RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR THE WORLD HOCKEY ASSOCIATION (WHA) PART ONE: INTRODUCTION Welcome to the WHA. The goal of this league is to use the great players of the past and to see how you would manage a team already knowing how each player did in their careers. The main objective of the league is to have FUN. We shouldn’t take it too seriously. Things will be run somewhat casually, but there will be rules that must be followed. The main thing I ask of each owner is to be active. Please respond to e-mails, send in lineups, make changes as needed, be active in the trade market, participate in a timely fashion during the one draft per year, and most of all, to have fun. All actions will be done on the internet. Correspondence will be via e-mail or through the Yahoo Group (address: wha197980@yahoogroups.com). You can send messages to that e-mail address, or from the actual Yahoo group. There is also a website. The address is www.hockeyhoarker.com PART TWO: ROSTERS Eligibility The first season started with players on the 1979-80 player disk and proceeds to the next season disk after each season ends. Disks have been obtained either by purchase, or downloaded from various websites and other users. A few have been home made by myself. Player eligibility is as follows: 1) Skaters need to have at least 30 NHL GP in the season being used to be used in a regular or playoff game. 2) Goalies have no minimum GP requirements in the regular season. They will, however, have a maximum # of minutes played in the regular season. The maximum (which is found on each team’s roster posted on the website and on the league spreadsheet) will be 110% of their actual NHL minutes played, rounded up. Example: a goalie who played 2456 MP in the NHL can play 2702 MP in the WHA (2456 X 1.1 = 2701.6 rounded up to 2702). A goalie is ineligible to play any game once they have passed their maximum # of minutes. A goalie can go over the limit during a game they started when under the limit. **New**: Injuries will be turned on during the regular season and injury rating or length of injury will not be changed. Each team must have a minimum of 3 usable (NHL minutes played) goalies on their roster at any time. Before each draft, any team that doesn’t have enough MP (+ 10%) and at least 3 goalies must draft the amount of goalies to reach these minimums. If for some reason any team doesn’t reach the minimums after the draft they will need to do a Free Agent trade in order to have enough goalies on their roster. 3) Playoff rules of eligibility: For skaters, no change from the regular season. For goalies, the number of games a goalie can start will depend on how many games they have played in the regular season in the WHA. Please use the following chart: MP in the WHA # of games they can start per round 2200 and up 7 2000-2199 6 1800-1999 5 1500-1799 4 1001-1499 3 801-1000 2 0-800 1 Roster size Teams can have up 35 players on their roster. All teams must have at least 3 usable goalies on their rosters at all times. Teams must cut down to 35 players after each free agent draft. Player ratings Player ratings are not changed. Players can only be played at a position they are rated for. Injury rating is not lowered during the season and the rating stays the same for the playoffs. Team name Teams are named after former WHA teams. PART THREE: DRAFTS Free Agent Draft Before the start of every season a 5 round waiver draft will take place. Players available include any players from the next season disk not already owned. Players not on the next disk due to retirement, injury, minors, playing in Europe, etc can still be on a team’s 35 man roster, but of course can’t be used until they are on a future disk and have met the minimum GP or MP requirements. After the draft, teams must cut down to 35 players (or less). Draft is 5 rounds and will take place by e-mail. Draft order is in reverse order of the final standings. There is not a draft lottery. If a team is below 3 usable goalies before the draft, that team must select enough goalies to bring them up to at least 3 on their roster. If this is not done, then the goalie on the free agent list with the lowest save pct. will be added to their roster and if that puts them over 35 players then the lowest FB rated player will be cut. PART FOUR: PLAYER MOVEMENT Players can be moved around in the following ways: trades, cuts and free agent pickups. An explanation of each follows. Trades Trades between teams can take place at any time during the calendar year except between the trade deadline (approx. ¾ into the season) and the end of the playoffs. There will be a trade freeze during the summer time, after the end of the playoffs and before Sept. 1. Summer is a time for sitting back having a beverage and not hockey. Trades can involve any number of players and/or free agent