ECHO RuleBook V1.0 (07/22/02)

 

Introduction:

Welcome to the ECHO Rulebook section. The rules were made as of 22nd July 2002 and are subject to change. But these rules are the final rules for the inaugral season of the ECHO, changes are just allowed during the off-season and with a 2/3 vote of the General Managers.

1. What is the ECHO?

The East Coast Hockey Organization is a fantasy hockey league that simulates the real world of hockey. Players create franchises just as one would in the NHL. They are responsible for running the franchise and strive each season to win the ultimate prize, the ECHO Cup. Players, otherwise known as General Mangers (GMs) are responsible for all aspects of their franchise, from its finances to its player administration. Budgeting the franchise is just as important as trading for the right players.

2. OWNER'S DUTIES:

This league is designed for entertainment purposes only. The goal of the ECHO is for every owner to thoroughly enjoy the experience of acting like a real NHL General Manager. However, if your idea of fun includes (but not limited to): team collusion, cheating, lieing, or causing distress to any other GM via rude emails, threats, or not respecting another persons beliefs, you will promptly be removed from this league - no questions asked. Whenever the "fun quotient" of the majority is comprimised by the inappropriate behavior of the minority, this league ceases to be entertaining. Please keep that in mind.

Another highly important rule that applies to Team Owners is activity. All owners must play an active role in managing their teams. No inactive owners will be allowed. In order to remain active, each owner must do the following: check your league related email messages at least once a day and reply to all messages and offers (no matter how ridiculous or unfair the offer may seem to you), have a current ICQ account which you use regularly OR be available to meet any GM in a chatroom to undergo trade talks when necessary, make sure all your player lines are current and injured players are removed from the above mentioned lines when necessary, and you must care how your team performs on a day to day basis - such as checking the web page regularly for game scores and such. If any owner cannot remain active, he will be removed. However, if an owner has a family, work, or school requirement such as vaction or a series of mid-terms in the horrizon, this owner will be excused from his or her requirement to remain active for the period of time that it takes to accomplish the out-of-league task. All that is need is to notify the commissioner in advance.

If any of these rules are not met, it could be grounds for dismissal. We would like complete participation and dedication from everyone in this league. If you feel that you cannot fulfill these duties, then this may be the wrong league for you.

3. ROSTERS:

· Each team has to have a minimum of 20 players on their pro roster, including at least 2 goaltenders, 6 defenseman, and 3 of each forward position. Teams can have a maximum of 25 players on the pro roster.

If a team exceeds its 25 man limit on the pro roster, that team will be fined $100,000 per player, per day. This can really pile up quickly, so watch your rosters. Basically, if you check the page every day and follow your team's progress, you will not have a problem staying within the 25 player limit. Most times the sim will not allow you to call up a player if he is the 26th player; however, it does not check if you made a 3 for 2 trade and the extra player pushes you over the limit. I will be checking that ... and fining teams that do not demote a player in a timely fashion. If a team is over the 25 player limit for a long period of time, the ECHO commissioner will step and demote players on behalf of that team. Even if it means they have to pass through waivers.

You can have as many farm players and prospects as you want. However, there is a limit of 50 player combined on the pro-team/farm-team.

Between season every player in the ECHO will be re-rated based on NHL performances. The individual ratings will be rated based on the following criteria and guidelines:

IT
For Intensity I look at hits delivered in the NHL. These stats are found at nhl.com. It's not the only thing though - goons who rarely hit people still get 90+ IT. I also assign extra IT to feisty agitators and all-around annoying little buggers like Fleury, Tucker and others.

SP
Its quite tricky to rate speed. All I can really do is rate based on what I see, read and hear. If I read somewhere that a player is slow he gets below the 'standard' speed (65 for forwards, 60 for defencemen) and vice versa.

ST
Based on the players height and weight. However, I do make certain exceptions to that guideline. For instance Michael Peca gets a somewhat higher ST rating than his 5'11 183 is worth. But it is my opinion that he uses his body really efficiently and should get more than 53 ST.

EN
Used to be based on the ice time the player gets in the NHL. But I have sort of scrapped that this season as I have a hunch that EN is important when it comes to players recovering from injuries. And in the most recent season I thought that it didn't work well ... particularly when players had fallen below OK condition it could take them ages to recover - so now most players just get high EN ratings.

