RULES

The UFHL Rule Book:

Rule Book Contents:

Rule 1 - CONDUCT

Rule 2 - ROSTERS

Rule 3 - TRANSACTIONS, FREE AGENTS and WAIVERS

Rule 4 - ANNUAL UFHL DRAFT

Rule 5 - UFHL PLAYOFFS

Rule 6 - APPROVAL OF TRADES

Rule 7 - POINT STRUCTURE

Rule 8 - GENERAL MANAGER'S RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS

Rule 9 - THE UFHL'S RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS

Rule 10 - GENERAL MANAGER APPLICATION

Rule One- Conduct

Section 1A = The first and most important rule in the UFHL is to have as much fun as possible : ) Remember, don't take life and fantasy hockey TOO seriously !

Section 1B =The second part of this rule is to have respect for the commissioners and all of the other GMs. Treat others the way you want to be treated. 

Section 1C = Hockey is an international game with fans of many different backgrounds. This league will tolerate NO discrimination against anyone based on sex, race or beliefs.

Section 1D = Please keep in mind, that any un-excusable behaviour from a GM can lead to a suspension, and further consequences; such as releasing a player, firing a GM, etc. Please behave responsibly and try to have as much fun as possible

Rule 2- Rosters

Section 2A =
PRO ROSTER
The pro roster is made up of 27 players: 12 active forwards, 6 defenceman, 1 enforcer, 1 rookie, 2 goalies, and 8 reserves.
The reserves do not count towards a team's points total until they are placed on the active roster.
Incomplete rosters earn GM (games missed) points on Officepools.  

FARM TEAM
The farm team should have no more than 20 players. No pro players may be placed on the farm team.

Skaters with more than 100, and goalies with more than 40 regular season NHL games of experience (at the beginning of the current season) are considered pro players.

There is no restriction on the number of players you need per posistion on the farm. So for instance, one can have 10 goalies and 5 forwards on the farm team or 7 forwards and 8 d-men. A farm team can not have more than 15 players, but it it only has to have a minimum of 3 players.

Section 2B =
FRANCHISE PLAYERS
Each team will be required to name 2 "FRANCHISE PLAYERS" at the beginning of the season. These players will be decided on between the commissioner(s) and the respective GMs. This rule is in place to prevent teams from gutting their teams and trading away their star players. Any trade involving a franchise player will need to be passed by the League's executives before it becomes official. If it is deemed that the player(s) coming back in return are of fair value the trade will be approved.  
The UFHL will be try to completely fair and un-biased in its decision(s). If a GM feels he does not like the leagues' decision regarding his franchise player trade, he can appeal and then the whole league will secretly vote on whether the trade should stand or not. This would be the final decision. (Note: not all appeals are granted) One can change the name of its franchise player at any time during the season, but it has to be discussed with the League. However, take in mind the league will not allow players like Garry Valk (sorry Garry! ) to be named FRANCHISE PLAYERS.

Section 2C =
MARIO LEMIEUX RULE (Penguins tanked their season to draft Mario Lemieux - later Ottawa tried the same tactic and got Daigle)
It is illegal to intentionally limit your team's point totals in order to get a better draft pick. Each team is responsible for icing the best team that they can with their current roster. There are enough players available after contraction that each team should be able to have a full pro-roster.
Injured players on the pro team must be replaced with other players if a replacement player is available and is earning NHL points.
The league has the power to review a team's conduct to determine if the team has been abusing this rule. The league uses Officepool's GM (games missed) statistic to penalize non-playoff teams for having high numbers of GM.  The penalty is determined using a formula that takes the average GM of all non-playoff teams.  Whatever the difference is between a team's GM number and the average GM number is multiplied by 3 and added to the team's final point totals prior to the lottery.  Teams cannot move into the playoffs with GM penalty points.  A team may not drop lower than 11th in the draft order due to GM penalties, so playoff teams nor the Cup winner will not draft ahead of non-playoff teams - no matter the GM penalty.

Rule 3 - Transactions, Free Agents and Waivers

Section 3A =
TRADES
A trade occurs when two or more GMs agree to a switch of players or draft picks. The trade will be posted on the transactions board by one of the teams involved, and then the remianing teams must post a confirmation.  Once this is done the transaction will be processed as quickly as possible.

General Managers may trade pro players, prospects and picks in the annual draft (see Rule 4 for more info).

Future considerations do not exist in the UFHL. The League feels that future considerations goes against the integrity of the League. No deal may include any promises or gentlemen's agreements with another manager. While the League cannot guarantee that these deals will not continue to be made, the League will not penalize any GM for backing out of such an arrangement.

