15 year contracts + free agency? Rules discussion.

[SharksGM]

Hey,

So I think there's an issue with allowing super-long free agent contracts. Since the value of an offer to a UFA is the total value of the contract, there's a pretty big incentive to offer 15 year contracts. This is both for depth players and franchise type players. Imagine this scenario:

27 year old UFA 2nd/3rd line player or 2nd/3rd pairing defenceman. Team A offers $2 million per/7 years, Team B offers $1.2 million per / 12 years. Team B has a slightly higher value contract and wins out, but has a much smaller can hit and has the added bonus of being able to give a two-way deal and dump the player in the minors if they end up really sucking.

30 year old UFA superstar player. Team A offers $10 million per / 9 years, Team B offers $6.5 million per / 15 years. Both contracts are ridiculous in my opinion, but again Team B wins out. 10 years from now if the league is still running (hey I'm optimistic but that's a decade away), they might regret it, but then again the player could just retire once they decline too much.

I think the easier solution is to just keep the maximum length of contracts 6 years as in the game. Another thing I'd like to see is to keep the value of the contract over the first four years only to be the value of the bid. If you really want to sign someone for 6 years you can do so, but there aren't many reasons I see that a 50% longer deal should be as tempting to a player as a 50% higher salary.

[Virtual Jarmo]

Alright, the Committee and I have talked it over and we've decided that the max length for a contract is 6 years. I will edit down Luongo's contract from the savefile.

The total value of the contract will still be the winning bid.

Also, another note. Contract extensions to players making under $1.5M will include a MANDATORY 30% raise. For example, a player making 850k must be offered 1,105,000 minimum (255k more). Players making between 1.5M and 2.5M must be offered a 20% raise. For example, a player making 2M must be offered 2.4M minimum (400k more). Players making over 2.5M must be offered at least a 10% raise. For example, a player making 3M must be offered 3.3M (300k more).

This adds another effect of realism because none of the young stars would actually sign for 850k if that's what they made the year before. Consider it, "avoiding arbitration". Again, these will still be presented to the player.

Free agent contracts will be inserted via players.ehm.


All of these changes will be updated in the Rulebook.

[SharksGM]

Ok, thanks for the clarification. I had some other questions that probably everybody else would like to know the answers to prior to diving in to free agency:

- Do players have to accept their contract offers in-game? You said free agent contracts would be inserted via players.ehm so I guess not.
- Are signing bonuses counting against the cap hit like in the NHL?
- How are injured players going to affect the cap hit? I'm already pretty close to the cap so I'd like to know how much cushion I need.
- Is the cap hit going to be counted on a per-game basis like the NHL? For example, teams with $2 million in cap space 50 games into the season effectively are able to take $5 million in salary.. is that going to be the case here?
- Is the cap hit for a player in the AHL with a two-way contract equal to whatever EHM says it is? (I think it's 30% for everybody).
- I'm somewhat confused as to why a buyout for an $3 million+ salary player is only 20% of the salary, while a $1.2 million-$3 is 40%. The penalties for players signed by GMs go the other way around (75% -> 50%). What's the intention here?

[Virtual Jarmo]

Ok. Note the Rulebook changes:

Rule 5A: A. The following is the bidding policy for Unrestricted Free Agents (UFA)
Contract length: 1-6 years

Rule 5D: D. The following is the bidding policy for Restricted Free Agents (RFA)
Contract length: 1-6 years

Rule 5F: F. Teams wishing to offer contract extensions to players making below $1,500,000 must include a mandatory 30% raise for each season of the new contract. Players making between 1.5-2.5M must receive a 20% raise per season. Players making over 2.5M must receive a 10% raise per season. This adds to the realism of new contracts and is our attempt at allowing teams/players to "avoid arbitration".

Any bids over 6 years will NOT be permitted. However, you will receive a PM stating such.

[Virtual Jarmo]

- Do players have to accept their contract offers in-game? You said free agent contracts would be inserted via players.ehm so I guess not.

Right. I don't want to have to sim ahead a few days or more to see if a player decides. That said, contract extensions will be inserted via EHM.

- Are signing bonuses counting against the cap hit like in the NHL?

No. And they do not count towards the total package for the winning bid.

- How are injured players going to affect the cap hit? I'm already pretty close to the cap so I'd like to know how much cushion I need.

