OFFICIAL AHL RULEBOOK
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Contents
Rule Zero
Definition of Terms
A. GM Responsibilities/Duties
B. League Play
C. Playoffs
D. Salary Cap
E. Finances
F. Rosters, Lines and Goalies
G. Trading
H. Waivers
I. Free Agents
J. Entry Draft
K. Retirement
L. Rerating Players
M. Attribute Changes
N. Expansion and Relocation
O. All-Star Game (ASG)
P. Awards
Q. Managerial Dispute
R. Tanking
S. Hall of Fame
Rule Zero
Wherever a General Manager fails to manage their team, the Commissioner
will manage the team in a manner that they see fit and in the best
interest of the team and league. This may not be what the General Manager
would do for their team, so it is in the best interest of each General
Manager to participate fully in order retain full autonomy over their
team.
Definition of Terms
-GM -- person responsible for the roster management of a team.
NOTE: only this person's confirmation is accepted for trades and other
managerial duties.
-Pro Team -- The players on the pro level AHL team. There is a limit of 25
players including injured players.
-Farm Team -- The players on the farm level of their pro AHL team. There is no
limit to the number of players on the farm team,
the only restriction is farm salary cap.
-Prospects -- The players who have been drafted through the AHL entry draft
and have not yet received ratings because they have not me the minimum number
of NHL or AmericanHL games in a season yet. There is no limit to the number
of players on a team's prospect list.
-Organization - refers to all players that together make the roster of a team:
the Pro, Farm and Prospects.
-Rookie -- A player/goaltender who has less than 15 regular season games
on the Pro Team, and is aged 25 or younger.
-BRHL Ratings -- The updated set of ratings currently subscribed to for AHL
simulations. Subject to future change. To earn a rating, a skater must play
in a minimum of 10 NHL games or 20 AmericanHL games. A goalie must play in a
minimum of 1 NHL game or 5 AmericanHL games.
-Unrestricted Free Agent -- A player 28 years of age or older who is without
a contract to an AHL team.
-Restricted Free Agent -- A player 27 years of age or younger who is without
a contract to an AHL team but had one during the previous season.
-Re-Rate -- The process by which players ratings are changed during the
off season.
-AHL Cup -- The trophy awarded to the winner of the AHL pro league playoffs.
-Gary Cup -- The trophy awarded to the winner of the AHL farm league playoffs.
A. GM Responsibilities/Duties
1. Every GM is expected to respond to all trade inquiries as soon as possible.
2. Every GM is required to respond to All-Star balloting/award voting, and
to participate in the entry draft and free agent periods.
3. Every GM/Coach is required to send roster moves and lines as often as
necessary to ensure that their team performs to the best of its abilities.
4. Every GM must inform the league of any significant absences preventing
them from perform their expected duties.
5. Every GM is expected to manage their team professionally and in particular
to promote the current and long term well-being of their team.
6. When sending e-mail concerning the AHL, the subject line must start with
"AHL:(subject)".
7. Failure to perform expected GM duties may result in termination of AHL
participation privilege through removal from the league at commissioner's
discretion.
8. A GM can only own one team. If a GM is caught trying to own more, they
will be removed from the league.
9. All GMs are to act in a somewhat professional manner. If a GM is warned
several times or becomes a problem. They may have money or draft picks removed.
In extreme cases, problem GMs will face removal from the league.
B. League Play
B.1 General
1. The league is using SimonT Hockey Simulator v2 to simulate the games. A
thorough knowledge of STHS is not necessary to participate in the AHL,
however, it is helpful.
2. Games are simulated on a nearly daily schedule by the Commissioner. Results,
stats and other related documents are posted on the web site or forum. Important
and urgent updates are e-mailed to the league members.
4. There will be two seasons per calendar year with one entry draft per year,
during our summer off-season. Draft order will be determined by the standings
over the previous two seasons.
3. GMs are responsible for conducting the roster movements of the team. This
involves negotiating trades, moving players between the pro team and farm
team, conducting drafts, and voting for the All-Star Game and Awards, and for
sending in lines and goalie rotations to the Commissioner.
