2017 Offseason and Rule Changes

[SharksGM]

Announcements ahoy!

1. The draft is nearly done. We're at 150 prospects entered - the good ones - and mostly just late round filler/long shots to go. It will be done in the next few days and I'll update the file when it's ready.

2. The draft will be 5 rounds this year and so all picks will be tradeable. Sorry to the 6th round pick enthusiasts, but I'll add a few random Euro/college free agents to the UFA pool later on.

3. The salary cap will rise to 72.5M next season (+2.5M). For the moment, we will do all calculations under the current system just to make life easier, so consult the spreadsheet to re-sign your free agents as usual. After the draft and re-signing phase, but before the UFA period begins, all of the salaries in the file will be multiplied by 0.8, bringing the cap down to 58M. Next offseason, the cap will go up again to 60M and will stay put at that level from then on to prevent annoying crashes.

4. One exception to the above is that the minimum salary will be 600k for next season (equivalent to 750k under the current cap) and will stay at that level for the following season as well.

5. Re-alignment will be opened for discussion later on in the offseason. However, we will definitely not continue to use the current nonsensical 16/14 team conferences and playoff system. The easiest change would be to return to the old divisions, which means moving Detroit back West - that's up for debate, in case anyone has better ideas.

6. To reduce the (unrealistically) rapid rate of prospect development, AHL underagers will be more limited next season. Each team will be able to choose 2 underagers at the start of the season (instead of 3). Only those two named prospects will be eligible to play in the AHL. No more recalling of prospects from juniors either. Otherwise, we will follow NHL rules for eligibility, so prospects drafted out of non-North American leagues (i.e. Europe) are exempt, as are 19-year olds who will turn 20 by the end of the year.

7. Lastly, a more minor change (pun intended) is that we'll allow AHL-only contracts using the two-way switch, since it has no relevance for NHLers anymore. AHL-only contracts will be one-year, two-way contracts that don't count against the 50 contract limit. Any players auto-signed to fill out AHL lines will be given AHL contracts. Anyone on an AHL contract qualifies as a UFA and can be signed by any team to an NHL contract at any time. This is just a convenient way to fill out AHL lineups without wasting contracts on 60OV players.

Questions/comments?

[SharksGM]

Oh yes, I almost forgot. BUF and FLA are empty. If you know of anyone interested in taking over a team, have them fill out the application form. Otherwise, Justin can you spam recruitment adverts in the usual places?

[Jets GM]

Oh yes, I almost forgot. BUF and FLA are empty. If you know of anyone interested in taking over a team, have them fill out the application form. Otherwise, Justin can you spam recruitment adverts in the usual places?

On it,

[Dallas Stars GM]

I like it. Everything. Really, appreciate the AHL contracts :)

Since when can I sign some to AHL contract and does it also go through Free Agents account or how will it work?

[Vik (Habs)]

6. To reduce the (unrealistically) rapid rate of prospect development, AHL underagers will be more limited next season. Each team will be able to choose 2 underagers at the start of the season (instead of 3). Only those two named prospects will be eligible to play in the AHL. No more recalling of prospects from juniors either. Otherwise, we will follow NHL rules for eligibility, so prospects drafted out of non-North American leagues (i.e. Europe) are exempt, as are 19-year olds who will turn 20 by the end of the year.

So those from non-North American leagues can play as teenagers without counting against the underager limit? And I assume we're ignoring the Julius Honka/Alex Nylander exemption? What happens if you trade for someone else's underager?

Now I gotta think about how I'm going to update things to check that everyone's staying compliant with that. How dare you make me think!

7. Lastly, a more minor change (pun intended) is that we'll allow AHL-only contracts using the two-way switch, since it has no relevance for NHLers anymore. AHL-only contracts will be one-year, two-way contracts that don't count against the 50 contract limit. Any players auto-signed to fill out AHL lines will be given AHL contracts. Anyone on an AHL contract qualifies as a UFA and can be signed by any team to an NHL contract at any time. This is just a convenient way to fill out AHL lineups without wasting contracts on 60OV players.