All trades are subject to league review, but only trades involving first round draft picks or franchise players need to be voted on in order to pass. The league does not want any teams throwing away their future for one shot at the championship. Additionally, the league has to prevent situations from happening where a GM throws away the future for a shot at the title only to quit the league after the season ends.

Section 3B =
FREE AGENCY The league also permits Free Agent (FA) signings and waiving players. A team can sign a FA at any time and the FA's are on a first come first serve basis using the add player function on the gm team page.  The add player function will not be visible if a roster is at maximum capacity until a player is traded or released to put the team under the roster maximum.

ADDING PLAYERS Managers must log into their team pages and use the add player function.  The player may be in the database already, otherwise the manager must create the player's profile in the database.  When doing this, managers need to use the players unique player id number found on hockeydb.com.  When creating players, please use the same spelling used by hockeydb.com.

        Eg: When viewing Doug Gilmour's hockeydb.com profile, the URL contains his unique player id which is 1915:

        http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=1915

RELEASING PLAYERS Managers must log into their team page in order to make roster moves.  A player may be removed by clicking on the red Delete Player icon.  Managers will be asked to confirm dropping a player before it is official.  Once a player is released he is on waivers for 48 hours.

WAIVERS When multiple teams make a claim for a waived player, the team that is the highest on the waiver list gets that player. The successful team then moves to the bottom of the list. 

Who can be signed as a free agent?
- This is an area where there is a lot of gray area. As the NHL agreements with international hockey federations change, so too do the rules for signing players. They UFHL wants to follow the NHL's example as closely as possible. The following details may change from year to year. The League Executive Council holds the final say regarding a player's eligibility.

-The player may be signed as a free agent if he has been drafted by an NHL team but is not on any UFHL roster. You cannot sign players selected in an NHL draft until the UFHL has held the draft for that same group of players 

No Player shall be eligible to be signed as a free agent unless he:

(a) is not on any other UFHL roster and

(b) had been eligible for claim in the last Entry Draft, but was unclaimed, and:

(i) had played hockey in North America the prior season and was age 20 or older at the time of the last Entry Draft, and signed an SPC which was signed and registered with the League between the conclusion of the Entry Draft and commencement of the next NHL Season.

(ii) had played hockey in North America the prior season and was under age 20 at the time of the last Entry Draft, and signed an SPC which was signed and registered with the League between the conclusion of the Entry Draft and commencement of the Major Juniors season (except that if such Player had signed an NHL tryout form, which was signed and registered with the League during the aforesaid time period, then the deadline for signing and registering with the League an SPC with such try-out Club shall be the commencement of the NHL Season).

(iii) had played hockey outside of North America in the prior season and was age 22 or older at the time of the last Entry Draft and signed an SPC which was signed and registered with the League between the conclusion of the Entry Draft and the commencement of the next NHL Season.

(iv) The words "eligible for claim in the last Entry Draft" in subparagraph (b) above mean "eligible for claim in all rounds of the last Entry Draft." The words "the prior season" in subparagraph (i), (ii) and (iii) above mean "a full season prior to the last Entry Draft."

Any questions about these rules should be forwarded to the league.

Section 3C =
Notifying the League of Roster Moves
When you make a deal you need to post it on our message board in the trade forum.

In order for a deal to be processed, one team must post the deal, and the other team must confirm it.

A trade that involves a franchise player or first round draft pick needs to be reviewed by the League Executives. As a result, such a trade takes a few days to be processed. If you want the deal to be included on the next update you need to submit it at least 48 hours before the update deadline.

Any deal can also be challenged by the league managers as a whole, if two GMs initiate an appeal within 24 hours of the deal being confirmed by both trade partners. When this happens, all teams in the league will be asked to vote on the deal. Deals that are first subject to Executive voting can be challenged for 24 hours after being decided upon by the league.

Section 3D =
Correct Formats for Transaction Notification

Rule 4 - Annual UFHL Draft

Section 4A = This rule pertains to the Annual UFHL  Draft. The draft is a combination of the entry and waiver drafts in one. This draft will be held annually at a pre-established time, and is based on the standings from the previous season. The draft will be an entry draft and waiver draft in one. The draft will go three rounds. Teams can acquire additional picks through trades. Teams have 2 mins. between each pick to make their selection. Before the draft, each team will be required to expose their protected list for the draft. (see 4D for note about lottery teams) Each GM can protect their entire roster with the exception of players left on the reserves

A player is considered a pro player when he has played more than 100 career NHL games (40 for a goalie). Please contact the league if you have a player whose status you are unsure of.