B.2 Schedule
1. The Regular Season consists of 82 games for Pro and 56 games for Farm.
2. An All-Star Game is held each season after approximately 60 games.
3. The trade deadline occurs after 80% of the regular season is complete.
B.3 Injuries and Suspensions
- GM/Coaches are responsible for sending in new line-ups to accommodate any
injuries and suspensions. If no update is submitted before game time, the
commissioner will run the auto-roster and auto-lines function.
C. Playoffs
1. The top eight teams in each conference qualify for the playoffs.
2. The top two seeds in the conference are granted to the division leaders, and the
last six based on regular season standings.
3. Every playoff series is a best of seven games.
4. First round matchups are done like this:
Series 1 8th seed vs 1st seed
Series 2 7th seed vs 2nd seed
Series 3 6th seed vs 3rd seed
Series 4 5th seed vs 4th seed
5. Subsequent rounds pit the highest remaining seed against the lowest remaining
seed.
D. Salary Cap
1. Pro Salary Cap is currently set at $75M max and $35M min. The cap and floor
may change over time, but there is currently no plans to do so.
2. All trades and FA signings must fit within the cap or they will not be processed.
3. Farm cap is set at $20M, before farm deduction is applied (shows as $2M on
finance page).
4. If a team goes over the salary cap, players will be suspended until the team is
within the cap. Suspensions will start with highest paid player until the team is under
the cap.
5. Particularly egregious salary cap issues will be dealt with by the Commissioner as
they see fit. Including buying out contracts, calling up/sending down players and
signing free agents to fix recurring roster errors.
E. Finances
All teams will start with $25M in their bank and 50% season ticket
holders (STH). At the end of each season, all teams will be awarded
$5M in sponsorship money. Teams will also be awarded money and STH
for achievements. All teams are expected to stay positive with their
financials. If they go negative, they will need to make deals to get into
the positive. If teams remain in the negative, they will not be able to
sign FAs and could lose draft picks.
The following monetary and STH awards will be given out based on end of
season standing:
- AHL Cup Champion: +5% season ticket holders.
- Runner Up: $3,000,000 and +3% season ticket holders.
- Conference Finalist: $2,000,000 and +2% season ticket holders.
- Playoffs: $1,000,000 and +1% season ticket holders.
- Non playoff teams in:
- 17-20 place: -1% change in season ticket holders.
- 21-22 place: -2% season ticket holders.
- 23rd place: -3% season ticket holders.
- 24th place: -5% season ticket holders.
Season Ticket Holders:
- All teams will start with 50%.
- Max of 70%, Min of 30%.
- Will change after each season.
- When a team changes GM, STH reset to 50%.
- All arenas will be equal at 20k seats.
F. Rosters, Lines and Goalies
F.1 Rosters
1. Pro roster max is set to 25, must include at least 2 goalies and 6 dmen.
2. Farm rosters can not include players 74 ov and over.
3. Farm rosters also can not have any players with a contract over $2M per season.
OV and $ limit is to avoid teams stashing talent and bad contracts away.
4. Teams must have a full farm team of 20 players minimum.
5. Teams must carry at least 5 goalies between pro and farm rosters at all times except
the off-season. This is to avoid roster errors caused by goalie injuries or suspensions.
F.2 Lines
1. Lineups should be sent to the Commissioner at least once every 10 games, or
whenever the team has suffered an injury as this clears the lines file in STHS.
2. If a lineup received by the Commissioner fails the STHS check, the Commissioner
will run the auto-roster and auto-lines function before simulation.
F.3 Goalies
1. Every team must carry a minimum of 5 goalies in their organization at all
times except the offseason.
2. Goalies can play a maximum of 4225 minutes in the pro league during a single
season. Goalies who come within 65 minutes (60 regular and 5 potential OT minutes)
will be suspended for the remainder of the regular season.
G. Trading
1. Trades may involve players, draft picks or cash. Future Considerations,
which are often used as a way to circumvent the rules (whether as player
loans, delayed processing of part of the trade based on conditional events
such as player offseason status, team or player rerating, etc.) are also
not allowed. It is assumed that all GMs involved in a trade have access to
and are made aware of all the relevant information to judge the value of
the assets involved. The Commissioner has the power to veto any trade deemed
to be violating these rules.
