Releasing Players:

Any player making under $1m per year can be dropped for free with no penalty ($0.5m-$0.9m per year)


Contract Buy-Outs:

Teams are permitted to buy-out a player's contract to obtain a reduced salary cap hit over the remaining length of the contract
Buy-out rules are in line with NHL rules

Buy-out amount is based on the age of the player at the time of the buy-out, as follows:
- 1/3 of the remaining contract value, if the player is younger than 26 at the time of the buy-out (x by 0.333)
- 2/3 of the remaining contract value, if the player is 26 or older at the time of the buy-out (x by 0.667)

A buy-out may be spread out over the total number of years the player has remaining on his contract (fewer years are allowed but never more)

The cap hit per year is calculated as follows:
- Multiply the remaining salary by the buy-out amount (as determined by age) to obtain the total buy-out cost
- Spread the total buy-out cost evenly over the remaining contract years

Examples:
Example (1) Player A is 29 years old. Contract is $8.0m (2022-2023). (Under contract for 3 years at $8.0m per year)
Buy-Out Calculation:
$8.0m x 3 years remaining = $24.0m remaining salary
Multiply $24.0m by 2/3 (player is 26 or older at time of buy-out):
24 x 0.667 = 16.01 -> Rounded = $16.0m total buy-out cost
- The $16.0m buy-out cost may be paid out over 3 years max (length of original contract)
- You may also pay the $16.0m buy-out cost over 1 year all at once, or over 2 or 3 years split up however you choose
Examples:
Split Over 2 Years: 2020-21 = $10.0m; 2021-22 = $6.0m
Split over 3 Years Differently: 2020-21 = $0m; 2021-22 = $10.5m; 2022-23 = $5.5m
Split over 3 Years Evenly: 2020-21 = $5.3m; 2021-22 = $5.3m; 2022-23 = $5.4m

Example (2) Player A is 25 years old. Contract is $4.0m (2023-2024). (Under contract for 4 years at $4.0m per year)
Buy-Out Calculation:
$4.0m x 4 years remaining = $16.0m remaining salary
Multiply $16.0m by 1/3 (player is under 26 at time of buy-out):
16 x 0.333 = 5.328 -> Rounded = $5.3m total buy-out cost
- The $5.3m buy-out cost may be paid out over 1, 2, 3, or 4 years, split up however you choose

Re-Allocating Buy-Out Funds:
To allow for maximum cap flexibility for future years, you may at any time re-allocate funds for a buy-out. 
Example:
A $15.0m buy-out originally split over 3 Years: 2020-21 = $5.0m; 2021-22 = $5.0m; 2022-23 = $5.0m
In 2021-22 if you realize you have an extra $5.0m of cap space to spare, you may re-allocate the 2022-23 buy-out cost to your 2021-22 books to relieve yourself of the $5.0m cap hit in 2022-23


Compliance Buy-Out: (For NEW GM's)

Any new GM to the league (2021-2022 season and later) will be awarded one compliance buy-out upon taking control of their franchise (no cap hit penalty)


Waivers:

Teams can send up to 3 players to the minors who would not otherwise qualify (over 31 games played)

Waivers happen in the NHL, and in PDH they are an opportunity to give teams who have minor league roster spots to house an unproductive and/or overpaid player without having to buy him out.

If you would like to send a player to the minors, he must clear a 48-hour waiver wire period.
During this 48-hour window, any team may put in a waiver claim.

If claimed, the claiming team would get the player at a reduced cap hit of 20% off of the contract value (80% of the contract). The original team who placed the player on waivers would still be responsible for paying the remaining 20%.

If the player goes unclaimed, you can then send the player to minors. While in the minors, your team may receive a slight cap hit reduction, as follows (same as in the NHL):
"If a player has a Cap Hit greater than the Buried Threshold:
If they are sent to Minors, the team's Cap Hit is (the player Cap Hit - Buried Threshold)
The Buried Threshold is $1.1m

If a player with a Cap Hit less than the Buried Threshold is sent down, their full Cap Hit no longer counts on the Team's total cap hit"

Example:
C Sidney Crosby, $8.7m (2024-2025)
You would like to send Crosby to the minors because he is under-performing, but you do not want to buy him out in the event he returns to form. He would first have to clear waivers.

