Welcome to the GFHL
(Global Fantasy Hockey League)

The GFHL is an internet hockey league based on Sean Bates' FHL Simulator program. It closely simulates the NHL experience of being an actual GM of a NHL team, without the aggravation of player hold-outs and moronic coaches. <kinda!> My personal belief is if it is good enough for the NHL, I'll do everything I can do to have it in the GFHL. But the GFHL is a living breathing creature, and it will evolve.

Due to that fact, some rules that exist today may not exist tomorrow. We work currently with the NHL rules from 1996. However I've added some other ideas that have been suggested by allies and other commissioners from other leagues. We strive to stay current with the NHL rulebook, however all new rules that the NHL implements will be reviewed by the Commissioners to make sure it does not hurt the league, but only helps it.

The GFHL strives on activity. Due to this fact, this league might not be the best thing for the everyday work-a-holic. I define being active as the following:

Active means the following:

Being available for at least a few hours a week on the IRC channel (IRCZone server, #fha_gfhl).

1. Being available via ICQ or email.
2. Sending in new lines whenever they are needed, to ensure a full and complete roster.
3. Confirming trades as soon as they are complete, to avoid any complications.
4. Active participation in ONE (minimum) of the committees in the league. Without committees, a league cannot properly function.

If you feel that you might not be able to live up to the above standards, this league is probably not for you. Sorry!

As a GM you have total control over your team, it's coach, players, finances, debts and it's arena. It is your responsibility to make the team a winner, and make some bucks at the same time.

If you neglect the team and the duties that come with being the GM, or neglect your obligations in a committee, though, it will be sayonara.

If you have any questions or concerns, please refer to the remainder of the document, and if that doesn't help, ask a commissioner. We won't bite your head off.

Now ... the most important rule to remember ... I call it the silver rule, simply because everyone else calls it the golden rule, and I want to be different!

SILVER RULE

• Do unto others as you would have them do unto you ... pretty common sense really. If you don't like being treated like a moron, then don't treat others like morons. I've found the internet population to be very vengeful ... ergo, if you tell someone where to go, you lose your hard drive. So do us all a favor, and be polite. Any rudeness will NOT be tolerated, and will subject the abuser to sanctions & other fines. 

• The term "no one told me" or "duh, I didn't know" won't be tolerated either! It's your responsibility as a GM to consult this manual or ask a commissioner. It usually gains ZERO sympathy when you don't follow through.

SPIRIT OF THE RULES

Loopholes exist. Plain and simple. If you try to find loopholes, we must caution you. The rules are guidelines for you. They DON'T and WON'T take precedence over the spirit and intent of the rules.

If you actually find a loophole that contravenes the spirit or intent of the rules in the commissioners opinions, the Commissioners retain COMPLETE rights to plug that hole with retroactive rule changes.

General rule changes are NOT retroactive. However, when a loophole is found to be in direct conflict with the spirit/intent, those changes will be retro.

Ergo, when loophole hunting, I'd highly recommend consulting a Commissioner to see if the loophole will be plugged retroactively.

APPLYING TO THE LEAGUE

So you want to apply to the league? You should ask yourself these questions first...

1. Do I have time to devote to make sure the team is properly managed?
2. Do I have time to devote to actively participate in a committee?
3. Do I have time to get on the IRC channel several times a week?
4. Do I enjoy the challenge of developing a team that could be full of bums and losers into a Cup champion? or
5. Would I rather have a strong team that will win the Cup right away?
6. Do I enjoy haggling with other GMs for players?
7. Do I enjoy spending time pouring over stats?
8. Do I know a lot about hockey, and am I a realistic hockey nut?
9. Would I give $1,500,000 plus my first born son to the commissioner for the rights to Teemu Selanne?

If the answer is yes to ALL of the above (ok, maybe not including #9, but that'd be nice), then you are what we are looking for.

Click on JOIN in the left side panel, download an application, fill it out and return it to us. The answers can never be 100% right or wrong, but they will tell us what type of person you are, so we can add you to the waiting list.

As soon as we have a team available, we will contract you and give you 24 hours to accept the team. HOWEVER, if you reject the team because it is "too weak" you won't remain at the top of the list. You will be moved to the bottom instead. Remember, the entire point of this is to BUILD a cup winner. Cup winning GMs almost never quit the league, so your odds of inheriting a cup winning dynasty team average between 0 and none.

