Offseason - Resigning - Draft - Free Agency

[Trevor (Blue Jackets)]

RESIGNING

Players must be resigned to a contract extension once their contract reaches 0 Years in order to be retained. Every June 1st all contracts drop one year. Players who are dropped from 1 Year to 0 Years are due for a contract extension and pay raise. Players who are not resigned are dropped to free agency, and made available to all other teams in the draft and/or free agency.

When a player is resigned he is given a pay raise based on his contract year point production or win total. "Contract Year" refers to a player's 1 Year season. A player will have either 1 Year, 2 Years, or 3 Years on his contract during a given season. A player's pay raise is based on his 1 Year production. Pay raise is listed in the charts below.

Example:

LW John Doe (0 Years / 1M / 1-Way) scored 60 points during his contract year. He will receive a 1.5M pay raise increasing his salary from 1M per year to 2.5M per year.

FORWARDS

Points Scored in Contract Year	Pay Raise
100+ Points -----------------------	4M
90-99 ------------------------------	3M
80-89 ------------------------------	2.5M
50-79 ------------------------------	1.5M
40-49 ------------------------------	1M
30-39 ------------------------------	650K
0-29 -------------------------------	300K
KHL Spot --------------------------	100K
No NHL Experience ---------------	50K

DEFENSEMEN

Points Scored in Contract Year	Pay Raise
71+ Points -------------------------	4M
60-70 ------------------------------	3M
50-59 ------------------------------	2M
35-49 ------------------------------	1.5M
30-34 ------------------------------	1M
20-29 ------------------------------	650K
0-19 -------------------------------	300K
KHL Spot --------------------------	100K
No NHL Experience ---------------	50K

GOALIES

Points Scored in Contract Year	Pay Raise
40+ Wins --------------------------	3.5M
30-39 ------------------------------	2.5M
25-29 ------------------------------	1.5M
20-24 ------------------------------	1M
15-19 ------------------------------	800K
10-14 ------------------------------	500K
0-9 ---------------------------------	300K
KHL Spot --------------------------	100K
No NHL Experience ---------------	50K

---

DRAFT

DRAFT SETUP

The FHDL Draft consists of four rounds, and is held after the NHL Draft. The draft order is determined by regular season record.

Beginning in 2017 the first round order will be determined by a draft lottery.

FORMAT

The FHDL Draft begins the day after the completion of the NHL Draft.

All picks are made as a reply to the corresponding thread for each round in the Draft board on the league page. Each owner will have 24 hours to make a selection. If a pick is not made within that time, that owner will be skipped, and the next owner may make their selection. Owners who are skipped may make their selection any time after they are skipped, but the draft will continue down the order.

DRAFT ROUNDS

ROUND 1 "Rookie Round"

Owners must draft a player from the years NHL Draft. Players drafted in this round are signed according to their position in the actual NHL Draft:

Picks 1-5 - 750K per year
Picks 6-10 - 600K per year
Picks 11-15 - 450K per year
Picks 16-20 - 300K per year
Picks 21 and up - 100K per year


ROUND 2 "Future FP Round"

Owners must draft a player from the team the pick was originally owned by. Players drafted in this round are signed using the wage scale (3 years / "wage scale" / 1-Way or 2-Way) OR to the base amount for the round (3 Years / 300K / 1-Way or 2-way) - no NHL experience

NOTE: if an owner changes team names, the owner who owns that team's pick does not have the option to choose a player from the new or the old team name. A player from the old team name may only be drafted.


ROUND 3 "Youngster Round"

Owners must draft a player 24 years of age or younger. Players drafted in this round are signed using the wage scale (3 Years / "wage scale" / 1-Way or 2-Way) OR to the base amount for the round (3 Years / 550k / 2-Way) - no NHL experience


ROUND 4 "Veteran Round"

Owners must draft a player 25 years of age or older. Players drafted in this round are signed using the wage scale (3 Years / "wage scale" / 1-Way or 2-Way) OR to the base amount for the round (3 Years / 400K / 2-Way) - no NHL experience. 