We will do what the NHL CBA does on long-term injuries. But, we will scale it back a little (the NHL is 10 games/24 days). If a player is going to miss 2+ weeks, you can exceed the cap by his total salary. So, if you're at 57.5 and he is a 3M player, you can go over our EHEC cap (58M) by 2.5M, until he returns. When he returns, however, you must get back below the cap. This includes him being activated as a DtD injury.

- Is the cap hit going to be counted on a per-game basis like the NHL? For example, teams with $2 million in cap space 50 games into the season effectively are able to take $5 million in salary.. is that going to be the case here?

I'm really not great with numbers. If anybody around here wants to handle the salary cap in this manner, then sure. If not, we're just going to go hard cap 58M, can't exceed at any time unless case of long-term injury specified above.

I will add this, right now the Committee and I are talking about using proration on trades made a within a week of the deadline only. This way, it serves like real life for teams making a push toward the playoffs. We'll give you a final verdict on that before we start the regular season.

- Is the cap hit for a player in the AHL with a two-way contract equal to whatever EHM says it is? (I think it's 30% for everybody).

Yes. However EHM handles it is what we will do.

- I'm somewhat confused as to why a buyout for an $3 million+ salary player is only 20% of the salary, while a $1.2 million-$3 is 40%. The penalties for players signed by GMs go the other way around (75% -> 50%). What's the intention here?

The reason for this is because I don't want our GMs to be handicapped by idiot contracts like Nylander, Handzus, etc. They shouldn't be punished for lofty albatross contracts. However, if they are the idiot, or inherit a team run by an idiot, they should hold a bulk of responsibility for their poor decision.

I think contracts up to 3M are very bearable and honestly shouldn't affect your financial resources that much. That's why it's a higher percentage. If you decide to buyout that player (a guy you could probably trade), it's a decision that you have to make while cognizant of the penalty.

[DevilsGM]

Alright, the Committee and I have talked it over and we've decided that the max length for a
Also, another note. Contract extensions to players making under $1.5M will include a MANDATORY 30% raise. For example, a player making 850k must be offered 1,105,000 minimum (255k more). Players making between 1.5M and 2.5M must be offered a 20% raise. For example, a player making 2M must be offered 2.4M minimum (400k more). Players making over 2.5M must be offered at least a 10% raise. For example, a player making 3M must be offered 3.3M (300k more).

This adds another effect of realism because none of the young stars would actually sign for 850k if that's what they made the year before. Consider it, "avoiding arbitration". Again, these will still be presented to the player.

But this doesn't really help for older 4th liners then in theory by the time they get to 30+ for example they have to be making upwards of 2mill. aswell the rule still doesn't stop people from locking up their rookie at 19 for 850K for 6 years plus TO PO thus kind of defeating the purpose, no? Beacuse after that then they only have to offer so much more.

[Virtual Jarmo]

Alright, the Committee and I have talked it over and we've decided that the max length for a
Also, another note. Contract extensions to players making under $1.5M will include a MANDATORY 30% raise. For example, a player making 850k must be offered 1,105,000 minimum (255k more). Players making between 1.5M and 2.5M must be offered a 20% raise. For example, a player making 2M must be offered 2.4M minimum (400k more). Players making over 2.5M must be offered at least a 10% raise. For example, a player making 3M must be offered 3.3M (300k more).

This adds another effect of realism because none of the young stars would actually sign for 850k if that's what they made the year before. Consider it, "avoiding arbitration". Again, these will still be presented to the player.

But this doesn't really help for older 4th liners then in theory by the time they get to 30+ for example they have to be making upwards of 2mill. aswell the rule still doesn't stop people from locking up their rookie at 19 for 850K for 6 years plus TO PO thus kind of defeating the purpose, no? Beacuse after that then they only have to offer so much more.

Just edited that in the Contract Offers forum. Will edit the Rulebook after the sim.

It's only applicable to players 30 and under.

It's a good starting point, for now. It's something. Obviously young core players will be retained for a long time. But, that's part of the beauty of doing this. You can watch your team grow without the money-hungry greed of the real world.

[DevilsGM]

[quote="Commissioner (CBJ)]
Just edited that in the Contract Offers forum. Will edit the Rulebook after the sim.

It's only applicable to players 30 and under.

It's a good starting point, for now. It's something. Obviously young core players will be retained for a long time. But, that's part of the beauty of doing this. You can watch your team grow without the money-hungry greed of the real world.[/quote]

Oh yea I totally agree just my thoughts after reading it, and its good that its only for players under 30.