XHL Rulebook
Thank you for joining the XHL. By joining, you agree to the
following in the league’s Code of Conduct:
That you will be active and participate
often in the league. These duties include line changes, message board posts, transactions
(trades/free agent signings/demotions/call-ups, etc.) and replying to trade
proposals from other GM’s in a timely manner
That you will do your best to keep your team competitive at
all times
That you will notify the league if real-life situations may
arise that would render you unable to run your team
That you will either submit a list or attend each season’s
Entry Draft
That you will not harass other GM’s
And, most importantly, that you have fun. This is an escape
from reality, you should enjoy it!
Setting up a team:
Re-branding fees: Re-branding fees are put in to protect the
league from constant transition. The re-branding fee for a GM
that has been in the league for more than a season is $10 Million. All
name-changes are subject to Board of Governors approval.
Moving fees: Moving fees are put in to protect teams from
constant movement. The moving fee is only instituted for a GM that has been in
the league for more than a season. The fee is $50 Million. All moves are
subject to Board of Governors approval.
GM’s that have just entered the league may change their
team’s name or move without paying either fee, however, that move will be
subject to Board approval.
What is needed to set up a team:
Team name – City (only somewhat large cities/regional areas
please, see list below) and team name (nothing overtly sexual, racist, sexist
or homophobic permitted)
Arena name – Same rules for team
names. Also,
giving your arena a corporate name will generate money for your team depending
on how large the company that you choose is.
Arena capacity – No arena’s capacity can be higher than
21,500. Please specify the capacity of each of the four levels of your arena
along with the luxury suites. Also, depending on the size of each team’s
market, certain limitations may be in place. Only the top 25 markets in the
As for
Ticket prices – Ticket prices are determined by level. Level
1 being the lower bowl will be most expensive, followed by Level 2 (higher part
of the lower deck), followed by Level 3 (lower part of the upper deck) and then
Level 4 (upper part of the upper deck). Luxury suite prices also must be
listed.
Head coach – You must sign your coaches to contracts just
like you would for players. The coach will accept any salary given, but the
years can be anywhere from one to five. You also must hire a head coach for
your farm team. Teams that do not hire coaches will be at the mercy of the
league, which will choose a coach for them.
Captains and alternate captains – You can choose one Captain
[C] and two alternate captains [A].
MHL affiliate – Every team in the XHL gets an affiliate in
the MHL, the XHL’s farm league. These teams can play
in any city in
Email address – Provide the league with your address so that
you can be contacted by the league, as well as by other GM’s.
Messenger (optional) – If you have a Twitter feed, you may
use that for GM’s to contact you. You may also set up a separate Twitter page
dedicated only to your team so as to not be bothered on your personal feed if
you wish.
Message board – All GM’s must sign up for the league’s
message board. There are no laws that you must post there, but it is a good way
to show some of your creativity while writing articles and other short stories
about your team.
Uniforms and logos – Your logo and uniforms can be designed
by either myself, the XHL commissioner, or you can do
them on your own and I will designate them for your respective team.
Expansion draft info:
In 2013, the XHL will hold its second expansion draft in as
many years by welcoming two new franchises to the league. It is expected that
this will be the last league expansion for the foreseeable future.
Each team will get to protect a total of 11 players (six
forwards, four defensemen and one goalie) from their pro roster age 26 and older.
A minor league expansion draft will also take place featuring all players on
MHL teams age 24 and older. If you wish to protect anyone fitting this criteria, you may move them to your pro roster.
Pending free agents can be exposed to the draft and selected,
though they will remain pending free agents unless the Franchise Tag (more on
this later) is used. Either of the expansion teams may also select an
unrestricted free agent and can sign them to a franchise tag if they wish.
Teams will alternate picks. No more than four players can be taken from each
team.
The Sim:
The XHL is not dictated by the real-life events of NHL
games. Rather, it is run by using the SimonT
simulation program, more info available here: http://sths.simont.info/index.php
The manual detailing the
sim can be found here: http://sths.simont.info/Manual_En.php and there is also a free
demo on the site for you to use to get more acclimated to how it works.