Scenario A:
He is claimed off waivers.
The claiming team assumes Crosby's full contract, but at 80% of his current salary. His contract on the claiming team becomes:
C Sidney Crosby, $7.0m (2024-2025)
Your team, who put Crosby on waivers, is still responsible for paying the other 20% for the duration of Crosby's contract: $1.7m per year (2024-2025). This would show up under "Contract Buy-Outs and Cash Exchanges" on your roster

Scenario B:
He goes unclaimed.
Crosby can be placed on your Minor League Roster (you must have roster space or clear a roster spot)
His cap hit against your team's cap would be Cap Hit - Buried Threshold (8.7 - 1.1), so $7.6m.


You must make a separate post stating your are placing 'Player A' on waivers. This begins the 48-hour waiver window.
Mods will edit the post to reflect when the waiver window closes.

Waiver priority is determined by league standings at the time the waiver claim widow closes.
The team in last place when the waiver claim window closes has highest priority.
The priority list follows from worst to first in the standings. 

In the off-season, the final standings from the prior season will determine waiver priority order.

Waived players may be called back up to your NHL roster at any time.
Their contract reverts to the original, full cap hit (you must have the sufficient cap space).
There are no re-entry waivers - the player will immediately be placed onto your NHL roster.

* Players on 35-plus contracts ARE NOT eligible for waivers.

Trading Waived Players:
As per the NHL, if multiple teams put in a waiver claim on a player, the team who wins the waiver clam cannot immediately freely trade him.
The player would first have to be offered to the other teams who put in a waiver claim (they would get him for free at his current contract, no trade would have to be completed):

For example, if a player is placed on waivers and three team place a claim on him. The team lowest in the standings gets first dibs. If they then decide to trade the player, he would first have to be passed on by the other two teams. If one of those other two teams places a claim, the player would be theirs. If not, he can be traded

If there was only one team who placed a waiver claim in the first place, they would be able to trade the player freely


Retired Players:

Any player who retires from the NHL has his contract and cap hit nullified from your roster, UNLESS:

- You signed the player in FA to a multi-year contract and he was 35+ years of age at the time of signing (A 35-plus contract - see below)
- If your player on a [35+] contract retires, his remaining contract and cap him remain in full


What is a 35-plus Contract?

Any player signed in PDH Free Agency to a multi-year contract who is 35+ years of age at the time of signing

In PDH, this player will assume a 35+ contract, shown as follows:
Zdeno Chara, $6.5m (2023-2024) [35+]

Our rules for Waivers and Retirement for 35+ contracts will not include any players not signed in PDH FA

Contract Extensions
Only players whose contracts have expired may be extended
(ie. You cannot extend a player in the 3rd or 4th year of a 5 year contract)

Extension Period:
You may only extend a player's contract during the designated extension period(s)
This will be in the off-season, after PDH playoffs and before the PDH Rookie Draft

How to do Extensions:
Look up the player's rank from each of the past 2 seasons (On Fantrax, players will be sorted by "Score")
Their highest rank will be used to calculate their extension cost
Find the corresponding dollar amount for the player at his position, listed below
*If a player has multiple eligibility positions at time of re-sign (ie. C,RW or LW/RW) you take the highest dollar amount for the re-sign value
(It may, or may not be the highest rank number, as each position has different re-sign values)

Example of Posting a Re-Sign:
C Evgeny Kuznetsov
2018-19 Rank: 39
2019-20 Rank: 63
Highest Rank = 39th - > $5.7m re-sign value
$5.7m re-sign per year for 2, 3, 4, or 5 years (up to GM)

Examples of Dual-Eligible Re-Sign Posts:
LW/RW Patrik Laine
2018-19 LW Rank: 32nd
2019-20 LW Rank: 18th
Highest Rank = 18th - > $6.0m re-sign value
2018-19 RW Rank: 28nd
2019-20 RW Rank: 12th
Highest Rank = 12th - > $6.9m re-sign value
$6.9m re-sign per year for 3, 4, or 5 years (up to GM)


Contract Limits for Extensions
Contract extensions have minimum contract lengths, as well as maximum lengths
There is added flexibility versus Free Agency contracts, and numbers somewhat mimic how NHL re-signs would go depending on age of player

Salary Per Year - Min & Max Years
$6.5m+ - 3 to 5 years
$5 to $6.4m - 2 to 5 years
$3.5 to $4.9m - 2 to 4 years
$2 to $3.4m - 1 to 3 years
$0.5 to $1.9m - 1 to 2 years


