2023-2024 RHL Constitution

I. LEAGUE OFFICERS

II. THE CONSTITUTION

III. LEAGUE MEMBERSHIP

IV. SCHEDULE

V. THE ENTRY DRAFT

VI. RULES FOR ALL SEASONS

A. ROSTER LIMITS

B. USAGE LIMITS

C. PLAYOFFS & USAGE

D. SPECIFIC GAME PLAY RULES

E. SPECIFIC PLAYER RULES

F. TRADING AND SALARIES

G. CONTRACTS & FREE AGENCY

VII. OBSOLETE RULES

The RHL league officers will consist of the Commissioner and a review board consisting of 3 league members who will be employed in the case of any protests involving trades or game play issues. The
Commissioner will make final decisions regarding league members, will select the review board members each season, and give general direction to the league.

Current Board:
Mark McNeil – Commissioner and Personnel Director (Draft, player moves)
Review Board - TBD

A. All members are required to adhere to both the letter and the spirit of this Constitution. Repeated failure to follow league rules and practices, gross incompetence, or a violation regarding personal integrity, may result in expulsion from the league.

B. During the offseason any league member may suggest procedure or rule changes to the Board of Directors by June 1st (or a date set by the commissioner) following the prior season. All proposals that are submitted must be fully thought out changes to current rules or additions to the rules for the Board to consider them (don't just throw out ideas without thinking them through).

C. The Board will then discuss all proposals, listen to input from the league at large and then compile a ballot for the league membership to vote upon. A proposal must gain 2/3 of the vote to pass and become a part of the new constitution. All teams are required to cast a vote of yes, no or abstain on all proposals on the ballot, failure to vote will result in warnings or loss of draft picks (this is an interactive league and members are expected to be involved).

D. In the case of clarifications the Commissioner and Review Board will decide if it would constitute a major change of policy in which case it will go on the ballot. If the Board deems it a minor change or just a wording clarification then no vote is necessary.

E. The Commissioner will then make all necessary changes and additions and post the new constitution before the start of the annual Rookie/Free Agent Draft but all rules will take effect with the first day of the new regular season.

A. Currently the league has 24 teams. With the NHL having 31 teams expansion is a possibility in the future if the league membership deems the league strong enough to support additional teams. At most the league will have 28 teams until such a time as the NHL expands and provides adequate players to fill more teams. Each year expansion will be discussed until it passes, though there is no obligation for anyone to vote yes and the league is not pushing for expansion at any time in the near future.

B. Re-alignment will always be at the discretion of the league's directors from season to season.

C. Per new NHL rules, the league will be changing to a 4 division, 2 conference format for the 2014-2015 season with divisions and realignment to be determined over the next year.

The Schedule will be broken down as follows has been determined by the game with division and conference games being the bulk of a teams schedule with 26 games played against the other conference.

The commissioner will provide the schedule as soon as the Action PC game is available each season and the season will begin in October depending on the release of the new version of the game. Each team is expected to play their home games during each 2 week block and trades will be executed on Sunday of every other week and new files will be sent out every two weeks.

3. New strategy files will be due on the Wednesday following the new file coming out on Sunday. If you do not have a new strategy file submitted by Wednesday, 11:59 pm eastern time, then it is assumed that the strategy file from the previous block is still in force and opponents may use the coach that is already in the game. You must check the website before playing any games to be sure you have the most up to date coach and make sure you import each coach into the game before playing your games.

4. After each game, send the league a small write up as well as the game boxscore, using our googlegroups email list.

5. At the end of each two-week period, coaches will send the Commissioner an export file of their stats and these are due by Sunday night at 9 pm Eastern. Any results not received at that time, where the commissioner is not made aware of a problem in advance will be quick-simmed by the commissioner using the proper coach files.

6. Late coach files and results exports penalties are now set down and will be automatically assessed for each block as required. For any strategy or export that is late without prior approval from the commissioner a teams salary cap is reduced by $175,000 OR 15% of their current cap space, whichever is greater, with this penalty being applied at the end of the season and lasting through tne next offseason and regular season before their cap goes back to the normal level. The commissioner will have the ability to rescind the penalty if their is sufficient mitigating circumstances. If a team is penalized a 5th time in the same season the review board will review that teams ownership and decided if a change is needed.