Are you going to play with GMO so that anyone on a two-way deal doesn't have the option to get promoted or is that something I'm going to have check for?

Since when can I sign some to AHL contract and does it also go through Free Agents account or how will it work?

Probably best if we have a thread devoted specifically to AHL signings and have it a first come, first served basis (if someone else really wants your AHL contract, they can just give him a big league contract). Also, have to set some start date for it after UFAery's basically completed (no sense having teams giving AHL contracts to guys at the start of the offseason just to see them get signed elsewhere).

[TorontoGM]

If you guys are committed to keeping track of all that, then I am completely on board.

[Calgary.Flames]

5. Re-alignment will be opened for discussion later on in the offseason. However, we will definitely not continue to use the current nonsensical 16/14 team conferences and playoff system. The easiest change would be to return to the old divisions, which means moving Detroit back West - that's up for debate, in case anyone has better ideas.

Because I liked it back then and also because it's saving us some work I'd go with exactly what's in the game. We already have to manage the financials and the rosters because it wouldn't make sense otherwise. The game generated schedule, divisions and playoff system are fine so we should leave them as is.

[AnaheimGM]

5. Re-alignment will be opened for discussion later on in the offseason. However, we will definitely not continue to use the current nonsensical 16/14 team conferences and playoff system. The easiest change would be to return to the old divisions, which means moving Detroit back West - that's up for debate, in case anyone has better ideas.

Yeah!!! I'd never liked the stupid format the NHL use.

[Calgary.Flames]

I have updated the forum version of the rulebook. Tell me if something's wrong or missing.

We'll see if we need the pdf format as it's not as easy to keep up to date as it is here.

Draft class is complete so that new file will be out soon and we'll give you guys some time to look at it before we start the actual thing.

Let's have some fun!

[SharksGM]

6. To reduce the (unrealistically) rapid rate of prospect development, AHL underagers will be more limited next season. Each team will be able to choose 2 underagers at the start of the season (instead of 3). Only those two named prospects will be eligible to play in the AHL. No more recalling of prospects from juniors either. Otherwise, we will follow NHL rules for eligibility, so prospects drafted out of non-North American leagues (i.e. Europe) are exempt, as are 19-year olds who will turn 20 by the end of the year.

So those from non-North American leagues can play as teenagers without counting against the underager limit? And I assume we're ignoring the Julius Honka/Alex Nylander exemption? What happens if you trade for someone else's underager?

Yes. No creative loan loopholes. Every team gets to name two underagers at the start of the season; if you trade them, they are still exempt and the trading team does not get a new slot.

Now I gotta think about how I'm going to update things to check that everyone's staying compliant with that. How dare you make me think!

I will probably give exempt players two-way tags and just check if they're under 21, which no AHL-only contracts should be. No bookkeeping should be necessary once I update the roster management page.

Are you going to play with GMO so that anyone on a two-way deal doesn't have the option to get promoted or is that something I'm going to have check for?

Yeah I'll add a check for the two-way tag and disallow recalling those players (except if they're exempt underagers as above).

Since when can I sign some to AHL contract and does it also go through Free Agents account or how will it work?

Probably best if we have a thread devoted specifically to AHL signings and have it a first come, first served basis (if someone else really wants your AHL contract, they can just give him a big league contract). Also, have to set some start date for it after UFAery's basically completed (no sense having teams giving AHL contracts to guys at the start of the offseason just to see them get signed elsewhere).

We'll have open bidding like we did with UFAs for the latter part of this season. AHL contracts are obviously lower priority than any NHL offer and AHL contracts can be signed away by an NHL team whenever.

