test_zhl_constitution
Draft
The draft follows an ascending during odd numbered rounds and a descending format during even numbered rounds, for 20 rounds. E.g. Round #1 is drafted 1-10, Round #2 is drafted 10-1. All active roster spots must be filled during the draft before the bench spots are filled. The Commissioner shall pull the draft order randomly from a hat containing the names of the teams on pieces of paper. There must be at least one other member of the league present at the draft order drawing. Once the order has been announced teams may trade their picks as they see fit. Be aware that trading draft picks is also at the review of the Trade Review Board (TRB) as necessary.

Draft Lottery post 2002-2003
Given the move to a keeper league in 2002-2003 Season the draft order shall no longer be random in following years. Starting in the 2003-2004 Season the draft order shall be determined be a lottery system similar to the NHL. Finishing last does not guarantee you the first pick next year, but will provide you the greatest probability of receiving it. The lottery system shall dissuade owners from throwing in the towel and tanking part of the season to guarantee them the #1 pick the following year. Only the seven non-money winning teams shall participate in the lottery, managers who finish in the money will not be involved in the lottery and shall receive the last three picks of the first round, picking in reverse finishing order. A winning money manager can only take place in the lottery by acquiring a first round pick of lottery-qualified manager.

The ZHL lottery shall follow the same format and percentages used in the NHL. A small program has been coded and tested by Marat for this use. The lottery shall take place at least two weeks before the draft to ensure managers have enough time to trade and prepare.

The greatest number of positions a lottery winning team can move up in the entry draft is four positions. For example the 4th place team from last year would pick 7th in the draft without lottery, however with the lottery in place it can move up to third pick in the draft. The lottery will continue for a maximum of four rounds until the first, second and third places are awarded. If possible the entry draft will be held in a public place where beer is served or in close proximity to beer.

A special program will generate a random number, to determine the draft order. The seven teams will be assigned the following numbers from 0 to a 99, with the following number assignments:

Finished 10th 0 - 29 (30%)
Finished 9th 30 - 51 (22%)
Finished 8th 52 - 68 (17%)
Finished 7th 69 - 80 (12%)
Finished 6th 81 - 89 ( 9%)
Finished 5th 90 - 95 ( 6%)
Finished 4th 96 - 99 ( 4%)

So if the random number generated is 53, the 8th place team will be selecting first. This process would continue until the first three spots have been determined. In the event of expansion, teams that lost players will precede the draft order, and the expansion manager shall receive the 1st pick.

The club selected in the drawing could not move up
more than four positions in the draft order, meaning
only the four teams with the fewest regular-season
points or the two expansion clubs had the opportunity
to receive the first overall selection.
Of course in the event of expansion, teams
that lost players will precede the draft order, and the expansion manager shall receive the 1st pick.

 Roster
3 Centers
3 Left Wings
3 Right Wings
6 Defensemen
2 Goalies
3 Bench spots
3 DL spots

Positions are defined according to Yahoo! Fantasy Sports. If skater plays left wing for his respective NHL club, but Yahoo! lists as a right wing, he must be placed at right wing. It is the responsibility of the team owner to ensure that all his roster spots are filled appropriately.


Disabled List (DL)
DL spots may be filled once the draft has concluded, results have been populated to participating teams and Yahoo! has designated players as on the DL. Managers may not claim players for their DL citing that they will be placed there later in the week.

Undropable List
Each year the Commissioner is responsible for creating an undropable list of players before the start of the season. This will ensure that managers don’t randomly drop players for allies to acquire, and prevent shifting the balance of the league. There is no maximum or minimum to the undropable list, and it is at the Commissioner’s discretion as to add and remove players from the list as the season progresses.

“Keeper” Designations
Each manager in the league can protect a maximum of three players each year. These players would be protected and carryover to next season and would not be available for drafting. Managers can only protect one goalie out of the three. Plus there are must be defensman that a team keeps. Keeper lists are required to be made public to the Commissioner one week before the draft. The Commissioner shall send the protected list to each participating manager. Before all managers make their keepers known to commish, the commish will send his 3 keepers to a obsecure e-mail address, to make sure that he does not use the knowledge of who has been kept to decide his keepers based on that information. Once Commish post all the keepers, TRB member will access this e-mail for the first time to make sure that keepers designated by commish's team are the same as posted.


 League Expansion
In case of expansion the new team(s) would be able to select up to three players from the protected lists. With Expansion, each returning manager would protect two of their three protected players and could lose only one player. The draft order for the following year would have the new manager selecting #1, and followed in random order by the managers who lost a player in the Expansion draft and then followed by the managers who did not lose any players in the order of the draft established with the lottery.

Adding and Dropping

Under no circumstances may a roster contain more than the 23 players.

Each owner shall be limited to 40 roster additions per year. Internal IR moves and trades do not count towards this total.

Add/Drop shall take place on the following day of the claim. (except the waiver add, please see waiver rules). Technology improvements at Yahoo! have enabled us move away from the traditional posting of adding and dropping players. However, if Yahoo’s new system fails we will revert to posting to claim players.