-League minimum cash in a deal for a player is 250k per player.
2. Draft picks from the next 3 drafts only may be traded. Teams must own
at least 1 (their own or another team's) 1st round pick during each 3 year
(6 seasons) period.
3. Trades are made by the GMs involved by submitting and confirming the trade
on the league forum. If the trade looks grossly lopsided, and is judged to
be absolutely hurtful to the general well-being and spirit of the league,
then the Commissioner has the right to go back to the GMs and ask for a
reworking of the trade. Otherwise, the Commissioner may cancel or processes
the trade by sending traded players, picks and cash to their new team.
4. Traded players report to the pro/farm as per their current waiver status,
unless other roster limitations prevent it. GMs are responsible for making
the appropriate roster moves that go along with a trade to ensure legal
rosters and lineups.
6. Trading deadline is set at the 80% mark of the regular season and no trade
is processed by the league after that deadline has passed.
7. New GMs joining the AHL are under trade supervision until their first trade
deadline has passed. A Trade Watch Committee, composed of 4 GMs representing
each of the four pro divisions, is allowed to review and veto any trade that
is obviously lopsided. This aims to prevent unscrupulous GMs to take advantage
of the ignorance of a new GM. This grace period allows the new GM to learn the
AHL-specific intricacies, rules and factors involved in judging players and
draft picks value. If a trade is vetoed, the GMs are made aware of the
reasons behind the decision, and are in turn allowed to explain their
reasoning for the trade, to rework it, or to cancel it.
8. The Commissioner reserves the right to submit any trade judged unfair or
unsportmanlike to a Committee as well. The goal is to keep the league fair
and competitive. Someone usually gets a better deal, but very uneven trades
will be vetoed for the best interest of the league. Repeated bad trades can
result in removal.
H. Waivers
-Players 25 and younger will be exempt from going to waivers when sent from pro to farm.
Claims must be sent to league. STHS handles claiming order.
Note that this does not apply during the offseason. This only applies once a player has
played 1 game on your pro roster.
-There will also be an exemption for players who are called up to replace a player on the
pro roster due to long term injury when they are sent back down upon the player they are
replacing being active again. This exemption will also include salary towards cap hit.
I. Free Agents
1. Free Agency: All teams will have first shot at signing their Free agents
at the following rates.
-Maximum term for a contract is 7 seasons (3.5 calendar years)
-UFA over 27 years old (sim age), 25% increase.
-RFA 23 to 27, $750k and under 110% increase.
- Over $750k less than $1M 105%.
- $1M - $2M 100% increase.
-RFA over $2M will be 15% increase. To avoid young stars from staying at
close to league minimum contracts
-RFA 22 and under will sign according to the following chart. Ratings from
the following season will be used:
OV
80+ $6M
75-79 $5M
73-74 $4M
71-72 $3M
69-70 $2M
67-68 $1.5M
65-66 $1M
63-64 $750k
-62 $525k
-The age of players signing after odd numbered seasons (winter) will be calculated on
January 1st while the age of players signing after even numbered seasons (summer) will
be calculated on July 1st, regardless of which point in the season or off-season the
league is currently in.
2. Any unsigned players will go into the FA market and teams can place bids on them.
-Bids must increase by 25% of the total contract.
Example:
Opening bid, Team 1 - 2 seasons, $5M per, $10M total.
Team 2 - 6 seasons, $3M per, $18M total.
Team 1 - 5 seasons, $5M per, $25M total.
Team 2 - 7 seasons, $4.5M per, $31.5M total.
-Winner will be the highest total contract after 48 hours. Reduced to 24 hours
towards the end of the free agent signing period.
-Bidding will take place in the FA section of the forum in a thread dedicated to
each player and bids must be placed in the following format:
$Dollar Amount x Seasons Offered = $Total contract value
(example) $2,000,000 x 5 seasons = $10,000,000 total
3. There is no compensation for UFA. Old teams have no rights to player if they do not
resign them before FA resigning deadline.
4. There is compensation for RFAs that hit the market. Teams who own a RFAs rights can
match the winning bid, take compensation from the winning team or negotiate alternate compensation.
