Rulebook

SECTION 1 - LEAGUE STRUCTURE

  • 1.1. The league will consist of 24 teams. There will be 2 conferences of 12 teams each. Each conference will be divided into two divisions of 6 teams each.

  • 1.2. The league will always use the most current version of the Strat-O-Matic Computer Hockey game. Board game use is not allowed.

  • 1.3. Each member may only coach one team unless there are insufficient members to fill the 24 teams. In that case, members may coach more than one team at the discretion of the Board of Governors. Trades between teams coached by the same member are not allowed. Should a new member enter the league he will be allowed to choose among the teams being managed as a “second” team.

SECTION 2 - BOARD OF GOVERNORS

  • 2.1. The Board of Governors is comprised of the commissioner and both conference presidents. They are responsible for most league decisions. Should someone disagree with a decision, they may ask for a league vote. A Board of Governors decision can be overridden by a 75% majority of the league.

  • 2.2. Commissioner – The commissioner is responsible for publishing schedules, setting important dates, setting dues and making sure the league runs in an orderly manner.

  • 2.3. Conference Presidents – Conference Presidents serve as advisors to the Commissioner as well as make sure that new members are up to speed on how the league runs.

  • 2.4. Fair Trade Committee - The Fair Trade Committee will analyze any protested trade. If a member of the committee is involved in the protest, a Conference President will serve as an alternate. Members of the Board of Governors are not allowed to be members of the FTC.

  • 2.5. Rules Committees – Occasionally a rules committee will be formed to study a particular rules change and come up with some options. Once a decision is reached the committee will make a recommendation to the Board who will then make a final decision or put the topic up for a league vote.

SECTION 3 - MEMBERSHIP REQUIREMENTS

  • 3.1. Ownership of the Strat-O-Matic Hockey computer game plus the current season

  • 3.2. Each coach must have a phone and reliable Internet access. Adobe Acrobat is recommended as well.

SECTION 4 - TEAM ROSTERS

  • 4.1. Each team may have a maximum of 35 players on their roster. Players who did not play in an NHL game may be retained but they take up a roster spot. This limit is enforced from the Waiver draft until the end of the season. If a team makes a trade that makes them exceed the limit, they must immediately waive enough players to get their roster down to the maximum.

  • 4.2. Teams retain ownership of players from year to year except when lost to free agency or they are cut.

  • 4.3. Each teams' roster must be able to field an entire seasons worth of games. 12 forwards, 6 defense and 2 goalies for 82 games.

  • 4.4. Each block a team may activate 23 players. This number does not include players who are “injured” (sitting out a block). If a player is not injured or one of the 23 active players he is considered to be in the minors. If he has more than 4 NHL seasons under his belt and he is demoted he will become a free agent at the end of the year.

SECTION 5 - SCHEDULE

  • 5.1. The HBMHL will play an 82 game schedule. The schedule will be broken down as follows – 6 games vs. divisional opponents, 4 games vs. conference opponents and 2 games vs. non-conference opponents. Two “bonus” home and home series will fill out the schedule. Each division will be paired off – 1 vs. 2 – 3 vs. 4 – 5 vs. 6. Each conference will be paired off – 1 vs. 1, 2 vs. 2, 3 vs. 3 etc.

  • 5.2. The 82 game schedule is broken into 7 blocks of 10 games and one block (block 8) of 12 games. Each team must play its games and turn in results for each block prior to the deadline for doing so. Managers, who use the wrong block database to play their games, will be fined ($1.00 on top of not receiving the $2.00 for being in on time and correct) and their entire home block will be replayed via autoplay. Second and subsequent, or habitual cases will be dealt with by the Board of Governors.

SECTION 6 - TRADING

  • 6.1. Teams may trade players, money and draft picks. Waiver picks may not be traded. Draft picks may only be dealt one season in advance. Thus at the midseason trading period you may only trade picks from the next seasons draft. During the off-season you may trade picks from the upcoming draft.

  • 6.2. A 24 hour time table is set for good faith trade offers. A player may not be offered in specific trade talks to more than one team until 24 hours after a previous offer is made involving him, OR the other team having declined the offer in writing via E Mail. Exception, if I offer player A for player B, the other team MAY offer player B to another team as they did not initiate the trade talk, courtesy should be exercised, however, in that a declination E Mail should still be sent to the original offering team.

  • 6.3. “Player to be named later” trades may be made but must be explicitly stated and confirmed with the commissioner at the time of the trade. The “to be named” part must be completed prior to the season after the season the trade is made. For instance – Player X is traded for a player to be named later. The player to be named later is stated as – Coach #2’s choice of Player X, Y or Z.

  • 6.4. Trades may be made up until the 60 game mark (the end of block 6). A trade becomes effective in the block following the trade. For example a trade made during block 2 becomes effective in block 3.

