Deadline for New Contract Offers

[Virtual Jarmo]

All new contracts must be in by the day after the EHEC Stanley Cup Finals finish. I realize that free agency does not begin until July 1, but because of the way that the formula works, I need to enter them on a specific day so that teams don't specifically wait until a player drops a point so that they come at a discount. I do not want this to run in to the Draft, because I will have to focus on time limits and trades.

So, ALL NEW CONTRACTS MUST BE POSTED BY THE DAY AFTER THE EHEC STANLEY CUP FINALS END.

I will enter all of the contracts before advancing the file.

To the teams who do not abide by this, I will impose a 10% penalty on every contract that they wish to offer after the deadline. Arbitration will not be factored in to this as some arbitration hearings may not be completed yet.

But, again, all contracts must be posted. GMs can just post the players' names if they wish and I will figure out the contract amount, but all players who need to be offered a contract must be posted.

[Virtual Jarmo]

An amendment to this: NO TRAINING CHANGES WILL BE PERMITTED up to the deadline. Putting a guy on rest to save money will not happen. Not sure how much it matters now with it being the offseason, but no training changes will be entered.

[Virtual Jarmo]

Bump.

[Virtual Jarmo]

Bump again. Cup Final will definitely be over by Tuesday. Could be over tonight. Make sure this stuff is in, guys.

[Virtual Jarmo]

A couple clarifying points before I get going here. First, the formula does not automatically mean the player will be signed at that salary. I will offer the proposed number to the player. Most of them, I assume, will accept these contracts. If they don't, you will have to offer a higher contract. The formula is in there as a base calculation, but does not guarantee player acceptance.

Second, arbitration, on the other hand, is a guaranteed number. The player will be signed to that contract, regardless of if they would accept it in EHM or not. I will simply enter these through players.ehm.

Third, there is a lot going on right now in arbitration. Please be patient. My arbitrators have agreed to do this because I asked them, not because they have an abundance of time on their hands. All arbitrations will be done long before I roll the file over. But, it may take a few days longer than expected to get the findings back. First time with this process. All of my arbitrators have had cases to date, so they know the process. Just a matter of them finding the time to get it done. I'm also trying not to overwhelm them, so I may handle smaller cases myself, just to move them along.

Fourth, the file will now be frozen for three days while I enter contracts and slave away on the draft class. If I miss any team options or any of that, just send me a PM and I'll get it in the file for Thursday's upload.

Fifth, as I said a couple days ago, there will be some rule changes announced. Those will be done within the next few days. I just have to do a little more research. I'll update the Rulebook at that time as well with some of the other policies we have instituted/altered since the Rulebook was posted.

Sixth, I don't know when I can enter trades in the file, but rulings will be posted and trades will be entered whenever I can do that.

Appreciate your patience and the heightened activity. Thanks for a great 2nd season of games. Now, for most of you, the fun begins with player signings, trades, and drafting.