Extension Values:
- Extension values are based on real-life NHL cap hits, with one exception:
- D values are at a 10% reduction versus real-life contracts, due to the fact that in PDH we have 6 D slots and 3 each of C,LW,RW. Flex spots can be any skater so those are not factored in, although one could actually start 9 D, furthering the argument for a slight reduction in D re-sign values.
- All values have been rounded down where applicable:
(ie. Contracts that are $5,850,000 are now $5,800,000; Contracts that are $4,687,687 are now $4,600,000)
- Values will be updated yearly to reflect the most current contracts

Last Updated Sept.30, 2020. Based on all cap hits from the 2019-20 NHL season:

CENTER:
1. Connor McDavid   $12,500,000
2. Auston Matthews   $11,600,000
3. John Tavares   $11,000,000
4. Jonathan Toews   $10,500,000
5. Anze Kopitar   $10,000,000
6. Jack Eichel   $10,000,000
7. Tyler Seguin   $9,800,000
8. Evgeni Malkin   $9,500,000
9. Nicklas Bäckström   $9,200,000
10. Sidney Crosby   $8,700,000
11. Steven Stamkos   $8,500,000
12. Leon Draisaitl   $8,500,000
13. Sebastian Aho   $8,400,000
14. Ryan Getzlaf   $8,200,000
15. Ryan Johansen   $8,000,000
16. Matt Duchene   $8,000,000
17. Logan Couture   $8,000,000
18. Evgeny Kuznetsov   $7,800,000
19. Ryan O'Reilly   $7,500,000
20. David Krejci   $7,200,000
21. Nico Hischier   $7,200,000
22. Kevin Hayes   $7,100,000
23. Ryan Kesler   $6,800,000
24. Patrice Bergeron   $6,800,000
25. Brayden Point   $6,700,000
26. Derek Stepan   $6,500,000
27. Paul Stastny   $6,500,000
28. Brayden Schenn   $6,500,000
29. Sean Monahan   $6,300,000
30. Nathan MacKinnon   $6,300,000
31-35   $6,000,000
36-40   $5,700,000
41-45   $5,500,000
46-50   $5,200,000
51-55   $4,900,000
56-60   $4,500,000
61-65   $4,000,000
66-70   $3,700,000
71-75   $3,200,000
76-80   $2,800,000
81-85   $2,000,000
86-90   $1,500,000
90-100   $1,100,000
100+   $900,000

LEFT WING:
1. Artemi Panarin   $11,600,000
2. Alex Ovechkin   $9,500,000
3. Jamie Benn   $9,500,000
4. Jeff Skinner   $9,000,000
5. Claude Giroux   $8,200,000
6. Zach Parise   $7,500,000
7. Kyle Connor   $7,100,000
8. James van Riemsdyk   $7,000,000
9. Max Pacioretty   $7,000,000
10. Evander Kane   $7,000,000
11. Anders Lee   $7,000,000
12. Matthew Tkachuk   $7,000,000
13. Johnny Gaudreau   $6,700,000
14. Patrik Laine   $6,700,000
15. Chris Kreider   $6,500,000
16. Alex DeBrincat   $6,400,000
17. Brad Marchand   $6,100,000
18. Mats Zuccarello   $6,000,000
19. Filip Forsberg   $6,000,000
20. Loui Eriksson   $6,000,000
21. Milan Lucic   $6,000,000
22. Timo Meier   $6,000,000
23. Jake Guentzel   $6,000,000
24. Jonathan Huberdeau   $5,900,000
25. Alexander Steen   $5,700,000
26. Gabriel Landeskog   $5,500,000
27. Andrew Ladd   $5,500,000
28. Jonathan Drouin   $5,500,000
29. Nick Foligno   $5,500,000
30. Jason Zucker   $5,500,000
31-35   $5,000,000
36-40   $4,500,000
41-45   $3,500,000
46-50   $3,200,000
51-55   $2,900,000
56-60   $2,600,000
61-65   $2,200,000
66-70   $2,000,000
71-75   $1,600,000
76-80   $1,400,000
81-85   $1,000,000
85+   $900,000