In fact, we may consider open bidding for all free agent signings at the start of UFA. It worked fine this season and the free agent account is a headache to manage in the first few days of UFA. I do still like the aspect of not knowing exactly who or what the leading bid is so I'm not completely sold on this yet. My main concern is having repetitive and annoying ebay-style last minute minimum bid sniping, which perhaps could be solved by keeping the maximum 3 bids per UFA per team limit. An alternative would be to have the Free Agent account post the current team leading the bid or the leading offer. We could do both but then you might as well make all offers public.

[Vik (Habs)]

In fact, we may consider open bidding for all free agent signings at the start of UFA. It worked fine this season and the free agent account is a headache to manage in the first few days of UFA. I do still like the aspect of not knowing exactly who or what the leading bid is so I'm not completely sold on this yet. My main concern is having repetitive and annoying ebay-style last minute minimum bid sniping, which perhaps could be solved by keeping the maximum 3 bids per UFA per team limit. An alternative would be to have the Free Agent account post the current team leading the bid or the leading offer. We could do both but then you might as well make all offers public.

You can eliminate sniping by having the deadline for bids be 24 hours after the last bid. It'll draw things out a little but that shouldn't really be a problem for us. I don't like having a maximum # of bids for open bidding - it punishes teams that get in on it early.

[Calgary.Flames]

No way we're changing the open bidding process. It stays the way it is now.

As for the AHL contracts, I don't care for them myself but I know some of you like having alot of guys in your AHL team so if Dan wants to bother... We should just open a separate thread and maybe say we can start handing out AHL contracts as soon as the pre-season starts or X time after the free agents frenzy?

I would only have permitted for more than 50 contracts and that's it. I don't like the work associated with it and I also would not care if you had 10 different Max Talbot clones all waiting to be called up.

Isn't there nothing else we could shift focus on?

[Vik (Habs)]

6. To reduce the (unrealistically) rapid rate of prospect development, AHL underagers will be more limited next season. Each team will be able to choose 2 underagers at the start of the season (instead of 3). Only those two named prospects will be eligible to play in the AHL. No more recalling of prospects from juniors either. Otherwise, we will follow NHL rules for eligibility, so prospects drafted out of non-North American leagues (i.e. Europe) are exempt, as are 19-year olds who will turn 20 by the end of the year.

So those from non-North American leagues can play as teenagers without counting against the underager limit? And I assume we're ignoring the Julius Honka/Alex Nylander exemption? What happens if you trade for someone else's underager?

Yes. No creative loan loopholes. Every team gets to name two underagers at the start of the season; if you trade them, they are still exempt and the trading team does not get a new slot.

So the team acquiring them would then be allowed 3, yes?

Are you going to play with GMO so that anyone on a two-way deal doesn't have the option to get promoted or is that something I'm going to have check for?

Yeah I'll add a check for the two-way tag and disallow recalling those players (except if they're exempt underagers as above).

Although I guess it's still possible whoever's simming might accidentally call one up.

6. To reduce the (unrealistically) rapid rate of prospect development, AHL underagers will be more limited next season. Each team will be able to choose 2 underagers at the start of the season (instead of 3). Only those two named prospects will be eligible to play in the AHL. No more recalling of prospects from juniors either. Otherwise, we will follow NHL rules for eligibility, so prospects drafted out of non-North American leagues (i.e. Europe) are exempt, as are 19-year olds who will turn 20 by the end of the year.

Thinking about this, won't this have the opposite effect? Unless there aren't any Euros getting drafted, there are going to be a lot more teenagers in the AHL as a result.

Also, what are we basing their rights off of? For example, Markus Niemelainen's been playing and was drafted out of the CHL but, in game, he's listed as playing in the Finnish league (with some interesting career stats I might add).

[Calgary.Flames]

So the team acquiring them would then be allowed 3, yes?

Thinking about this, won't this have the opposite effect? Unless there aren't any Euros getting drafted, there are going to be a lot more teenagers in the AHL as a result.