SENDING IN LINES

Sending in fresh lines is VERY important, it affects the play of your team. As such, after a long period of time passing without lines from a specific team, the Commish may start "No Lines Fines". These fines can consist of up to $750,000 in fines per game that lines are not sent. After 2 straight games of not sending in lines, the Commish may then place the GM under probation.

PROBATION

When a GM has been placed under probation, the GM MUST send lines in for 14 straight games, whether they need updating or not. Even if there are no injuries in a game, a GM under probation must send in for EVERY game for the next 14.

NEW GM TRADE RULE

This rule is in force due to the fact that some GMs like to take advantage of new GMs when they first join leagues. Upon entering the league for the first time, a new GM will be prohibited from trading for 7 days. This will allow the new GM to get used to the other GMs, the way the league is run, and the way his/her team plays. After the 7 day period, the new GM enters the probation phase which lasts 14 days, where trades will be looked at by the commissioners before being processed. Having a new GM get ripped off continually does nothing but make the league look bad for outsiders.

ROSTER ADDITIONS

There are many ways to get players onto your roster.  Below is a description of those tactics.

WAIVERS

The GFHL, just like the NHL has a waiver draft. Waivers, for those new to hockey leagues, are a way for weaker teams, to have access to players that a stronger team no longer values. A good player on a strong team may be useless to the strong team, and waivers allows teams that need these players to have a chance to get these players and improve themselves.

A team has (not acquires) a pro player, who is over the age of 23 AND the player has played more than 15 games that season. The player at this point belongs EXCLUSIVELY to that team. HOWEVER, if that team sends that player FROM the PRO team to the FARM team, the player must clear waivers first. ONLY players over 23 who have played over 15 games will have to clear waivers.

In this situation, every team can claim the player who may want him. If only one team claims him, they get the player. If more than one team claims him, the team with the FEWEST points in the standings gets him. This ensures the weaker teams have the best chance to improve.

To place a waiver claim, choose the player you wish to claim (or players), and email the Commissioner stating that you wish to claim the player.

If no other team claimed the player, the player clears waivers. Clearing waivers means, no eligible team has claimed the player and the player is then sent to the team that owned his contract's farm, they RETAIN all rights to the player if he clears waivers.

Note:

1. The sim we use automatically generates a priority list for the waiver web page -- IGNORE IT. When judging your proper waiver priority, use the standings page, the teams with the fewest points have priority over teams with more points. This is REGARDLESS of games played. If you have 20 points and have player 40 games and another team have 21 points but played on 35 games, YOU, at 20 points have priority.

2. The sim keeps the player on waivers for 48 hours. This does NOT mean he is eligible for 48 hours. Players are exposed to waivers for 24 hours and ONLY 24 hours. The NEXT day the player, if he is picked up by another team he will still show on the waiver page, but you will see that it will say he was claimed by a team, this is merely to inform you of who acquired the player.

3. Sometimes, processing lines can have problems. It DOES happen that you send in new lines, and the sim reads your roster changes as you sending a player down to the farm who is eligible for waivers, who you did not intend to send down.

If there are more than one player that interests you available, send your waiver request in the order that you want them.  Remember that each team may only claim ONE player per sim, so if you place the player you want most at the bottom of your list, you likely will not get him. Make your list, most preferable to least preferable, in that order.

You may NOT send an email that asks that if you successfully claim a player from waivers then you wish to release a player. To claim a player you must make room on your roster BEFORE making a claim.

Errors do occur, the most common error is the usage of OLD league files to make new lines. When making new lines for yourself, ALWAYS make sure you are using NEW league files. You can do this by deleting your current league files, and downloading the new league files.

RELEASING PLAYERS

To release a player, email the commissioner and ask that the player be released. Please Note that releasing a player will cost 10% of his current salary off your current finances. But after he is released, you pay his salary no longer, and his is made a UFA and removed from your roster.

