CONSTITUTION & RULES

Conditional Compensation – is a package of one or more tradeable assets that are only included in a trade if certain pre-determined conditions are met.

Dress (Dressing) – Placing a player on an active roster position so that points accumulated by said player count towards weekly matchup totals.

Farm Team Position – One of a determined number of positions that may be used to retain an NHL player that satisfies the requirements of section 7.0.

General Manager (GM) – The individual that takes sole responsibility for all transactions pertaining to their assigned roster and farm team.

IR – Injured Reserve

Keeper Position – One of a determined number of positions that may be used to retain an NHL player on your League roster from one season to the next.

NA – Not Applicable – If next to a player’s name, the player is not currently on an NHL roster.

NHFL – National Hockey Fantasy League herein referred to as The League.

OTR Notification – Overdue Trade Reply Notification. A notification to the Commissioner when response to a trade proposal has not been received within five (5) business days.

Overage Player - Any player drafted in the League draft by a team without an open roster spot for them.

Rostered Players – A hockey player who is neither on the injured reserve or deemed not applicable that is on an NHFL player roster.

Tanking – To lose intentionally i.e. give up in competition.

2.0 Membership

2.1 Regular Season Play

2.1.1 Membership in The League shall be limited to members herein designated, and such new members as may be hereafter duly elected. The Member Clubs of The League are owned by:

i. Brian Azzopardi - Lake Azzo Sports, Media & Entertainment, Inc.

ii. Matthew Cheese - Dick Cheese LLC

iii. Michael Hayman - HC Haymos Sports & Entertaiment, Ltd

iv. Kristopher Heil - Brigade Hockey Klub Corporation

v. Michael Mesquita - Funky Cold Hockey Team, Inc.

vi. Ryan Mussen - Beavers Sports & Entertainment, LLC

vii. Evan Ouzounis - Cerberus HC, Inc.

viii. Martin Quinlan - Greatest Of All Time Limited Partnership

ix. Michael Sheriff - Make Me Laugh Hockey Club, Ltd.

x. Christopher White - Stache Professional Hockey Association, Inc.

xi. Jason White - Centre Ice Trading, LLC

xii. Wes Youngs - Beamsville Bench Holdings, LLC

The Member Clubs agree that each will maintain and operate a fantasy hockey team of the highest possible playing calibre for the purpose of engaging annually in a regular schedule of championship and playoff games with rosters of other Member Clubs.

2.2 Admission of New Members

2.2.1 Team Expansion: Each applicant for membership shall make an official proclamation to the League. Upon receipt of any application for membership, the Commissioner shall conduct such investigations as he deems appropriate. Upon completion of the investigations, the Commissioner shall forward the application to the League members for approval, together with his recommendations and all such information that the Commissioner deems pertinent. A unanimous vote of the members of the league shall be required for election to membership.

2.2.2 Transfer of Ownership: No membership or ownership interest in a Member Club may be sold, assigned or otherwise transferred except (a) with the consent of two-thirds of the members of the League, and (b) upon the condition that the transferee will at all times be bound by and comply with the terms, provisions and conditions of this Constitution, and (c) upon the further condition that the transferee shall assume or guarantee all personnel and draft pick debts, liabilities and obligations of the transferor member existing at the date of transfer.

3.0 Fair Play and Sportsmanship

3.1 Code of Ethics

3.1.1 By accepting a role as a team Manager, each GM agrees to the following:

i. All league-related transactions will be executed with the intent of improving the owner's team and/or its standing within the league now or in the future,

ii. No owner may drop or "dump" players from their team for any reason other than improving their own team and/or its standing within the league now or in the future,

iii. No owner will engage in any action that may be deemed to be collusive (i.e. two or more Managers agreeing to make moves that benefit one team, but not the other),

iv. No owner will take any action whose purpose is to, in any way, interfere with fair play in The League

3.1.2 Any failure to follow all of the abovementioned regulations will result in the limitation or removal of League privileges for the offending Manager. These restrictions may include:

i. The suspension of specific League privileges (i.e trading, message board posting, etc.) for the remainder of the season

ii. The suspension of all League privileges for the remainder of the season

iii. The transfer of the Managers franchise to a new owner

iv. Any other action that the Commissioner, at his sole discretion, feels necessary to restore fair play to the league.