-Teams bidding on an RFA, must have the draft picks available in the next draft at the time the bid
is placed or the bid will be considered null and voided. If the compensation involves multiple
picks, they must be available in the next two drafts.
-RFA Comp:
$8M+ per - 2 1st round picks
$6-8M per - 1st + 2nd round picks
$5M+ per - 1st round pick
$4M+ per - 2nd round pick
$3M+ per - 3rd round pick
$2M+ per - 4th round pick
-When a team bids on a restricted free agent, the potential draft picks that will be used
for compensation will be locked until the bid is resolved. The picks will not be allowed to
be traded or used in the process of making other RFA bids or used in any other way.
5.1 All free agents will be on the unassigned list. If you bid on a player who is 27 and
under, it is your responsibility to check if they are a UFA or RFA by checking the rosters
from the previous season in the AHL history section.
5.2 The former contract holder of an RFA has the right to match any offer that the player
receives during the free agent signing period or negotiate alternate compensation.
The former contract holder must notify the league within 24 hours of the winning bid
closing with their intention to match the offer in order to retain the player.
6. Coaches Contracts:
-Pro coach minimum salary is $1M per season.
-Farm coach minimum salary is $550K per season. His EX rating can't be higher than 79.
-Coaches will always take a pro job over a farm job even if the salary for the farm
job is higher.
7. Prospect contracts:
-Once a skater has met the minimum games played threshold and earns a rating, they will
be added to the league database and will need to be activated to a team’s roster the
season following a league wide re-rates.
-Goalies are created after playing 1 game.
-Prospects on prospect lists from the 2014 NHL draft or before will enter the league
at 3 seasons for 525k per.
-For prospects from the 2015 NHL draft (2016 AHL draft) and after will enter the
league with the following contracts:
1st/2nd pick of draft: $1.75M for 5 seasons
3rd-10th: $1.5M for 5 seasons
11th-32th: $1M for 5 seasons
2nd round picks: $850k for 5 seasons
3rd round picks: $750k for 4 seasons
4th round picks: $650k for 3 seasons
5th round picks: $525k for 3 seasons
6th round picks: $525k for 3 seasons
6. Contract buyouts: Teams can buyout contracts at 50% of remaining contract. Must have
funds in bank account. Player can not be bid on or return to former team until the next
season. In-season buyouts will be prorated.
Prospect buyouts will cost 500k per prospect (free if retired), to remove from prospect list.
Example: John Doe, 4 seasons at 4 mil per, 16 mil total, 8 mil to buyout. Player can not
be resigned during FA by team that bought him out. This is used to free teams of bad
contracts. Also can be used to buyout contracts of players who retire with time left on
contracts.
Example: John Doe is 38 and is signed for 7 seasons. John Doe plays 2 seasons and retires.
Doe's team would be on the hook for remaining 5 seasons of contract. Team would carry those
5 seasons against cap or need to buy it out. Exception to this would be a player that
retired due to injury/illness with seasons left on contract. Those seasons would be void.
J. Entry Draft
1. The draft includes all 24 teams.
2. The order is reverse regular season overall standings order of the previous two
seasons combined ( If a tie break is needed, playoff success, average finishing position
and best point total for 1 season will be used.), with the following exceptions:
-2.1 Lottery between the top 5 picks overall (affecting first round only) with the
following odds:
1. 24th place team - 50 balls
2. 23rd place team - 26 balls
3. 22nd place team - 14 balls
4. 21st place team - 6 balls
5. 20th place team - 4 balls
-2.2 Picks from defunct teams that are owned by current teams, will be given
an average point total of non-playoff teams.
3. The Entry Draft consists of 6 rounds and is held on the league forum.
4. When a GM fails to attend the Entry Draft and does not supply the commissioner
with a list they will automatically be awarded the highest available draft pick
based on the NHL draft results.
5. GMs will be warned in advance of the date and time the draft officially starts.
-Once it’s underway, teams will have 8 hours to make their selection.
-Back to back pick doesn’t double the time you have to make your selection.
6. Please note that the clock stops between 12am and 6am ET.
7. If you miss a selection, the round will keep going and you can jump in anytime to
make your missed pick but once we reach the end of a round, the best ranked available
player will be selected by the league (if you got the last pick of the round, you get
an autopick right away).