1. The annual RHL entry draft will commence approximately two weeks after the release of the new version of the game from DK Sports. The draft will be held by scheduled email and/or online google docs and will be five rounds in length.

2. First of all, we will use the actual lottery numbers to set our spots in the lottery. We will use the lottery to set the first three spots in the order with the other 5 teams falling in order of their finish by points. To make this work, we will use 3 days worth of lottery results from the Win 4 Lottery in New York's evening results and compare to them to the chart below. On the 14th day following the end of the regular season we would set the #1 overall spot, on the 15th day we set #2 overall and on the 16th day we set spot #3. After #1 is set, if there is a repeat winner for #2 and/or #3 we will look at the earlier drawing for that day to try and set the spot. If it is still a repeat, then we will move to day 16 to set #2 and keep doing this until it is set. Then we will do the same for #3 so all three spots will be set by the lottery even if it takes more than 3 days to make it happen. The night of the final draw I will announce the results for the 8 teams who did not make the playoffs and then the others will slot in from 9th through 24th based upon NHL rules and tiebreakers as the playoffs progress.

Win Four number placement

24th place - 0000 - 4399

23rd place - 4500 - 6799

22nd place - 6800 - 8199

21st place - 8200 - 8899

20th place - 8900 - 9399

19th place - 9400 - 9699

18th place - 9700 - 9899

17th place - 9900 - 9999

3. Players drafted in rounds 1 thru 3 will be given three (3) year contracts with salaries based on the RHL salary formula. Players drafted in rounds 4 and 5 will be given contracts from 1 to 3 years, at the discretion of the team drafting them, with this decision being made as soon as the draft is complete, and their salaries are still based on the RHL salary formula. At the end of their contracts, normal free agent rules will apply.

4. All players who played in at least one NHL game the previous season (and were rated in the game), not currently on an RHL roster and who have not been through an RHL draft or on an RHL roster in the past are eligible to be drafted.

5. Per NHL draft rules, the draft order will be as follows with the 24th pick going to the Cup winner, 23rd to the cup runner up, 22nd and 21st to the conference final losers, then the rest of the playoff teams in reverse standing order with division winners who didn't make it to the conference finals listed in 20th, etc. The non-playoff teams are in reverse order of finish by points for the first 8 picks in each round and the order in round 1 will be based upon the lottery as listed above.

RHL teams are allowed to keep a maximum of 45 players on their rosters and must keep a minimum of 32 players and all players both rated and unrated count towards this limit. For each game a coach must dress 18 skaters and 2 goalies. All teams must carry enough rated goalies on their roster to cover all regular season games so there is 2 goalies available for every game with at least 1 game played left.

Coaches are only allowed to use players in the number of games that they played during the previous season. If a player, for example, only saw action in 17 games during the 99-00 season, then that player can only play in 17 games for you during the RHL season. Actual injury dates missed will be determined using the modified historical injuries (see section E). All other games missed (suspension, coaches decisions, etc) will be determined by each individual coach but players still may not play more games than actually played in the previous NHL season. This pertains to skaters only. All goalie injuries will be coaches decisions and left to the owners discretion but a team must still have a 3rd goalie on the roster if their team missed any games due to injuries (though they are still limited by the actual number of games played).

Any player that is overused during the season will immediately be suspended for the rest of the season. They will also be subject to a playoff suspension based on the table below (all games will be sat at the beginning of each series). All suspensions are subject to commissioner review and may be waived at his discretion (ie wrong strat used by opponent or game malfunction).

1) the player misses the number of games from the start of the series equal to the number of games overused in the regular season PLUS;

2) Each player is dropped one category on the "number of games per playoff series" chart used to average out usage for players who play less than a full season per game overused. So if a player would fit into the 55-59 NHL games category, he would normally play 6 playoff games, but due to overuse, he would now only be allowed to play only 5 games in each series. If he was overused by 2 games, he would now only be allowed to play 4 games, etc. This applies to both skaters and goaltenders.

This is in addition to any draft pick penalties imposed by the commissioner.

The RHL playoffs will consist of the top 8 teams in each conference with Division winners seeded 1-3. The playoff series format will be best of 7 with a 2-2-1-1-1 format. (Only goes into effect when FO has built in internet support - ALL playoff games MUST be played via the internet. (Note: In the event that a coach is not available for an internet game, he may select a person to sit in for him. If there is no one in the league available to sit in for him then his opponent will play the game using the his teams strategy file.))