4.0 Regular Season

4.1 Regular Season Play

4.1.1 A Manager that purposely attempts to lose any given weekly matchup, regular season or otherwise, shall be said to have attempted ‘Tanking’. Managers must make every effort possible to dress a complete roster on a daily basis. This effort must include, but is not limited to, the following

i. Fielding a roster of 23 players. Players designated as on the IR or as NA do not qualify as rostered players and, as such, fulsome utilization of such players will be viewed as ‘Tanking’.

ii. Dressing active players on game days.

iii. Achieving a minimum of three (3) goaltending games played in a week.

iv. Maintaining a ‘fantasy competitive’ roster. It is understood that, through trades, rosters may be weakened or reduced to fewer than 23 rosterable players. It is expected that each GM will utilize the best available talent to populate their roster (Farm team players are exempt)

If a Manager is viewed to have attempted ‘Tanking’, the following consequences will apply

i. First offence – Manager will receive a verbal warning, posted on the league message board, and depending on the league impact of the tanking actions, up to the loss of three (3) draft picks, selection of which shall be at the Commissioner's discretion.

ii. Second offence – Manager will forfeit their top six (6) draft picks in the next draft or all of their draft picks in the top six (6) rounds of the draft, whichever is viewed as worse.

iii. Third offence – Manager will forfeit their top six (6) draft picks in the next League draft or all of their draft picks in the top six (6) rounds of the League draft, whichever is viewed as worse, as well as forfeit three (3) keeper positions.

iv. Fourth offence – Manager will forfeit all draft picks and keeper positions for the upcoming season.

A subsequent attempt at ‘Tanking’ by any given Manager will henceforth result in banishment from The League.

4.1.2 No compensation shall be awarded to any Manager who feels they have been negatively affected by another Managers attempt at ‘Tanking’.

4.2 Rule Changes

4.2.1 Categorical changes will be decided by a majority vote of League General Managers where a minimum of eight (8) votes must be received.

4.2.2 Categorical changes must be made for the upcoming season prior to the Keeper Deadline.

4.2.3 Roster position changes will be decided by a majority vote of League General Managers where a minimum of eight (8) votes must be received.

4.2.4 Roster position changes must be made for the upcoming season prior to the July keeper designation deadline.

4.2.5 All other rule changes will be decided by a majority vote of League General Managers under the following conditions;

i. the voting poll is posted by the Commissioner,

ii. the voting is tallied over a period of at least seven (7) days and no more than fourteen (14) days,

iii. the Commissioner clearly states the closing date for the poll,

iv. a minimum of five (5) votes must be received,

v. the voting poll is the first of its kind for the proposed rule change (or any variation thereof) during the active season. A rule change (or any variation thereof) may only be proposed once each season, unless it can be demonstrated that a combined majority (all votes originally cast + all expected re-vote results) will change the outcome by at least two (2) votes.

4.2.6 All other rule changes agreed upon mid-season may not take effect until the upcoming season, unless unanimous league approval is obtained by all parties submitting votes within one (1) week of rule approval. If a General Manager does not submit a vote for the implementation of a new rule, that General Manager may not submit a vote for when said new rule enters into effect.

4.2.7 In the event that a proposed rule change is time sensitive in nature, the Commissioner may make exemptions to any of the criteria set forth in this clause, at his discretion.

5.0 Transactions

5.1 Trading

5.1.1 All trades must be agreed upon by all teams involved before the trade is processed. If there is a valid misunderstanding between trading parties on the players or draft picks involved, the trade will be,

a. denied or rejected outright, or

b. if the misunderstanding is brought to attention after the trade is processed, the trade will be reversed with all players and draft picks going back to the teams they were on prior to the trade.

The misunderstanding MUST be reported within one (1) day of the date of trade process.

NO compensation will be granted to any team in response to any grievance about points accumulated by players involved in a reversed trade.

5.1.2 No Manager may request that a trade is reversed, unless a plausible misunderstanding between the trading parties ONLY can be identified.

