STHL Rules

SCHURMAN TANK HOCKEY LEAGUE

Official STHL Rules

All rules are subject to change.
Below you will find guidelines you will need to operate a franchise in this league. The league uses the STHS simulator by SimonT.  If you ever have any questions, please feel free to contact the
Commissioner:  Ryan Schurman.    

Owners Duties
Owners must submit lines in time and make substitutions for any injuries that might occur. 
Owners are required to respond to all trade offers, no matter how bad they are.
Owners are required to give full participation.
Owners are required to let the Commissioner know if you are going on vacation or busy for a few days with work/school.
Last and not least, this league was created to for the purpose of having fun. So everyone have fun and enjoy!!!
All Gm's Are required to Login to the STHL Website Once A Month.  If not you will be given a Notice and/or Removed from the League.
All  GMs Must get Disscord and use it.  Get the app thru google.  Can be used on phone or computer.  When you get it let me know and I will send an invite.  This will be our Main source for league trade nights and drafts.  As well this will be our best way of messaging GM’s about offers.  The Portal can be used but it doesn’t work the greatest for chatting.  (no chatroom on web portal either)

Entry Draft

The entry draft will be done each off-season.
All players that are eligible for the next NHL entry draft will be eligible for the STHL Entry Draft.
A list of eligible players for the draft will be listed but without their ratings, you will have to do REAL scouting for the draftees just like a real NHL club.
Draft order will be determined by the final STHL regular season standings with the exception if that year is an expansion year. In that case, we will follow expansion rules.  

Expansion Draft

An expansion team will select as many players as there are teams in the League ,
including at least 3 goaltenders, 9 defenseman, and 14 forwards.
The  extra players can be of any position, including goaltenders.

Clubs will have two options for players they wish to protect in the Expansion Draft:

a) Seven forwards, three defensemen and one goaltender

b) Eight skaters (forwards/defensemen) and one goaltender

Players that were rookies in the prior STHL season are exempt from the expansion draft and do not have to be protected.

All first- and second-year professionals, as well as all unsigned draft choices, will be exempt from selection (and will not be counted toward their club’s applicable protection limits).

The existing teams can only lose only 1 player per expansion team drafting, in the case of 2 teams being added in the same draft, an existing team could lose up to 2 players maximum but no more than 1 goalie.

Waivers

Any player who is 25 years old or older, and has played at least 10 games in the STHL will be placed on waivers if a team sends him down to the farm team.
Players who are 18-24 years old can be freely sent to the farm club.
Once a player is placed on the waiver wire, any team may claim him for 24 hours.
If two or more teams claim a player, the team who is the highest according to the priority list (which is determined by the current STHL overall standing will get the player.
A team can only claim one player at a time, if a claim is placed on a player by a team, that team can't place any other claims until initial claim is official.
If a team claims a player, he must be put on the pro roster; otherwise he will be placed on waivers again.
If a player is not claimed in 48 hours, he will go to the farm team.
After the regular season is over, a team may send any player to the minor leagues without having to go through the waiver process.

Releasing Players

During the OFF-Season (end of playoffs-start of reg. season)  a player can be  bought out by his team at any time.
Released players will be place on the Waiver for 48hrs, if cleared the player will then be release from the organization at a cost.
Depending of his current contract, the team that is releasing the player will have to pay 20% of total contract, i.e. 2 yrs left to a contract at 2M (4M) per year means the team will have to pay 800K to release the player.
Once the contract is bought out, the player will become an Unrestricted Free Agent until he gets a new contract.

Trades

GMs can trade players, draft picks, money (up to 5$ million).
ONLY Current year Draft Picks and the next year’s draft picks can be traded. Don't want to allow teams trading picks a few seasons ahead.
Both teams must confirm all trades. A trade will not occur until this happens.
The trade deadline is 80% through the season and trading will resume after the playoffs are over or after the expansion draft in the case of an expansion year.
The League assumes that all GMs are aware of the status of the players they are receiving. i.e. ratings, contract, salary, age
When you make a trade, it is at your own risk.
Make sure you include all money, draft picks, etc. that are included in the trade agreement.
The League Commissioner reserves the right to veto any trade if, in the belief of the commissioner, the trades violate the spirit of competition and the goodwill of the league.
Teams entering into a deal that has been vetoed will be given 24 hours to review/redo a deal. If no such deal is made teams can negotiate freely.
The Commissioner may call upon other GMs to make a decision on the trade.
To send in your Trade, login to the league website and submit your trade thru Transactions.