DU
Obviously injury-prone players get low DU ratings. This is usually based on more than just the most recent season. Otherwise it would fluctuate too much. Usually players who has been injured often gets a drop in DU while players who played a full season goes up in DU.

DI
Penalty minutes. roughly said - players who has the same number of PIM's as they've played games get around 75 DI ...

SK
Another tricky rating. Obviously fast players usually gets good skating ability too. Other than that I give a bit of skating to players who are good at deking opponents or are good at getting into good scoring/set up positions. For defensive players I also tend to give a bit of SK to defensive forwards.

PA/PC/SC
The skill ratings. Based on goals and assists output. Puck Control is for most players somewhere in between passing and scoring. A player who has superb puckhanding skills, but dont produce in terms of points still dont get PC. Eventhough they could make such an argument.

For star players who has had bad seasons I give a bit of 'benefit-of-the-doubt' special consideration and give them better ratings than their seasons usually would demand. See Paul Kariya for instance. I dont want to make him a poor player just because his teammates are not as good as they used to be (remember when he played with Selanne and Rucchin ?). This special consideration doesnt last forever though. Next season his rating will be more affected.

DF
One of those "judgment-call" ratings. I tend to go on reputation. From this season I am trying to create more defensive specialists. In the past I feel the difference from a 'normal' player to a 'defensive specialist' in the DF has been too insignificant as it would usually be in the region of 65 for normal players and low 70's for 'defensive specialists'. As mentioned earlier face-off specialists get a bit of consideration in this category. Veterans will get some DF consideration. For defencemen DF is mainly their defensive awareness, ability to clear the puck, clear out forwards from in front of the net (you know - NOT Aki Berg standing-around-looking-stupid-style), poke-checks etc. I try to distinguish between hits and other defensive plays. Obviously IT is important for defencemen too. But not everybody deserves high marks in both categories.

It isn't easy trying to create a whole new DF level, but I hope it works. In FHL succes can be attributed to offence offence offence ... skill skill skill. This may (or may not) change things a bit. Should be interesting I hope.

EX
The longer a player has been around, the higher his EX. However, rather than just giving 3 points to all players for an NHL season I give out 'bonus-points' to players who go deep in the playoffs with their teams.

LD
Most players get a few points for a season. But there will be individual adjustments. For instance players who gets to wear a "C" or an "A" on their jerseys usually deserves decent LD (as an example, I have giving Stephen Webb a significant increase in LD since he's wearing an "A" on his jersey. He leads by doing). I also sometimes remove LD points. For instance Adam Oates has lost a couple of points this season - he had a lot of problems with his coach. He publically disrespected him and critizised him, that cannot be good for team morale. Same thing will probably happen with Cechmanek and others.

If a certain GMs has the feeling, that his player(s) are unfairly rerated based on NHL performance, then he can send an appeal to the Commish and the rerating will go under review. Generally appeals are just possible for a maximum of three players!

4. INJURIES:

· All players are subject to injury, including goaltenders. The injury report will show the type of injury and the expected amount of time the player will miss.

· Players that are injured will have to be replaced in the lineup. This will have to occur before the next game played.

5. TRADES:

· · An owner can trade players, draft picks, and money. Regarding Draft Picks - you may only trade draft picks that are to be used in the next two drafts.

· · Both teams must confirm all trades. A trade will not occur until this happens.

· · Although both owners must confirm trades to me, we will not stand for owners making deals and then backing out of them. If an owner practices this behavior, it will be grounds for immediate dismissal.

If you feel a trade is uneven you are entitled to request a trade review. We have a trade board. All you have to do is post a message on the message board where it says "request trade review" and the wheels will be set in motion. Be sure to explain why you think the trade is uneven.

6. FINANCES:

There is a 53 Million dollar pro payroll salary cap. Any team in violation will be given a warning. If the problem is not solved quickly the league will solve it for you even if it means sending players on waivers.

All teams will start with $30,000,000, including any new teams we might add in the future.

Teams will also earn revenue in the following ways:

1. Teams will earn revenue buy selling tickets to their games. The amount a team earns depends on the arena size, attendance, and ticket prices.

2. Ticket prices can be changed at any time.

3. Attendance will be based on whether a team is playing well and if the team has any star players, (80 plus in ratings), for the fans to watch play.

4. You can purchase more seats for your arena in the off season. Extra seats will cost $2000 per seat.

Teams can also earn extra revenue for the following things:

$250,000 for any player who receives an award, or any major team award such as most improved team, lowest GAA, and having the best record during the regular season.