The Commissioner:
The duties of commissioner of the XHL include the simulation
of games and posting of results on the website as close to schedule as
possible, to update league files, to run the league’s website and message board,
to maintain an information page as best as possible and to treat all GM’s
fairly and evenly. The XHL commissioner will not favor one GM over others
regardless of their relationship with certain other GM’s.
Board of Governors:
Currently, the XHL consists of four GM’s that make up the
‘Board of Governors,” a ruling body that consists of commissioner Dan Sicignano, Toronto GM and dean of discipline Kelly Reardon,
Winnipeg GM Faisal Hussainly, Quebec GM Matt Jordan
and Pittsburgh GM Brent Baldwin. The board votes on significant league changes
including possible rule changes, suspensions, GM dismissals and prospective new
GM’s, team re-names and franchise shifts. The board will require a simple
majority to pass all votes and in case of deadlock, or issues regarding a
conflict of interest, Mr. Sicignano will rule in
their stead.
Suspensions:
Any GM in the league may appeal a suspension that they deem
unfair. To do this, they must email an appeal to Mr. Reardon, who will run the
league suspension program that he created to determine if a player is a repeat
offender. If the player is not, the suspension has a better chance of being
overturned. If the player IS a repeat offender, then the issue will then go to
the Board of Governors for them to vote.
As a trial run this year, we will also try a system in which
suspensions can be issued to players who do NOT receive a suspension from the sim. The way this would occur would be if a GM had a player
injured, he consulted a box score, saw in the play-by-play that the player was
hit by somebody else, and then requested a suspension for that offending player
by emailing Mr. Reardon. What would then happen would be that Mr. Reardon would
run the suspension program to see if the player was a repeat offender, and then
the Board of Governors would rule if the combining factors (such as if the
offending player is a known goon, or if the game was a blowout late, or a
rivalry game, etc.) and determine if a suspension should be issued, and for how
long.
Rosters:
You may have an unlimited amount of players on your team
between pro and farm team. Your pro roster can hold 25 healthy players (20
dressed – 18 skaters, 2 goalies - 5 healthy scratches) plus injuries. Forwards
must make up at least 3 from each position (C, LW, RW)
Injuries don’t count against the salary cap. The farm roster is unlimited but
only 18 skaters and 2 goalies can dress at one time and nobody making more than
$3 Million per year can be sent down.
You can also change the positions of players if you wish.
You can either make a forward into a defenseman or a defenseman into a forward,
but please be advised that their ratings will take a hit in several key
categories as a result of this.
Also please note that there is a minimum of 50 players that
your organization can have, and when you have injuries, even as few as one
injury, that number drops below 50 and NO GAMES are allowed to be simmed. Teams in violation of this will be fined $5M per
day they violate this rule, so PLEASE keep your roster number at a comfortable
number in relation to the limit.
Waivers – The same rules for free agency (no players under
$3M can be demoted) apply for waivers. For a player to be subject to waivers, they must be 26 years old or older and they must
have played 30 XHL regular season games or more. Players will spend 2 days on
waivers before they can either be claimed or can clear waivers and go down to
the minors. Teams that lose a player will be compensated with $250,000. Teams
with waiver priorities will go from worst in the league to best. Waivers are
not enabled during the preseason to allow for teams to try different players
from the minor leagues in those games.
