Brock
Registered User
RULES
Please read these rules very carefully.
Once again, we will not listen to any complaints from General Managers who fail to follow these simple, but fundamental rules, and keep in mind that submitting in the wrong format will result in your offer being ignored without exception. It’s a lot of work to go through these offers and following the requested format reduces the workload considerably.
This list of free agents is now finalized and has been uploaded to the Yahoo group in the 2014 Free Agent Files folder. I've also attached it at the bottom of this post.
I. Submission:
All offers must be sent to [email protected], I will confirm receipt of your offers as well as update the bottom of this post. The subject of the e-mail should be "HFNHL Contract Offers: Team Name". If you send an email with a different subject it will not be sorted properly and may be lost.
Your offers should be sent via Excel, as it is the easiest for this task.
The free agency file can be sorted several different ways depending on your needs. Listed are position and status (UFA vs. RFA).
*NOTE* GMs will no longer have the ability to leave special instructions when submitting your offers. You will not be able to request that you spend x amount of money on x players at x positions. If you make offers on 8 different groups of players you should be prepared to sign up to 8 players. Please keep your cap situation and roster limit in mind when sending in your offers.
II. Format:
All offers should be in the following prioritized bid format:
Rank Player Name Base Salary x No. Years
For Example:
Rank Player Name Salary ($) Term (yrs)
1 Wayne Gretzky $7,500,000 4
1 Gordie Howe $7,000,000 4
2 Guy Lafleur $6,000,000 4
1 Bobby Orr $7,000,000 4
2 Denis Potvin $5,000,000 4
1 Brian Trottier $1,500,000 2
2 Bob Gainey $1,250,000 4
In the above instance, you would sign Gretzky, Howe, Orr and Trottier if your bids were the best on all four. Lafleur would only be signed if you failed to land Howe, while Potvin would only be signed if you failed to land Orr and Gainey only if you failed to sign Trottier.
Basically, since all negotiation happens at once, this allows you to avoid getting stuck with more players than you wanted. You can have as many groupings as you want, and list further choices as well (**NEW RULE**: Priority lists are capped at 4 players). But keep in mind in the above scenario with four ‘#1’ priority offers, these bids could result in the team landing all four players.
There may be instances where your second choice is ready to sign with you right away, but you are still in another round of bidding for your higher selection. For instance, Gainey may be willing to sign that deal, but you are still in the final bidding for Trottier. In this case, the General Manager would be contacted and given the option to pull the trigger on Gainey right away, or remain in the bidding for Trottier (which would result in re-opening the bidding for Gainey if the General Manager held off signing the deal with Gainey immediately).
Keep in mind, the longer a priority list, the less likely a player low down on the list will consider the offer. Even though the lists are being limited to only 4 players this year the difference between each ranking will be weighed fairly heavily.
This year, the maximum salary in the HFNHL is $9.5 million per year (matching the highest NHL cap hit). Minimum is $550,000.
There are no signing bonuses and no performance bonuses.
** NEW ** All “unknown”, or so called “Undrafted Free Agents” require a link to PROVE that they are eligible. Links include transactions notes from official sources, articles, and team sources. If you do not include a link then your offer will be INVALID. There are no exemptions from this rule EVEN if the player is bid on by 20 other teams who did provide links.
*NOTE* The Max salary for rookies this year is $925,000
III. Restricted Free Agents:
OFFER – COMPENSATION
Cap Hit of offer sheet Draft Pick Compensation
$1,110,249 or below None
Over $1,110,249 to $1,682,194 Third-round pick
Over $1,682,194 to $3,364,391 Second-round pick
Over $3,364,391 to $5,046,585 First-round and third-round pick
Over $5,046,585 to $6,728,781 First-round, second-round and third-round pick
Over $6,728,781 to $8,410,976 Two first-round picks, second-round pick, third-round pick
Over $8,410,976 Four first-round picks
Compensation must be paid in consecutive years beginning with the 2015 draft. DO NOT BID ON A RFA IF YOU DO NOT HAVE THE APPROPRIATE COMPENSATION ALREADY LISTED ON YOUR PROSPECTS PAGE If you do, you risk being fined - a minimum penalty of $500,000 will apply. Also, you can only bid on as many RFAs as you have compensation to pay. You cannot bid on 5 players, and then decide which ones you want to keep later, although you can prioritize offer sheets as per the description above.