Example: Player A to be released has a contract of $2m per season over 4 seasons ... the fee is calculated as follows:

1. Salary x Contract Length = Total Contract ($2m x 4 seasons = $8m)

2. Total Contract x 10% = Release Fee ($8m x 10% = $800k)

$800k is what you will have to pay to release the player

CHANGING PLAYERS POSITIONS

The simulator assigns certain positions for players (as you would expect). If a player is RW by nature, you can play him on LW, but his performance at the position will drop. Due to this fact, you might want to change that player's actual (permanent) position. This is possible!

This isn't playing a player out of position, such as playing the RW on LW, but instead changing the player from RW to LW. How do I do that you ask? Simple ... email the commissioner stating that you wish to change the players actual position. The email should include your TEAM name, the player's name, the current position that the player IS, and the position you wish to change him to.

But first, go to our website and click on the link called Roster Moves (under Season Info). There you will find a list of players that have had their positions changed. If your player is NOT on that list, you can change his position. However, if he is on that list, you cannot. A player can only be changed once a season.

Also, you may NOT change a forward to a defenseman and visa versa. Dmen will always be Dmen, goalies will always be goalies.

Once the season is over (the Cup is won), you can change the player's positions freely until the first day of the exhibition season. Once exhibition has started, you must adhere to the above procedures.

FREE AGENTS

Definition of free agents is as follows:

The free agents committee handles the signing and bidding of free agents. It is made up of "agents", who are active GFHL GMs, who take in the bids on the players, and pick the best deal for the player on the player's behalf, as based on the formula below.

ACQUIRING FREE AGENTS

First off, you must make sure you have room on your roster. If your roster is full (50 players), a free agent bid will not be accepted.

To make a bid:

1. Go to the Free Agents page
2. Each player has an agent assigned to him
3. Bid the minimum amount listed ... a player will not sign for the league minimum the day after he has been released from a team that was paying him $3 million ... that's just crazy.  The players salary demands will decrease every 14 days by 10% ... if you wait long enough (tho you would risk losing him to another team), you can get a high-price player for cheaper in a few weeks/months.
4. Send email to the agent that is representing the free agent you wish. This email must include your TEAM name, the length of the contract, the salary per season the player will be played, and any bonus money you are offering.

NOTE: Bonus money is paid IMMEDIATELY if your bid is the winner. If you don't have the money, you don't get the player. The maximum bonus is $10 million. The minimum salary in the GFHL is $150,000/season. All bids lower than $150k will be rejected and the agent will inform you of the reason for rejection.

The winning bid is determined by it's value. The value of a bid is determined by base salary + 2 x bonuses.

Example:

Bill Hart receives a bid from the NY Rangers for $2m per season over 4 seasons plus a $4m signing bonus.

1. Base salary + (Bonuses x 2) = Bid Value

   1. $2m + ($4m x 2)

   2. $2m + $8m = $10m

The NY Rangers bid on Bill Hart has a value of $10m.

NOTE: There is no maximum seasonal salary for any bid. If after three rounds, if bidding remains tied, a weighted lottery (based on prior year winning percentage) is held to randomly assign rights. The maximum bonus, however, remains in effect.

Just like bidding for the coaches, once a bid is received, the agent will start a 24 hr countdown. HOWEVER, that is assuming that you are the first GM to bid on that player. If someone else bid on the player before you, then the timer is already running.

Once the 24 hours are up, the first round ends, and no more bids will be accepted. If you were the only person to bid on the player, you get him automatically, and the agent will email you to that effect. He will also inform the commissioner to ensure the player makes your roster.

If there was more than one bid, then round 2 begins. The agent will send an email to all eligible GMs (those who bid in round 1), and will inform them what the highest bid was. Then the timer begins for again, 24 hours. In round 2 you may, if you like, make a higher bid.

If you wish to keep your bid the same as in Round 1, do nothing. There is no backing out though. Once your round 1 bid was received, you were committed. Only those who bid in Round 1 can bid in Round 2. No new bidders will be accepted.

Once round 2 ends, the agent takes all the bids, and chooses the best three for the player. Those three GMs are then eligible to make a final bid.  The player is awarded based on this final bid.

If a player receives 2 bids in round 1, then bidding will proceed directly to the final round. If a player receives 3 or more bids in round 1, then there will be a second and third round of bidding.

Once the player has been awarded, the agent will then email all the involved GMs (and the commissioner), informing them who received the player and what the contract was.

