Here is a comparison:

Feature	Trial League	Full
Games	10	82
Games Per Day	2	2
Divisions	1	6
Playoffs
Injuries & Suspensions
Minor Leaguers
Waiver Wire
Trades
Roster Moves	1	unlimited
League Leaders
Team Rankings
Dynasty Leagues
Theme Leagues
Inter-Division Play
Inter-Conference Play
Advanced Coaching Options
Prizes & Credits
Team Fee	free	$9.95

Yes, you can still play by adding funds to your account by either using PayPal or by mailing a money order.

To add money to your account via PayPal, simply send the payment to [email protected]. Make sure to include your username. Also note that there is a $1 handling fee for PayPal payments.

To pay via mail, send a check or money order to:

WhatIfSports.com
PO Box 43494
Cincinnati, OH 45243

Click here for a deposit form >>

We can move you to a different league ONLY if:
1. The team you want to move is a full-season team
2. The league you're in has not had it's games scheduled already
3. There are openings in the league you want to move to

You'll need to fill out a tech support form request to be moved (make sure to include the league you are in and the league you want to be moved to).

No, once you click on 'Create Team', your roster can not be modified until your season starts. Once your season starts, you can use the waiver wire or propose trades with other owners to adjust your lineup.

Allowing owners to adjust their lineups after they click 'Create Team' would give the owners earliest into the league an unfair advantage over the last owners to join the league.

No. We save your draft picks as you make them so you can come back as many times as you need to complete your team.

You are required to draft four centers, four right wings, four left wings, six defensemen, and two goalies. You are also required to draft two additional skaters of "any" position (not goalies). Then you have the option to draft one more additional player for any position (including goalie). The choice is yours!

Before you begin drafting your team, you'll be asked if you want to either (a.) Join the first available league, (b.) Start a new private league (c.) Start a theme league, or (d.)Join an existing league.

If you choose to create your own league, then we will start a new league for you and place your team in it. From the team management center page, you can invite your friends to join your newly created league.

You have 7 days to fill the open spots in your league with your friends. After 7 days, your league will be opened to the public.

You'll need to know the number of the league that your friend has created. Before you begin drafting your team, choose the option to 'Join an existing league' and type in the league number.

If there are still openings in that league when you have finished drafting, your team will be added to it.

As soon as your league is full, all team owners will receive an email notifying them that league play is ready to begin. Please make sure your email address is correct or you won't receive the notification.

Absolutely! While each WhatIfSports member may only compete in 1 free SimLeague at a time, you may compete in as many full-season leagues as you wish.

For open leagues, the system will put all of your teams in seperate leagues so that you do not have to play against yourself.

Each team owner is given a rating. This rating is based on who you've played, whether you've won, lost, or tied and by how much. It is similar in concept to the RPI ratings used for college basketball or Jeff Sagarin's ratings.

Each team owner is given a initial rating of 1400. This rating is adjusted after each league game, based on the final score and whether you won or lost. For example, if the 'Ice Dawgs' beat the 'Polar Bears' 5-2 and the Ice Dawgs came into the game with a rating of 1480 and the Polar Bears came in with a rating of 1420, the new ratings would be:

Ice Dawgs: 1488 (calculation: 1480 + (5-2) + 5 : +5 points for the victory plus the margin of victory)
Polar Bears: 1412 (calculation: 1420 + (2-5) - 5 : -5 points for the loss plus the margin of victory)

Note that for a tie your owner rating will not change. However, if you lose in overtime, it is treated as a normal loss.

In addition to regular season wins/losses, you will receive additional bonuses to your owner rating by performing well in the playoffs.

As you may have deduced from the rating formula, you are rewarded for beating good competition and likewise, you gain very little by beating weaker teams. In addition to regular season wins/losses, you will receive additional bonuses to your owner rating by performing well in the playoffs.

Ratings are only adjusted for regular-season and post-season games. Also, your rating is carried with you from team to team, league to league.

A public league is a league that anyone can join. The goal of this league is simple - draft a winning team!

A private league is a league that you can create that is not available to the public. For example, you could create a private league only for you and your friends. The goal is still the same - draft a winning team!

