UHL Constitution

A. BACKGROUND

·        Each Franchise GM is expected to respond to all trade inquiries as soon as possible.

·        Except where other matters make it simply impossible, each owner is required to respond to certain infrequent official business.

·         Each owner must inform the league of any change of address or of any significant absences.

·        Every franchise owner is expected to manage his team professionally and in particular to promote the long term well-being of his team and the league.

·        Every GM is to respect the views of others and participate in the league to the best of his/her ability.

·        A league Board of Governors will exist to deal with league business, problems and/or changes required to the UHL.  The Board of Governors is not meant to limit owners' input on the league.  Any comments, suggestions or voicing of problems are encouraged.  The Board is meant as a mechanism to speed up any necessary changes and encourage ideas. 

B. LEAGUE PLAY 

·        The league uses Face-off Hockey Simulator from Land-Sports to run its games. 

·        The franchise GM is responsible for conducting the roster movement business of the franchise. This involves setting lines/strategy files, negotiating trades, managing player contracts and conducting drafts. They are also responsible for the finances of the team.

·        Teams will be allowed a maximum of 30 players on their active roster and must carry a minimum of 27.  Teams will also be allowed to carry up to 5 players on its prospect roster.

·        The salary cap is set at $200,000 and only includes players on a team’s active roster (not prospects).

C. TRADING

·        Trades may involve players, draft picks, money and future considerations.

·        The Board of Governors reserves the right to veto any trade if, in the belief of the Board, the trades violates the spirit of competition and goodwill of the league.  Once a trade is approved, it is assumed that all GMs have full knowledge of the status of the traded players.

·        Trades are made by submitting e-mail to the Commissioner.  Once a GM submits a trade confirmation, line changes will be required.

·        Trading deadline will be decided, in advance, by the Board of Governors.  No trades will be made after the deadline.  The league will not accept any trades until the playoffs are finished for all teams.

D.  ENTRY DRAFT

·        The entry draft will include all teams and be conducted after the expansion draft (if any).

·        Draft Order:

o       If in a non-expansion season, the drafting order will be reverse order of overall regular season standings. Their will be a lottery for the non-playoff teams to determine the order for the top 4 picks.  Thus the worst team in the regular season will not necessarily get the first pick.

o       Chance of winning the lottery:

·        16th overall – 25%

·        15th overall – 25%

·        14th overall – 25%

·        13th overall – 25%

o       The draft will last 5 rounds.  All players not on a teams active or prospect roster are available to be drafted

E. PROSPECTS 

·        Players designated to the prospect list will not count against the salary cap of the team in question.  Only players selected in the entry draft can be designated as prospects.  A player can only remain a prospect for two seasons then he has to be signed to a contract or released and become available in the upcoming draft.

·        Prospects cannot play for the parent team until they are signed to a contract and moved to the active roster.

·        Prospects can be traded and released at any time. Traded prospects will be assigned to the receiving team’s prospect list. 

·        If a team receives another team’s prospect in a trade which brings their total number of prospects to more than five then the receiving must either release the excess prospects or sign a prospect to its active roster. 

·        A released prospect is treated as a free agent when released by another team.

F. PLAYER CONTRACTS AND FREE AGENCY

·        Contracts:

o       Teams must sign players on their active roster to contracts in order for them to be eligible to play. 

o       There are two types of contracts, restricted and unrestricted.

o       Restricted contracts cost $100,000 per year of the contract up to a maximum of 5 years. 

o       An unrestricted contract cost $25,000 per year signed to a maximum of 5 years.

o       Once a player is signed to a contract, he will have that contract until it expires, regardless of whether the player is available for play or not.  A player's salary will be paid until the end of the contract.

o       An owner may re-sign an unrestricted player at a cost of $750,000 plus the terms of the new contract.

o       An owner may re-sign a restricted player only at the end of the season ($200,000 + the new contract).

o       A contract expires the day before the entry draft of the last year of his contract.

o       A player's contract goes with the player in trading.

o       All teams must be under the cap and under the roster limits before the entry draft. 

o       All teams must be under the cap and within the roster limits before the start of the regular season.  

o       Any team that is over the cap or over the roster limit will automatically lose their games.

o       Effective immediately, any contracts that are bought out will cost the team the same it cost to sign the player.

o       $25,000 per year for unrestricted and $100,000 per year for Restricted.