$100,000 for each all star a team has.

$300,000 for winning your division.

$250,000 for making the playoffs.

$500,000 for winning your conference finals series.

$1,000,000 for winning the Stanley Cup.

And finally there's the participation payoff. If a GM takes an active interest in making the league more entertaining they will be financially rewarded. Such rewards can be paid out to GM's who run drafts, run All Star Game, writes league News articles. Each article is worth $200,000.

BANKRUPTCY
If a team finishes the season with negative funds it will be considered bankrupt. Bankrupt teams needs to raise cash immediately. That will be done by holding an auction ... 'selling' a player for cash. Effectively it means that the Commissioner decides on 3 'decent' players from the bankrupt teams' roster (one forward, one defenceman and one goaltender). Bidding will start at the exact amount that the team is in the red. These 3 players will be put up on auction for 72 hours. When the 72 hours has passed the GM of the bankrupt team has to decide which player he wants to sell - and which two he gets to keep. (decent meaning 70+, but not the best players on the team).

The team who wins the auction has to be able to afford the player within the salary cap. Otherwise their offer is void.

7. DRAFTS:

Entry Draft
The entry draft will occur in the first off-season following an NHL Entry draft. All players that are eligible for the NHL entry draft will be included in the ECHO entry draft.

Draft order will be determined by final ECHO regular season standings. Teams not making the playoffs will enter a lottery to determine the 1st round order.

A list of player names will be provided each year, and will be ranked according to actual NHL Draft order. In addition to the players selected in the most recent draft, the GM's may also select any player who is not associated with any ECHO team and has not yet played in the NHL.

Owners are encouraged to research the players eligible for the entry draft, as there will not be any ratings to assist the owners in this process.

RATING TERMS:
CD= Condition. The condition your player is in. If this is around 90, then he can play at around 90% of his potential. The lower his condition is, the better chance of injury.

· · IJ= Injury.

· · IT= Intensity.

· · SP= Speed.

· · ST= Strength.

· · EN= Endurance.

· · DU= Durability.

· · DI= Discipline.

· · SK= Skating.

· · PA= Passing.

· · PC= Puck control.

· · DF= Defense.

· · SC= Goal scoring.

· · EX= Experience.

· · LD= Leadership.

· · OV= Overall.

· · Overall is based on the following: D-men are rated higher if they have a higher DF and ST, forwards if they have a high SC and PA and goalies if they have high SP and PC.

LINES:

· all teams must have a minimum of 4 Centers, 4 Left wingers, 4 Right wingers, 8 defencemen and 2 goaltenders. AND it is only allowed to doubleshift 1 forward and 2 defencemen – if I find out a team is doubleshifting more players than allowed (2 forwards for instance) I will suspend the highest rated double-shifted player for 5 games. Yes – seriously.

If a GM chooses not to use the GM Editor to submit line, he or she must submit them in "text format" (see below). This can be accomplished using Notepad or other text file programs. This does not include e-mail programs. Once the lines have been compiled in text format, the preferred way to submit them is by using the "Submit Lines" link.

· The appropriate "text format" is as follows: using the player numbers and separating them with a comma, create a list that includes the following information

CENTERS

LEFT WINGS

RIGHT WINGS

DEFENSMAN

GOALIES

***

FOUR EVEN STRENGTH LINES (C, LW, RW, D, D)

TWO PP LINES 5 ON 4 (C, LW, RW, D, D)

TWO PP LINES 4 ON 3 (C, W, D, D)

TWO PK LINES 4 ON 5 (C, W, D, D)

TWO PK LINES 3 ON 5 (C, D, D)

TWO EXTRA SKATERS

ONE GOALTENDER

Here would be a sample of what to send in:

88,17,28,45

10,9,21,23

18,57,72,19

44,39,6,82,3,66

1, 41

***

88,10,18,44,6

17,9,72,66,39

29,21,19,82,3

45,23,57,44,39

88,10,18,44,6

17,9,72,66,39

88,10,44,6

17,9,66,39

88,10,82,3

29,9,66,39

88,82,3

29,66,39

88,72

41

8. CONTRACTS

Salaries are shown on the player vitals page, as well as the length of their contracts.

A player on the pro team will receive his full contract amount.

A player on the farm team will receive 10% of his salary. When a player is called up to the pro league, you must pay him his full salary.