A theme league is a league with a twist. The goal is still to draft a winning team, but you can change the rules and regulations any way you want (provided it is feasible for the contest organizers to administer). For example, you could create a theme league where a rule is that teams can only draft players from 1980 or later. Or, you could have a combination of rules such as owners can only draft players from 1980 or later and the players must have played for Montreal. You can also limit options such as the Waiver Wire and minor league players. Once a theme league is full, the league founder has the ability to align the divisions anyway he likes. Theme leagues remain open until they are filled, but you may contact your theme league founder to see if he/she wants to merge the theme league with another league; or contact customer support to request that your team be moved to a public league or returned to the draft center so you can join a new league.

You can find the other scores for any date on your schedule. Simply go to your League Office for any of your teams and click on any date on your schedule (to the left of your team's result for that date). This will display a window of ther other games for that date with links to all the box scores.

If for some reason the original name of your team is no longer acceptable, you may submit a customer support ticket requesting that your team's name be changed.

The conference and division names we use are very similar to the names the NHL used prior to its current names. We wanted to add a little nostalgia to our game since a lot of the historic players in this game played in those old conferences and divisions. Many of these names are of people who were important figures in the early days of the NHL. Also since Canada was once a part of the UK, they have roots tied to the UK monarchy. So one conference was named the "Prince of Wales." Clarence Campbell was the first NHL president, so the other conference was named after him. Lester Patrick was one of the most influential American hockey pioneers and also built the New York Rangers. Jack Adams was a former coach and GM of the Detroit Red Wings. James Norris was a former owner and manager of the Detroit Red Wings. Conn Smythe was a former owner manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs and built Maple Leaf Gardens. Mark Bavis and Ace Bailey were both Los Angeles Kings scouts onboard United Flight 175 that crashed in 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Yes, once the league is full you may realign the divisions anyway you see fit. However, we must remind you that being the founder of a theme league places responsibility on your shoulders. Please do not make the experience a negative one for the other owners in your league. They are counting on you to run the league fairly and maturely. To realign the divisions, simply click on the "Realign" option that appears in the theme league guidelines box on the League Overview page when the league is full. This option will only be available until league play begins. Also note that if a schedule has been generated for your league, realigning will cause the schedule to be wiped out and a new one will need to be generated. This may delay the start of your league, so avoid realigning more than once if possible.

Unlike other sports, hockey keeps track of wins, losses, ties, and overtime losses - all displayed in your teams record. For example, if you team's record is 10-8-3-1, it means you have 10 wins, 8 losses, 3 ties, and 1 overtime loss. Standings are based on the total amount of points each team has accumulated. Teams are awarded 2 points for each win, 1 point for each tie, 1 point for each overtime loss, and 0 points for each regulation loss. If there are ties in the standings, see the tie-breaking rules.

If two teams have the same number of points, the NHL uses the following steps to break the tie.

(1) The winner is the team with more regular season wins. If there is still a tie, (2) the team that recorded more wins against each other (head to head record) will be proclaimed the winner. If their head to head records are identical, then (3) the team with the better goal differential is the winner. In the rare chance that there is still a tie, (4) the winner is determined by a good old-fashioned coin toss.

"Player units" were used to put fictitious values on players based on their statistics, a substitution for the term "salary." SimLeague Hockey now uses the terms "salary," "money," "salary cap" and "$" in reference to the ficticious values given to players based on stats. Just like all of our other SimLeague products.

When you start a theme or Dynasty league, you have the ability to customize some of the rules of the league. Here is a explanation of each.

Allow Waiver Wire -- you can choose whether or not the teams in this league have access to the Waiver Wire.

Allow Minor Leaguers -- this lets you choose whether each team will be given 6 minor league prospects at the start of the season.

Max Players Out -- you can specify the maximun number of players a team can have out to injury or suspension at a given time.

Allow Trades -- you can choose whether or not to allow teams to trade players in your league.