·        Free Agency:

                  o       The free agency signing period runs from after the draft to the beginning of the regular season.  All players not on a teams pro or prospect roster can be bid on in free agency.  

                  o       To place a bid, send an email to commissioner detailing the name of the player you are bidding for along with your bid.  Once received, the commissioner will send out a league wide notice and teams have 72 hours to submit a bid.  

o       The highest bidder gets the player.  

o       All players picked up via free agency must be signed to a contract and placed on the active roster.

·        Waiver Claims:

o       Once the regular season starts, teams can submit waiver claims players not on any teams active or prospect roster.  

o       To place a bid, send an email to commissioner detailing the name of the player you would like to claim.  Once received, the commissioner will send out a league wide notice and teams have 72 hours to submit a claim.  

o       All teams tied or below the claiming team in the standings (based on winning %), has the opportunity to claim the player.  The claiming team that is lowest in the standings (based on winning %) gets the player.  

o       The cost of claiming the player is $100,000.  

o       All players picked up via waivers must be signed to a contract and placed on the active roster.  

o       Any player claimed off waivers can not be traded to the “original” claiming team.

G. SALARIES

Here is how the salaries are generated for the players:

Players

Goal Scoring Value 

               Forwards

                               Minutes per game (MP) * Even strength shooting % (N) * Shooting Rating  (SH) * 0,594177

               Defensemen

                               Minutes per game (MP) * Even strength shooting % (N) * Shooting Rating (SH) * 0,411523

Assists Value 

               Forwards

                               Minutes per game (MP) * Puck Control rating (PC) * 10,82251 + ( 500 * Passing Pluses )

               Defensemen

                               Minutes per game (MP) * Puck Control rating (PC) * 7,653061 + ( 1000 * Passing Pluses )

Defensive Rating (D)

Clearing Rating (C)     

Each extra costs $250. Multiple numbers of the same extra do not affect the cost.

Games played multiplier

The total player salary is multiplied by this value

Goalies

In Range Save %

       ( IRSV%^3) / 12
        ****note that this means for example 48.88 and not .4888

Games played multiplier

The total player salary is multiplied by this value

Player that do not have ratings

If aplayer does not have a rating (if he retires or plays in Europe for example), a team can still retain his contract (He is not, however, eligible for the draft or as a free agent). This player will count for 1000$ towards the cap.. 

H. PLAYOFFS (subject to change, depending on the number of teams in the league)

·        The division winners will receive a bye past the first round of playoffs (seeded 1-4 based on total points).  The top 8, non-division winners, will play in the first round of the playoffs (seeded 5-12, based on total points).  Every playoff series is a best of seven with a 2-2-1-1-1 format.  

·        Playoff Earnings:

                Stanley Cup winner   , $ 1,000,000

                Runner Up                 , $   500,000

                Semi Finalists            , $   200,000

                Quarter Finalists       , $   100,000

                Playoff Berth             , $    50,000

I. DISPUTE RESOLUTION/ABRITRATOR

·        Where two or more teams are in dispute over a matter, such as a trade, and these rules do not cover the matter in dispute, the Board of Governor will decide on the appropriate solution after all parties have stated their cases.

J. AWARDS

·        The following Trophies are awarded based on season stats:

o  Art Ross Trophy - League leading scorer, regular season.

o  Rocket Richard Trophy -League leader in goals, regular season

o  League's best plus/minus, regular season.

o  Jacques Lemaire Trophy - League's best team goals against average, regular season.

o  Wayne Gretzky Trophy - Most assists, regular season

o  McGaffney Mug - top team, regular season.

·        The following trophies are awarded based on voting by UHL GMs:

o  Hart Trophy – most valuable player

o  Vezina Trophy – best goalie

o  Selke Trophy – best defensive forward

o  Norris Trophy – best defenseman

o  Calder Trophy – best rookie

o  Jack Adams Trophy – best coach/GM

o  Lady Byng Trophy – most sportsmanlike

o  Conn Smythe Trophy – top player in the playoffs

·        There will be money awarded to the team whose player or G.M. is nominated or wins any awards.

·        The money break down will be $50,000 for nominees and $100,000 for winners.  The awards will be handed out the week after the UHL champions have been crowned.

K. FINANCES

·        Income:

o       At the end of each season, all teams receive $4,000,000

o       Teams receive an additional sum based on the following formula:

·        (Teams winning %) * $1,000,000

·        Player Salaries:

o       Teams are not required to pay player salaries as salaries are only used to determine the team’s position relative to the salary cap.

·        Credit:

o       If a team runs out of money during a given season, no credit is extended from the league to the team