        1) 60 or more NHL games can play all playoff games (per series)
        2) 55-59 NHL games      6 playoff games
        3) 50-54 NHL games      5 playoff games
        4) 40-49 NHL games      4 playoff games
        5) 30-39 NHL games      3 playoff games
        6) 20-29 NHL games      2 playoff games
        7) 10-19 NHL games      1 playoff game

      PLAYOFF USAGE LIMITS FOR GOALTENDERS
      Goalies with 1-14 games may only dress as backups
      Goalies with 15-19 games may only start 1 game per series (but may dress as backups in all other games)
      Goalies with 20-24 games may only start 2 games per series (but may dress as backups in all other games)
      Goalies with 25-29 games may only start 3 games per series (but may dress as backups in all other games)
      Goalies with 30+ games may start all playoff games in a series (or may be dressed as a backup)

Injury backups may only play if the computer pulls the starter due to an injury OR the team is down by 4 or more goals at any time in the game (a mercy rule basically). The second part may be accomplished by a computer setting for road games that is defined as a team being down by 4 or more goals OR by a home coach making this decision when his team is down by 4 or more goals.

Once a goalie has made his maximum allowable starts he must follow all rules for Injury backups as stated above.

D. SPECIFIC GAME PLAY RULES (hth play may be considered in the future but is currently not required for the regular season or playoffs):

1. On the first day of the block the home team in all games should contact all his visiting opponents and find
      out if they want to play games via the internet. While it is NOT required we are going to encourage internet play
      especially during the playoff race as it can only add to the fun and excitement of the league. If the visiting team
      does not want to play via the internet then the home team should play the game using the visitor's strat file. If the
      visitors want to play via internet every effort should be made to find a mutual time to do so.

2. If the visiting team does not request online play, then the home team has the option of playing the game on
his machine using the visiting team’s strategy file, or he can simulate the game using both of their strategy files.

3. If the visiting team requests online play, then the home team has 2 choices.
         a. He can agree to online play and they set a day and time.
         b. He can notify the visiting team that, sorry, but he can't do it and will play it by himself using the
               visiting team's strategy file. PLEASE NOTE: During the last 18 games of the season, option 2 is
               changed. During the last 10 games of the season if the home team doesn't wish to play the game online,
               then the visiting team has the option to play the game on his computer using a strat file from the home team.

1. The RHL will use modified historical injuries to decide games missed for injury games during the regular season. A player will still miss the exact same number of games that they missed the previous NHL season due to injury, but instead of them being the same games missed in the NHL, they will be all added together into one group and then they will be randomly assigned by an Excel sheet and teams will have a list and the players will miss the games the sheet assigns to them.

Example, a player missed 5 games at one time and then 10 at another time and 2 at the end of the season, he would miss 17 games and the sheet would assign exactly when he'd miss those games all in on group rather than spread out, this should help to keep down the number of different strats needed throughout the season.

During our season each player should miss the exact same game number for each game missed for injuries ONLY. Any other games missed (suspensions, holdouts, etc) become coaches decisions but players are still limited to their actual NHL games played in the past season. To find your players games missed click on Utilities from the Main Menu and then Edit Players. Select the player in the column on the left and then using the middle row on the right scroll to the right until you see the box marked "GamesMissedInjury" and make a note of the exact game number(s) this player missed. Do the same for the rest of your skaters and goalies. During the season you must make separate strategy files to accommodate players missing the correct games.

2. At even strength forwards may only play a position they are rated for. On the powerplay forwards may play any position, including the point, regardless of their rated position. On the penalty kill forwards may play any forward position, regardless of their rated position, but may not play on defense unless so rated.

3. Defensemen will NOT be allowed to play out of position at even strength, they must play in the position for which they have a rating. They may play either side during a powerplay or on the penalty killing unit. A defenseman may never play forward unless so rated.

4. ONLY in the event that injuries and/or game misconducts have left a team unable to cover a certain position, may players be used out of position and supplant the rules above. They will suffer the penalties built into the Action PC game engine.