Managers now have the ability to do their own adds and drops, and Yahoo will make the moves on Monday. This will eliminate past posting problems in the past such as:

“Add Jaques Charaques , I’ll let you know who I’m going to drop later in the week.”

If you want to add a player, you must drop a player unless you have roster room. Under NO circumstances will an owner be able to claim a player by posting on the message board, unless the Commissioner notifies the league of a Yahoo failure and the league has reverted to the old system. Dropped players shall go directing into the waiver pool for 2 days before becoming free agents.
If a player returns from the DL and a team’s roster exceeds 23 players, they may choose to drop the player outright. Once the player is dropped he enters the waiver pool.

 Waivers

Given improvements in Yahoo! technology we have a new automated system for waivers. When a player is dropped from a team they shall be designated to waivers for two days. During this time owners may create a waiver claim and submit it to the league. Waiver priority is determined by reverse draft order, and once a manager has made a waiver claim they shall move to the bottom of the priority. Multiple managers may make waiver claim on a single dropped player. The manager with priority shall be granted the player by Yahoo!. Please note that you must drop a player or an empty spot to make a claim. If a player is not claimed from waivers during the two day period he shall become a free agent and available to all managers.

Trades and Prize Allocation
Trading & Trade Review Board


Trading Draft Picks

Given the advent of the “Keeper League” in 2002 – 2003, managers now have the ability to trade future draft picks. This allows for teams to “stock up” for the stretch run and give managers who are out of the running an extra shot next year.

In a trade involving a non returning manager, the manager who received the players down the stretch would not be able to protect the recently acquired players, and forfeit their picks that were traded as compensation to the league. E.g. If Mgr1 is out of the running and trades Brett Hull for a 2nd round pick from Mgr6, no problem. However, if Mgr6 does not return, Mgr1 is still without a 2nd round pick in the following year and cannot protect Brett Hull.

No team may have more than 20 draft picks. Yahoo! will not allow teams to add more players than their allotted 20, not including DL. So if a team has two 4th round picks they will finish drafting one round before the rest of the league.


Starting from 2003-2004 season there will be a rule, preventing of trading bench picks. To make sure that all managers start drafting bench player at the same time. (Instead of having some mamagers drafting bench players at the time when other teams are still obligated to fill in their positional spots). So based on 3 keepers and 3 bench spots pretty much untouchable, the only picks that are tradeable are from 4th to 17th out of 20 rounds.

Trade Review Board (TRB)
The board consists of three members that would examine any trade that is questioned by another manager and then report their decision to the Commissioner

The board originated due to complaints about fishy trades among managers. Valid examples follow: “Well mgr#1 knows mgr#2, and he’ll just help this guy so he can date his sister.” Or “The Commish likes peanut butter and so does mgr#5, so he’ll rule in his favor.”

All managers elect the board of three at the beginning of the year. The votes will be sent to the Commissioner and he/she would announce the appointments. If another manager questions a trade, the Commissioner shall defer ruling to the trade to the board. The Commissioner would ask for concrete reasons and then after conferring would announce the completion or stoppage of the trade. The board has until the weekly moves need to be completed to reach a decision. If the board does not return a decision to the Commissioner by the deadline, the Commissioner has the authority to rule on the trade.
The board is not responsible for examining fishy adds and drops; that will still remain the responsibility of the Commissioner.

Prize Allocation

The prize money from the ZHL shall be awarded in the following format. 1st Place: 70% of total pot 2nd Place: 20% of total pot 3rd Place: 10% of total pot
Fifty dollars shall be set-aside for record breakers. Any manager that sets an all time record shall receive $5. This is just to add an extra incentive and an additional level to the competition. If no records are broken the money is added back to the pot for the winners. If a record is tied, you don’t receive anything, because tying is like kissing your cousin, and well just isn’t worthy, deal with it!

In the event of a tie, for a winning position, the funds shall be divided evenly among the joint winners. If two teams finish in a tie for first the 1st and 2nd place winnings shall be combined and distributed evenly. The same applies for other winning positions. There are no tiebreakers involved in prize allocation.

 Cost Structure

The entry fee of $50 is required from all organizations. Each season the Commissioner sets a deadline for organization registration payment. If a team fails to pay by the designated date, their team is subject to benching at the Commissioner’s discretion. If for any reason a check to the Commissioner bounces, the Commissioner may bench the team and kick the owner of bounced check square in the ass!

Roster moves and trades have a fee of .25 cents. There is no fee associated with dropping excess players. Roster fees accumulate during the year and are payable to the Commissioner at the end of the season.

Cursing on the message boards is also punishable with a .25-cent fine. Fining for swearing is at the discretion of the Commissioner. Swearing is a punishable with a fine since it could potentially cost us our league with Yahoo! In the event of a organizations use of expletives costing us our league, that organization shall be suspended with no possibility for review for one season. In the rare event of this happening twice, the offending organization shall be banned forever.


Links to Official ZHL on Yahoo
ZHL on Yahoo Fantasy Hockey

ZAMBONIE HOCKEY LEAGUE

ZHL Constitution