IV. Bidding Deadline:
Bids are due by 11:59 PM EST on Wednesday, July 9. All bids should be sent to [email protected].
MY LIST IS IN, SO SEND AWAY GENTS!
V. Evaluation of Bids:
Bids will be reviewed based on total salary (base * years), ice time, line-mates, contender status, player loyalty, etc. However, annual compensation will be the main factor, followed by player loyalty. When necessary, several Admin team members will be used to evaluate close bidding. A few other notes:
- If one bid is clearly superior (rating at least 20% higher than the next highest bid), the player will sign immediately with that team**
- If one bid is received, the player will sign with that team**
- If three or more bids are received and none sign the player in the first round, there will be a second round (and ONLY one more round) of bidding, with the top three bidding teams participating, and going through the same review process. The top bid submitted thus far will also be revealed. At the end of this second round, the top bid will sign the player**
- *NOTE* If an undrafted player falls under the rookie salary cap and receives multiple max offers only teams that offered the max will be involved in a lottery for that player, lesser offers within 10% will no longer be included. Players who receive multiple offers but do not receive the max will continue to a second round of bidding if they are within 10% of each other.
- *NOTE* If required, lotteries will be held after the first wave of offers and again at the end of Free Agency. Details of the lottery will follow.
**IMPORTANT NOTE** - if the best offers received for a player are obviously well below legitimate market value (for example, signing Mike Ribeiro to a $1 million contract), the league office retains the right to have the player hold out and wait to receive a better offer at another point in the season. This holds true for RFAs as well - a team presenting an offer sheet to another team's RFA does not automatically sign the player in question - they have to feel the offer is a good one first, then the team holding the rights has the choice to match or not. So please keep in mind the qualifying offer a player must have already turned down when considering making an offer (i.e. it should be significantly better than a 10% raise).
Teams with Restricted Free Agents: those teams whose players sign offer sheets will have the option to match the offer in question or receive compensation (either negotiated or draft picks as per above). Regardless, any player signing an offer sheet will automatically have a no-trade clause for the next year.
VI. All offers are final.
SO PLEASE LET ME KNOW BEFORE YOU MAKE AN OFFER IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS.
VII. Eligibility:
Teams can bid on any of the players listed, plus eligible players not represented in the HFNHL.
A. North American Free Agency Eligibility
(i) The players birth date is in 1994 or earlier (20+ years of age)
(ii) Player is not playing in the NCAA (graduated or left early to sign a pro contract - link required)
(iii) This applies to CHL and NCAA free agents. USHL players who have a college commitment can not be signed until they sign a pro contract.
B. European Free Agency Eligibility
(i) The players birth date is in 1992 or earlier (the player must be a minimum 22 years of age at signing)
(ii) The player is currently in a North American league or has signed a contract to return to the NHL for the 2013/14 season (LINKS REQUIRED)
Note: The European Free Agency rule has changed, in that a player does not have to have played a game in the NHL or AHL before being eligible to be signed, but rather has just signed an agreement to play in the NHL this coming season. However, even if they have signed, they are still subject to rule (VIII) Free Agent Playing in Europe, in the event they return overseas. (LINKS REQUIRED!)
Post-Free Agency rules: Any Europeans who have not signed to play in the NHL, but subsequently signs an NHL deal after July 15th, will be eligible for free agent offers from any HFNHL team with the top offers evaluated a minimum of 48 hours past the date of the official signing, similar to past protocol.
European born players fall under North American rules if they meet one of the following conditions:
(i) NHL drafted players - They played in a North American league in the season prior to being drafted into the NHL. Having played in NA after being drafted is irrelevant.
(ii) NHL un-drafted players - They played in a North American league in the year just prior to them turning 20. In all other cases the European FA rules apply.