Prospects do not have salaries, but do cost the team $1500 per person. This is for the junior club to take care of your player.

The league minimum is $150,000 per year.

Players being activated as prospects - when signing their 1st contracts will always sign for 2 years. The salary per year will be the same as in the NHL. NHLPA has the official amount.

Players that are given their outright release from a team will have to be paid 1/4 of their remaining contract.

RE-SIGNING PLAYERS
Average salaries for the top 20 players is calculated, by FA Status (RFA/UFA), position (Forwards, D-Men, goaltenders) and rating level (80+, 76-79, 72-75, 68-71, 67 or lower).

When a player has to be re-signed the GM will be able to place him in one of these categories and determine what the average salary is in that group.

If the player is paid MORE than this average he will ask only for a moderate raise of 25%.

If the player is paid LESS than this average he will ask for a significant raise – 75% of the difference between his current salary and the average. The player will always ask for at least 25% raise.

Teams may pay up to 33% of the total contract value as a signing bonus (1/3 to be exact). But the players will never agree to a lower base salary than the one they had earlier.

A modifier for contract length could look like this (3 years being a 'standard' contract)

A max contract length based on age (Up to 26 – 3 years, 27-30 – 4 years, 31 or older – 5 years)


1 year contracts – 10%
2 year contracts – 05%
3 year contracts. no modifier
4 year contracts + 10%
5 year contracts + 20%

PROCEDURE
1) Determine if the player is over or under the average in his category
2) Calculate new base salary
3) Decide contract length
4) Calculate contract value (new base salary*contract length)
5) Add or subtract percentage modifier for contract length
6) Subtract signing bonus from contract value
7) Determine new contract

EXAMPLE 1:
Player X (d-man, rated 77 ov, UFA) has a salary of 2 million. The average for his group (UFA, d-men, 76-79) is 3 million. He will then ask for a raise of 750.000. That adds up to a new base salary of 2,75 mill per year. I want to sign him for 4 years, so that’s a contract value of 2,75*4 = 11 mill + 10% (for the 4 year contract) it ends up at 12.1 million for 4 years. To lower his base salary I choose to spend 2.1 million as a signing bonus (I could pay up to 33% of the 12.1 mill) making it 10 million in base salary + 2.1 mill SB. Final contract - 2.5 mill per year for 4 years + 2.1 SB.

EXAMPLE 2:
Player X (d-man, rated 77 ov, UFA) has a salary of 2 million. The average for his group (UFA, d-men, 76-79) is 3 million. He will then ask for a raise of 750.000. That adds up to a new base salary of 2,75 mill per year. I want to sign him for 3 years, so that’s a contract value of 2,75*3 = 8,25 mill. To lower his base salary I choose to spend 2.25 million as a signing bonus (I could pay up to 33% of the 8.25 mill) making it 6 million in base salary + 2.25 mill SB. Final contract - 2 mill per year for 3 years + 2.25 SB.

EXAMPLE 3:
Player Y (d-man, rated 77 ov, UFA) has a salary of 2.8 million. The average for his group (UFA, d-men, is 3 million. Since 75% of the difference (about 150.000) is less than a 'standard' 20% raise (560.000) the player will ask for a new salary per year of 3.36 million. It's a veteran player so I will only offer a 1 year contract, so that is a contract value of 3.36 – 20% (672.000) bringing his new contract value to just about 2.7, but since he wont agree to a lower base salary that amount is raised to 2.8 million for 1 year

pThis is a spread-sheet that should be very helpful when it comes to re-signing your players. RE-SIGNING PLAYERS SYSTEM

Free Agents:
Players are Restricted Free Agents (RFA) if their contract expires, they are 30 yrs or younger. If your teams has potential free agents, be sure to check his age at an official site as the age in the wcfhl could be incorrect. RFAs may sign offer sheets with any team they choose, but their current team has the right to match any offer. If the original team chooses not to match another teams offer sheet, the current team loses control of said player and receives draft pick, cash, prospects compensation in return. Such compensation shall be determined by the interested teams or, if the teams fail to reach an agreement concerning compensation, using the the value of the new contract:

80+ : 3 Level 1 Prospects + $2,500,000
75-79 : 2 Level 1 Prospects + $2,000,000
71-74 : 1 Level 1 Prospect + 1 Level 2 Prospect + $1,500,000
68-70 : 1 Level 1 prospect + $750,000
67 or lower : 1 Level 2 Prospect + $750,000