Lines: There are three different methods for sending lines
to the league. The first one is Manual Lines. With this, you fill in the
following template with the players that you want to dress on their respective
lines and then you email it to the league. Here is how the email should look:
5 vs 5 (Even strength)
Center Left Wing Right Wing Defense Defense
1 Unknown Player Unknown Player Unknown Player Unknown Player Unknown Player
2 Unknown Player Unknown Player Unknown Player Unknown Player Unknown Player
3 Unknown Player Unknown Player Unknown Player Unknown Player Unknown Player
4 Unknown Player Unknown Player Unknown Player Unknown Player Unknown Player
Power Play (5 on 4 or 3)
Center Left Wing Right Wing Defense Defense
1 Unknown Player Unknown Player Unknown Player Unknown Player Unknown Player
2 Unknown Player Unknown Player Unknown Player Unknown Player Unknown Player
Penalty Kill - 4 Players (4 against 4 or 5)
Center Wing Defense Defense
1 Unknown Player Unknown Player Unknown Player Unknown Player
2 Unknown Player Unknown Player Unknown Player Unknown Player
4 vs 4 (Even strength 4 on 4 or 4 against 3)
Center Wing Defense Defense
1 Unknown Player Unknown Player Unknown Player Unknown Player
2 Unknown Player Unknown Player Unknown Player Unknown Player
Penalty Kill - 3 Players (3 against 4 or 5)
Forward Defense Defense
1 Unknown Player Unknown Player Unknown Player
2 Unknown Player Unknown Player Unknown Player
Goaltenders
Starting : Unknown Goalie
Backup : Unknown Goalie
Extra Forwards (In case of injury or empty net)
Unknown Player, Unknown Player, Unknown Player, Unknown Player, Unknown Player
Extra Defensemen (In case of injury)
Unknown Player, Unknown Player, Unknown Player, Unknown Player, Unknown Player
Penalty Shots (Shootout lineup)
Unknown Player, Unknown Player, Unknown Player, Unknown Player, Unknown Player
Scratches (5 healthy allowed)
Strategy (Combination of 5 points split between the 3 facets)
Physical Style:
Defense Style:
Offense Style:
Minimum # of Goals:
Save PCT Under:
(Guidelines for when a
goalie will be removed from the game)
Strategy - You receive five points to use on your team to determine the style
of play they will implement. The three phases available are Physical Style,
Defense Style and Offense Style. You can balance them all fairly throughout the
three phases or you can go with a complete goon team or go with an all-out offensive
attack. And these can be changed on a game-to-game basis in case you want to mix
it up against certain teams. There is a link on the front page for you to check
what your current setting is.
The next styles of lines are Automatic lines.
With this, you just inform me to “auto your lines”. While this is the easiest
and simplest way to run things, it is extremely risky, as it puts you at the
mercy of a sim that occasionally acts strangely. I
would not necessarily recommend this.
Finally, there are the lines that are edited by the STHS Client. This client, once downloaded, allows you to edit all aspects of your everyday lineup yourself, which you can then email me and I will load them into the sim for that night’s games. More info is available here: http://sths.simont.info/Manual_En.php#STHS_Client
The client may appear confusing at first, but it is actually the easiest format for sending lines. It’s easier than manually filling out an entire set of lines, and it’s much easier for me to just click a few buttons rather than painstakingly entering every single player into the lines. The files are updated daily and posted at the top of the page. If you need any further help with this, please email me. Also, please note that the client will not work on all operating systems.
Salary Cap - The league operates with a hard cap of $70
Million. The cap factors in all healthy players on the pro roster (injuries
don’t count against the cap) as well as players that are bought out (more on
this later). Teams can be over the cap all throughout the offseason, but they
must be under by the first Preseason game.
While the sim won’t allow for
games to be simmed if even one team is over the cap,
any teams in violation of the cap are at the mercy of the commissioner in terms
of roster moves to get that team under the cap for that evening’s games. It is
time consuming and aggravating to have to make these changes, so please stay on
top of your team’s cap situation as much as possible.
There is also a salary floor of $30 Million, meaning that no
team can have a pro payroll lower than that number. Again, if teams are below
this number, the commissioner will make any necessary changes to bring the team
into compliance, so please stay on top of this as well.
Trades – Trades are the lifeblood of the XHL, and they have
played an enormously significant role in the history of the league. Trades are
deemed official as long as A) Both GM’s agreed to the deal and B) It is in
compliance with the salary cap. Trades cannot be protested and will only be
overturned in extreme situations. Teams will trade at their own risk, so if a
trade is awful, it must be processed since both teams agreed to it.
While every GM is in charge of keeping their team as
competitive as possible, they are not forced to make deals and no other GM can
make them do so. Any instances of pressuring by one GM over another will not be
tolerated and will be met with extreme consequences.
