Richard Trophy (Most Goals in the regular season) - Presidents' Trophy (Best Team Record in the regular season) - William M. Jennings Trophy (Fewest Goals Against in the regular season) The following trophy will be awarded by the League based on the playoffs stats: - Conn Smythe Trophy (Playoffs M.V.P.) Michael Hebert Web Hockey League Commissioner June 1999