These rules are for the 2018-2019 Ward Edwards rotisserie hockey league. This pool costs $50 per team plus a website fee (if any - see Rule 4.2) to play, to be paid to the Commissioner in cash on draft day (with no exceptions). There are to be a maximum of 10 teams (unless more are approved by the existing owners), each led by one or two "coaches" or owners. Please note that these rules have been amended and updated from previous years' rules, so please keep your copy of this manual for reference purposes (changes have been background highlighted in the electronic version, although some updates may have been missed. The following rules will hold for this pool year and every following pool year, unless changed on draft day by a motion supported by at least 66% of the teams. [Back to the top]
Teams in the Ward Edwards league will have an annual budget of $400, which may be increased or decreased depending on performance and other contingencies (see section 1.7). Every team will have $400 as its initial budget. Money that is not spent on draft day is lost forever; there are no "bank accounts". However, for each budget dollar that the team does not spend on salaries, the team will receive 1 point towards its final team score, up to a maximum of 30 such frugality points. The frugality point cap is enforced via rule 1.4.1.
To draft players, the calling owner picks any player that has not yet been selected as its nominee player and then put its initial offer on the table. In a clockwise order, teams wishing to bid place higher bids on the table. Teams which do not bid on a player ("pass") permanently withdraw from the bidding for that player at that time (i.e. a team cannot pass on a player the first time around the table, and then place a bid as the bidding goes higher). Once all teams are either withdrawn or no longer wish to bid any higher, the player goes to the team which bid the most money for his services. The player's salary is then removed from the team's budget. The next team in the draft order then nominates its next player.
"First round" bids must come within 30 seconds of the team's option to bid on that player. Once each owner has had a chance to bid on a nominated player (i.e. the "First round" is completed), bids must come within 20 seconds of the team's option to bid on that player. Due to the number of teams involved and the number of players per team, owners are not allowed to check on the player's stats for any longer than these time periods. A team which has not bid by this time frame, forfeits its right to bid on the player and withdraws from the bidding automatically. This rule will be strictly enforced.
Bidding continues until all teams have filled up their rosters. [Back to the top]
Note: With twenty-three players per team, this provides for an average salary of $17 per player.
Positions for each player in the league shall be determined as outlined in Rule 1.3.1. [Back to the top]
After draft day only (i.e. for drop/adds only) the position listed for the player on the Designated WEHL Reference Website, as determined on draft day (see Rule 1.3.2) may be used, but only if the player's position is not clear in the Master Player Position List (if the player has a clear position in the Master Player Position List, then that position must be used for drop/adds).
In the unlikely event that a position is still unclear, the player will have his position determined unilaterally by the Commissioner. Each Owner/GM is responsible for checking on positions before making a roster move - in the event that a request is made of the Commissioner to determine a position, the Commissioner shall make a ruling on a position within 72 hours, such ruling to be made at the sole discretion of the Commissioner.
A player selected at one position will remain at that position for the remainder of the season, even if the players' real-life position changes over time. This position determination method will be used at the start of each league season. [Back to the top]
At each draft day, the owners shall select an NHL-related website as the Designated Reference Website for the upcoming season. The Designated Reference Website shall only be used for the following:
In the event that there is a WEHL website running automatic statistics, the owners will vote to have the Designated Reference Website be identical to that used for WEHL website purposes. [Back to the top]
There is no maximum salary for a player (except possibly the $400 initial team salary budget), but any draft player must be paid at least $1. There is an exception for players which are nominated when there are only three or fewer teams that need to fill up their rosters. Such players must be paid at least $3, to reflect the time desperation of the teams involved. Bid for players must always be in $1 increments. Any team which overspends on draft day must continue to bid for players until its roster is filled. However, for every dollar that the team has spent over its budget, it is penalized 50 points. Not watching your draft day budget may be costly and could cost you the championship! [Back to the top]
Protected players salaries are deducted from the team's draft day budget prior to the free agent draft. Owners may also protect one member of their farm team to be kept on their farm team for the upcoming season (see Rule 1.8.2). Following protection, the draft is conducted as described in Rule 1.1 and Rule 1.2. [Back to the top]
| First Year: | $8 | (i.e. first year under protection) | |
| Second Year: | $10 | ||
| Third Year: | $15 | ||
| Fourth Year on: | None | ("the market will decide" - i.e. if protected, the standard 25% per year increase applies. For clarity, nothing stops an owner from protecting a player more than four times, as long as the minimum salary increases are met). |
For example, if Robert Svehla were signed this year for $1, he would receive $1 this year in salary. However, if he were protected next year, he must be paid $8 (even though a 25% escalation would only result in a $2 amount). These minimum salary levels are tied to a player's tenure under protection, regardless of the team for which he/she plays (i.e. trading a player does NOT reset the protection clock).