  • 6.5. All trades are subject to approval by the Fair Trade Committee. Any coach may “challenge” a trade made by another team as unfair. This challenge must be made within 72 hours of the trade being announced. It takes two votes on the Committee to void a trade. If a Committee member is involved in the trade, the President of the Conference opposite that of the Committee member will serve on the committee. If the vote is 2-1 either way the parties involved may appeal. If the Commissioner and both Conference Presidents agree the FTC ruling is overturned. Either team may be fined $1 to $5 if they are deemed to have acted against the interests of the league.

  • 6.6. You may not trade a player you just acquired for 72 hours. This time is necessary to allow someone to object to the original trade. Otherwise a whole domino chain of trade voids might occur.

  • 6.7. Coaches in the first two seasons will not be allowed to trade 1st round draft picks for coming seasons. This rule is in place to prevent a coach from coming in and destroying a team'ss future for its present and then leaving to do the same in another league. After two seasons you are free to do as you please. This means all coaches at the start of the league are subject to this rule.

SECTION 7 - FREE AGENT SIGNINGS

  • 7.1. All players that play an NHL game, are not rookies and are not on any team's roster are considered Free Agents. Players may also become Free Agents by being underused. See 11.8 and 11.9 for more details.

  • 7.2. Two weeks prior to the Rookie Draft is the free agent bidding period. Each team will submit sealed bids to the Commissioner. Prior to accepting bids the Commissioner will submit his bids to one of the Conference Presidents in a password-protected file.

  • 7.3. Each team's bids should include instructions such as “only sign one of these guys”, “I want one Forward and one Defenseman” etc. These can be as elaborate as you want but they must be black and white. No judgment calls are allowed.

  • 7.4. The draft will be resolved in highest bid order (i.e. the highest bid on any player is resolved first). If a team is the highest bidder but now has insufficient cash to pay the bid, it will be ignored and the next highest bidder will be awarded the player. If two teams bid an equal amount, the player will be awarded to the team with the worst record in the prior season.

  • 7.5. The minimum bid is $0.25 and you may not bid more than the amount of money you have. If another team does not sign a player who became a Free Agent due to under use, he will be awarded back to his original team at no cost.

SECTION 8 - ROOKIE DRAFT

  • 8.1. Each season any player who played his first NHL game will be eligible to be drafted. In addition players, who have less than 25 games of NHL service and are not on a HBMHL roster at draft time, are draft eligible.

  • 8.2. Teams will draft players in reverse order of finish from the previous season. This order is modified in three ways.

    • 8.2.1. Draft Lottery: The bottom six teams will compete in a draft lottery. The lottery is weighted with the worst team having a better chance. 21 balls will be placed in a virtual machine. The worst team will get 6, 2nd worst 5, 3rd worst 4 etc. The draft lottery is conducted by the Commissioner using an internet random number generator. The teams involved in the lottery will be cc’d on the random number roll.

    • 8.2.2. Playoff Teams: The HBMHL champion will draft last, the runner up will draft 2nd to last.

    • 8.2.3. Territorial Draft Rights: Each team may protect the rookies who played for their NHL team.

SECTION 9 - TERRITORIAL DRAFT RIGHTS

  • 9.1. Each HBMHL is based on an NHL team. All rookies that played for an NHL team may be protected by its HBMHL equivalent.

  • 9.2. Each HBMHL may protect a number of rookies (6) equal to its number of draft picks (6).

  • 9.3. To protect each player the team must dedicate one of its draft picks to do so. This pick can be any from any round. However, to insure the pick is protected no gaps can appear in the list. For example if you want to protect 5 players you must dedicate your 1st – 5th round picks. If you cannot do that because you traded a pick or you are unwilling to do that the protected pick is not automatic.

  • 9.4. If a pick is not automatic, another team may draft a protected player as long as he is chosen in a round prior to the round he was protected in.

  • 9.5. As long as a continual string of picks is dedicated the protection is automatic. For instance if you dedicate picks 2 – 6 then these become automatic after round 1. If you dedicate picks 1-3 and 5-7 then 1-3 are automatic and 5-7 become automatic after round 4.

    • 9.5.1. Example 1: A team has 5 rookies he wants to protect but he doesn’t want to use his 1st round pick because he doesn’t feel they are that valuable. So he dedicates picks 2-6 for his five rookies. During round 1 any team may draft one (1) of his five protected players.

    • 9.5.2. Example 2: A team traded away its 2nd round pick prior to the draft. He has 3 rookies he wants to protect – all would be 1st round draft picks if not protected. He can auto protect one of those players and assign his 3rd and 4th round picks to the other two. However he would have to hope that all the other teams passed on those two players during the first two rounds of the draft.