A team has the choice to draft either an available reserve (pro player), or prospect. Each team will only be allowed to lose 3 players max in the draft. You can choose your own players in the draft, if need be. You can also choose players that are not on any team's roster, like a prospect, because once the draft starts, the teams lose right to players not on their roster. You can sign any NHL draft entrants that were drafted before this draft (2001 and before), if you want a 2002 NHL draft entrant you have to draft them in that year's draft (2002). If a player is drafted in the 2002 NHL draft but is still undrafted in the UFHL after the draft is OVER, you can sign him as a FA.Once a player is chosen, he becomes ineligible to be chosen again. Once a team loses three players, no more players can be picked from that team.

Section 4B = Order of Selection in the Annual UFHL Draft.  The order of selection in the Annual UFHL Draft depends on two things; the standings from the year before, and the Annual UFHL lottery. The UFHL Lottery is based on the NHL Lottery. If the 3rd worst team wins the NHL lottery, then the 3rd worst UFHL team wins our lottery. This method insures that there can be absolutely no tampering with the lottery draft.

Section 4C = No team can have more than four first rounders in one single year, in order to make sure that teams remain competitive year in and year out. (this prevents teams from COMPLETELY gutting their team, and further creating a sense of parity in the UFHL) As well, no GM can trade his/her respective team's picks two years in advance (in the 2007-2008 season, one can't trade any picks in the 2009 draft).

Section 4D =All teams that miss the playoffs are eligible for the lottery. As stated earlier, the UFHL follows the results of the NHL lottery draft. However, prior to the NHL lottery, the UFHL standings may be adjusted by the League Executive Council to prevent tanking. In the 2007/2008 season, positions on officepools with fewer than 150 points will be adjusted to a total of 150 points. This adjustment happens regardless of whether a team still owns the rights to their own first round pick or not. Once point adjustments are made, the final standings will be posted prior to the NHL lottery. Point adjustments are for the purpose of the draft, and cannot be used to move a team up the standings into the playoffs.

Rule 5 -UFHL PLAYOFFS

Section 5A = In the UFHL, the regular season is the big event. However, to add some fun to the league we have a playoff pool that the top 16 managers in our league get to take part in. 16 Managers are seeded 1 vs. 16, 2 vs. 15 3 vs. 14 etc etc. The higher ranked seed will get to pick a player (to the round maximum) for every x number of points they are ahead of their opponent (the value for x has is currently 300 UFHL points).

GMs are expected to draft their own playoff lists. No tolerance will be given to teams found to be in collusion during the playoffs. It would not be hard to set up a deal with another GM in order for one to "throw" their round, but clearly this sort of thing goes against the integrity and good-faith of the league. Teams who take part in this type of arrangement will be eliminated automatically.

Draft picks are awarded to four teams in the playoffs. The winner of the Stanley Cup wins a first round pick (the first pick after non-playoff teams). The runner-up receives the last pick in the second round. The third and fourth teams are awarded the last two picks in the third round according to which team earned the most points in the third round (in the event of a tie in the third round, second round points are added. The team with the most points receives the better of the two picks.

Check the Playoff Zone for full playoff details!

Rule 6 - Approval of Trades

Section 6A =
All trades are reviewed by the UFHL. However, trades that involve franchise players or first round draft choices must pass through the UFHL Executive Council. These trades must be submitted by both parties to the message board no later than 48 hours prior to the weekly roster submission deadline. This guarantees that the Executive Board has time to vote on the deal prior to the deadline. Trades may be voted on by the Council if one or more of the head commissioners feels that one team is winning the trade by an 80%-20% margin. The Council will each cast one vote and either pass or fail the trade. (Each trade is a different case and it depends on the circumstances). The teams can either: a.) try to re-structure the deal or b.) forget about the deal entirely. The UFHL is all about being a fun league for all and its no fun when there is a big gap in the disparity between teams. The league will not permit team stacking via one sided trades. Making a lopsided trade will ALWAYS draw the attention of the league in order to ensure that the integrity of the league is not compromised by kamikaze GMs.

