Herb Brooks Hockey Association

Good Day HBHA-

As I am finishing recovering from our exciting two months of drafting, there is a bunch of information I need to share/remind with the entire league. I'm going to try to keep the emails thematic. This one deals with all things directly and indirectly related to transactions. Also included, is special information regarding Season 1, our first season, because we are not operating under a normal off season timeline since there will not be a rookie and free agent draft before this season. While all this stuff is important, the last section is something new, be sure to check it out.

Trading of Draft picks:

This is in two parts: Rookie and Free Agent. Generally, it is league policy to keep teams from trading away draft picks too far in advance. Subsequently, league rules will provide distinct timelines for the trading of the two types of draft picks. In other words, no team will be trading their 1st round pick in the rookie draft for the next four seasons in one trade.

Free Agent Draft Picks-

For now, Free Agent Picks can only be traded during the same calendar year as the pick. Therefore, a 2011 Free Agent pick can not be traded until January 1, 2011. I'd be willing to discuss moving this up to the beginning of the season. But for now, the general rule is you can only trade a free agent draft pick in the same calendar year. Season 1 Special Rule: For the first season only, teams can trade their 2011 Free Agent Draft Picks at any time. Thus, no restrictions on trading 2011 FA Draft picks this season. But for future reference, trading of FA draft picks will be limited to the calendar year.

Rookie Draft Picks-

This one is easier to show an example. Teams will be allowed to trade their 2012 Rookie draft picks beginning either July 1, 2011 or the end of the playoffs for the 2010-11 season, whichever is later. If the playoffs end in June of 2011, then teams can start trading their rookie draft picks on July 1, 2011. If the playoffs haven't been concluded by July 1, then trading can't start until the season (including playoffs) is over. This will allow teams to trade rookie picks from the an upcoming draft to move up in the current draft i.e. it's August 2011 and a team wants to move up in the 1st round of the 2011 Rookie Draft. They will be able to trade a pick from the 2012 Draft to help facilitate that move. No special rule needed for Season 1, we are within the window of when teams could trade Rockie picks for next year...there just isn't a Rookie Draft before the season this year.

Salary Cap and Roster Limits:

Salary Cap-

This year's Cap will be $166 million. Per the constitution, the Cap goes into effect at the Roster Deadline. A future email will give a complete breakdown of the 2010-11 season schedule; however, I can tell everyone right now that the Roster Deadline for this season will be September 26th.

Roster Limits-

Teams must carry 28 players including at least 2 goalies. Teams are limited to 32 players (34 if the team missed the playoffs the previous season) and a maximum of 4 goalies during the season. During the off season a team can have a 5th goalie, but no other roster restrictions apply during the off season. Roster limits go into effect 48 hours before the Free Agent Draft. The constitution currently says 24 hours, but I will change that because it just isn't enough time. This means teams must be within the Roster Limits prior to and throughout the FA draft. Therefore, for teams that are up against the Roster Limit, any pick in the FA Draft must be accompanied by a corresponding cut. Player cut DURING the FA draft will immediately go into the Free Agent Pool and be available for the draft or as FA claims. Season 1 Special Rule: There is no Free Agent Draft, so the Roster Limits will go into effect at the Roster Deadline, the same time as the Salary Cap.

In Season Free Agent Claims-

This is a reminder that all Free Agent Claims made after the Roster Deadline are for that season only. The player will be returned to the Free Agent Pool (or Rookie Pool if appropriate) at the end of the season.

Announcing Trades and Claims:

All trades and claims MUST be announced via the Yahoo Group. Because of message lag and other issues, it would be prudent to CC Mike and I (and if it's a trade the owner you are trading with.) All trades must be confirmed by the second party within 24 hours to be official. In fact, the trade isn't official until it is confirmed. Claims are official upon announcement, we will use time stamps on the postings to see the first claim if a player is claimed by multiple teams. And don't worry, even if a message gets stuck in the Group Spam or lags, it keeps it's original time stamp of when it was sent.

Salary Cap "money" is non-transferable:

That's how it is written in the constitution. I'm open to discussion on this. However, this opening is "limited." I'd be happy to discuss and consider limited systems for exchanging, but opening up the Cap to freely move money around circumvents the purpose of the Cap in the first place. The Cap is created to keep a few teams from "running away" from the rest of the league. It is not there to create some sort of "finance" system within the game. The Cap is set high to create a ceiling. In a full on financial system, the Cap would have to be set much lower because its fundamental purpose will be altered.

Pro-Rating Salaries:

I have to admit, I'm a bit surprised this hasn't come up on a larger scale. I've had 2 or 3 people talk about this. Basically, the question is what happens to players salaries when they are traded/claimed/cut during the season. I have been considering this issue for months and have had a significant evolution of my ideas during this time period. We are going to put into place a Pro-Ration Schedule. This breaks down how much salary teams are responsible for based on when the transaction occurs.

Pro-Ration Schedule-

Block 1- 20/80

Block 2- 30/70

Block 3- 50/50

Block 4- 70/30 If you trade a player away during Block 1, you are responsible for 20% of the salary of the player you traded. Subsequently, you are responsible for 80% of the salary of a player you get back. The same holds true for Free Agent Claims and Cuts. If you cut a player during Block 1, you will be responsible for 20% of his salary. If you Claim a player during Block 1, you will take on 80% of his salary. I have made the math as simple as possible. If there are any questions about this, be sure to ask!

Kent
Good Afternoon everyone-

This was a common question before the game was released and it has come back before I've gotten around to writing Article 3 of the constitution. My initial impression from reading Dave's statements about playing players out of position (and I haven't read it since May) is that the in game penalties made sense. I felt they were logical penalties that varied depending on the player's position and what position he was occupying on the ice.

Therefore, I believe that we should start by trying the in game penalties and not having a league rule which restricts players to only the position they are listed at. We will use Season 1 as something of a test. If the in game penalties are reasonable, then we keep the rule for future seasons. If it turns out the in game penalties aren't "realistic" or teams find a way to "take advantage" of the rule, we will change it as needed.

One caveat, if exhibition play shows this being "taken advantage of" or becomes unrealistic, we will make necessary changes to protect the league. Personally, I'm hopeful that the in game penalties will be sufficient.

Kent