Suspensions
Suspensions will occur randomly throughout the season. The simulator randomly determines them.  
Rosters
Each team has to have a minimum of 20 players on their pro roster, including at least 2 goaltenders, 6 defensemen, and 3 of each forward position.
Teams can have a maximum of 23 players on the pro roster.
You can have as many farm players and prospects as you want, up to a limit of 50 players in the whole organization, not counting prospects.

Salary Cap

Team Pro Salary Cap will be fixed at   $81.5 million per year.
The cap will then be reviewed each year and will be announced at the end of the current season for the upcoming season.  Will Follow  NHL Salary Cap.
This is a HARD CAP and can never be exceeded, except for the trading deadline grace period as stipulated below.
Teams that are currently over the cap have before day 1 of the next season needs to lower it below the fixed team pro salary cap.
This gives teams’ ample time to make the adjustments necessary via trades or releasing a player (see Release player rule).
Teams that exceed the Hard Salary cap during the course of the season will be fined with the following suspensions:
1st offense: 1-game suspension of the player with the highest OV on the team
2nd offense: 3-game suspension of the player with the highest OV on the team
3rd offense: 5-game suspension of the player with the highest OV on the team
4th offense: 10-game suspension of the player with the highest OV on the team
5th offense: 10-game suspension of the player with the highest OV on the team (for 2 players)

The League Floor Cap will be 55 Million Per year.
Salary
If you FAIL to meet the Cap floor.  You will get 3 Warnings.  3rd Warning will be removal from the league.  I wanna keep this a bit more competitive / add more strategy to the league.  If you wanna rebuild fine, but you can keep some high priced guys to meet cap floor.   NHL has to do it.   (I kept it a little lower then NHL too)
A player on the pro team will receive his full salary.
A player on the farm team will receive 10% of his pro salary.
When a player is called up to the pro league, you must pay him his full salary.
The league minimum salary is $650,000 per year.
Prospects signing their 1st contracts will always be signed to a 3 year deal.
If the owner does not want to pay the stated amount, then the player becomes an unrestricted free agent.

Revenue

Any new team will start with $100,000,000, including any expansion teams that we add in the future. Teams will also earn revenue in the following ways:
Teams will earn revenue by selling tickets to their games. The amount a team earns depends on the arena size, attendance, and ticket prices.
Ticket prices can only be changed during off-season.
Attendance will be based on whether a team is playing well and if the team has any star players, (80 plus in ratings), for the fans to watch play.
$750,000 for making the playoffs.
$1,000,000 for making it to the conference final.
$1,500,000 to the winner of the conference final.
$1,000,000 for making it to the Stanley Cup.
$2,000,000 for winning the Stanley Cup.
 
(the big winner can get away with $6,250,000 in prize)
 

Lines

In order to submit lines you must download the STHS Client from sths.simont.info/. (Note! You also need the support files to run the STHS Client). sths.simont.info/DownloadFiles.php?id=SupportFiles.msi.

Once you’ve installed the STHS Client, you must download the League Files from the STHL homepage. Unzip the contents (STHL1.sts) into the directory of your choice, such as the STHS Client directory.
 
Run STHS Client and select “File > load” and then select the file for STHL1 (it will have a .sts extension). Find your team and double click on it. 

When you’re done setting your lines and anything else you wish to change, go back to your team’s main window (where it displays your name, email, etc) and select “Save to File”. Your lines file will then be saved and uploaded to the Website for me to Download.

The file should be "YourTeamName.shl". For more info, please see sths.simont.info/Manual_En.php


Players and Coaches

All player ratings will be based on the player's NHL performance from the year before.
Forwards Can play any Forward position, if you wish. Defenders must play D, unless stated by one of the links below.  (send me an email)
www.forecaster.ca/thestar/hockey/playerindex.cgi
www.nhl.com
www.espn.com
www.tsn.ca
A player that retires in the NHL will retire from the STHL during the next off-season or before the next season start.
A Player that goes Over Seas to play Hockey will be removed from the league if he is 24 and older.  If the player is 23 and under, he will stay with his team.  (not go to prospect list)
 