5.1.3 All in-season transactions that include the trading of farm spots, keeper spots, or involve draft picks outside of the first 18 rounds of the draft, shall be posted on The League message board.

5.1.4 All transactions involving Free Agent Acquisition Budget dollars that occur during the regular season or in the off season shall be posted on The League message board.

5.1.5 All transactions occurring during The League off-season shall be posted on The League Facebook message board.

5.1.6 Managers must respond to trade proposals, within five (5) business days, if it is reasonable to expect so. Constant tardiness with respect to replying to trade proposals will result in loss of draft picks, at the Commissioner’s discretion.

The following is a guideline for applicable punishment;

i. Loss of late round draft pick for more than one tardy response, after official verbal warning posted on The League message board.

ii. Loss of multiple late round draft picks or loss of one mid-round draft pick if inexplicable tardy responses persist.

iii. Loss of multiple mid-round draft picks if inexplicable tardy responses continue to persist.

5.1.7 The Commissioner must be notified of an overdue trade reply (herein referred to as an Overdue Trade Reply (OTR) Notification) by the General Manager that proposed the original trade.

5.1.8 In order for an OTR Notification to be valid, the date that the trade was proposed must be posted in the comment section of the trade proposal. A notification from Yahoo! indicating that an offer has expired because the offer had not been accepted within ten (10) days can also be used to validate an OTR.

5.1.9 Acceptable responses to trade proposals

i. Trade acceptance, rejection or counteroffer on the Yahoo! website,

ii. Email,

iii. Text message,

iv. Phone message,

v. Other written/recorded medium.

Please note that unrecorded verbal communication is not considered an acceptable response method. The ONLY communication methods that will be recognized and considered official in trade negotiations are;

i. Trade acceptance, rejection or counteroffer on the Yahoo! website wherever possible,

ii. Email or text message from both trading parties to the Commissioner prior to the trading deadline where time constraints do not allow for feasible use of the Yahoo! website.

5.1.10 Pending conditional draft picks that are already involved in a transaction may not be included in another transaction until the draft pick is no longer conditional.

5.1.11 Trading of keeper positions is permitted. See Section 6.0 for more details.

5.1.12 Managers may request that the Commissioner re-adds a player to their roster that needed to be dropped to facilitate the trade for an IR+ eligible player. The Commissioner will re-add the player, provided the acquiring manager informs the Commissioner of the pending trade and posts the required re-add on the League message board. A Manager may not request that the Commissioner add a player to their roster from their farm team or from the free agent/waiver list.

5.1.13 Once a player is traded away from a team, that team cannot reacquire that player in a trade until 3 weeks have passed since the player was initially traded away - a GM attempting to circumvent this rule shall will have been said to have tried to acquire a 'rental' player. GMs may request an exemption to this rule on a case-by-case basis, if they can sufficiently demonstrate that the player in question was never intended as a 'rental' player. Commissioner discretion will be used when granting exemptions, but if the evidence provided with the exemption request is not conclusive, a league discussion may be required prior to ruling on the validity of the exemption request.

5.2 Conditional Compensation

5.2.1 Conditional compensation may be included in a transaction. Any trade involving conditional compensation will be subject to review and approval by the Commissioner prior to trade processing.

5.2.2 No substitutions of conditional assets will be permitted.

5.2.3 Conditional compensation may be awarded based on one or more of the following:

i. Games played limits;

ii. Performance limits (e.g. goals, assists, shutouts, wins)

iii. Player retention (keeper or farm spots used to retain a player)

iv. NHFL team success

5.3 Trade Deadline

5.3.1 The League trading deadline will be set prior to each League season.

5.3.2 The League trading deadline will be in effect until after the keeper deadline. No trades will be processed between The League trading deadline and the keeper deadline.