Keep in mind the number of contract years for younger player is set in stone. For prospects and rookies under 25 years old - who are also subject to the updated rookie salary cap of $925,000 –they are limited to following contract lengths:
• 3 years if they are between the ages of 18-21
• 2 years if they sign at age 22 or 23,
• 1 year if they their first contract at age 24
For the purpose of these players a cutoff date of September 15th will be used for birthdates. Anyone born prior to September 15th, 1989 would be considered 25 years old and not bound by the rookie salary cap and contract term limitations. Anyone born September 15th and after would be considered 24 (or younger) and will need to be paid within the rookie salary cap and contract term limitations.
Failure to adhere to the proper term for these rookies will result in the offer not being considered.
VIII. Signed Player Playing in Europe
If a free agent is signed this off-season that ultimately commits to playing in Europe before October 1, the player will be removed from your roster and placed on your prospect list. Players who have already committed to playing in Europe next season are not eligible for free agency, with fines applied to those offers where the player in not eligible (do your research!).
IX. Salary Cap
Keep in mind the salary cap for 2014-2015 is $69 million. Plan your offers accordingly. The salary floor is set at $45 million.
REMEMBER, players making 2 million and over will be placed on one way contracts and will make that full amount in the minors.
X. Roster Limit
Keep in mind the roster limit for the upcoming season is a total of 80 players between your pro roster and prospect list. Many teams are near or at the maximum already, so be sure to take this into consideration before submitting offers. Player buyouts and prospect releases have already taken place, so there remains no other way to get rid of a player on your roster until next offseason other than trading. Draft pick and financial penalties may be levied against any team above the 80-player limit at the start of the regular season.
XI. UDFA “LIVE” DRAFT
At a date yet to be determined, there may be a live internet broadcast of a lottery if there are multiple maximum rookie offers on any so-called “Undrafted Free Agents.”
LISTS RECEIVED FROM
FLA
MIN
CGY
CAR
NJD
EDM
NYI
TBL
ANA
NSH
DAL
WSH
SJS
BOS
BUF
TOR
CBJ
VAN
PIT
COL
OTT
ARZ
LA
DET
STL
WPG
NYR
MTL
PHI
Please read these rules very carefully.
Once again, we will not listen to any complaints from General Managers who fail to follow these simple, but fundamental rules, and keep in mind that submitting in the wrong format will result in your offer being ignored without exception. It’s a lot of work to go through these offers and following the requested format reduces the workload considerably.
This list of free agents is now finalized and has been uploaded to the Yahoo group in the 2014 Free Agent Files folder. I've also attached it at the bottom of this post.
I. Submission:
All offers must be sent to [email protected], I will confirm receipt of your offers as well as update the bottom of this post. The subject of the e-mail should be "HFNHL Contract Offers: Team Name". If you send an email with a different subject it will not be sorted properly and may be lost.
Your offers should be sent via Excel, as it is the easiest for this task.
The free agency file can be sorted several different ways depending on your needs. Listed are position and status (UFA vs. RFA).
*NOTE* GMs will no longer have the ability to leave special instructions when submitting your offers. You will not be able to request that you spend x amount of money on x players at x positions. If you make offers on 8 different groups of players you should be prepared to sign up to 8 players. Please keep your cap situation and roster limit in mind when sending in your offers.
II. Format:
All offers should be in the following prioritized bid format:
Rank Player Name Base Salary x No. Years
For Example:
Rank Player Name Salary ($) Term (yrs)
1 Wayne Gretzky $7,500,000 4
1 Gordie Howe $7,000,000 4
2 Guy Lafleur $6,000,000 4
1 Bobby Orr $7,000,000 4
2 Denis Potvin $5,000,000 4
1 Brian Trottier $1,500,000 2
2 Bob Gainey $1,250,000 4
In the above instance, you would sign Gretzky, Howe, Orr and Trottier if your bids were the best on all four. Lafleur would only be signed if you failed to land Howe, while Potvin would only be signed if you failed to land Orr and Gainey only if you failed to sign Trottier.
Basically, since all negotiation happens at once, this allows you to avoid getting stuck with more players than you wanted. You can have as many groupings as you want, and list further choices as well (**NEW RULE**: Priority lists are capped at 4 players). But keep in mind in the above scenario with four ‘#1’ priority offers, these bids could result in the team landing all four players.