RIGHT WING:
1. Mitchell Marner   $10,800,000
2. Patrick Kane   $10,500,000
3. Mark Stone   $9,500,000
4. Nikita Kucherov   $9,500,000
5. Mikko Rantanen   $9,200,000
6. Blake Wheeler   $8,200,000
7. Jakub Voracek   $8,200,000
8. Phil Kessel   $8,000,000
9. Vladimir Tarasenko   $7,500,000
10. Clayton Keller   $7,100,000
11. Joe Pavelski   $7,000,000
12. William Nylander   $6,900,000
13. David Pastrnak   $6,600,000
14. Alexander Radulov   $6,200,000
15. Brandon Saad   $6,000,000
16. Kyle Okposo   $6,000,000
17. Nikolaj Ehlers   $6,000,000
18. Dustin Brown   $5,800,000
19. Cam Atkinson   $5,800,000
20. Brock Boeser   $5,800,000
21. T.J. Oshie   $5,700,000
22. James Neal   $5,700,000
23. Jordan Eberle   $5,500,000
24. Gustav Nyquist   $5,500,000
25. Travis Konecny   $5,500,000
26. Teuvo Teräväinen   $5,400,000
27. Patric Hörnqvist   $5,300,000
28. Ondrej Palat   $5,300,000
29. Jakob Silfverberg   $5,200,000
30. Yanni Gourde   $5,100,000
31-35   $5,000,000
36-40   $4,600,000
41-45   $3,900,000
46-50   $3,300,000
51-55   $3,000,000
56-60   $2,300,000
61-65   $1,500,000
66-70   $1,100,000
71-100   $900,000
100-129   $800,000
130+   $700,000

DEFENSE:
1. Erik Karlsson   $10,300,000
2. Drew Doughty   $9,900,000
3. Roman Josi   $8,100,000
4. P.K. Subban   $8,100,000
5. Oliver Ekman-Larsson   $7,300,000
6. Jacob Trouba   $7,200,000
7. John Carlson   $7,200,000
8. Brent Burns   $7,200,000
9. Thomas Chabot   $7,200,000
10. Victor Hedman   $7,000,000
11. Shea Weber   $7,000,000
12. Jared Spurgeon   $6,700,000
13. Ryan Suter   $6,700,000
14. Aaron Ekblad   $6,700,000
15. Kris Letang   $6,400,000
16. Marc-Édouard Vlasic   $6,300,000
17. Brent Seabrook   $6,100,000
18. Mark Giordano   $6,000,000
19. Ryan McDonagh   $6,000,000
20. Ivan Provorov   $6,000,000
21. Cam Fowler   $5,800,000
22. Justin Faulk   $5,800,000
23. Keith Yandle   $5,600,000
24. Ryan Ellis   $5,500,000
25. Joshua Morrissey   $5,500,000
26. Tyler Myers   $5,400,000
27. Alexander Edler   $5,400,000
28. Erik Johnson   $5,400,000
29. Johnny Boychuk   $5,400,000
30. Matt Dumba    $5,400,000
31-35   $5,200,000
36-40   $4,900,000
41-45   $4,800,000
46-50   $4,600,000
51-55   $4,500,000
56-60   $4,300,000
61-65   $4,000,000
66-70   $3,700,000
71-75   $3,600,000
76-80   $3,600,000
81-85   $3,500,000
86-90   $3,100,000
90-95   $2,700,000
96-100   $2,200,000
101-110   $1,300,000
111-120   $1,000,000
121-130   $900,000
131-190   $800,000
191+   $700,000

GOALIE:
1. Carey Price   $10,500,000
2. Sergei Bobrovsky   $10,000,000
3. Andrei Vasilevskiy   $9,500,000
4. Marc-André Fleury   $7,000,000
5. Tuukka Rask   $7,000,000
6. John Gibson   $6,400,000
7. Connor Hellebuyck   $6,100,000
8. Cory Schneider   $6,000,000
9. Jonathan Quick   $5,800,000
10. Martin Jones   $5,700,000
11. Roberto Luongo   $5,300,000
12. Frederik Andersen   $5,000,000
13. Robin Lehner   $5,000,000
14. Semyon Varlamov   $5,000,000
15. Pekka Rinne   $5,000,000
16. Ben Bishop   $4,900,000
17. Darcy Kuemper   $4,500,000
18. Mikko Koskinen   $4,500,000
19. Jordan Binnington   $4,400,000
20. Jake Allen   $4,300,000
21. Devan Dubnyk   $4,300,000
22. Antti Raanta   $4,200,000
23. Elvis Merzlikins   $4,000,000
24. Tristan Jarry   $3,500,000
25. James Reimer   $3,400,000
26. Philipp Grubauer   $3,300,000
27. Petr Mrázek   $3,100,000
28. Jonathan Bernier   $3,000,000
29. Joonas Korpisalo   $2,800,000
30. Carter Hutton   $2,700,000
31. David Rittich   $2,700,000
32. Anders Nilsson   $2,600,000
33. Jaroslav Halák   $2,200,000
34. Pavel Francouz   $2,000,000
35. Ilya Sorokin   $2,000,000
36-40   $1,400,000
41-50   $900,000
51+   $800,000