5.3.3 Trades agreed to in their entirety prior to the League trading deadline will be processed (provided all other requirements stated in 5.1 are satisfied). In the event where one or more of the trading parties are unable to gain access to the Yahoo site to accept a trade prior to the trade deadline, the transaction details may be forwarded in writing in their entirety to the Commissioner for processing

5.3.4 The League trading deadline will be on the set date at 11:59:59 pm PST (or the latest time of day allowed by Yahoo, whichever is later). All trades agreed to in their entirety, but not yet processed through Yahoo (as discussed in 5.3.5) must be received in writing in their entirety by the Commissioner from all trading parties prior to this deadline.

5.3.5 Trades unable to be processed on the Yahoo site and received in their entirety in writing, from both trade parties, by the Commissioner prior to the trade deadline may be processed by the Commissioner after the passing of the trade deadline at the Commissioner's earliest ability to do so.

5.4 Waivers

5.4.1 Each team shall receive a $100 Free Agent Acquisition Budget at the end of the league draft to be used on waiver claims for the upcoming season.

5.4.2 Free Agent Acquisition Budget may not be carried over from previous seasons.

5.4.3 Free Agent Acquisition Budget may be traded between teams. Any trade of Free Agent Acquisition Budget must be posted on the League message board for all in-season transactions, or the the League Facebook page for all off-season transactions.

5.4.4 Waiver priority to begin The League season will be set based on the inverse round order of The League draft (discounting traded draft picks – see Draft section 5.5.7)

5.4.5 Waiver priority positioning that changes teams via trade are effective immediately upon trade approval. This portion of the transaction may occur prior to the players or draft picks involved in the transaction changing teams.

5.4.6 Waivers will be in effect beginning after The League draft is complete and will remain so until the first day of the NHL regular season.

5.4.7 Waiver priority will not be reset in the event of a mistaken waiver wire claim (i.e. claiming a player on another farm team etc.). Team add/drop numbers will also not be reset in the event of any mistaken free agent add/drop.

5.5 Draft Picks

5.5.1 Each General Manager is responsible for ensuring the validity of his or her own draft picks. The draft list will be posted on the NHFL website at the conclusion of the 50 Mission Cup; however, the Commissioner assumes no responsibility for ensuring that each Managers draft list is accurate and complete.

5.5.2 Any draft pick discrepancies must be brought to the attention of the Commissioner a minimum of five (5) days prior to the NHFL draft. No consideration will be made to queries made outside of this time period unless written, posted proof from the transaction date is available.

5.5.3 i) Any Manager who has acquired more draft picks than roster positions may draft more players than will fit on their team (i.e Overage players). Managers have until the end of the day on a date specified by the Commissioner before the start of the first week of the regular season to resolve all overage player issues. All overage player-related transactions must be posted on The League message board.

5.5.3 ii) A team must resolve all Overage players prior to acquiring players via waivers or free agency.

5.5.4 Pre-season transactions are in effect from the moment they are posted on the message board.

5.5.5 Draft picks may be traded from the closest upcoming League draft ONLY.

5.5.6 Teams must exchange an equal number of draft picks in any trade.

5.5.7 Draft pick order will be determined as follows,

i. 1st overall selection – winner of consolation final

ii. 2nd overall selection – loser of consolation final

iii. 3rd overall selection - winner of the 9th place game

iv. 4th overall selection - loser of the 9th place game

v. 5th overall selection – winner of the JOCKO final

vi. 6th overall selection – loser of the JOCKO final

vii. 7th overall selection – winner of the 5th place game

viii. 8th overall selection – loser of the 5th place game

ix. 9th overall selection – winner of the 3rd place game

x. 10th overall selection – loser of the 3rd place game

xi. 11th overall selection – loser of the League Championship

xii. 12th overall selection – winner of the League Championship

6.0 Keeper Positions

6.1 General

6.1.1 The default number of keeper positions is frozen at 5 (5) per team until the conclusion of the 2019/2020 League season.

6.1.2 Keeper players must be chosen by the Keeper Deadline for the upcoming season. Each Manager must post their keepers on the shared Google Sheet (which then updates the NHFL website)

6.1.3 After the Keeper Deadline, no changes to keeper players may be made. Special consideration may be given for changing keeper players under extenuating circumstances, e.g. abrupt player defection to the KHL, abrupt retirement, career ending injury.

