The Rules

By Jordan Ray
  1. Drafts
    1. There shall be an opening draft to open the first year of the pool, where all current NHL players would be available for selection. The order of the first round shall be determined randomly, and the consecutive rounds of the draft shall follow a “snake order” (i.e. 1st team in first round picks last in the 2nd round, but 1st in the 3rd round)
      1. The draft continues until each GM has filled the minimum overall roster requirements of 13 forwards, 6 defencemen and 3 goalies for their team
    2. From the second year of the keeper pool, the draft order shall be determined according to the amount of prize money that each GM obtained in the previous season, with the GM who won the least amount of prize money picking 1st, the 2nd least picking 2nd, etc.
    3. No snake order, the order set in the first round continues to the second round (least amount of prize money picks first in the 2nd round, 3rd round, and so on)
    4. Players eligible for this “keeper draft” include all current players that have been drafted by an NHL team, including both those selected in the NHL Entry Draft of that year, and all NHL players not owned by any GMs at the time of the keeper draft
      1. A free agent selected during the keeper draft does not incur a $5.00 (or $2.50) fee
    5. The keeper draft shall continue seven rounds.
    6. Following the keeper draft, it will likely be the case that GMs will have extra players and/or salary. They may continue to hold these players as assets until the first game of the regular season. At that time, GMs must drop excess players (at no cost to them) into free agency until their roster conforms to the requirements set out in Section (2).
  2. Roster:
    1. Skaters
      1. Each GM will be allowed to have 9 forwards and 4 defencemen contributing to their score every night
    2. Goalies
      1. Each GM will be allowed to have 2 goalies contributing to their score every night
    3. Benched players
      1. In addition to the 9 forwards, 4 defencemen and 2 goalies that will be contributing members of a GM’s roster every game they play, a GM shall also have a minimum of 4 forwards, 2 defencemen and 1 goalie to make up his “bench”
      2. The standard bench size that every GM is allowed to fill is 6 forwards, 3 defencemen and 2 goalies.
      3. Benched players do not contribute to the day-to-day points of a GM’s team
    4. Determining “active” players
      1. Every Sunday night by 12 am Eastern Time, every GM must submit the roster of 9 forwards, 4 defencemen and 2 goalies that they wish to be “active” players for that week
      2. If no roster is submitted, the roster of “active” players that the GM submitted the previous week will be used instead
    5. Overall roster
      1. A GM’s team must have at all times a minimum overall roster of 13 forwards (9 active and 4 benched), 6 defencemen (4 active and two benched), and 3 goalies (2 active and one benched)
      2. A GM may decide to expand the amount of players on his/her bench beyond the regular 6 forwards, 3 defencemen, and 2 goalies. If they decide to do so however, they must pay a fee of $1.00 per week per player they are over the limit by (i.e. 1 extra forward and 1 extra goaltender = $2.00 per week), assessed directly after weekly “active” roster submissions and transactions are due on Sunday night.
      3. The absolute maximum number of players that may be on a GM’s bench are 8 forwards, 4 defencemen, and 2 goalies.
    6. Salary Cap
      1. The salary cap for the pool will be equal to the salary cap set by the NHL at the beginning of every season ($59.4 million in 2010-2011)
      2. Each Player's Salary will be determined by their "Cap Number", taken  from NHLnumbers.com and included in the pool spreadsheet.
      3. Players with Cap Numbers split between multiple teams due to a compliance buyout are counted against the cap at the sum of these Cap Numbers.
      4. The salary cap is assessed towards each team according to the combination of the salaries of all their “active players”
      5. Salary cap shall be assessed every Sunday night following the transaction deadline at 12 am. If a team is assessed as being over the cap, they must pay a fine of $5.00 plus $10.00 for every $1,000,000 they are over the cap by (i.e. over by $2,400,000 would incur a fee of $25.00 per week)
      6. The salary cap may be exceeded by a maximum of $3,000,000 dollars (incurring a fee of $35.00 per week)
  3. Yearly entry fee of $60.00
    1. Entry fee will be reviewed every year on the day of the draft, and may be changed by a 2/3 majority vote of all participating GMs
  4. Transactions:
    1. Free agents
      1. Free agents are defined to be players that are not owned by any GM in the hockey pool
      2. Fee of $5.00 for each healthy free agent acquired
      3. Free agents replace a player on GM’s roster, making the replaced player become a free agent.
      4. If either the player being acquired or the player being dropped is injured, the fee shall be reduced to $2.50
      5. Free Agent and Waiver Claim procedure:
        1. The GM that wants to pick up a free agent makes a post on the Pool FaceBook group indicating the player they wish to pick up. This may be done at any time, on any day of the week
        2. For the following 48 hours after the post is made, any other GM that is higher on the waiver wire may claim the player off of waivers by commenting on the FaceBook post stating their intention to waiver claim
        3. At the end of 48 hours, the free agent is awarded to the GM that posted in the FaceBook Thread, and has the highest position on the waiver wire. This GM is moved to the bottom of the waiver wire list.