You can appeal decisions to the head of the free agents committee, however, please keep copies of your bids, as they will be your proof.  The head of the Committee is listed on the Committee’s page.  If he feels your complaint is justified, he may overturn the agent's decision. If he does not overturn the decision, you can appeal to a commissioner. If the commissioners wish to review the issue they may. If they choose not to overturn the decision, you may launch an official appeal. The appeal is the FINAL chance to overturn a decision you disagree with.

Once the Commissioner receives the email stating who acquired the player, the acquisition is processed and you receive the player .

PLEASE NOTE: RFA's (restricted free agents) come with a hitch. You must pay the team that owns that player compensation. Compensation will be discussed in greater detail below.

FREE AGENT TYPES

Non-Qualified Free Agent (NFA): No-Qualification free agents are players who are normally Restricted Free Agents (are under 30 and played the last season with a team and who have had their contracts expire), but did not receive the minimum qualification offer to retain the right to match or receive compensation. Therefore, these players are treated like Unrestricted Free Agents.

Restricted Free Agent (RFA): Restricted free agents are players who are under 30, played the last season with a team and who have had their contracts expire.

Unrestricted Free Agent (UFA): Unrestricted free agents are players who either 30 or over, who currently belong to no team or was released from their team.

NOTE: If a player who is under 30 has his contract expire and you don't resign him, you keep ALL rights to him for compensation. He remains a RFA. He only becomes a UFA if you request that he is released outright, or fail to make the minimum contract offer.

An example:

The GM of the South Park Bears has Eric Cartman under contract. Eric is 28 now, and his contract will expire at the end of the season. The GM can keep Cartman as a RFA after his season expires. BUT if the GM wants to release Cartman from the team, he will become a UFA, and the Bears will receive no compensation for him.

RFA SIGNING COMPENSATION

As stated above, UFA & NFA signings are FREE.   However, RFA signings are NOT.  If you pick up another team's RFA, you must compensate that team.  The following structure is used:

The new contract value is determined by taking the seasonal salary and adding that to the 50% of the signing bonus.

The winning bid was from the Buffalo Sabres for Mike Phillips, who is a RFA, was $3m per season over 4 seasons with a $2m signing bonus

1. Base salary + (50% of Signing Bonus) = RFA Compensation Value

   1. $2m + ($2m x 50%)

   2. $2m + $1m = $3m

The RFA Compensation Value for Mike Phillips is $3m.  Using the chart above, we determine that the Sabres owe 2 1st round picks for signing Phillips.

If both the new and old GMs agree on a different method of compensation, they may work it out on their own.  They have 24 hours after the player is signed to work out an agreement, but they must both agree on the new compensation.  If they don't both agree, the above chart is used.

However if the new GM doesn't have the draft picks required by the package, the OLD GM has three choices:

1. He may choose a later pick in that same season

2. He may choose the same round pick at a later season

3. He may ask for arbitration

NOTE: Unless the new GM doesn't have his own pick for that round for compensation, his pick is ALWAYS given. For example, if compensation calls for 1 1st round pick, and he has 2, the old GM can only pick the one (and ONLY 1) pick that was originally the new GMs pick. Consequently, if the new GM has 2 picks, but none of them were his originally, the new GM may chose which pick to receive as compensation.

MATCHING OFFERS

If one of your players becomes a restricted free agent (RFA), and you offered that player the minimum qualification offer in the Pre-Sign portion, you ALWAYS have the right to MATCH the highest offer. Before emailing the winning bidder, the agent will ALWAYS email you stating what the highest bid is. You will have 24 hours to reply yes or no to matching it. Matching it must have ZERO variation ... it must be the EXACT same offer. If you match it, you get the player.

ARBITRATION

Should the NEW GM not have the picks needed to fulfill his compensation requirements, the old GM may ask for arbitration. This can ONLY be asked for if the NEW GM has NO Picks in the round needed for each season needed to fulfill the compensation. The old GM cannot ask for arbitration because the new GM doesn't have a first round pick, if the new GM has OTHER first round picks, for example.