With that said, it is the duty of every GM in the league to
respond to deals in a timely manner. A simple response can be “No.” But it has
to be something. Other GM’s are working hard to build a winner and you should
too, so don’t make their offers fall on deaf ears. If you are having email
address problems, let me know from an alternate address. As well, if you feel
that you will not be able to run your team for a certain amount of time, please
let me know.
Among the players who can be traded are any players
currently under contract that do not have the Franchise Tag or Lifetime Clause
(after the first four seasons). Players who are pending unrestricted free
agents can’t be moved either (RFA’s can be dealt).
Picks, cash considerations and “future considerations” can also be traded.
Unassigned Free Agents – Unclaimed players who are active in
any league around the world age 22 and over can be signed by any team in the
league provided they are not on a pro roster, a farm roster or a prospect list
of a team. Unassigned players can be signed to any dollar amount from 1 to 4
years. A GM is to send a link to a player’s stats along with contract details.
Stats are available at the following sites: www.nhl.com, www.tsn.ca,www.hockeydb.com or http://forecaster.faceoff.com/faceoff/hockey/playerindex.cgi .
Prospects – Any prospect age 18 to 21 that you
acquired either in the entry draft or by trade can be signed for any dollar
amount from 1 to 4 years. In order to activate a player, the rules for
unassigned free agents apply in regards to sending that player’s stats.
Please note that starting this year, players on
the Prospects page without a year next to their name will either become
unrestricted free agents or will go back into the draft depending on their age.
Following this year, the rule will apply to players drafted in Year 1, Year 2,
and so on.
When signing an unassigned free agent or
prospect, NHL stats take priority, followed by AHL, CHL leagues,
Buyouts – You can buy our any player that is not a Franchise
player or holds the Lifetime Clause (more on this shortly). However, since
there is no limit to the amount of players that can be in your organization, I
wouldn’t recommend this.
If you do wish to buy a player out, however, all releases count "50/50", meaning that 50% of the total
contract value will be taken out of your current funds, while the other 50%
will be your salary cap hit throughout the remainder of the contract.
For
instance, if you release a player making $2 Million a year for the next 3
seasons, 50% of that total contract (half of the total value of $6 Million, or
$3 Million total) will come out of your current funds. The remaining $3 Million
will count evenly among the remaining years of the contract (meaning that $1
Million will still count against your cap for the next 3 seasons)
Retired and deceased players – When a player retires in real
life, he will retire in the XHL when his contract runs out. So even if a player
retires in real life while he’s in the first year of his XHL deal, he must
finish out the remainder of his deal.
One new rule regarding retired players involves “off the map”
players who ended up being a bust in real life only to become a star in the
XHL. If this is the case, and retirement info for a player who hasn’t played in
a few years is unavailable, he may continue to sign new contracts in the league
until the age of 31, meaning that a 4-year deal at 31 can extend his career
until 35 – an acceptable retirement age.
Unfortunately, players do occasionally tragically pass away
at an age that’s way too young while they are still
active. In case of this, the player will be removed automatically and
immediately from the league. No player that is retired or deceased may be
signed to a contract.
Firing a coach – In order to fire a coach from either the
pro or farm club, all you have to do is send an email. Their salary will need
to be bought out, but it will not count against the salary cap. If you wish to
fire a coach, please make sure that you have a replacement ready. The
replacement can even be yourself, but you must specify.
Entry draft – Each year’s entry draft follows the last NHL
draft in terms of eligibility. Picks can be traded at any point and the draft
order is posted shortly before the draft. Any player eligible to be drafted
between the ages of 18 and 21 can be selected even if they weren’t drafted in
real life.
For your team, there are a few ways of handling the draft.
If you’re not interested in participating, you can trade away your picks and
put it out of your mind. If you do have picks, you can either make a list (at
least 25 players to as many as you see fit) beforehand, tell me to pick the
best player available for your team or you can attend the draft. Failure to do
any of these will result in the lowest players from the previous NHL draft
being selected for your team.
The draft is usually held over Yahoo Messenger Voice
Conference at a time that is most convenient for as many GM’s as possible.