5. All teams must play their highest rated goalies to the full extent of their usage. This applies to all goaltenders with 3 or more games allowed in the RHL

Example: A team has 3 goalies, one who played 50 games with a 50% IRSV, one who played 45 games with a 55% IRSV and one who played 20 games with a 60% IRSV. This team would have to play 65 games with goalies #2 and #3 and then would round out their usage with the worst goalie regardless of how good or bad your team may be. All teams are required to play their best lineups at all times and do their best to win with the players they have available.

1. All trades are subject to the approval of the commissioner and personnel director. All trades must be sent to both and all coaches involved in a deal must confirm all trades. Any RHL owner can officially protest a trade by sending an email to one of the league directors with specific reasons why they feel the trade is not in the best interest of the league as a whole. At that time the commissioner (or if he's involved in the trade the vice-commish) will contact the two teams involved in the deal and will let each owner explain their thinking involved in the trade. Once both sides have been made aware of the protest and have had their say the league directors will convene and make a decision as to whether the trade will stand or be voided. If the deal is voided the two teams involved can rework the deal if they so choose but it will have to go through the same process again if someone protests again.

2. The 1st year salary cap will be 50 million dollars per team. The salary cap will only be adjusted if the Board of Director's deems it is needed for competitive balance and the league votes for it on the ballot. The new number will be based upon the average salaries of all 24 teams and will not cause any undue hardship.

3. No team will exceed 45 players, nor will they be allowed to have less than 32 players. No team will be allowed to remain over the cap. In the event that a team exceeds the cap, specific directions for rectifying the error, or specific penalties will be imposed by the directors at that point.

4. Draft picks can be traded up to 3 seasons out. For example, the 2003 draft has just completed, that means that 2004 thru 2006 draft picks can be traded. The next seasons picks may not be traded until the draft is complete.

5. Because we can’t predict how many rounds future drafts will have, future picks can only be traded in the first 5 rounds

6. There will be no conditional trades that involve "unnamed players, future considerations, etc. You can have conditional trades when the conditions are clearly spelled out and they must be approved by the commissioner. All players must change hands at the time the trade happens.

1. The salary that each player has now will stay the same for the length of that player’s current contract.

2. June 1st will be the date that all contracts expire. After a player's contract expires, the league will assign him a new salary based upon his stats and ratings for the next season shortly after they are released by .400 Software. At this time a list will be published of all possible free agents and owners will have one week to re-sign their own free agents.

3. The team owning the player who is 30 years of age or younger on June 1st of the current offseason may choose to re-sign the player for this new salary to a contract between 1 and 5 years in length. Contracts for 1 or 2 years will have an added premium to simulate that players will not normally want to sign short term contracts. A 2-year deal would be the new salary plus 15% and a 1-year deal would be the new salary plus 25%. This will encourage longer contracts but still allow teams to sign short-term deals if that is what they want.

4. Any player who becomes a FA and is 31 years of age or older on June 1st of the current offseason will become a UFA. The current team can opt to keep the player if they are willing to pay a premium of 15% beyond any current premiums it would take to sign a player (ie 25% for a 1 year deal, 15% for a 2 year deal, no premium for a 3 to 5 year deal) otherwise the player goes into the available UFA pool. (this does not apply to players signed under G.6.)

5. If a team signs a player to a 1 year contract during the summer free agency period, they will automatically become a UFA at the end of the next season with the current team holding no exclusive rights to re-sign them. This does not apply to players signed during the regular season as free agents or players who were signed to an injury contract (see G.6.).

6. Any player who is a free agent and who is unrated can be kept by his current team for 1 season by the team re-signing him to a one year deal worth 35% of his last salary or league minimum ($175,000), whichever number is higher. This way if you have a $4 million player like Forsberg you only have to pay him $1.4 million for that year he's unrated (still a significant cost) and then he gets a new salary the next season. Otherwise the player becomes a free agent.

7. Any player who is a free agent and who played less than 20 games in the previous season can be re-signed by his current team either for his new salary per the formula or at 50% of his previous contract, whichever number is greater. This way a Pronger who misses 75 games and would probably only get about a $1 million per season contract would instead get a $2.5 million contract (assuming he made $5 million pre-injury) that the team can choose to sign for 1 to 5 years if they want, still getting a bargain, but not nearly the league minimum which is what guys are concerned with now.

