A) Free Agency Penalties
1) Once a free agent is won, if a contract for that player is not submitted on the same post as the FA won within 96 hours, it will result in the following penalties:
1 - Failure To Announce Contract For A Won Free Agent
1st offense- Warning and player released to free agency
2nd offense - 1-year free agency ban
3rd offense - Removed from the league
Any free agent that is won is not given a contract due to cap issues will fall under a penalty for not clearing cap space.
2) Upon winning a bid that sets a team over the cap, the GM is granted 24 hours to post the transactions that will make the cap work (either through trade or releasing players). If the transactions are not valid or not posted within 24 hours of the bids being finalized, that team no longer receives the player, that player goes back to free agency and GM receives the following penalties.
2 - Penalties For Not Clearing Roster Space/Cap For A Final Bid
1st & 2nd - Warning
3rd - Forfeiture of lowest remaining draft pick
4th - Forfeiture of highest remaining draft pick
5th - Removed from the league
3) Any edits made to free agent bids are considered tampering. Any thread that has a sign of tampering will be considered an invalid bid. The following penalties will apply and will be compounding:
3 - Tampering
1st & 2nd offenses - Warnings
3rd & 4th offense - 2-week probation from FA bidding
5th & 6th offense - 1-month probation from FA bidding
6th offense - 1 season probation from FA bidding
7th offense - Removed from the league
Any problems with a thread, please inform Anthony by PM, do not edit a post in a free agent thread
4) All free agency bids will either be monitored by the commissioner or be notified to the commissioner of the offense. The bids after the 5th active bid will be removed in all cases and the following penalties will be assessed:
4 - Over max bid (over 5 active bids)
1st & 2nd offenses - Warnings
3rd & 4th offense - 2-week probation from FA bidding
5th & 6th offense - 1-month probation from FA bidding
6th offense - 1 season probation from FA bidding
7th offense - Banned from the league
B) Cap Circumvention & Violations of Cap Spaces
1) Cap circumvention, for purposes, is getting around the cap in any means that is a valid move but can or does cause cap/roster problems in the future. Violations for this are as follows.
If this results in a cap or roster issue then the failure to clear cap section will be used (see A-2).
If this results in an IR issue, then the injury reserve penalties will be used (See D).
2) Violation of any cap space (major, minor, or goalie) will not be allowed. If the cap is violated the appropriate moves must be made by the GM to correct the violation. If this is not fixed within 48 hours, the following penalties or violations may occur:
1 - A warning will be given
2 - Commissioner may make a move on behalf of the team to rectify the cap issue
3 - Players may be forfeited to get a team within the cap
4 - Loss of draft pick(s)
C) Roster Violations
Roster violations should only occur in one of two ways. One, by way of free agency (see A-2) or two, by way of the draft. If the number of players on a roster is violated due to draft then the GM will be required to release, buyout, or trade players to make their roster work. If they fail to do so the commissioner will come up with a solution and purpose it to the GM with the best interest of the team in mind.
Minor League Roster Violation To Win:
Any GM found to be using an AHL player in an illegal manner to win a matchup will be penalized as follows:
1st violation - Loss of that week's match-up & official penalty on roster
2nd violation - Loss of that week's match-up, forfeiture of lowest remaining draft pick, & official penalty on roster
3rd violation - Same as above with a loss of an additional draft pick (lowest remaining)
4th violation - Removal from the league
Minor League Roster Violation To Lose:
Any GM found to be using an AHL player in an illegal manner to lose a matchup will be penalized as follows:
1st violation - Forfeiture of lowest remaining draft pick
2nd violation - Forfeiture of highest remaining draft pick
3rd violation - Removal from the league
D) Injury Reserve Penalties
When an IR player returns the GM must post that they want them to come off of IR and create the appropriate cap and roster space within 48 hours of the player coming off IR. The appropriate measures can be seen in the above options. If cap or roster space is not made the penalties are as follows.
1st Offence - Loss of 1 IR spot for the current year
2nd Offence - Loss of all IR spots for the current year
3rd Offence - Loss of all IR spots for the current year and the next year
4th Offence - Loss of all IR spots for that GM for the duration of the league
E) Retiring Players Violations
Any player who retires from the NHL and still has an NHL contract in Backyard must be bought out. If a GM fails to do so within a "reasonable" time frame (based on the point of the season), the commissioner will do so for that GM.
F) Trading Violations
Any trade that violates any policy in Backyard will be considered null and void unless fixed within 48 hours of notice of the violation.
G) Drafting Violations
Any GM who fails to make their pick within the 24-hour window will be auto-picked for based on the highest available drafted player of the actual NHL draft results from the most recent NHL draft.