When arbitration is requested, the old GM emails the Commissioner and informs him he needs arbitration. Once this occurs, arbitration is binding. The new GM committed to arbitration the moment he placed a bid on a player without having the proper compensation, or trading it away before he acquired the player. The old GM committed to arbitration the moment he emailed the Commissioner asking for arbitration to take place.

Therefore, the old GM and the new GM have both implicitly agreed to a binding arbitration. Whatever the arbitration committee decides will be binding. Even if BOTH GMs disagree with the decision, the ONLY appeal for arbitration cases is the appeals board.

The arbitration hearings will be held by the Trade Review committee. They will discuss the situation and work out compensation that takes into account the players ability, rankings, performance, age, and new contract. They will work out a compensation that may include: players, draft picks, and/or cash.

All contracts for coaches last 1 season. Coaches contracts start at the free agency amount. To re-sign a coach, you can do one of two things. You can take the easy road out, and sign him for the same (or more) amount. Or, you can risk it. Here's an example:

Say my coach is paid $800,000 and I want to sign him again at $800,000 ... there's 8 in 8 chance (a 100% chance) that he'll resign. If you want to offer him $600,000, that would make it a 6 in 8 chance (75%) that he'd resign. $400,000 would make it a 4 in 8 (50%) chance.

A coach is available as a free agent. You fire your current coach and place a bid of $200,000 on a new coach. No one challenges your bid so you acquire him. When the contract expires the next season, then you'd resign him again with the same formula. Simply email the Commissioner and tell him the details of the new contract.

REMEMBER, you can ONLY re-sign someone if the contract has expired, and contracts end when the Cup is won, not before. Also, you can only re-sign him if you do it before the start of exhibition season. Once exhibition season starts, if you have not signed him, he becomes a free agent.

Players however, work differently. First of all, players over 29 and under 30 are handled differently. Keeping this in mind, we'll discuss both types of players separately.

• Players under 30 years old are resigned according to the Free Agent Editor.  

• Players over 29 years of age can also be re-signed, HOWEVER, they are eligible to become UFAs if you don't sign them.  Because of this, they will always offer to re-sign with you, but they will demand a 50% raise to re-sign with you up to $3,000,000.  If a players age is 30 or more, and his salary is for example $4,000,000/season, when his contract expires, he will demand a 50% raise, which in this case is $2,000,000 more for a new contract worth $6,000,000. If on the other hand his salary is $8,000,000, a 50% raise would be $4,000,000, which is MORE than the maximum raise of $3,000,000. As such he would only ask for $3,000,000 (the max raise allowable) for a new salary of $11,000,000.

When making contracts please keep a few things in mind.

1. Re-signing NEVER includes bonuses ... that is separate.
2. All contracts are from between 1-4 seasons.
3. All contracts can only be made after the current contract has expired (once the cup is won) but before the 1st day of the exhibition season.

UFA PRE-SIGNING RESTRICTION

As a team, you may only pre-sign a certain amount of Unrestricted Free Agents, as many others will directly go to the free agency market. The chart is as follows:

TRADES

Making trades in the GFHL is pretty straightforward and simple, but you do need to keep a few things in mind to keep things from becoming a major headache.

First of all we'll discuss negotiations. It is a LOT easier to get a trade completed if you do it live on the league channel. That's what it's there for and we HIGHLY recommend you use it to your advantage.

Simply say you are looking to fill a position, on the main channel, or announce that one of your players is available. Other GMs on the channel will message you and you can begin to negotiate your trade. If however you do get an offer by email, ALWAYS REPLY. Ignoring trade offers by email is considered extremely rude. The GM took time out to study your roster, then his roster, and is anxiously waiting to hear back from you, and is quite possibly is turning down other offers for players he offered you. A reply is the LEAST you can do in return.

When negotiating, please remember to ALWAYS be polite. Keep in mind that different GMs have different ideas of a players value. Maybe a GM is a HUGE fan of a player you think is middle of the road, or maybe a player you think is the next Gretzky is a player the other GM thinks is a complete floater. These disagreements are normal. If an offer is made that you think is unfair, or not what you need, DON'T reply with a "no" or "no way", remember, this is a negotiation, and in order to make a better offer he needs to know what you don't like about the offer or what you need in the offer to improve it. A "no thanx" is just as bad, as it basically shuts down the negotiation right at the start.