In other words, a protected player must be paid the greater of:Note: A player's salary may be increased further by a Salary Penalty (see Rule 1.5.2).
[Back to the top]To ensure that these penalties will be invoked in full, teams that are eligible for the penalties must protect at least the maximum number of players that could be affected by the penalty (2 for last-place teams, 1 for second-last).
'Cheapest' in this context is defined as follows:Following the completion of drafting by all expansion teams, each existing owner must then protect one player which he/she exposed during the expansion draft. Any existing team which has not had two players selected by expansion teams must drop enough players to remain at the six (6) per team limit. Following the expansion draft, therefore, each team will have a maximum of six (6) protected players and a minimum of 1 protected player. Owners may elect at this time to "drop" any protected players back into the free agent pool for the upcoming draft, with the exception of any players exposed during the expansion draft (i.e. any players exposed during the expansion draft and chosen for the 6-player list must be kept on the roster - only non-exposed players may be dropped). Any exposed players in the expansion draft which are protected following the draft are also not allowed to be dropped in the event of any Salary Penalties (see Rule 1.5.2) or Attendance and Advertising issues (see Rule 1.7.1).
Note: Any salary penalties (see Rule 1.5.2) are applied to penalized teams after any expansion draft. [Back to the top]
Please note that existing teams are required to protect at least one of three exposed players in the event of an expansion draft (see Rule 1.5.3). As such, in the event that a team fails to provide its protection list to the Commissioner on or before the above noted time in an expansion draft year, the Commissioner, at his sole discretion shall choose three players which are deemed to be protected and exposed by the existing team, one of which must be protected after the expansion draft. In these circumstances, the Commissioner's office shall have the obligation to protect three players that reasonably balance point ability and salary on behalf of the affected team, as determined by the Commissioner in his sole discretion. [Back to the top]
As well, if the previous season's last-place team (or any team that was tied in points with that team) draws an attendance card in the bottom 50% of cards drawn (including the median card if there is an odd number of teams), that team will have to pay $3 more for its second-cheapest keeper (see Rule 1.5.2).
Assuming that there were no ties for last place, if the second-last-place team (or any team that was tied in points with that team) draws an attendance card in the bottom 50% of cards drawn (including the median card if there is an odd number of teams) will have to pay $3 more for its cheapest keeper. [Back to the top]The Attendance and Advertising results are performed after protection and expansion draft are completed - and protected players which have their salaries increased are automatically protected at their new higher salaries including those whose salaries have changed as a result of any Salary Penalty (see Rule 1.5.2) or Attendance and Advertising increases. [Back to the top]
Farm team players are picked in a clockwise fashion starting with the team
that has the lowest draft day budget prior to protections (ties are resolved
using the 105 Ward odd-one out beer cap method). A maximum of
two
players per team can be selected in each farm team draft. Owners have the
option of withdrawing from drafting at any time (i.e. owners may decide not
to participate or only draft one player and then drop out).