  • 9.6. Lottery teams are treated a little differently. A lottery team doesn’t need to use its 1st round pick to protect a player to be considered using a continual string of picks. Lottery teams can make their protected picks begin in the 2nd round if they desire. However, a lottery team may pick another lottery team’s protected player with their first pick if they desire.

    • 9.6.1. Example: Pittsburgh has pick #1 and wants to take Ovechkin. He can protect Crosby with his #2 pick if he wants. No non-lottery team can pick Crosby. However, another lottery team could take Crosby (obviously that will happen). But let’s say that it’s Minnesota with the #1 pick now. He wants Mikko Koivu but he’s obviously not worth the #1 pick overall. If Minnesota takes Ovechkin and protects Koivu with his #2 it’s likely the other lottery teams will bypass Koivu allowing Minnesota to select him with their 2nd pick.

    • 9.6.2. This rule is intended to prevent a team from losing out an extremely high pick to protect a so-so prospect but not allow them to get two top players in a draft either.

  • 9.7. Traded draft picks cannot be used to protect a player. IE if you flip flop picks with another team you lose the ability to use your pick to protect your player. You can't use the pick you acquired to do that.

SECTION 10 - WAIVER WIRE

  • 10.1. Immediately following the Rookie Draft each team must cut down their roster down to the maximum. Players who did not play in the NHL that will be protected count against this limit.

  • 10.2. After all teams have made their cuts,cuts; any team with open roster slots may select players from the waiver wire. Selections are made in reverse order of finish for the prior season. If you roster is full you cannot make a selection.

  • 10.3. If a player is cut after the Waiver Draft he becomes a Free Agent.

SECTION 11 - PLAYER USAGE

  • 11.1. Players may only appear in the number of games they played in the NHL season the current season is based on.

  • 11.2. Each team must dress 12 forwards, 6 defenseman and 2 goalies for every game.

  • 11.3. Forwards and Defenseman who played fewer than 30 NHL games are not eligible to play in playoff games. Goaltenders that played fewer than 25 NHL games are not eligible to START a playoff game but may relieve a fatigued starter.

  • 11.4. Forwards and Defenseman that played fewer than 5 NHL games may not play during the regular season or playoffs. Goaltenders that player fewer than 3 NHL games are not eligible to play in the regular season or playoffs. If a team is short of games played at a position they may appeal to allow a player who does not meet these criteria to play. However, no player whose stats are overwhelming will be approved. IE – goalies that played 5 minutes and stopped all shots or forwards that scored four goals in two games etc.

  • 11.5. For every 10 games a player missed in the NHL, he must sit for one complete block. If a player played 73 games or more he may be on the active roster the entire season. This rule simulates lengthy injuries and prevents the “only injured in games that don’t count” rule of thumb in other leagues. This rule does not apply to goaltenders.

    • 11.5.1 Under 5 year players are unencumbered by having to sit for their maximum blocks missed (e.g. no inactive blocks for every 10 games missed), rather they must be active to play, but may be active in up to all eight blocks, as long as they do not exceed actual games played, they will still be free agent exempt.

  • 11.6. Defenseman and centers that may play either wing while killing penalties or during 4 on 4 situations.

  • 11.7. If a player appears in more games than allowed due to a coaching error, that team will be fined and that player will be ineligible for a number of playoff games equal to double the number of games overused. The fine will be $1 per game overused. Intentional overuse will result in dismissal from the league.

  • 11.8. Any player who has more than 4 seasons of NHL experience will become a Free Agent in the next season if he fails to play enough HBHML games. A year of NHL experience means the player played at least one game. Receiving a card is not necessary to earn a year of experience. In order to become a Free Agent the following conditions must be met:

    • 11.8.1. The player must have played at least 30 NHL games (20 for goalies) in the NHL season.The player must have played at least 30 NHL games (20 for goalies) in the NHL season.The player must have played at least 30 NHL games (20 for goalies) in the NHL season.

    • 11.8.2. If the player played 30-50 NHL games he must play at least 50% of that total in the HBMHL. If the player played 51-82 games he must play at least 75% of that total.

    • 11.8.3. Example: Player X has been in the NHL for six years. He played 62 games in the NHL. If he plays fewer than 47 games for his HBHML team he will become a Free Agent in the off-season.

    • 11.8.4. This rule is designed to promote parity and realism. If an NHL veteran is so buried on a team that he never plays, he is likely to look elsewhere for more playing time.

  • 11.9. Any player with more than 4 seasons of NHL experience that is demoted to the minor leagues will also become a Free Agent after the season.

SECTION 12 - PLAYOFFS

  • 12.1. The four division winners and four non-division winners with the best records in each conference make the playoffs. Tiebreakers are as follows: Best Road Record, Most Wins, Head to Head Record, Head to Head Goal Differential, and Overall Goal Differential.