Rerates – After the end of each season, rerates are
permitted to every team in the league. Each team is given four rerates to use
on any player that isn’t a pending Unrestricted or Restricted Free Agent (they
are automatically rerated). A link with stats from that player’s respective
league must be sent, and it must be specified if the rerate is for the XHL/MHL
or real-life (NHL, AHL, etc. Same order as listed previously). XHL rerates
carry more weight, so if there is a choice between the two, go with that.
Free Agency – Free Agency is the busiest time of the XHL
calendar, more so than even the regular season. Teams have won and lost
championships and shaped the direction of their franchise for years to come
depending on just who they signed (and didn’t sign) in free agency. The league
minimum is $500,000. Free Agency happens immediately following the XHL draft
and takes places in two parts.
The first part is the Restricted Free Agent period. This is
a 48-hour window prior to the start of Unrestricted Free Agency. During this
period, you may offer contracts to your RFAs as part
of the exclusive negotiating window. You can also slap the franchise tag on a
pending
RFA’s will automatically re-sign if you
go by the RFA Guidelines listed on the XHL’s website.
However, please note that you do NOT have to sign players to the deal that
corresponds with their age and rating. It’s just a suggestion. RFA guidelines
are in relation to the top 5 best players in the league at their respective
positions.
If you offer a player a deal that is close to the guideline,
he will take an extra day after the window closes to sign. If it’s still a good
deal, it will take two days. An insulting or underwhelming deal won’t be agreed
to until the end of free agency. If you offer any sort of deal to an RFA and
somebody signs that player to an offer sheet, you will still get compensation.
Any players not offered a deal during the exclusive window become Unrestricted
Free Agents.
RFA offer sheets rarely occur, but if you do sign a player
to them, you will receive compensation in the form of a similarly rated player
and draft picks depending on the player. The commissioner will act solely when
judging compensation for RFA’s.
For the first time ever this year, the XHL Free Agency
period will undergo drastic changes thanks to a free agency program designed by
Toronto GM Kelly Reardon. Currently, details are still being worked out and
they will be posted here when they are made official.
While bidding on a player, please be mindful of the salary
cap and don’t get involved in any bidding wars that could jeopardize your cap
situation. Also please do not sign players with the intent of flipping them to
another team for draft picks days later.
All players are subject to free agency, but there are two
ways to delay the inevitable. First is the “Lifetime Clause” – a one-time
opportunity to lock up one of your best young players (Age 25 and under) to a
deal anywhere from 5 years to 15 years. You may only have 1 “Lifetime Clause”
player on your roster at any given time. The player’s salary must be consistent
with the top 5 players in the league at his position. You may not trade that
player for the first four years of their contract. A “Lifetime Clause” player
also can’t be released or demoted during the first four years of their deal.
The other option is the Franchise Tag – a contract anywhere
from 1 to 4 years that can be used on a pending
Preseason Tryouts – Preseason tryouts let you sign any
player in free agency to a “tryout”, which entails the entire preseason. For sim reasons, the player will be signed to a one-year deal
at the league minimum. If the team does not want that player, he will be
released with no cap
hit at the end of the preseason. If they do, they can either keep
that contract or sign him to a longer deal.
Ratings – Ratings are what each player is judged upon in
terms of his talent. The ratings go from around 50 (lowest) all the way up to 99
(highest). The categories that players are rated upon are as follows:
CK = Checking
FG = Fighting
DI =
ST = Strength
DU = Durability
PH = Puck Handling
FO = Face Offs
PA = Passing
SC = Scoring
DF = Defense
EX = Experience
LD = Leadership
MO = Morale
OV = Overall
It should be noted that OV
doesn't carry a whole lot of stock, as you should be more focused on key
categories such as DI, SK, FO, PA, SC, DF, EX, LD among others. This sim puts a lot of stock into teams that are a true “team”
in all senses of the word. So you may not be able to win simply by having the
best skilled players on every line. You need 4th liners who have high CK, FG
and DF ratings. You need to pair defensemen that have good SC and PA ratings
with d-men who have good DF ratings. You need an excellent passing center to go
with your good scoring wingers. If you build a team this way, it will pay off.
The last 3 champions – the New York Empire, New England Whalers and Montreal
Moose – all won by utilizing this formula. Trust me, it works.