6.1.4 The maximum number of keeper positions that a General Manager is permitted to carry over an off-season is seven (7). A General Manager is permitted to obtain more than seven (7) keeper spots during the season, however all keeper positions over and above seven (7) will not be recognized and these keeper spots will be forfeited.

6.1.5 The minimum number of keeper positions that a General Manager is permitted to carry is three (3). At no point will a General Manager be permitted to have less than three (3) keeper positions.

6.1.6 The number of keeper positions each team is entitled to will be reset to the default number of keeper positions per team after the Keeper Deadline.

7.0 Farm Team

7.1 General

7.1.1 The default number of farm team positions is frozen at three (3) per team until the conclusion of the 2019/2020 League season.

7.2 Transactions

7.2.1 Trading of farm team positions is permitted. The maximum number of farm team positions that a General Manager is permitted to carry over an off-season is five (5). A General Manager is permitted to obtain more than five (5) farm team spots during the season, however all farm team positions over and above five (5) will not be recognized and these farm team spots will be forfeited.

7.2.2 The League designated trading deadline applies to Farm Team players. Trading of Farm Team players is considered the equivalent of trading League rostered players. Any ‘switch’ of farm team players between teams after the trading deadline and prior to the next League draft that is ruled, under the discretion of the League Commissioner, as ‘premeditated’, is strictly prohibited and will be outright denied. Both parties involved in said ‘switch’ will forfeit their best available pick in the upcoming draft.

7.2.3 Eligible players (see Section 7.3 Player Qualifications) may be added or dropped from Farm Teams at any point during The League season up until the Farm Team Freeze deadline.

7.2.4 Farm Teams will be frozen from add/drops from a date specified by the League Commissioner prior to the Keeper Deadline until after The League draft. Trading of Farm Team players is permitted after the Keeper Deadline until the following trade deadline.

7.2.5 Farm Team players will be added or dropped from Farm Team rosters only after an official post on the League message board or, if the League message board is not accessible, on the League Facebook page. No other methods of announcing Farm Team transactions will be accepted.

7.2.6 Each farm team will be reset to the default number of farm team positions at the conclusion of each League draft.

7.2.7 Farm team transactions may be completed at any point from the conclusion of the League draft until the July farm team freeze. The farm team freeze will occur at a date as specified by the Commissioner

7.2.8 If a Manager trades for a player on another Manager's farm team, the team acquiring the farm player may request that the Commissioner add said farm player to their roster, in order to avoid using a weekly player add. A player added from the free agent list to a farm spot may be traded to another team after they've been on that farm spot for at least 2 calendar days (i.e. if they're added on a Monday, they are permitted to be traded on or after Wednesday).

7.2.9 If a Manager mistakenly adds a player to their roster that is on another Managers farm team, and the player isn't dropped or benched before they play a game for the team that does not hold their rights, then that Manager must drop the player in question at the earliest possible time. In addition, the match-up opponent of the team that made the ineligible player-add may select two (2) player games that the offending team must bench during the match-up in question. The selected player games to be benched must be skater games, unless the ineligible player add was a goaltender, in which case up to one (1) goalie start may be selected as one of the two (2) player games.

7.3 Player Qualifications

7.3.1 In order to qualify for the farm team, the player must meet ALL of the following conditions

i. The player must not have played 25 or more NHL games in TWO (2) individual hockey seasons (excluding NHL playoff games). This criteria does not apply to the off-season at the conclusion of the players second season of 25 or more games (i.e. once a player has played in two seasons of 25 or more NHL games, they are no longer farm eligible at the start of the following season. The start of the following season shall be defined as after the most recent NHFL draft)

ii. The player must have been drafted or signed by an NHL team at some point in their professional career.

iii. The player must not currently be rostered on another League team or claimed on another League farm team, or be on waivers at the time of player claim unless the player has been placed on waivers by the team adding said player to their farm.

iv. The player must have qualified for at least one (1) NHFL draft.

v. In addition to the above conditions, the player must NOT have been on a post-season NHFL roster, at any point in time during the active NHFL playoffs (puck-drop of first game on first day of round 1 until the completion of the NHFL championship matchup). This stipulation includes consolation round matchups. Farm team players MUST be dropped from playoff rosters prior to the first day of playoff matchups regardless of whether or not your team is active (i.e. A playoff bye).