Restricted Free Agency (RFA):

Restricted Free Agency will happen before normal Free Agency.
Not after, and not simultaneously.

*Note: If you own an RFA and they have signed a real-life contract extension, you can choose to match that extension and that becomes their contract in our league.
Example:
D Quinn Hughes is in the last year of his rookie contract. If he signs an extension during the 2020-2021 season, the owner of VAN can choose to take the real-life contract extension and implement it in PDH. The VAN owner can also choose to let Hughes go to RFA and either match the highest offer or take the draft pick compensation in lieu

**Note: An RFA List on the Transaction board will be posted after the season begins. If RFA's sign in real-life, contract options will be listed on that board and teams have until the RFA-match deadline whether or not they want to match that real-life contract.


All RFA's who aren't matched, or who don't receive a real-life offer by our RFA-match deadline will become an RFA in our league.


Restricted Free Agency Rules:

RFA rules will be the exact same as regular FA rules, with a few differences (Please Read):

You must have the necessary draft pick compensation to make a bid (See below)

Draft Pick Compensation: (Actual NHL Compensation Ranges as of Oct.2020)
$1.4m or below = None
$1.5m to $2.1m = Third Round
$2.2m to $4.2m = Second Round
$4.3m to $6.3m = First Round & Third Round
$6.4m to $8.4m = First Round, Second Round, and Third Round
$8.5m to $10.5m = Two First Rounds, Second Round, and Third Round
Over $10.5m = Four First Rounds

*Dollar amounts are per-year salaries
** This is the only instance where draft picks over 2 years away are able to be moved(For over $10.5m per year, 4 years worth of picks are required)

The winning team on all RFA bids will 1st have to specify contract years. E.g. $20m winning bid can look as follow with compensation impact:

4 years at $5m = First Round & Third Round
3 years at $6.7m = First Round, Second Round, and Third Round
2 years at $10m = Two First Rounds, Second Round, and Third Round
1 year at $20 = Four First Rounds

Then...

The owner of the RFA has 96 hours (4 Days) to decide if they will match the contract offer, or if they will take the draft pick compensation associated with the per-year contract value

If the owner does not respond, the RFA will be automatically rewarded to the winning bidder, and the owner of the RFA will be awarded the compensatory draft pick attached to the contract value

You MUST have the necessary draft picks available in order to make ALL of your RFA bids

The owner of the RFA gets to choose ANY of your draft picks available
Example:
If you have three 1st round draft picks in the summer's draft, plus one 1st round draft pick in next year's draft, the owner of the RFA can choose any of your 3 picks in this year's draft, or choose to take next year's 1st round pick. The choice is theirs, not yours


Rescinding Free Agency Bids:
There will be no rescinding of RFA bids. If you win the RFA, it is up to the owner of that RFA whether you get that player and pay the compensation, or if they match the bid. You cannot back out of your winning RFA bid


RFA Bids and Cap Space:
This will be slightly different from regular FA, due to the uncertainty of if the owner of the RFA will match the bid or not.
During RFA, you will be allowed to bid on RFA's and go up to over $10m of your available cap
(Keep in mind you have to have the necessary draft pick compensation for all of your RFA bids)
However, if you end up with all the RFA's you bid on, you will have to find a way to get under the cap by the deadline (prior to the next season). And definitely can't bid on any normal FA's as you wouldn't have cap

To even the playing field:  The owner of that RFA can also go over $10m of their available cap to match any winning contract.
This is so bidding GM's can't simply out-price the owner of an RFA by bidding up player over what the owner of that team has in cap. The owner of the RFA can match the bid and then trade that player, or match the bid and keep the player, and then make additional moves to get under cap by the start of the next season

TBD

.