There may be instances where your second choice is ready to sign with you right away, but you are still in another round of bidding for your higher selection. For instance, Gainey may be willing to sign that deal, but you are still in the final bidding for Trottier. In this case, the General Manager would be contacted and given the option to pull the trigger on Gainey right away, or remain in the bidding for Trottier (which would result in re-opening the bidding for Gainey if the General Manager held off signing the deal with Gainey immediately).
Keep in mind, the longer a priority list, the less likely a player low down on the list will consider the offer. Even though the lists are being limited to only 4 players this year the difference between each ranking will be weighed fairly heavily.
This year, the maximum salary in the HFNHL is $9.5 million per year (matching the highest NHL cap hit). Minimum is $550,000.
There are no signing bonuses and no performance bonuses.
** NEW ** All “unknown”, or so called “Undrafted Free Agents” require a link to PROVE that they are eligible. Links include transactions notes from official sources, articles, and team sources. If you do not include a link then your offer will be INVALID. There are no exemptions from this rule EVEN if the player is bid on by 20 other teams who did provide links.
*NOTE* The Max salary for rookies this year is $925,000
III. Restricted Free Agents:
OFFER – COMPENSATION
Cap Hit of offer sheet Draft Pick Compensation
$1,110,249 or below None
Over $1,110,249 to $1,682,194 Third-round pick
Over $1,682,194 to $3,364,391 Second-round pick
Over $3,364,391 to $5,046,585 First-round and third-round pick
Over $5,046,585 to $6,728,781 First-round, second-round and third-round pick
Over $6,728,781 to $8,410,976 Two first-round picks, second-round pick, third-round pick
Over $8,410,976 Four first-round picks
Compensation must be paid in consecutive years beginning with the 2015 draft. DO NOT BID ON A RFA IF YOU DO NOT HAVE THE APPROPRIATE COMPENSATION ALREADY LISTED ON YOUR PROSPECTS PAGE If you do, you risk being fined - a minimum penalty of $500,000 will apply. Also, you can only bid on as many RFAs as you have compensation to pay. You cannot bid on 5 players, and then decide which ones you want to keep later, although you can prioritize offer sheets as per the description above.
IV. Bidding Deadline:
Bids are due by 11:59 PM EST on Wednesday, July 9. All bids should be sent to [email protected].
MY LIST IS IN, SO SEND AWAY GENTS!
V. Evaluation of Bids:
Bids will be reviewed based on total salary (base * years), ice time, line-mates, contender status, player loyalty, etc. However, annual compensation will be the main factor, followed by player loyalty. When necessary, several Admin team members will be used to evaluate close bidding. A few other notes:
- If one bid is clearly superior (rating at least 20% higher than the next highest bid), the player will sign immediately with that team**
- If one bid is received, the player will sign with that team**
- If three or more bids are received and none sign the player in the first round, there will be a second round (and ONLY one more round) of bidding, with the top three bidding teams participating, and going through the same review process. The top bid submitted thus far will also be revealed. At the end of this second round, the top bid will sign the player**
- *NOTE* If an undrafted player falls under the rookie salary cap and receives multiple max offers only teams that offered the max will be involved in a lottery for that player, lesser offers within 10% will no longer be included. Players who receive multiple offers but do not receive the max will continue to a second round of bidding if they are within 10% of each other.
- *NOTE* If required, lotteries will be held after the first wave of offers and again at the end of Free Agency. Details of the lottery will follow.
**IMPORTANT NOTE** - if the best offers received for a player are obviously well below legitimate market value (for example, signing Mike Ribeiro to a $1 million contract), the league office retains the right to have the player hold out and wait to receive a better offer at another point in the season. This holds true for RFAs as well - a team presenting an offer sheet to another team's RFA does not automatically sign the player in question - they have to feel the offer is a good one first, then the team holding the rights has the choice to match or not. So please keep in mind the qualifying offer a player must have already turned down when considering making an offer (i.e. it should be significantly better than a 10% raise).