draft picks. Only draft picks for the next draft can be traded. The only time draft picks for 2 drafts may be traded is during a draft, and then picks for that draft and the next may be traded. All trades must be confirmed by both sides to me by e-mail. If a trade is obviously one-sided, it can be nullified by me. If anybody has a complaint about a trade, they have 1 week to lodge a complaint with me and a decision will be made quickly. If one side of the trade hasn’t confirmed a trade with me within a week, it will be nullified. I will attempt to contact such person first before nullifying a trade. If, as a result of a trade, a team goes over 30 players, they must cut a player (s) immediately. Please respond to trade offers. It is common courtesy to respond to all trade offers, even if it is to say “no thanks”. If you will be away, or unavailable to respond to e-mails for a while please let me know or post it on the Yahoo group. Cuts If a trade results in a team going over the 35 player limit, the team has to cut a player immediately. Free Agent pool The free agent pool consists of any players from the current season disk that are not on any WHA roster. Teams may trade any player(s) with the free agent pool on a one-for-one basis. Only players that have played at least 30 GP (not counting goalies) can be traded to or from the FA pool. (Starting with the 1994-95 season the 800 MP for goalies will be eliminated as all these goalies can now be used due to the max MP for goalies rule). There is no limit on how often teams may do this, or number of players traded at one time, as long as the amount of players selected from the free agent pool is equal to the amount of players sent to the FA pool. This FA trading can only be done from the start of the regular season up to the trade deadline. If more than 1 team tries to claim the same player (s) on the same day, the team lower in the standings at the time of the trade will get the player (s). PART FIVE: SCHEDULE Regular Season The league has 14 teams and no divisions. The top 8 teams make the playoffs. There is a 78 game season per team, 6 games (3 home 3 road) against each team in the league. Ties in standings- tie breaking will go as follows: 1) wins 2) head to head games 3) goal for/ goals against 4) 1 game playoff Regular season games will be 60 minutes in length (three periods of 20 minutes each). If tied there will be one 10 minute sudden death overtime. Playoff games will have 20 minute overtimes. Note- no pre-season games will be played. Playoffs All series will be best of 7. First place team will play 8th place team, 2nd against 7th and so forth. Season end awards At the end of every regular season league members will vote on individual awards. They are: Gary L. Davidson Trophy (League MVP), Lou Kaplan Trophy (Rookie of the Year), Ben Hatskin Trophy (Top goalie) and Dennis A. Murphy Trophy (Top defenseman). The vote is done via the Yahoo group poll section. Also awarded is the Bill Hunter Trophy (top scorer), the Bobby Hull trophy (top goal scorer) and the Howard Baldwin Trophy (regular season champion). The league commissioner will also select the 1st and 2nd all star teams. After the playoffs, the Yahoo Cup is awarded to the playoff champion and the commissioner will award the Gordie Howe trophy to the playoff MVP. PART SIX: PLAYER USAGE Every team must send in a lineup before the season starts. It is strongly recommended that APHCOMM (APBA Commissioner) be used. I will supply this program (if needed) and all data files required. You can also send in a lineup by e-mail. Lineups cannot be sent in by phone (they can be faxed). Games will be played approx. 5 days a week (Monday to Friday). The info I require is: 1) Line combinations and shifts (up to 5 lines) 2) fore-check mode for each (if this info not supplied, the standard will be used). 3) injury replacements (2 for each position C,LW,RW,LD,RD,G) 4) goalie rotations If any trades are made which affects regulars in your lineup, owner must send new lineup, or new player (s) will not be in your lineup. You can send in as many lineups as you wish. Stats All game summaries, stats, etc will posted on the website after each day’s games. Data files are also posted on the website. PART SEVEN: CHANGES TO RULES At the end of each season, league members may suggest new rules or other league business. They are to first pitch the idea to the commissioner and then I will decide on whether to either accept the suggestion or not. I may then decide to include it in the rules, or have a league vote, which would be posted in the Polls section of the Yahoo group. PART EIGHT: EXPANSION Currently there are no plans to expand, although an expansion to 16 teams may be considered in the future. Hopefully this explains all the rules and regulations of the World Hockey Association. HAVE FUN AND GOOD LUCK!!!