8. Any player who has suffered a career ending injury, went back to Europe or in any other way retired from hockey and did not play any games in the previous NHL season can be bought out of the remaining years of his contract.

In the case of retirement or returning to Europe the onus is on the owner to provide some type of proof that the player has done so (ie press release, news article, etc). To be considered retired a player must be at least 30 years of age.

In the case of career ending injuries if a player misses the entire season due to injury and we can't find any reports that he's rehabbing and will be back that is good enough.

All contract buyouts must be announced at the same time as free agent decisions and are final with the team relinquishing all rights to the player in question. To buyout a player, a team must announce this to the commissioner and they will then pay 50% of the overall contract the player has left (the players salary multiplied by the years left on the contract) over the next season. The player will be moved to the free agent list where he can not be signed again unless he is rated in which case he will be a UFA.

Starting with the 2014 Offseason, the contract buyouts have been expanded to include any player who signed a 3 year or longer contract making them eligible for buyouts at the end of any season before their contract expires. This player can be bought out for 50% of his remaning contract amount spread out over the remaining life of the contract. For example, player A signs a 3 year contract at $4,000,000 per season this offseason and at the end of the season the owner decicdes he wants to buy him out. With 2 years remaining at $4,000,000 per season, that is a total of $8,000,000, 50% of which is $4,000,000 and spread out over 2 years, makes it a $2,000,000 cap hit for the next 2 seasons. This player goes into the free agent pool and is eligible to be signed by another team.

9. If a team chooses not to re-sign a player that player is released to the Free Agent pool. Once all players have been released the league will publish this new list of free agents for the league to look over. Everyone will be given one week to look over the list and determine what players they are interested in.

10. The free agency period will work in 3 rounds lasting 3 weeks. On the first day of free agency all teams will be allowed to submit bids on any players they are interested in. Each bid must specify a contract length from 1 to 5 years and a dollar amount above the league minimum of $175,000. ALL BIDS MUST BE HONORED (see exception in 11). So don't bid if you don't want the player. Once all bids are received by the deadline they will be reviewed by the league and the following chart will be used to compare contracts of different lengths:

             1 year - 1-year times contract offer
                      (I.e. 1 year, 4 million equals 4 million)
             2 year - 2 years times .8 times contract offer
                      (i.e. 2 year, 4 mil. equals 6.4 million)
             3 year - 3 years times .6 times contract offer
                      (i.e. 3 year, 4 mil. equals 7.2 million)
             4 year - 4 years times .5 times contract offer
                      (i.e. 4 year, 4 mil. equals 8 million)
             5 year - 5 years times .45 times contract offer
                      (i.e. 5 year, 4 mil. equals 9 million)

             Here are two examples on how it will work so you can see
             what similar contract offers will be for varying contract
             lengths:
             1 year, 4 million = 4 million
             2 year, 2.5 million = 4 million
             3 year, 2.2 million = 3.98 million
             4 year, 2 million = 4 million
             5 year, 1.8 million = 4.05 million

             1 year, 500,000 = 500,000
             2 year, 350,000 = 560,000
             3 year, 275,000 = 495,000
             4 year, 250,000 = 500,000
             5 year, 220,000 = 495,000

11. Once all contracts are compared a list will be published that will show the disposition of each player. After the results of each round's bidding are announced, each owner may withdraw a maximum of one bid for that round. Withdrawn bids must be submitted to the Commissioner within 24 hours of the bidding results being posted. You can never withdraw a bid that is the only bid on a player that round. For players receiving no contract offers, they will go back into the pool for Round 2. For players receiving only one contract offer that team signs them for that offer. For players receiving 2 or more offers, they will be listed with the team name of who has the highest offer first and everyone else who was within at least 50% of the top bid listed below and eligible to bid in round 2.

12. In round 2 everyone will have 2 days to send in bids. Everyone can bid on the players that received no bids in round 1. For the players that received two or more bids only the teams bidding in round 1 can bid again in round 2 if they choose or if they had high bid they can stand pat and hope it's enough.

13. Once all bids for Round 2 are in, players from Round 1 who received no bids are dealt with first. If they receive no contract offers again they will go into the pool for Round 3. If they receive only one bid, that team for that offer signs them. If they receive 2 or more bids they go to round 3. For players who received 2 or more bids in round 1 who receive no new bids or no bids higher than the original top bid, the top bidder will get that player for his offer. If they receive offers higher than the first round top bid then they will go to round 3.