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Should there still be a tie after applying each of these tiebreaking measures, the principals will resolve the tie by means of an arm-wrestling match, time and venue to be determined by the commissioner and the parties involved. The winner must take two out of the three matches, with any kicking or biting resulting in the immediate victory of the kicked and/or bitten. [Back to the top]
Note: For reference purposes, the goalie point formula works out as follows:
| GAA | Points | |
|---|---|---|
| 1.00 | 210 | |
| 2.00 | 138 | |
| 3.00 | 84 | |
| 3.50 | 63 | |
| 4.00 | 45 | |
| 5.00 | 21 | |
| 6.00 | 7 |
No points are received for unused drop-adds or for any farm team players. [Back to the top]
The Commissioner must make trade rulings within 72 hours of receiving notification of a proposed trade from the owners involved, but preferably as soon as possible after receiving such notification. Following approval of any trade, the Commissioner shall inform each owner/GM via email of the trade that has been made and the trade shall be considered effective immediately at that time.
Following a trade, a team may violate its line-up requirements as set out on draft day. However, at the trading deadline, each team must have at least 4 LW, 4 C, 4 RW, 6 D, and 2 G (the three "bench" players may be any position). Any team failing to field a qualified roster following the trading deadline loses 100 points per missing position and costs itself $20 in budget penalty fees for the following year's draft day. Otherwise, trading can occur as often as desired.
In order to minimize player's moving costs, the WEHL collective bargaining agreement reflects the fact that no trade may involve more than 5 players from each side, for a total of 10 players maximum (does not count farm team players or drop/adds). The Commissioner and the Trading Committee shall have the right to determine in their sole discretion if a series of "linked" trades in a short period between two teams really acts as one trade of over 10 players and thus violates this rule. However, if each trade in a series of trades between two teams is "approvable" on a stand-alone basis, then this requirement shall not be required or imposed. [Back to the top]
Any trade ruling or veto made by the Commissioner is subject to overturn by an Owner Challenge (see Rule 3.2). [Back to the top]
The 24-hour clock will start at the point when notice of the veto has been given (so if you make a late deal, be sure to keep tabs on your email and voice mail). Should either party be unavailable, the clock will keep ticking.
Once the trade deadline has passed, the following conditions apply to any trade renegotiations falling under this exception:
Here is an example (where March 1st is a Saturday):
Farm team players can be dropped by an owner into the free agent pool at any time at their discretion. [Back to the top]
The current commissioner is Graham Matthews. At the end of each draft day, the first order of business is to elect a new commissioner. The old one may be re-elected. This is to be done by secret ballot, one vote per team. [Back to the top]
Unless overturned by an Owner Challenge as outlined in Rule 3.2, all Commissioner's decisions are binding and final. [Back to the top]
The Commissioner (and any other owner/GM) may also challenge a ruling of the Trades Committee on the basis of an Overturn Threshold (as outlined below).
An Overturn Threshold shall be determined as follows:In order to ensure compliance and to create jobs in the administration departments of each team, there will be a requirement that each update be received by the Commissioner within one week of the noted update date. In addition, every owner must be sent the update by mail or e-mail within this period by the team preparing the update. For each update that is not completed on time, the team will be penalized 20 points, with an additional penalty of 5 points per week until such time as the update has been sent and received. Beware, being a lazy bastard owner or failing to hire an administrative assistant may cost you the championship!
No owner will have to prepare more than 2 updates per season. The Commissioner will provide an electronic template if requested. The Commissioner will clearly specify what the minimum reporting requirements for each update will be (i.e. a super complex and detailed spreadsheet with salaries etc. will not be a requirement if you are creating an update from scratch). [Back to the top]
The Commissioner shall be entitled to change the rules from year to year with an approval process for matters relating to clarification, administrative clean-up, or relating to Commissioner Rule Decisions under Rule 3.1(vi) only - any material or other changes shall be subject to the draft day vote procedure. [Back to the top]