8. If you plan on being away for some time and don’t want to autopick, you can always
send a list to the Commissioner or a fellow GM who will make the selection for you.
9. The available players for the AHL draft are always players from the previous year’s
NHL draft (2023 AHL draft is for players drafted in 2022 in the NHL).
10. You can only pick players who were drafted, even if they were technically eligible
for the draft.
11. Players in the draft that already have ratings may be immediately placed on the
roster with an entry level contract, or held on the prospect list for one year at a
cost of $500,000. After the first year is over, they will be treated normally.
K. Retirement
1. Retired Players: When a player retires from the NHL, he still gets ratings
from his last season, which makes him available for the next 2 seasons. Once
he loses his ratings, if he still has terms on his contract, the team owning
the players will need to buy him out.
2. Unofficially Retired/LTIR Players: Players who are forced to retire because
of an injury/illness can be removed from a team once he loses his ratings,
free of charge.
3. Other Players without Ratings: If a rated player does not play the minimum
games during a season (NHL - skaters: 10, goalies: 1 and AmericanHL - skaters: 20, goalies: 5),
they will not get new ratings following the league wide re-rates (injury, holdout, plays in
any other league but the AmericanHL or NHL). A GM will have 3 options:
-Option 1: Buyout the player.
-Option 2: For players who failed to meet the minimum games due to long-term injury.
Keep the player with an "Injury Rating". Their durability rating will be set to 50
and all other ratings (excluding experience and leadership) will be reduced by 10% each
season that they remain on the roster.
-Option 3: For players who were holdouts or played in a different league.
Keep the player with unusable ratings. Their ratings will be set to 5 across the board
rendering them unplayable in league play but able to be retained on the roster in the
event that they return to full status and can be re-rated in the future.
4. Retired from NHL but still playing elsewhere: In the eventuality where a players
retires from the NHL to get out of a contract but keeps playing hockey elsewhere,
he will be considered retired and will need to be bought out (ex. Kovalchuk, Krejci).
L. Rerating Players
1. League wide re-rates will take place before each odd numbered season starts.
2. Currently the league uses the BRHL rating set.
3. Teams will be allowed to re-rate two players each offseason to reflect changes
such as prospect who have debuted and performed well who were not previously rated,
or players who made significant improvements during the season.
M. Attribute Changes
1. Changes to a player's roster position are allowed only during the offseason.
2. Position changes are meant to be corrections, not coaching strategies.
Position change requests will only be accepted if they are judged to be a
correction to the player's main position, as ruled by the Commissioner.
3. Correction to a player's birthdate may be made at any time. General Managers
should remain vigilant in double checking their player ages each season as
they have a significant affect on contract offers and free agency.
N. Expansion and Relocation
1. The number of teams in the league is currently 24, with no plans for
expansion.
2. GMs for available or expansion teams are chosen by the Commissioner.
3. A team can only be relocated or renamed during the offseason. Once the season
has started, the name is set for the whole year. New GMs taking control of a
team while the season is in progress have to wait until the offseason to
relocate or rename the team.
4. The cost to relocate or rename a team is $46,000,000 which is deducted
from the team's bank account and distributed to the other 23 teams in the
league in the form of $2,000,000 payments for each.
5. Teams are limitd to using former or current NHL cities and names.
6. There is no cost for relocating farm teams and no restriction on farm team
names and locations.
O. All-Star Game (ASG)
1. Schedule: The All-Star game will take place after roughly 60 games
have been played. Home ice advantage will go to the conference
matching the team that leads the AHL in overall record at that
point of the season.
2. Coaches: The head coach for each team will be selected based on
the team with the best record after 50 games. The head coach
can name up to two assistant coaches.
3. Rosters: Will consist of 20 players for each conference, made up
of 12 forwards, 6 defensemen and 2 goaltenders. The starting 3
forwards, 2 defenseman and 1 goaltender for each conference will
be determined by league-wide vote. The remaining 14 players to
complete the 20-man roster will be selected by the coaches according
to the following criteria:
- most deserving players in the current season so far.
- each team in the conference should be represented by at least
1 player.