NOTE: You may skip your pick in Round 4

NOTE: If a player has NHL experience, but did not register a point in their most recent NHL season, they are signed to the base amount for the round.

WAGE SCALE

The wage scale is a system used to assign a contract for a player drafted in Round 2, 3, or 4 who has NHL experience. That player's contract is based on point production, or win total for goalies, in their most recent NHL season. Each point or win gets a value. The total value is what the player is owed for the next three seasons. The values are as follows:

• Forwards receive 100K for every point scored in their most recent NHL season (40 points = 4 million per year).
  
• Defenseman receive 125K for every point scored in their most recent NHL season (30 points = 3.75 million per year).
  
• Goalies receive 150K for every win earned in their most recent NHL season (20 wins = 3 million per year).

NOTE: see Round 2, Round 3, and Round 4 rules to know when the wage scale does not apply for players drafted in these rounds.

DRAFT LOTTERY (Beginning 2017)

The draft lottery is used to determine the selection order for Round 1. Only the eight non-playoff teams will participate in the lottery, and all eight teams have a chance at the first overall selection.

ODDS & SELECTION PROCESS

Each team will have an assigned number of balls in the cage based on their position in the final regular season standings. Odds of getting the top pick are based on the amount of balls a teams gets out of a 74 ball total.

18th place team has 20 balls for ~27% chance at the first overall selection.
17th has 15 balls for ~20% chance
16th has 11 balls for ~15% chance
15th has 8 balls for ~11% chance
14th has 6 balls for ~8% chance
13th has 5 balls for ~7% chance
12th has 4 balls for ~5% chance
11th has 3 balls for ~4% chance

The cage will spin, the team assigned to the first ball that drops will get the first pick. That team's balls will be removed from the cage. For the subsequent seven picks, no team can move up or down more than two spots from their original starting position. The next team drawn will move up either one or two spots from their starting position. That team's balls will be removed from the hopper, the draft will commence in the same manner until all ten teams have been assigned a draft position. Because a team cannot move down more than two spots, that team may b assigned a position without have a ball drawn.

EXTRA BALL

The winner will get one extra ball in the hopper. This will make a total of 75 balls in the hopper and slightly alter the odds from above.


ELIGIBLE / INELIGIBLE PLAYERS

• Eligible players or Unrestricted Free Agents (UFAs): any player previously drafted by an NHL team or who currently has a contract with an NHL team and is not owned by another owner in the league; players not resigned by their previous owner

NOTE: Owners cannot draft a player who is playing in the KHL or any other international league to place in the KHL spot.

• Ineligible players or Restricted Free Agents (RFAs): players who were released during the last two months of the fantasy season or released during the offseason; "Elite" free agents

"ELITE" FREE AGENTS

Elite Free Agents, or players given "elite" status, are determined to be too good to be made available in the draft; therefore, these players cannot be drafted, and are only available through free agency. Who is considered “Elite?” Players who have averaged these point totals over their past three full seasons:

• Forwards, 60 points
  
• Defensemen, 30 points
  
• Goalies, 25 wins

NOTE: 1 full season = 25+ games played

NOTE: up to 25 players can be made “elite” each offseason, in any combination of forwards, d-men, and goalies. There might not be 25 each year, it just depends on what players come up. If more than 25 players are "elite," the player(s) who averaged the least amount of points over three years will not be included.

---

FREE AGENCY
Free Agency is open all year except from the end of the fantasy playoffs through the draft.

OFFSEASON

June 1st to the start of the NHL regular season in considered the OFFSEASON.

• Free agency is conducted on the league Proboard. Players offered for bidding will be posted in the Offseason Free Agent Bidding category under the appropriate position.
  
  
• Players who may be put up for bidding include players who are not currently on another owner's roster i.e. players who were released during the offseason, not resigned, and/or undrafted.
  
  
• Owners can only sign players with NHL experience (one game played).
  
  
• Ineligible players include players who have not been drafted by an NHL team, or whose rights are not owned by an NHL team or does not have a contract with an NHL team; former FPs (see Dropping FP's).
  
  NOTE: Owners cannot sign a player playing in the KHL, etc. to place in the KHL spot.
  