If the player, or the draft pick used to select the player, was acquired prior to the completion of the 2017 draft, and the player has not been released to the FA list or left as a waiver claim ever since, then the previous farm eligibility rules (3-years, 10-games per season) shall apply.

7.3.2 Within a single waiver period, an eligible player is permitted to be added to a farm team up to one time, provided that they are being added by the team that placed the player on waivers.

7.3.3 In the event that a roster transaction violates any of the above-mentioned qualifications (e.g. dropping an ineligible player to your farm, adding a player to your roster that is already claimed on another GMs farm team, etc.), the transaction with the violating player in question will be reversed (automatically) and all players will go back to their location prior to the transaction (herein referred to as the ‘Marty’ rule). If a Manager uses the waiver period to wait to declare adding a player to their farm, such that a replacement player contributes to their roster in the meantime, and the dropped player was mistakenly assumed to be farm eligible, the dropped player will NOT be added back to the roster they were on prior to the drop by the Commissioner.

7.3.4 Additional add/drop allowances will not be provided during that week of competition for GMs that have violated any of the player qualifications in 7.3.1 i.-iv.

7.3.5 If a farm team player is on waivers as a result of a violation of one of more of the above farm team player qualifications, a GM may request that the Commissioner adds that farm team player added to their NHFL roster. This transaction will count toward the allowable add/drop numbers for that particular week.

7.3.6 The number of farm team transactions that violate the aforementioned conditions (herein referred to as ‘Farm Team Violations’) will be tallied for each GM next to their name in the Commissioner’s Note. Five (5) farm team player infractions in a single season by a single GM will result in a loss of draft picks for said GM, at the Commissioner’s discretion.

The following is a guideline for applicable punishment;

i. Loss of late round draft pick for five (5) farm team violations in a single season by a single GM.

ii. Loss of multiple late round draft picks or loss of one or multiple mid-round draft picks if Farm Team Violations persist.

8.0 Player-Jersey Retirement

8.1 General

8.1.1 Player-jerseys may be 'retired' by League GMs in order to maintain access to said player-jersey as a championship award in the future. GMs may nominate player-jerseys for retirement, with all nominations being subject to Commissioner approval and the requirements outlined herein.

8.1.2 "Player-jersey" refers to a combination of a player and a specific team, rather than a specific player jersey (i.e. Player X-Boston Bruins jersey instead of Player X-Boston Bruins jersey-2010 alternate 3rd jersey).

8.2 Nomination Qualifications

8.2.1 A GM may choose to nominate a maximum of one (1) player-jersey per League off-season. An exception to this can be applied to the most recent winner of the GM of the Year award. The GM of the Year may nominate one player as a reward for winning GM of the year, and then may nominate a second player in accordance with rest of this constitution.

8.2.2 Player-Jersey retirement nominations are to be submitted to the Commissioner using the Player-Jersey Retirement Application Form found here

8.2.3 All player-jersey nominations must be received by the Commissioner for review no later than two (2) weeks prior to the League draft and no earlier than the associated keeper deadline. Jersey retirements will be revealed at the League draft.

8.2.4 The same player-jerseys may be retired by more than one (1) League GM. However, an individual GM may not retire the same player-jersey more than once. If a player is traded in the NHL after a GM has retired the player-jersey from the players former team, the players new player-jersey is eligible to be retired

8.2.5 Players may be nominated only for the NHL team that they played for at the conclusion of the most recent NHFL playoffs.

8.2.6 To determine if a player is eligible to be nominated for retirement, follow the Player-Jersey Nomination flowchart in addition to the abovementioned clauses

8.2.7 All retired player-jerseys, as with all non-retired player-jerseys, are subject to availability and price when selected as potential championship awards

8.2.8 All player-jersey retirement nominations are subject to screening and approval by the league Commissioner. Consideration for all players nominated for jersey retirement shall be based upon the player's record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played

8.2.9 Managers may choose to un-retire a jersey at any point