- one player is named Captain, and two selected as Alternates
- if a Starter is injured prior to the All-Star Series, a
replacement player must be selected.
- no injuries will occur during the ASG.
4. Lines: coaches must submit lines with the starters dressed
and slotted in line 1 of 5on5.
5. Award Money will be distributed as such:
- $1,000,000 will be awarded to each team from the
winning conference.
- $1,000,000 will be awarded to the team from which
the first star of the game is representing.
- $750,000 will be awarded to
the team from which the second star of the game is representing.
- $500,000 will be awarded to the team from
which the third star of the game is representing.
P. Awards
The following trophies are awarded every season based on voting by each
AHL manager, award money is denoted:
- Hart Memorial Trophy (League's Most Valuable Player) - $2,000,000
- James Norris Trophy (Best Defenseman) - $1,000,000
- Vezina Trophy (Best Goaltender) - $1,000,000
- Frank J. Selke Trophy (Best Defensive Forward) - $1,000,000
- Jack Adams Award (Coach of the Year) - $1,000,000
- Calder Memorial Trophy (Rookie of the Year) - $1,000,000
- Lady Byng Memorial Trophy (Sportmanship) - $1,000,000
- AHL GM of the Season - $1,000,000
- AHL 1st Line - $1,000,000
The following trophies will be awarded by the League based on regular
season stats:
- Art Ross Trophy (Most Points in the regular season) - $1,000,000
- Maurice Richard Trophy (Most Goals in the regular season) - $1,000,000
- Wayne Gretzky Trophy (Most Assists in the regular season) - $1,000,000
- Bobby Orr Award (Most Points by a defenseman in the regular season) - $1,000,000
- Presidents' Trophy (Regular Season Champions) - $2,000,000
- William M. Jennings Trophy (Fewest Goals Against in the regular season) - $1,000,000
- Larry Robinson Award (+/- Leader in the regular season) - $1,000,000
- Tie Domi Brass Knuckles Award (Most fights in the regular season) - $1,000,000
- Gordie Howe Award (any player that reaches 20+ goals, 30+ assists, and 200+ pim.) - $1,000,000
- Triple Crown (any player that finishes the season as the leader in goals, assists, points.) - $5,000,000
The following trophies are awarded by the League based on playoff performance:
- AHL Cup (Playoff Champions)
- Clarence Campbell (Northern Conference Champions)
- Prince of Wales (Southern Conference Champions)
- Gary Cup (Farm League Playoff Champions) - $2,000,000
The following trophy is awarded by the AHL Cup winning General Manager
based on playoff performance:
- Conn Smythe Trophy (Playoffs MVP) - $1,000,000
Playoff Finish money:
AHL Cup - $5,000,000 and +5% STH
Cup Finalist - $3,000,000 and +3% STH
Conf. Finalist - $2,000,000 and +2% STH
Playoffs - $1,000,000 and +1% STH
17-20 place: -1% change in season ticket holders.
21-22 place: -2% season ticket holders.
23rd place: -3% season ticket holders.
24th place: -5% season ticket holders.
All award winners also get +1% STH
Q. Managerial Dispute
Where two or more teams are in dispute over some matter such as a trade, and
these rules do not cover the matter in dispute, the commissioner will have final say on how to determine an outcome.
R. Tanking
If the commissioner or a review board feels anyone is tanking, we will look into it more and
decide on it. Having a bad team is allowed. What’s illegal is purposely not
playing your best players.
1st time-5 spot drop on all draft picks.
2nd time-10 spot drop on all draft picks.
3rd time-Removal.
S. Hall of Fame
1. Will be established after the AHL25 season is complete.
2. A retired player becomes eligible one year after their official
retirement from professional hockey.
3. A maximum of 5 players, General Managers and/or coaches will be introduced
each year.
4. The Hall of Fame Committee selects a maximum of 15 players and 5
GMs/Coaches, and then all GMs in the league vote for the 5 most deserving.
5. The vote by itself does not guarantee entrance into the Hall of Fame. A HoF
review committee will make the final determination on acceptance.
6. If a player has been made eligible 3 times and has not been accepted, they are
permanently removed from the list of potential inductees.