This compensation will be adjusted based on the average salary per year (signing bonus included) the winning bid ends up at. These are the Adjustments :

Up to 1 mill per year + $1,500,000
Up to 2 mill per year + 1 Level 2 prospect+ $750,000
Up to 3 mill per year + 1 Level 1 prospect + $1,000,000
Up to 4 mill per year + 1 Level 1 prospect + 1 level 2 prospect + $1,500,000
Up to 5 mill per year + 2 Level 1 prospects + $2,000,000
5 mill+ per year + 2 Level 1 prospects + 1 level 2 prospect + $2,500,000

Definition of "Level 1 Prospects and Level 2 Prospects"

1. Level 1 prospects are either:
(a) Top-notch prospects (ranked very highly by Hockeysfuture.com), and/or;
(b) Solid prospects that are in the NHL, or will be *very* soon (based on "the Leagues" knowledge and information at Hockeysfuture.com).

2. Level 2 prospects are:
(a) All other prospects that are not Level 1.

Once a team has won the bidding for an RFA (and the team who originally owned his rights has decided not to match the offer), the league will rank their prospects into Level 1 and Level 2. At first the two teams involved will be asked to negotiate compensation. If they cannot agree the league step in and arbitrate between the teams involved (The team losing a player, and the team that won the bidding). If arbitration does not produce agreement between the two teams involved - the highest bidding team forfeits the opportunity to sign the player. The bidding will then resume - the highest bid (the one that didn't pan out) will be removed. During arbitration both teams has the right to refuse the compensation package suggested by the league.

The following 'swaps' could be made :
1. Level 1 Prospect - #1 Draft Pick or $2,000,000
2. Level 2 Prospect: #2 Draft Pick or $1,000,000

The Compensation will first look at draft picks, then prospects, then cash.

The new team must abide by the terms of the contract for the said period of time that the deal covers.

WAIVER WIRE
1) A player will be placed on waivers if he is older than 24, has played 8 or more games in the current season, and has been demoted from the pro roster.

2) Any player rated 70 or higher will also be placed on waivers upon demotion.

3) The other condition in which players may be waived is if they have failed to play a game in the pros in the current season at the midway point of the season - these players do not need to be placed on the pro roster and demoted to be waived; they will be "manually" waived. However, as soon as a player who is rule III eligible plays in a WCFHL game, he forfeits his eligibilty.

If the player remains on waivers for 48 hrs and no one has claimed him, it shall be said that he has "cleared" waivers and he will be placed on the teams respective Farm team.

Any team may claim a player, but the team that receives the rights of the player will be determined via a priority list that is ordered inversely to the WCFHL Standings the previous season.. Whenever a team claims a player off waivers that team will be moved to last place on the priority list.

The team that is awarded the rights to a player is obligated to pay said player for the remaining life of the contract, keep said player on his pro roster for a period of no less than 10 days, and pay the original team the waiver purchase price of $50,000.

Terminating a contract (excluding retirement):
A team may terminate a player's contract at any time; however, said team is obligated to pay a portion of the player's remaining salary as one lump sum at the time of termination. This process is referred to as "buying-out" the remaining life of the contract. The amount that a team is obligated to pay is 25% of the pro-rated life of the remaining value of the contract. If a team fails to pay said player the proper amount, the player may sue the organization for up to 1000% of the amount that was not paid. At the point of termination, the player becomes a UFA regardless of age. The process of "buying-out" the remaining life of a contract is recommended only with short term deals or with low value contracts because it can be quite costly for a team.

9. Activating Prospects

You can activate your prospects, as soon as they've played the first NHL game. Players who are still playing down in minors or in Europe, can't get activated.

As soon as one of your prospects is part of an NHL lineup, send an email to the Commish with all necessary informations about this player, and he will get activated. (Informations as Age, Height, Weight, Position, etc..)

10. Retirements / Holdouts

As the ECHO is based on the NHL, the players will retire when they did from NHL. They will play one more ECHO season, before they will retire. Players who are holding out from any NHL activities, will do so in ECHO as well. Depending on how long they are on a holdout.

11. Awards

At the end of each season the awards will be handed out. The most important awards of the ECHO will be the "General Manager of the Year" title. The team who will win this award will get a bonus of $750'000. Furthermore the name of the best GM will be part of a special Award, which will be handed out after season 2.