14. In round 3 everyone will 2 days to send in bids. Everyone can bid on players that received no bids in round 2. For players receiving two or more bids in round 2 or carrying on from round 1 only the teams bidding on them in round 2 and the high bidder from round 1 can bid in round 3.

15. Once all bids for Round 3 are in players from Round 2 who received no bids are dealt with first. If they receive no offers, they are sent to the draft pool. If they receive one contract offer, that team signs them. If they receive multiple offers the high team gets him. For players who carry over from Round 1 or Round 2 with multiple bids the top bid signs the player.

16. This all simulates how players are signed and will cause teams to consider the salary cap and their current team before making any offers as prices can escalate quickly.

         Week 1 FA List
         Player 1 No bid
         Player 2 Team 1 - 1 yr, 2 mil; Team 2 - 1 yr, 3 mil
         Player 3 2 yrs, 3 mil
         Player 4 Team 3 - 2 yr, 3 mil; Team 4 - 3 year, 2.5 mil; Team 5 - 2 yr, 3.5 mil
         Player 5 No bid
         Player 6 No bid

         Result - Player 3 is signed for 2 yrs at 3 mil per year.
                          Players 1, 5 and 6 go to Week 2 with no bids
                          Player 2 listed with Team 2 with high bid
                          Player 4 listed with Team 5 with high bid

         Week 2 FA List
         Player 1 1 yr, 1 mil
         Player 2 Team 1 does not up his bid
         Player 4 Team 3 does not bid, Team 4 ups bid to 3 year, 3 mil
         Player 5 No bid
         Player 6 No bid

         Result - Player 1 is signed for 1 yr, 1 mil
                          Player 2 is signed by Team 2 for 1 yr, 3 mil as Team 1 did not choose to bid
                          Player 4 listed with Team 4 as high bid, Team 3 drops out due to no bid
                          Player 5 and 6 move go to Week 3 with no bids

         Week 3 FA List
         Player 4 Only Team 4 and 5 can bid with high man getting him.
         Player 5 Team 6 - 1 yr, 500,000; Team 7 1 yr, 600,000
         Player 6 No bid

         Result - Player 4 goes to the highest bidder amongst the two teams left.
                          Player 5 goes to Team 7 at 1 yr, 600,000
                          Player 6 heads back to the draft

17. Any players not signed during the offseason free agency period will be available to be signed as a free agent during the season. To sign a free agent during the season you must have the roster space and salary cap space, you then submit a bid to the commissioner before the end of the block and all free agents will be assigned with the new league files. If there is a tie in a free agent offer the team who finished the worst in last seasons standings will sign the player. The player can only be signed for the rest of the season and will be a free agent at the end of the season though he can be signed to his new salary by his current team just like any other free agents the team may have.

For our original season only, each coach/gm will take the current NHL team of his choice, and only be allowed to retain a
total of 16 players from the roster. 14 of the players may be skaters or goalies with no restrictions. 2 of the players
are “developmental” players, and must have played in no more than 20 games during the 99-00 season. All combination
players will be the property of the team that they finished the season with.

RHL teams will have a two-week trading window beginning July 1st.
RHL Pre-Draft trading period ends on July 15th. The 16th is the cut-down date.
RHL draft list date is July 21st.
The original RHL draft will take place beginning on August 1st.

1. THE DRAFT POOL - The draft pool will consist of all players released on the July 16th deadline. It will also consist
of players dumped into the pool off the rosters of teams not claimed for our first season.

2. THE DRAFT METHOD - The draft will be conducted via email over a four week period. There will be a 12-hour time limit
on response when it comes time for your pick. Each coach/gm will receive a list of all players eligible for the draft.
After each round, each coach/gm will receive a list of players who were taken in the previous rounds.

3.        Each owner will be given 80 years worth of contracts to distribute amongst their players. No player may be
             given a contract longer than 4 years (this will always be the maximum contract length) and all 35 players must
             be given at least a 1-year contract. Once the draft is complete all teams will have one week to decide how to
             distribute their contracts amongst their players. (first season only, no longer applies)