Remember, negotiations are give and take affairs, the offer you get is only as good as the information you supply. If you are offered a center, but need a goalie, "no" won't get you what you need. Make sure you tell the other GM what you need ... "I need a goalie" or "I need a million dollars" would be a good way to start things off.

When negotiating with another GM, please try to make fair offers. It's perfectly fine to offer low and negotiate upwards, but asking for Jagr and offering Domi is a waste of everyone's time. Be fair in your offers, no one wants to have their intelligence insulted with joke offers.

Once you both agree on the basics of a trade, you may need to add some things in to complete a deal. If you are new to the GFHL here are some example of things you can use:

1. Draft picks: Probably the most obvious, you can trade draft picks up to 7 seasons in advance
2. Cash: again, pretty obvious, this can be in one lump sum or in deferred payments, it's up to the two of you to work out the schedule of payments.
3. Future Considerations: if you can't get everything you want right away, and you have dealt with that GM in the past, you may choose future considerations. Considerations does NOT mean that you pick the compensation in the future, rather the GM offering the considerations will choose it, in your next trade he may give you a bit more on his end and consider the obligation met. UNDERSTAND, this is PURELY at the SOLE discretion of the GM offering considerations, so a lot of trust is involved with this.
4. Player to be Named Later: this one involves the two GMs agreeing on an OV rate (or other stat you both agree on). What this is essentially, is an agreement that the other GM owes you a player, but doesn't have what you are looking for right now, so you will wait and pick up a player of a set OV rate sometime in the future. You can make all kinds of limits, one player a month, no players before 2 seasons, minimum age, not from a certain position, like goalies, you can even protect certain players from your current roster.

The League's Trade Database will be extensive, including, on the web page, a Thorough archive of ALL trades made during the history of the league, as well as a Debts Page which will detail who owes what to which team, making future considerations, players to be named later, and deferred payments easily accessible at a glance.

CONFIRMING A TRADE

You worked out a trade, so now how do you go about getting it processed.  This is where people run into trouble.  If you look at the trade message board you will see often times that a trade gets rejected.  This section will teach you how to easily avoid having your trades rejected.

When you work out a deal it is never official until BOTH GMs agree.  A recent trade under review gave us a precedent that makes the nature of a trade spelled out explicitly:

GM A makes an offer - GM B Accepts the offer - GM A confirms that GM B agrees to make the trade - GM B confirms it.

We have a rule about backing out of a trade and it MAY seem to you that the guy making the offer, then refusing to trade once it's accepted is tantamount to backing out, but it is not.  An offer is just a verbal (or textual) suggestion to make a deal, it is not an implied agreement to make the trade.  In order for it to be binding, BOTH GMs have to verbally agree explicitly to do the trade.   As such, one GM offers, the second accepts and the first GM THEN has to CONFIRM he will do the trade.  ONLY then is the trade deemed accepted by both parties

When trying to acquire a star player for cash, please keep in mind that the LIMIT on CASH purchases of a player is $5,000,000.  This does NOT mean that the limit of cash in a deal is $5,000,000, it means that a STRAIGHT cash for one player deal is $5,000,000.

Once the trade is made, the two GMs need to make it public, one GM will post the trade on the message board.  The second GM will wait for it to be posted and then confirm it.  Posting and confirming a trade must be done EXACTLY like the following ... no other method will be accepted.  Other ways of doing it will result in the trade being rejected outright.

GM A goes to the website, and clicks on the Confirm Trade link.   This will take the GM to the trade message board.  Once at the message board, the GM will click the new post link at the very top of the page.

He will go to the Subject field and type the following : his team name / the name of the other team he traded with, in the Name field he will type his TEAM Name (this is necessary so that the Commissioner can see at a glance who has posted the trade for confirmation purposes), you can fill in the email field if you wish but it is not necessary, then you have the body of the message, a big white empty field you can type in.

Here you will write the entire deal out to be processed by the Commissioner.  The trade MUST be in the following format. 

To Team A: players full names and positions, any draft picks (this MUST have the picks listed by SEASON and not by YEAR and must spell out EXACTLY which pick is involved), any cash involved and it's distribution (for example, is it all in one lump sum or in segments), any future considerations or players, and any other exceptions or restrictions or information needed to complete the trade.