Teams with Restricted Free Agents: those teams whose players sign offer sheets will have the option to match the offer in question or receive compensation (either negotiated or draft picks as per above). Regardless, any player signing an offer sheet will automatically have a no-trade clause for the next year.
VI. All offers are final.
SO PLEASE LET ME KNOW BEFORE YOU MAKE AN OFFER IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS.
VII. Eligibility:
Teams can bid on any of the players listed, plus eligible players not represented in the HFNHL.
A. North American Free Agency Eligibility
(i) The players birth date is in 1994 or earlier (20+ years of age)
(ii) Player is not playing in the NCAA (graduated or left early to sign a pro contract - link required)
(iii) This applies to CHL and NCAA free agents. USHL players who have a college commitment can not be signed until they sign a pro contract.
B. European Free Agency Eligibility
(i) The players birth date is in 1992 or earlier (the player must be a minimum 22 years of age at signing)
(ii) The player is currently in a North American league or has signed a contract to return to the NHL for the 2013/14 season (LINKS REQUIRED)
Note: The European Free Agency rule has changed, in that a player does not have to have played a game in the NHL or AHL before being eligible to be signed, but rather has just signed an agreement to play in the NHL this coming season. However, even if they have signed, they are still subject to rule (VIII) Free Agent Playing in Europe, in the event they return overseas. (LINKS REQUIRED!)
Post-Free Agency rules: Any Europeans who have not signed to play in the NHL, but subsequently signs an NHL deal after July 15th, will be eligible for free agent offers from any HFNHL team with the top offers evaluated a minimum of 48 hours past the date of the official signing, similar to past protocol.
European born players fall under North American rules if they meet one of the following conditions:
(i) NHL drafted players - They played in a North American league in the season prior to being drafted into the NHL. Having played in NA after being drafted is irrelevant.
(ii) NHL un-drafted players - They played in a North American league in the year just prior to them turning 20. In all other cases the European FA rules apply.
Keep in mind the number of contract years for younger player is set in stone. For prospects and rookies under 25 years old - who are also subject to the updated rookie salary cap of $925,000 –they are limited to following contract lengths:
• 3 years if they are between the ages of 18-21
• 2 years if they sign at age 22 or 23,
• 1 year if they their first contract at age 24
For the purpose of these players a cutoff date of September 15th will be used for birthdates. Anyone born prior to September 15th, 1989 would be considered 25 years old and not bound by the rookie salary cap and contract term limitations. Anyone born September 15th and after would be considered 24 (or younger) and will need to be paid within the rookie salary cap and contract term limitations.
Failure to adhere to the proper term for these rookies will result in the offer not being considered.
VIII. Signed Player Playing in Europe
If a free agent is signed this off-season that ultimately commits to playing in Europe before October 1, the player will be removed from your roster and placed on your prospect list. Players who have already committed to playing in Europe next season are not eligible for free agency, with fines applied to those offers where the player in not eligible (do your research!).
IX. Salary Cap
Keep in mind the salary cap for 2014-2015 is $69 million. Plan your offers accordingly. The salary floor is set at $45 million.
REMEMBER, players making 2 million and over will be placed on one way contracts and will make that full amount in the minors.
X. Roster Limit
Keep in mind the roster limit for the upcoming season is a total of 80 players between your pro roster and prospect list. Many teams are near or at the maximum already, so be sure to take this into consideration before submitting offers. Player buyouts and prospect releases have already taken place, so there remains no other way to get rid of a player on your roster until next offseason other than trading. Draft pick and financial penalties may be levied against any team above the 80-player limit at the start of the regular season.
XI. UDFA “LIVE” DRAFT
At a date yet to be determined, there may be a live internet broadcast of a lottery if there are multiple maximum rookie offers on any so-called “Undrafted Free Agents.”
LISTS RECEIVED FROM
FLA
MIN
CGY
CAR
NJD
EDM
NYI
TBL
ANA
NSH
DAL
WSH
SJS
BOS
BUF
TOR
CBJ
VAN
PIT
COL
OTT
ARZ
LA
DET
STL
WPG
NYR
MTL
PHI
Attachments
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