Section 6B = Appealing an Executive Decision:  After a vote by the Council, a GM may appeal the decision.  When this occurs, a league-wide vote will take place.  In order for the vote to be legitimate, at least two-thirds of the league may vote.  All GMs - even members of the Council and the managers involved in the trade are entitled to cast one vote.  If the council approved a trade, or the trade was not required to be put to a vote of the Council, a GM may appeal that a trade has taken place.  In order to initate an appeal of a trade that would otherwise be processed, another GM must second the motion within 48 hours of the trade being posted. Again, the a vote requires two-thirds of the league to participate, and all GMs may cast one vote. 

Rule 7- Point Structure

Section 7A = 

FORWARDS:
Games Played= 1
Goals= 5
Assists= 5
PIM= 1
+/- = +1/-1
PPG= +2
SHG= +2
OTG= +2
GWG= +2
GTG= +1
Hat Trick= +10

------------------------

DEFENSEMEN

Games Played= 2
Goals= 7
Assists= 7
PIM= 1
+/- = +1/-1
PPG= +2
SHG= +2
OTG= +2
GWG= +2
GTG= +1
Hat Trick= +10

--------------------

ENFORCER (may be a defenseman or forward)

Games Played= 1
Goals= 2
Assists= 2
PIM= 1.5
+/- = +1/-1
PPG= +0
SHG= +0
OTG= +0
GWG= +0
GTG= +0
Hat Trick= +0

--------------------

Rookie (may be a defenseman or forward)

Games Played= 1
Goals= 5
Assists= 5
PIM= 1
+/- = +1/-1
PPG= +1
SHG= +1
OTG= +1
GWG= +1
GTG= +1
Hat Trick= +10

--------------------

GOALIES

Games Played= 2
Goals= 10
Assists= 10
PIM = 1
Wins = 10
Ties = 5
Losses = 3
Shutouts = 10
Overtime Wins = +3
Overtime Ties = +2
Overtime Loss = +1
Overtime Shutout = +3

We use officepools as our stats server. For more info on our stats server, please visit www.officepools.com

Rule 8 - General Manager's Rights and Obligations

Section 8A = Each GM is required to have an ICQ account and to be available at least once a week. A GM who is never online may be contacted by the league via email to determine a GM's desire to continue in this league. (Note: Special exemptions may be made.)

Section 8B = If you need to voice your opinion over any matter please do not hesitate to do so. However, keep in mind that it is best to be discreet and talk to a UFHL official first. Any concerns or complaints that you may have please feel free to talk to either commissioner or at the least send an e-mail to the League Office

Section 8C = You may quit the league at any time. Please just let one of the league officials know.

Section 8D= Every new GM is going to be on a 1 month probation during which time all trades made by the new GM will be reviewed by the Executive Council. The idea is that new GMs will be given some time to get a feel for the league before they engage in significant deal-making that they might regret later. This rule is necessary to protect the integrity of the teams in the league, and is not intended to offend the new GMs. Most new GMs have deals turned down - and often they thank the league for it later. During the one month trial period, new GMs are not permitted to make deals with members of the Executive Council.

Section 8E= Every GM is expected to participate in good faith. Loopholes may be discovered in the rules, however the League retains the right to make corrections to fix those rules. Should a Manager appeal the timing of a corrected loophole, the League will ask the rest of the managers in the league to contribute their opinions on the matter in order to help the League come to a fair conclusion. One GM said it best when he posted "Finding loop holes in the rules is not very difficult. Yet, this is supposed to be a fun league. All of us (meaning every GM) should have enough personal integrity to not use those loop holes so that the enjoyment of this league maintained for all. "

Rule 9 - The UFHL's Rights and Obligations

Section 9A =  The league and its officials are responsible for all of the league personale moves. This covers hiring and releasing GMs. The league's officials maintain the right to exercise their discretion when making changes to the GM list. The League's officials hope that releasing a GM will never become necessary.

Section 9B = The League is free for the approved GMs to use as a hobby. There is no prize money or any other material award given to anyone in this league, except for pure satisfaction and a love for the game of hockey.

Section 9C = The League is not responsible for any neck cramps, ruined relationships or starving pets that may result from your participation in this league =)

Section 9D = The League may update and revise the rules without warning, but GMs will always be notified of any changes. The League will not impose major rule changes to the scoring system, the date of the draft, roster sizes, or roster position numbers until the beginning of the next UFHL year.

Section 9E =  General Managers are responsible for meeting the required duties of a General Manager as outlined by the League.  This includes updating games played, attending the draft or submitting a draft list, and participating in onliine communication regularly.

Rule 10- Prospective General Manager Application

Section 10A= All general manager applicants will require ICQ and an e-mail account. ICQ and e-mail are the primary ways on initiating trade discussion among other general managers. ICQ is mandatory.