Ohio Jones
Game on...
As we prepare for Free Agency, the Admin team is announcing some rules changes.
Buyouts
We will be implementing the NHL rules on contract buyouts.
Example 2: a 25-year-old player earning $3m per year with 1 year remaining. The remaining contract is $3m, so the team owes $1.0m (1/3rd), paid out over twice the remaining term, or $500,000 per year for two years.
***IMPORTANT*** In light of this change, we are allowing a brief amnesty window before the new buyout rules come into effect. Teams have until Wednesday July 17 at 11:59 pm EST (GMT-5) to declare any additional buyouts under the current rule. After this amnesty window the new rule takes effect, with the next buyout window coming in May/June 2025.
Salary Retention in Trades
We are implementing the NHL rules on salary retention in trades. This change takes effect immediately.
We will be instituting anti-tanking measures. Guidelines of what constitutes tanking behaviour will be provided, along with consequences of non-compliance. The goal of these measures will be to help ensure that GMs make reasonable effort to roster and dress competitive lineups.
Free Agency Update
We will share the Free Agent list, rules and submission deadline this week, and will add to the list any additional buyouts before the submission deadline. Watch for it!
Buyouts
We will be implementing the NHL rules on contract buyouts.
- For players that are 26 or older, a buyout is 2/3 of the remaining salary owed on the contract.
- For players that are under 26, a buyout is 1/3 of the remaining salary owed on the contract.
- All buyouts are spread out over twice the remaining years of the contract.
- The annual cap hit of the buyout is calculated and applied by the SIM.
Example 2: a 25-year-old player earning $3m per year with 1 year remaining. The remaining contract is $3m, so the team owes $1.0m (1/3rd), paid out over twice the remaining term, or $500,000 per year for two years.
***IMPORTANT*** In light of this change, we are allowing a brief amnesty window before the new buyout rules come into effect. Teams have until Wednesday July 17 at 11:59 pm EST (GMT-5) to declare any additional buyouts under the current rule. After this amnesty window the new rule takes effect, with the next buyout window coming in May/June 2025.
Salary Retention in Trades
We are implementing the NHL rules on salary retention in trades. This change takes effect immediately.
- Each team can retain salary on a maximum of three (3) contracts at a time. If you have already retained salary on three players, you cannot retain again until one or more of the retained contracts expire.
- The maximum percentage of a contract you can retain is 50%.
- Retained salary continues to impact the trading team’s cap threshold and cash expenditures for the duration of the remaining contract. (Partial seasons are pro-rated, with calculations done automatically by the Sim.)
- A given’s player’s contract can only be retained twice - so Team A can trade the player to Team B while retaining up to 50% of the original AAV, then Team B can trade the player to Team C while retaining up to 50% of the *remaining* contract (i.e. up to 25% of the original AAV).
- If a team retains salary on a traded player and that player is later sent to the minors, there is no change to the cap hit for the retaining team.
- If a team retains salary on a trade, they cannot reacquire that player for one year from the date of the transaction, unless the contract ends prior to one year.
We will be instituting anti-tanking measures. Guidelines of what constitutes tanking behaviour will be provided, along with consequences of non-compliance. The goal of these measures will be to help ensure that GMs make reasonable effort to roster and dress competitive lineups.
Free Agency Update
We will share the Free Agent list, rules and submission deadline this week, and will add to the list any additional buyouts before the submission deadline. Watch for it!