  
• The owner who pays the player the most over an entire contract will win that bid (see Bidding Guidelines). Owners can bid as many times as they want on each player.
  
  
• All free agents must have a contract of at least 0.1 to start the bidding. Players may be signed to 1-, 2-, or 3-year contracts, 1-way or 2-way.
  
  
• The winning bid is 4 days from the last bid.

Starting in 2024/2025 No owners will be able to bid on Free Agents unless they have open roster spots. 

REGULAR SEASON

The start of the NHL regular season to the end of the ESPN fantasy playoffs is considered the REGULAR SEASON.

• Free agency will be conducted on the ESPN league homepage. Owners will create a new thread titled the player's name, and the opening bid as the message.
  
  
• There is a two (2) bid limit on every free agent. The opening bid does not account as an owners first bid. After the opening bid, all owners are allowed two bids.
  
  
• The winning bid is 24 hours from the last bid.
  
  
• Owners can only sign players with NHL experience (one game played).
  
  
• Free agents can be signed for a minimum of 100k per year. Owners can sign a player to 1-, 2-, or 3-year contracts, 1-way or 2-way.
  
  
• When you sign a FA he is assigned to your minor league team (when a player is claimed off waivers he is assigned to the NHL roster).
  
  
• When you sign a free agent he must remain on your roster (minor or starting roster) for 72 hours before he can be released.
  
  
• Players released during the last two months of the regular season cannot be drafted.
  
  
• You cannot sign a player for an outrageous amount of money to later not resign him in the offseason, but draft him, just to prevent an owner from having the rights to that player.

[John (Panthers)]

This may have been covered elsewhere, but ... if a player was signed last year to a 3-year, 2-way contract, does an owner need to review that player this year to determine whether the player is still eligible to be a 2-way player? Or does the player remain a 2-way player for the remainder of the "rookie" contract?

To put it another way, if a player was in year 3 of his NHL service (thus eligible to be signed to a 3-year 2-way contract), then can that player remain a 2-way player for the entire 3-year contract? Or does the player revert to a 1-way contract automatically upon reaching 4 years of NHL service?

Also, how many games in a season constitute a "year" of NHL service? If a player plays, for example, 9 games in a season, does that burn a year of NHL service for him? What about 20 games?

Sorry to ask so many questions ...

Flyers

[Trevor (Blue Jackets)]

A player stays on his 2 way contract until his contract is up.

I am not sure about the NHL's rule for games played until you are not considered a rookie, but we are going by that. I think it is 20 games or something.

[Deleted]

how does resigning of franchise players work? do their salaries increase or are they just resigned so that the total of the three players equals 20 million?

[Trevor (Blue Jackets)]

Their contracts never change. Each year the amount of years goes down but the $$$ stays the same. So next year every FP will be renewed for 3 years at whatever their money is now.

[John (Panthers)]

Until Trevor gets time to update the rules, here is the post from 2016 regarding offseason FA bidding:

Jun 15, 2016 at 5:52pm QuotelikePost Options Post by Trevor (Blue Jackets) on Jun 15, 2016 at 5:52pm
All of this info can be found in different places on the board, but since there are a couple new things to be mindful of, I've decided to create a thread with everything you need to know leading up to the draft and free agency.

If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know. All of this info can be found in greater detail in the League Rules thread.

First off,

**RULE CHANGES**

Offseason FA Bidding: You may only bid on players with NHL experience (one NHL game).


**ROSTER CHANGES**

UTIL slot added to the NHL roster.

[Trevor (Blue Jackets)]

Only players with NHL time can be put up for bid.

[John (Panthers)]

Yes, but it doesn’t say that in the rules. The ruling was mad3 in 2016 but was not added to the off-season free agent bidding rules above (it does explicitly say it in the inseason bidding rules).

I had to go read through old threads to find it.

[Trevor (Blue Jackets)]

I’ll will update it when i am back to my laptop.

I think I may have mentioned something in a mass PM sometime this offseason about it too.

[John (Panthers)]

Sounds good, Trevor.

I’m not questioning the rule at all, was just pointing out that it was not listed where one would normally go to refresh memory on league rules.