  • 12.2. Teams are seeded 1-8 by order of finish in each conference. Team 1 will host team 8 and team 2 will host team 7 etc. The winners proceed to round two and the seeding will be redetermined.

  • 12.3. Each series is a best of seven. The team with the better record has home ice for games 1,2, 5, and 7.

  • 12.4. See 11.3 and 11.7 for limitations on who may play in the playoffs.

SECTION 13 - FINANCES

  • 13.1. Each team receives $2(in millions) for each deadline they make in a season. There are 8 deadlines (computer managers and blocks 1-8 games) so teams may earn $16 if they keep up.

  • 13.2. Additional money will be awarded for participating in league activities. Examples include voting on new rules, award votes and any other item announced by the Commissioner. The amount of these awards will never be more than $0.25 each.

  • 13.3. The Board will make annual awards and all-star events available for all to earn some free agent money. The non-playoff managers will identify 1 player per team for all categories (TBD) and among themselves vote them down to 3 finalists. In addition, the Conference Presidents will select 18 forwards, 10 defensemen and 5 goalies (minimum 1 per team) from each of their conferences. The league will vote for these award winners and all-stars. All voting participants will receive $1.00 per event (maximum $2.00). The commissioner will rectify the all-star game and post results on the league website.

  • 13.4. New coaches will inherit the finances of the old coach with the exception that this number will never be less than $10.

  • 13.5. If a team misses a deadline it forfeits its $2 (Prorated). The team then has 7 days to turn their games in. If they do not do so the Commissioner will auto play the games and the team will be fined up to $2.

  • 13.6. If a coach has a good reason for being late, he may appeal the fine. If the Commissioner and the opposite Conference President both agree, the fine will be waived. In order to appeal the coach must have a valid reason. Valid reasons are severe illness, death in the family and similar occurrences. If a coach is late due to a non-valid reason (like being too busy or on vacation) but prior notice is given, the fine will be halved.

  • 13.7. Any coach who brings in a new coach will be awarded $1 after that coach completes his first season.

  • 13.8. Free Agent money earned by making all deadlines and participating in league activities is not made available until after the season.

SECTION 14 - COMPUTER GAME SETTINGS

  • 14.1. We will play with four lines and three defense pairings. Line shifts are 3 cards long for both Forwards and Defense.

  • 14.2. During the first two periods we will play four lines and three defense pairings. This is reduced to three lines and two defense pairings in the 3rd period and Overtime (except in the playoffs).

  • 14.3. Overtime will be 5 minutes of 4 on 4 play followed by a shootout, if necessary. 1 Point awarded for an overtime or shootout loss.

  • 14.4. Rest, Injuries, Fatigue and Home Ice advantage will be turned off.

  • 14.5. Auto save box score, export file, alternate passing chart and Low Penalty Minutes will be turned on.

  • 14.6. If you want to password protect your CM, you must do two things. First, provide the password to the commissioner in case something needs to be corrected and you are not available. Second, provide a text file indicating your line order for each period to allow the opposing manager to set his lines to match up with yours.

  • 14.7. You cannot make it super hard to match lines by revolving your line order. IE you cannot set up your lines up as 1-2-3-4-3-2-1-4-1-2-4-3. Your line order must be a single group of your 4 lines. You cannot mix and match lines during the 1st and 2nd periods, you may change up your lines in the 3rd period due to the shift to 3 lines. The Board of Governors may override a CM setting if it is deemed to be abusive.

SECTION 15 - STRAT-O-MATIC RULE INTERPRETATIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS

  • 15.1. Any player shots – This shot must go to the player with the highest Offense rating. This must alternate throughout the game. The computer game will let you choose whomever you want. This is contrary to the SOM rules regarding any player shots. If you have chosen people equally you can choose whom to shoot with. If a player with the highest rating has not been chosen as often as others he must take the shot.

SECTION 16 - CHEATING

  • 16.1. If a coach is suspected of cheating he may be dismissed by vote of the Board of Governors. In the unlikely event a Conference President is suspected, it will require only two votes to dismiss him.

SECTION 17 - NEWSLETTERS & YEARBOOKS

  • 17.1. It is my intention to produce annual Yearbooks and hopefully newsletters. These will be in PDF format.

  • 17.2. All coaches are encouraged to submit their own articles for inclusion in newsletters. The season preview is an excellent opportunity to make some money and entertain the other coaches at the same time.

SECTION 18 - DUES

  • 18.1. There are no dues at this time but they may be instituted some day if it becomes necessary for maintaining a nice Web site.

Drafted by Greg Kniaz
Amended by Tom Ayers (August, 2008)