Also, what are we basing their rights off of? For example, Markus Niemelainen's been playing and was drafted out of the CHL but, in game, he's listed as playing in the Finnish league (with some interesting career stats I might add).

I'd say yes. 60 determined players at the start of the year. If you acquire 5 of those during the year then you can have them all as underagers while other teams might be left with only one or none.

Say your underagers are 18 for the 1st season, do you need to make them your underagers again for the following year? That would make 4 guys in that 2nd year. Maybe we allow only one guy per season as an eligible-underager and he keeps his status moving forward until he's not considered anymore.

Although I guess it's still possible whoever's simming might accidentally call one up.

My idea, and we'll need to figure out the whole AHL contract thing first but, maybe all AHL contracts can be for less than NHL minimum (200K to 500K for example) so they are easily seen. Also it would help the overall in-game financials.

[SharksGM]

So the team acquiring them would then be allowed 3, yes?

Yes.

Although I guess it's still possible whoever's simming might accidentally call one up.

Why is that an issue? They can go back down whenever.

Thinking about this, won't this have the opposite effect? Unless there aren't any Euros getting drafted, there are going to be a lot more teenagers in the AHL as a result.

Hmm, that's a good point. Actually, it's not just Euros who are exempt - US college players can sign right away and play in the AHL too. So there's not really any rule stopping NHL teams from flooding their AHL squads with non-CHL draftees. It's just that most prospects prefer to develop in Europe or pursue a college degree.

How about as a compromise only giving free exemptions to Euro/college FAs drafted in the first round? That way there at most an extra ~15ish players allowed to play in the AHL besides the 2x30 for every team. I'd like to cut that down to just one extra player the next season and compensate by making first rounders more NHL-ready (which will likely be the case in 2018 anyway if the draft turns out better than 2017 as it's supposed to).

Also, what are we basing their rights off of? For example, Markus Niemelainen's been playing and was drafted out of the CHL but, in game, he's listed as playing in the Finnish league (with some interesting career stats I might add).

Their real-life team in their first draft year. EHM's junior stats... yeah, let's not talk about those.

Say your underagers are 18 for the 1st season, do you need to make them your underagers again for the following year?

Yes, lists will change every season. Also, some ~25-30% of draftees become eligible to play in their second year after draft anyway just by being born from Sep.16-Dec.31.

[Calgary.Flames]

Dan and I agreed on the following:

Next season: Each team can chose to play 2 guys that are u20s. There's no switching back and forth. 60 guys will be the maximum underagers that we'll have in the AHL.

Season 18-19: Number drops to 30, meaning every team will only have one u20 player.

The year after, we'll see. We'd like to get rid of it altogether but it's a process that we see coming gradually. We're not going to go from 3 to none.


Now, for a couple years, you might see guys that have played in the AHL before get sent down to their junior teams but that's a non-issue other than the looks of it. Most importantly is it's going to lead to something better.

[Vik (Habs)]

Can we at least stop counting players sent back to junior against the 50 contract limit?

[Edmonton Mike]

You guys came up with something for extra practices?

[Jets GM]

You guys came up with something for extra practices?

GET RID OF THEM.

VERY FAKE NEWS. PHONY.

I DON'T LIKE IT.

[Edmonton Mike]

Yeah I never used them, so I don't care. I know you simmers hated the abuse so I thought now would be a good time to come up with something.

[Bernyhawks]

Yeah I never used them, so I don't care. I know you simmers hated the abuse so I thought now would be a good time to come up with something.

Just scrap it!

[Kings GM]

Schedule extra practice please

[Jets GM]

Schedule extra practice please

I'm all for freedom of speech, but I never ever want to this written again.

[Dallas Stars GM]

Maybe we just need some limit.
For example, 5-8x Xtra practice's per season and 1 or 2 per post-season.

[Jets GM]

Maybe we just need some limit.
For example, 5-8x Xtra practice's per season and 1 or 2 per post-season.