To Team B: players full names and positions, any draft picks (this MUST have the picks listed by SEASON and not by YEAR and must spell out EXACTLY which pick is involved), any cash involved and it's distribution (for example, is it all in one lump sum or in segments), any future considerations or players, and any other exceptions or restrictions or information needed to complete the trade.

Once you have written up your part of the trade, and clicked SUBMIT, inform GM B that the message is up and he needs to confirm it.  This is done in the same fashion as GM A's post, with the following changes:

GM B will click on the original trade message (posted by GM A), usually the first one on the list.  After scrolling through the original message, GM B comes across input fields and in the subject filed adds the word "CONFIRMED" after "Team A/Team B trade", then inputting HIS team's name in the name field, and email address is so desired.  GM B need not put any text in the message if he does not wish.

This is an example of what a Trade Announcement MUST look like on the message board.

Blazers GM: Trade - Blazers/Rockets (08-Jun-1999 23:49:18)
    Rockets GM - Re: Trade - Blazers/Rockets - CONFIRMED (n/t) (09-Jun-1999 00:09:56)

TRADE DEADLINE

Please not the trade deadline will occur when 90% of the season is completed. This meaning 90% of the Days have been played.

Ex. If there is a 133 Day season. The trade deadline would be 133 x 0.9 = Day 119.7 = Day 120 rounded up.  The best place to find out where the trade deadline occurs would be to look at the schedule page.

We do not want a situation where strong rich teams can outright buy stars from weaker teams.  As a result, we have put a cap of $5 million for straight players for cash trades.  This is NOT a $5 million cap in trades, it is only meant to prevent straight cash for player transactions.

WHAT IS A TRADE?

A trade comes in several parts.  We want to make the parts very clear here to avoid any confusion, and heartache:

1. The offer:  The offer is part of negotiations, it does not commit a GM to make a deal.  HOWEVER, GMs found making offers to secretly up others offers (read: wasting GMs time) will NOT be tolerated.  If you are NOT interested in dealing a player to a GM, DON'T make the offer.  If you are dealing with multiple teams, make it clear with those whom you are negotiating.  Repeat offenders are subject to fines.
   

2. 1st Verbal Confirm:  The person being offered a trade confirms it by saying explicitly that he wants to make the trade.  There must be nothing ambiguous about it.  Once a GM has confirmed verbally, he has entered a VERBAL CONTRACT that is BINDING.  Backing out of an agreement to trade is punishable up to and including expulsion from the league.
   

3. 2nd Verbal Confirmation:  The person who makes the initial offer that was accepted has to then verbally confirm he will also make the trade.
   

4. Channel Announcement:  One of the GMs must post the details of the trade on the channel (if it is a trade made while on IRC), so that people there at the time know who was exchanged.  Again, this is so people's times are not wasted needlessly.
   

5. Trade Board Announcement:  The two GMs decide who will post and who will confirm.  The 1st GM announces the trade as described in the trades section. It lets everyone who wasn't in the channel at the time know what was traded, and it lets the Commissioner know when processing that you wanted to make this trade and agreed to it.  HOWEVER, he contract was signed VERBALLY in the channel (or by email confirmations to each other)
   

6. Trade Board Confirmation:  This lets the Commissioner know you confirmed.  If the original announcement was wrong, do NOT confirm the trade, adding the word confirmed to the subject line will get the ANNOUNCED trade processed.  Mistakes of this nature will NOT be corrected by the Commissioner unless BOTH GMs confirm that there was an error, or unless you have evidence to PROVE your case.
   

7. Processing:  This is where the Commissioner processes the trade.  (PLEASE NOTE: Ownership of the players are NOT transferred until the processing is complete).  Furthermore, the trade review committee has 24 hours after the processing is complete to call for a trade review, or any GM that has a future player owed can claim any player leaving your team (if the player meets the criteria of the owed player) with in 48 hours, as listed below.  If they do, they can reverse this decision and the trade is reversed.