Prospects

Prospects are players whose rights are owned by a team, but are not signed to a contract.
Prospect Ratings on the Website/Portal are rated by their own GM.  So please be aware of this and do your own research on the prospects prior to making a Trade.
Prospects cost the team $1,500 per player to be kept on the prospect list. 
Prospects who have played at least 10 NHL games OR 10 AHL games will be automatically inserted into your farm team the following season at which time, Will be given an entry level contract.
Prospects will be given Salary as per the Following Chart:  (3 year contracts)
 
 

Round Range Salary:

Round 1: $950,000
Round 2: $900,000
Round 3: $850,000
Round 4: $800,000
Round 5-7: $750,000

Injuries

All players are subject to injury, including goaltenders.
The injury report will show the type of injury and the expected amount of time the player will miss.
Players that are injured will have to be replaced in the line-up.
This will have to occur before the next game played.
Note that if a players condition goes down to for example 97 or 98, they are not usually injured unless it says but they are just exhausted from playing so much and they won't play as good as they usually would.

Free Agents

There are two types of free agents in the STHL.
Restricted free agents are players whose contract is expiring and are 26 and down.
UFA age is 27, but he's only a UFA if he is 27 by July 1st. So that is the cutoff age for Free Agents. If he becomes 27 after July 1st, he will be a UFA next offseason.
The team they are on has no right to compensation but they can put a bid in for the player
Teams will be able to Re Sign their own RFA's, and 1 UFA. (due to the Loyalty factor)

 Re-Signing Restricted Free Agents
Teams with Restricted Free Agents (in their final year of their current contract) are allowed to negotiate a Contract Extension. Commissioner Will let you know when this happens. Usually, around New year - till mid-July.  
Contract Extensions will be added to the player during the Season.
If your RFA is not signed by Deadline, He will be declared a Unrestricted Free Agent.

 Loyalty Factor
The Loyalty factor enables team to negotiate with 1 UFA.
The Commisioner Will let you know when GM's can RE Sign there 1 UFA, as well as the deadline to do so.

Open Market period

Open Market:  Aug. TBA  or later (date subject to change, depending on the offseason schedule.) and until the start of the season.
Within the open market GM's must submit bids to the player agent.   There will be Multiple FA Rounds to do this, and only 10 offers per round. This will help spread out the Free Agents and Give everyone a chance at different guys. Free Agent signing will take place after each Round; until no more interest/Free agents left.
If your bid is accepted by the player then you MUST take that player at the salary you have stated.
A team can sign players even if it causes their team payroll to exceed the League Salary Cap (see the rule on the Team Salary Cap).
Teams that are currently over the cap have before day 1 (of the next season) needs to lower it below the actual fixed team pro salary cap.
This gives team’s ample time to make the adjustments necessary.
If there are unrestricted free agents that no team has interest in signing, they will be removed from the league.

Sending in RFA / UFA Offers:
When Sending in Bids for the RFA's and UFA's, please email:  sthlfa@hotmail.com
The League has hired a Player agent in Charge and his Identity will remain annonymous.
Players may sign with a team for various reasons. Contract Length, Location, Money, if played for the team in the past, know someone one on the team, how much ice time a players gets and etc... 
When Sending in Bids for Players please use the following format:

Subjet: STHL - Team Name - RFA / UFA Bids

In the Message please include the following:

Players Name:
Current Salary (NHL):
Current Team (NHL): 
Salary Offer:
Contract Length: (max 4 years)
Comments:   (more comments during the UFA open market, better chance of getting the player)

FAQ / Concerns:

 The Agent is gonna be Fair.
 Don't worry about an RFA going to UFA. If you want him bad enough, you'll Sign him without loosing him to UFA status. In the end if you don't like the price, you deal that player and get something for him, instead of getting nothing. Salaries are going to be compared by NHL, but not in all cases, but most. 
AS for the UFA's, When the Open Market begins for the UFA's, every team gets to start bidding on them. Keep in mind that UFA's and RFA;s  in the STHL will be looking for similar money to what they are making in the NHL.
Once Each FA Round is over, there will be FA signings. Remember 10 OFFERS per round.

Coaches

Coaches have a contract the same way a player has a contract. 
Teams will have to make a decision to either keep a coach if satisfied or submit an offer to another one if they want to replace the current one.
A coach can be fired at any time during the season.
If a team wants to hire a new coach, they must make an offer to a new coach. (send me an email)
Player Ratings
At the end of each season most players will be re-rated on how they did in the NHL.