Extra practices are disgusting. Very nasty.

Believe Me.

[Vik (Habs)]

Maybe we just need some limit.
For example, 5-8x Xtra practice's per season and 1 or 2 per post-season.

Extra practices are disgusting. Very nasty.

Believe Me.

I remember them being one of the easiest things to do. Hardest thing about it is remembering to do them.

[Calgary.Flames]

Maybe we just need some limit.
For example, 5-8x Xtra practice's per season and 1 or 2 per post-season.

Keeping track of this = extra work.
This is the most unlikely scenario.

[Calgary.Flames]

BTW, it's always nice when we get guys' opinion on stuff before we make changes. I encourage you guys to continue.

Waiting to be ruled on:
AHL contracts/Contract limit.
Extra Practices.
Retirement. (Ideas would be welcomed)

[AP21 (ARZ)]

AHL contracts/Contract limit
I like the current system, but whatever makes your job easier is fine by me.

Extra Practices
Are we talking about practice? I would get rid of them and focus on the game, the game that we go out there and die for.

Retirement
Have you guys heard of EHM Tool? We could enter retirement probabilities, such as:

34 years old = 1% chance of retiring
35 = 3 %
...
41 = 97 %
42 = 100 %

That would make the retirement process way more realistic and give free agency a needed boost, as GMs would offer shorter contracts to veterans for fear of losing them à la Chris Pronger.

[flyergp21]

Can't agree more with my brother here. This is by far my biggest issue with EHEC, and I would welcome a way to fix it.

And BTW, I hope the extra practises days are behind us. FOR GOOD.

[Jets GM]

Can't agree more with my brother here. This is by far my biggest issue with EHEC, and I would welcome a way to fix it.

And BTW, I hope the extra practises days are behind us. FOR GOOD.

They are very nasty. Believe me.

EHEC is going to be so great without them.

[Vik (Habs)]

3. The salary cap will rise to 72.5M next season (+2.5M). For the moment, we will do all calculations under the current system just to make life easier, so consult the spreadsheet to re-sign your free agents as usual. After the draft and re-signing phase, but before the UFA period begins, all of the salaries in the file will be multiplied by 0.8, bringing the cap down to 58M. Next offseason, the cap will go up again to 60M and will stay put at that level from then on to prevent annoying crashes.

Will the contract calculator be modified next season to account for the lower cap?

[SharksGM]

Will the contract calculator be modified next season to account for the lower cap?

All of the formulas will be up for review next offseason.

[Jets GM]

Have we ban extra practices yet?

[Bernyhawks]

Have we ban extra practices yet?

Make it fair for GMs that don't check every day

#banextrapractices

[Calgary.Flames]

Make it fair for GMs that don't check every day

My point of view is the complete opposite.

hasgtagididntstudygivemealltheanswersplease

[Bernyhawks]

Make it fair for GMs that don't check every day

My point of view is the complete opposite.

hasgtagididntstudygivemealltheanswersplease

It creates more work for GMs and more work for the Staff and adds no fun to it.

[Calgary.Flames]

We'll be getting rid of XPs but that's not to make it fair for guys that don't check in.
That wasn't my point.

[Jets GM]

We'll be getting rid of XPs but that's not to make it fair for guys that don't check in.

Yes!

[JetsGM]

I understand XP's are a pain in the ass and that "simmers" have too much on their plate already... but as a big advocate of XP's for teams in a huge tailspin, is there no way to implement XP's into the GM panel and "semi-automate" them?

Or even as it's been suggested... add a forum topic and post XP's with limitation to 5ish or whatever a year? First come, first serve, one per sim at most.

Just speaking on behalf of a team that will be having a rough year ahead and guys slumping like nobody's business.

All good either way as it seems I am in the vast minority on this.

Keep up the awesome work boys!

[Dallas Stars GM]

I would welcome that option too

Please also, I'd like to see those contracts below league minimum to be reset to league minimum.
No more 450 000 or 600 000 contracts...