FUTURES

If you are owed futures or you owe futures, please keep the following in mind:

1. Future Considerations: Future considerations are a HUGE gamble.   The person who owes you future considerations DETERMINES what those considerations will be HIMSELF.  If you agree on a trade that he owes you future considerations, and he decides the consideration is worth 1 OV, that is entirely his choice.  When making a trade involving future considerations, you are making yourself vulnerable .  Make SURE you trust the people you use future considerations with, because you cannot guarantee you will get what YOU think you should be paid.
   

2. Player to be Named Later:  When you are owed a player to be named later, you can claim ANYONE off that team's roster, both pro AND farm, as long as they are the same or under the OV you agreed to (baring any restrictions that you agreed to, such as protected players).  If the GM who owes you a player makes a trade, you, as the GM who is owed a player, have until 48 hours after the announcement on the message board to claim the player who was traded away.  When you trade Players to be named later, you are giving first dibs away to the other GM to your players.  So in a trade, that GM has the right to execute his claim on the players traded away.

TRADE REVIEW

Once a Trade review is called for by a Commissioner OR 5 INDEPENDENT GMs, the Committee Head will email all it's members INCLUDING the alternates.   The alternates will sit in on the meeting but will NOT vote unless a member is unavailable at the time to vote (if a member leaves before the vote he CANNOT instruct an alternate to vote FOR him).  All meetings must be set up no sooner than 24 hours after the email is sent.  If an email is  sent for a meeting at 2 pm eastern, the meeting CANNOT take place sooner than 2 pm eastern the next day.  Along with the Committee Members and Alternates, the Two GMs involved in the Meeting will ALSO be cc: ed.   They will be asked to be on the Channel at the meeting time and to have their case ready. 

ENTRY DRAFT

Each off-season we will have a 4 round entry draft. The position of the teams in the entry draft will be decided NOT on playoff performance, but rather regular season performance.

Teams that make the playoffs will be placed normal, 1st place team picks last etc, while non-playoff teams will get a RANDOM position in the draft. This makes sure that no GM tries to "win" last place, therefore gaining the 1st pick of the draft (see NHL's Ottawa Senators 1993 or so).

The draft will consist of prospects from the NHL. Each NHL season we will take their entry draft. Remember that we sim 2 GFHL seasons for every 1 NHL season, so we will take the top picks from the draft the number being dependant on how many teams we have. If we have 32 teams we will pick 4 x 32. If we have 34 teams at that time we will pick 4 x 34, etc...

We will take the available players picked from the NHL draft, and the re-rate committee (which will be discussed further down), will rate the players and give them stats that the simulator can use, and we will then split the prospects into two lists. We split it randomly so that no one knows who will be where in advance. This way we ensure a random amount of good or bad players in each draft.

Once we have generated 2 lists of prospects, we have our prospects for EACH of our 2 GFHL entry drafts that year. You don't really NEED to know all this, but if you wanted to know how we make the prospects, you know now. This ensures that we don't run out of people to be drafted, ensuring the realism of actual NHL players for years to come.

Each season we release the prospects of the upcoming draft before the All-Star game. This will include the players name, nationality, height, weight, and full stats as well as playing position. When the season ends, during the off-season we finally hold the entry draft.

It is YOUR responsibility to ensure you send the person in charge of doing the draft or a commissioner, your list IN ORDER OF PREFERENCE, whether you want to pick live or not, things happen, lag on the internet, disconnections etc. If you are live, and you get disconnected before your pick comes up, and when you get back, your pick has gone, you will LOSE it. There is no turning back in the GFHL (unless there is an error). No list + no person at the draft = no pick. So I'd suggest always sending in a list no matter if you plan to attend or not. You may also assign an associate to draft for you, but once again a list is also recommended.

The draft itself will be conducted on the IRC channel. Each GM in turn will be messaged by the person doing the draft asking them their choice if they are on the channel. If they are not, the list they sent in is used. If they are not on the channel, or there is no list, or there is no one picking for that team, the pick will be LOST.

When it's your turn to choose a player, you will be messaged by the person conducting the draft. Once messaged you have EXACTLY 2 minutes to reply with the name you wish to select.

The drafts will be held on the IRC channel as previously stated, and it will consist of 2 rounds per night for 2 nights, for a total of the entire 4 rounds in the entry draft. This will continue until there are no eligible picks remaining to any team. The remaining players unselected will become Unrestricted Free Agents.

RETIREMENT