        4. Notes:
          1. If a GM has a claim, either a regular free agent claim or a waiver wire claim, they may not submit another claim. Only one claim at a time.
          2. If you have made a claim, and someone higher on the waiver list also submits a claim on the player, you are released from that claim. You may submit another free agent pickup or waiver claim.
          3. Claims may not be rescinded
    2. Transactions between GMs
      1. GMs may trade their assets to other GMs for other assets.
      2. “assets” are defined as players and draft picks
      3. Trades may be vetoed by a 2/3 majority vote of all other GMs
      4. There shall be no trades between the Sunday following the NHL trade deadline (determined annually by the NHL) and the awarding of the Stanley Cup
    3. Restrictions
      1. There can be no transactions of any kind between the Sunday following the NHL trade deadline and the awarding of that year's Stanley Cup.
      2. There can be no acquisition of free agents between the Sunday following the NHL trade deadline and after the Keeper Pool Entry Draft for the following NHL season.
  5. Prizes (as a percentage of the pot for that year):
    1. Prizes will be awarded as a share of the pot (the sum of all fines and fees for that year) to the GM whose team has the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd most points during both the regular season and the playoffs, according to the scoring system outlined in Section (6). In addition, GMs owning players who win any of the Art Ross, Hart, Ted Lindsay, Maurice “Rocket” Richard, Norris, Selke, Calder, Vezina or Conn Smythe trophies are awarded a share of the pot as well.
    2. Regular Season:
      1. First Place – 30%
      2. Second Place – 20%
      3. Third Place – 7.5%
    3. Playoffs
      1. First Place – 15%
      2. Second place – 5%
    4. Awards
      1. Art Ross Trophy – 2.5%
      2. Hart Trophy – 2.5%
      3. Ted Lindsay Award – 2.5%
      4. Maurice Richard Trophy – 2.5%
      5. Norris Trophy – 2.5%
      6. Selke Trophy – 2.5%
      7. Calder Trophy – 2.5%
      8. Vezina Trophy – 2.5%
      9. Conn Smythe Trophy - 2.5%
    5. If no GM owns the player that wins one of the above 9 major trophies, that share of the pot is awarded instead to the GM who achieves first place in the Playoffs
  6. Scoring
    1. Forwards are to receive points as follows:
      1. goals – 3 points
      2. assists – 2 points
      3. +/- (plus) – 1 point
      4. +/- (minus) – -1 point
      5. powerplay Goals – 0 points
      6. shorthanded Goals – 4 points
      7. game-winning goals 2 points
    2. Defencemen are to receive points as follows:
      1. goals – 5 points
      2. assists – 3 points
      3. +/- (plus) – 1 point
      4. +/- (minus) – -1 point
      5. powerplay goals – 0 points
      6. shorthanded goals – 4 points
      7. game-winning goals – 2 points
    3. Goalies are to receive points as follows:
      1. regulation wins – 5 points
      2. overtime wins – 5 points
      3. shootout wins – 3 points
      4. regulation losses – 0 points
      5. overtime losses – 0 points
      6. shootout losses – 3 points
      7. shutouts – 8 points
      8. goals – 20 points
      9. assists – 3 points
    4. As implied in Section (2), only “active” players can score points.
    5. Point totals accumulate during each regular season and each playoff season. They do not carry over as players do from season to season.
    6. The sum total of all the points accumulated by the players on a GM’s team equals their score during the regular season and the playoffs. It is this combined point total that is used to determine the winner of each regular season and each playoff season.
  7. Departure of GMs
    1. In the even of a departure of a GM from the pool, all of the players on that GM’s roster immediately become free agents.
    2. There shall be no refund of fees or fines already paid to the keeper league.
  8. Adding GMs
    1. Should a new GM wish to join the pool, the prospective applicant may join in the event of a majority vote by all current GMs. Should the vote pass, the Commissioner will then facilitate an expansion draft.
      1. GMs can only be added after the Stanley Cup has been awarded and before the first game of the regular season.
  9. Commissioner
    1. At the beginning of the keeper pool, a commissioner shall be appointed to oversee the pool’s operations.
    2. The commissioner can be a GM, and shall monitor the operations of the pool in a fair and balanced manner. The commissioner shall have discretion over conflicts that arise during the course of the keeper pool that are not addressed in the rules that have been outlined here. In doing so, the commissioner shall decide whether or not to settle disputes independently or to put issues to a broad vote of the GMs.
    3. The commissioner may only be removed forcibly by the unanimous agreement of all participating GMs (a matter in which the commissioner would be unable to participate).
    4. In the event that the commissioner is removed (by the process in Section [8,b] or if the commissioner voluntarily resigns), a new commissioner shall be elected by a simple majority vote.
  10. Amendment
    1. Every part of these rules is able to be amended by a 2/3 majority vote of all participating GM’s.