Goalies also have
ratings. In fact, OV actually does come in handy with goalies, but you do want
your goalie to also have good Durability, Strength and Agility.
Alternately, just because a
player may not have amazing ratings, that doesn’t mean that
he can’t be effective (such as defending Vezina
winner Jaroslav Halak). On
the other side, a player may have great ratings but could be a disappointment.
Endorsements – As a way of making finances start to mean
something, endorsements and media contracts were brought in to the XHL. Every
team is required to purchase at least radio and television rights and is
encouraged to add sponsorships as well
Media Contracts – Every team must have a radio affiliate. To
see a list of affiliates in your team’s city, Google your respective market’s
radio stations. For example, the Swordsmen GM would enter “
Internet broadcast only (NOT recommended) - $2 Million
Local low-watt station (college radio, NPR affiliate, etc.)
- $3 Million
Mid-level station (5 to 15,000 watts) - $5 Million
Large station (50,000 watts – think WGN, WFAN, KMOX, etc.) -
$15 Million
The more you spend on radio rights, the more money you’ll
make depending on the on-ice performance of your respective team.
Next are television affiliates. As with radio, the more you
spend, the more you make. You can opt for a blackout of all games or all home
games, but you’ll make no money other than what you’ll make up in tickets, and
as a result, there will be backlash from your fans.
A deal for a local cable station (think News 12 in New York
or the station formerly known as CN8 in Philadelphia) will result in a little
more cash flow, but not much. A RSN (Regional Sports Network – MSG, NESN, Fox
Sports Detroit, Comcast Sportsnet Chicago, etc.) will
result in a significant amount of cash flow depending on how your team does,
and you can also split games up between the RSN and a local over the air
affiliate (NBC, CW, My Network, etc.) if you wish. The most expensive, but
potentially rewarding option is to create your OWN RSN (think YES Network, SNY,
Altitude, Leafs TV). Here’s the chart:
Blackout (Home or altogether) – Nothing (not recommended)
Local cable affiliate - $10 Million
Regional Sports Network - $20 Million
New team-owned network: $50 Million
Finally, there are advertisements. You are not required to
add them, but for a nominal fee, on-ice production will result in more exposure
for your advertiser and will then result in money made by the team. The deeper
you advance in the playoffs, the more money you make. There will not be a limit
to the amount of sponsors you can have and you will make money for each one.
Here’s how it will work:
Local sponsors (Jim Bob’s Plumbing, Fook
Yu Chinese Restaurant, The Pleasure Zone Adult Hotline, etc.): $1 Million each
Significant local companies (think insurance companies,
banks, local breweries, restaurant chains, etc): $3 Million each
Local Fortune 500 companies http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2012/states/CA.html (Dunkin’ Donuts in Boston, United
Airlines in Chicago, TD in Toronto, Anheuser Busch in St. Louis, Ford in
Detroit, Chase Bank in New York, etc.): $5 Million each
Massive global companies/Fortune 500 companies http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2012/full_list/
(Microsoft, Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Subway,
Email me which companies you’d like, I’ll tally up the price
and make a list on the website.
At the end of the season following the Finals, totals will
be tallied up with a number of variables including momentum (or apathy), extra
money per round of playoffs, 100-point seasons, and many others. Teams that
miss the playoffs will likely end up losing money, those who just make it will
break even or see a slight gain, and teams that go deep will make a significant
amount of money.
Awards – Each offseason, the XHL Board of Governors will
vote on who they felt was deserving of last year’s major awards – the Hart
(MVP), Norris (Defense), Vezina (Goalie), Selke (Defensive Forward), Calder (Rookie) and GM of the
Year.
Hall of Fame – This isn’t mandatory either, but the XHL Hall
of Fame will start in 2013 and will feature a ballot of some of the greatest
players in league history, who will have as much information as possible about
them posted on the upcoming league information site. As many as eight players
can be voted for the hall of fame. Players need at least 5 votes to be elected.
All GM’s may participate.
Should any questions arise, please email the commissioner at
thexhl@gmail.com . Thank you for your participation
in the XHL!