Free Agency Rules:
Each player is auctioned in a separate thread on our ProFSL Transactions board, and may be started by anyone
The minimum starting bid on any player is $0.5m
A bid on a player is considered final when it has been open for 48 hours
If you could please post the player's main position and the team he is on, that would be much appreciated.
Examples:
C - Sidney Crosby - PIT
D - Seth Jones - CBJ
G - Carey Price - MTL
Bidding on a player is in the form of total contract value
The number of years does not need to be listed until the bid is won
The resulting per-year salary will be the final bid divided by number of years, always rounded up to the next even $0.1m
(ie. A winning bid that divides as 3.23 would become $3.3m per year)
Minimum Bid Raises for FA's:
When bidding, you must up the previous bid by at least the minimum bid raise of $0.2m
Players Eligible for FA:
All players are available to be bid on in Free Agency
Rookie Player Bidding (Players with 0-30 NHL Games Played)
- You cannot bid on players who are eligible for upcoming NHL Entry Drafts (ie. You can't bid on 16-year old phenoms)
- This feature will mostly be used following our PDH Rookie Draft where teams can bid on players who went un-drafted
- There will be an early Rookie FA Deadline to prevent teams from bidding on UDFA NCAA player who end up signing on with NHL teams later in the season - these players would be eligible for the PDH Rookie Draft (See important dates for deadlines)
- Rookie Contract FA's will assume a min. salary ($0.5m) plus whatever signing bonus is bid with them
How to Bid on Rookie Players:
- Bidding will be done in the form of a base Rookie Contract (RC) plus a signing bonus
- Signing bonus will count against your cap, and will be able to be split over 2 years
- Remember that RC's are not allowed on NHL Rosters if the player isn't actually in the NHL; This in effect negates the need for people to bid on a RC eligible player under normal FA terms, as they wouldn't be eligible for the NHL Roster
- Upon winning a RC player, their contract will look like: D Joe Schmoe, $0.5m (R)
Examples of how to bid on RC Players:
D - Lumbering Pylon - TOR
RC
G - Stone Woll - MTL
RC + $4m
Free Agency Contract Limits:
Free agent contracts have a max number of years that can be offered, based on per-year salary:
Salary Per Year - Max Years
$6.0m or more - 5 years
$4.0m to $5.9m - 4 years
$2.0m to $3.9m - 3 years
$0.5m to $1.9m - 2 years
You have 48 hours to post/confirm the contract for your player
If you don't, the player will be offered to the next highest bidder. If that GM does not want the player, it will go to the 3rd highest bidder. If that GM does not want the player, he gets released back into free agency.
Rescinding Free Agency Bids:
If you win the bid/player, and after 48 hours (or sooner) you decide you do not want to sign that player for the contract you posted for whatever reason (no reason needs to be given), you can simply just state you don't want to sign that player anymore.
That player would then be offered to the next GM who bid on him at a 25% discount off their original bid (the 2nd highest bid). If he doesn't want that player or can't afford him any longer, the 3rd highest bid will be offered with the same discount. After that, player is released back to FA.
This discount is due to the cap space presumably used to go after other FA's in lieu of not continuing to bid on this FA. It is also due to the time elapsed (36 hours, plus up to another 48 hours - so 2-4 days), which again, presumably that cap has been used to bid on and possibly win other FA's. It wouldn't be fair to have to come up with the same amount of cap your originally bid on which you thought was lost and gone for, for 3-4 days.
Under no circumstances can you rescind a bid on an active thread (unless it is within 5 minutes or so of the initial post, and an honest mistake was made).
This seems like an obvious rule, but reason being you could go and use the cap you save from rescinding your offer to go and bid on another player.
If you win a FA that puts you over the roster and/or salary cap limit: You have to post who you're going to drop or buy-out within 48-hours of winning the player (after player is stickied by a Mod).
Same 48-hour rule applies - you have 48 hours to decide who your drop is and to post the contract for the new player. If not, the FA goes to the 2nd and then (if necessary) the 3rd highest bidder as explained above. After that, back to the FA pool.
Remember: Any players making under $1m per year are FREE drops (no buy-out penalty).
In order to prevent late min. bids, or bidding just for the heck of it...the following must be followed:
#1
In the last 6 hours if you haven't previously bid on that player, you may NOT bid on him
If you have bid on that player in the thread previously you can still make another bid. Remember, it this is only in effect once the bid thread has been open for 42 hours. This is just for the last 6 hours.
#2
In the last 6 hours, the minimum bid increase is $1m. Period.
Doesn't matter if the current winning bid is $2m or $35m.
We don't want people dragging on a FA player thread (especially if it is in its last few hours) by just putting in $0.2m bids to keep the thread going. $1m in the last 6 hours means you're serious about the player - you should be serious about the player anyways if you had already put a bid on him to be eligible to bid in the last 6 hours!
Free Agent Discount
A 5% discount will be awarded on any free agents won who were previously on the same team last season.
* The player must have been on your roster at the end of the year (this wouldn't apply to a player you trade for on an expiring contract at the start of the off-season, before FA starts)
Example:
You don't want to re-sign a player for $8.5m per year, and think he would go for cheaper in FA.
You win the player with a bid that works out to $7m per year. Add the 5% discount and you get him for $6.7m per year
(A small incentive, similar-ish to real-life if a FA takes a 'home-town' discount to re-sign with the same team, or if the player tests FA but ends up signing with his original team in the end. We obviously can't offer a discount for all expiring players on re-signs, so this is as close as it gets).