[Jets GM]

How about we let people request extra practices, but the simmers just ignore the requests?

[Jets GM]

I would welcome that option too

Please also, I'd like to see those contracts below league minimum to be reset to league minimum.
No more 450 000 or 600 000 contracts...

You sign on the dotted line, you play the deal out.

How about we adjust all prior contracts signed at the league max to the new max every year too?

or we could leave things alone if they already work very well.

[Calgary.Flames]

I also don't see an issue with past deals being under league minimum.
If anything, it's additional work.

I also like XPs but it's not worth investing a minute into. It's just a game feature that you get accustomed to over time playing the game alone in your basement (I use them alot too) but the best way to handle this is to straight up get rid of them. It puts everyone on the same playing field and it cuts our workload a bit. It's a win from every angle.

They're as good as gone.... unless all of a sudden 20 other guys come asking for them, but it's highly unlikely to happen lol

[JacketsGM (Jer)]

I was never really clear on extra practices - I used a couple last season when the team had it's 'bye week', and then again when I had multiple slumping players.

So a question, I get that everyone will be on the same playing field with regards to slumping players (teams will no longer have bye weeks if we go back to the old schedule) - so how do you shake players out of a slump if not with an extra practice? Line shake-up? Trade/waiver? Leave them alone to deal with their depression?

Jer

[Jets GM]

Winning improves peoples mood, I noticed.

Just tell your slumping players: 'were going to start winning, were going to do so much winning your morale will be so high. It will be so high, your going to be Sick because it is so high'

Extra practices Are the most low energy thing ever. It terms of quantifying the time it takes to enter, I would say 60 seconds per practice. Last year we let multiple teams schedule extra practices in one day, which was very disgusting. a sim that could potentially take 3-4 minutes if there are no errors now took 100% longer because extra practices. I didn't like it.

Read the words of our departing commissioners. You will notice both talked about the amount of TIME it took to run the league, and how that squeezed the enjoyment out of the game. The league should be reducing the time required to operate the league, not increasing it.

Maybe EP work and it gives an edge to daily GMs. which is why you can't allow it to be a one team/one day thing Maybe it Does nothing and is a waste of time. I think it helps a lot, and Bub told he thought they were useless.

I think whether it helps or not, it is a Waste of time in my opinion. Get rid of it, and it is even for all

[Vik (Habs)]

Making a player a healthy scratch can also sometimes get them out of a slump.

I tend to use XPs sparingly but I do prefer having them as an option. If we're going to complain about a sim taking 5 minutes instead of 4, I might have to start up with "Back in my day, you were lucky if you finished a sim the same day you started it" and such. In my experience, the annoyance with running things was more dealing with people complaining at you every day rather than the amount of time it took to sim a few games.

But I'm sure I can live with or without them.

[Calgary.Flames]

Yeah, the healthy scratch treatment works as well but overall you'll need to learn how to use your guys.
Certain guys need more icetime, others will want special teams play and some wouldn't like sitting on the team's 4th line.

The XP isn't guaranteed to get your guys out of a slump and I always thought that the weeks after an "unnecessary pratice" were tougher.

What we all agree on so far is as much as we'd like to keep them, getting rid of them isn't much of a concern.

[Dallas Stars GM]

Extra practices are helping and something like extra practice button in GM's office would solve the problem for everybody and for ever.

Is there a way to do it ?

[SharksGM]

I would welcome that option too

Please also, I'd like to see those contracts below league minimum to be reset to league minimum.
No more 450 000 or 600 000 contracts...

I have thought about this, but since many of the guys on these deals were traded on the basis of their cheap cap hits, I don't like the idea of retroactively boosting their salaries.

The real problem is that we used to allow 5+ year deals at league minimum and we've dealt with that issue, and we've now committed to keep the league minimum fixed for the next 3 seasons.