Playoff Intensity -- Simulated sports games calculate their outcomes based on averages. Using each player's real life numbers, the simulator finds the average in each statistical category. For example, if someone played 80 games and scored 20 goals in a particular season, he averages 0.25 goals per game or one goal every four games. The simulator uses that same average all season long and it never changes no matter how good he is doing in a particular SimLeague. While this is the nature of simulating sports based on real stats, the "What If" questions start creeping up come playoff time. Would he still shoot for that average if he was playing in an intense playoff game in front of a sold out home crowd? Would the pressure be too much? Everyone can agree that hockey teams tend to step it up a notch in the playoffs. So based on abundant feedback, we felt it would be interesting if we introduce an optional "intensity" factor for the playoffs. Now you'll be able to see who will step up and who will crumble under the pressure of the Stanley Cup playoffs!

Private League -- if you wish to hide the league number, choose this option and no one will be able to join your league unless you give them the number.

You bet! We know these SimLeague games can be confusing, especially on new users. Click here for the SimLeague Hockey Tutorial.

Teams will automatically be removed from your team center within 2 weeks of the end of the league.

We have centralized everything you need to know about your league within the Team Center. From the Team Center, you can manage all of your teams. From there you can access the league page which includes the schedule.

You may view boxscores by clicking game scores in the schedule or by clicking the date in the schedule you may view results for the entire league on that day.

The deadline only applies for the visiting team. The NHL has a rule where the visiting team must submit their lineup first so that the home team can view it and make the appropriate adjustments. SimLeague Hockey honors that rule by imposing a deadline for the visiting teams. If your next game is on the road, you have until 11:59am EST to set your lineup if the next game is a PM game. If it's an AM game, you have until 11:59pm EST to set your final lineup. Once the deadline passes, your game roster, lines, pairs and starting goalie will be locked until the game plays.

In order to make it fair for all teams, the waiver wire will be locked for both home and away teams during the time that visiting teams' rosters are locked.

Yes, but ONLY in full-season leagues - there are no injuries or suspensions in the exhibition season games.

If a player is injured in the game, it will be highlighted in RED in the play by play. Guys can go down for a period and come right back or be out for one or more games.

Players can also be ejected for poor conduct during a game. Upon completion of the game, the league will review all ejections and determine of a suspension is warranted. If they play is suspended for any games, you will receive a notice in your SiteMail box telling you of the suspension.

If a player is injured bad enough where he cannot return, or he is suspended for a number of games, the status will be displayed in "Players Out" option on the top menu bar on most SimLeague Hockey pages. In this window, you will see the injury or suspension description, the numbers of games he will miss, and his return date. Until he is cleared to return to action, the player will be unavailable to play.

Injuries are based on how many total minutes the player played in real life. If you draft players that played lots of games in real life, the odds of them getting injured are very small and if they do get injured, it won't be for very long. If you draft players that only played limited games then they will suffer more injuries and for longer periods of time.

Suspensions are based on the penalty minutes (PIM) the player had in real life. Players with higher PIM averages per game are more likely to be suspended in the SimLeagues.

The Waiver Wire shows players that are available to be claimed. You may claim a player if you don't already have that player on your roster (the same player from the same year cannot be on your roster twice) and you have enough available money to be able to claim the player.

You are required to maintain a minimum roster size of 25 players (23 skaters and 2 goalies), but have no more than 35 players on your roster (this includes your minor league players). So if you are at the roster maximum, you must release an existing player to claim the new one. The money freed up by releasing a player combined with any available money you had after your draft equals your acquiring power - the maximum money you can spend to claim a player on waivers.

Players are claimed and released constantly as the same Waiver Wire is used by all leagues. So, if you release Brett Hull, he may be picked up by someone else in another league or by someone in your league and vice versa.

If you have more than the minimum of 25 players, you can release a player to free up some money -- making your acquiring power greater.

Limitations: You must pay a 10% transaction fee for each player that you claim. For example, if you want to claim a $1 million player, you'll need to give up $1.1 million. All Waiver Wire transactions must be completed by the transaction deadline - you will not be able to waive or claim players after that time.

Waiver Wire Salary Values (Full Season Leagues): You may notice that a player is priced differently on the Waiver Wire than he is in the Draft Center. This is because players on the Waiver Wire receive salary value reductions as they spend more time on the wire without being claimed. The Waiver Wire updates twice a day. With each update, all players on the wire receive a 2% salary deduction. So for each full day a player spends on the wire, his salary is reduced by a total of 4%.

Target Numbers: The Waiver Wire updates twice a day. During each update, it makes sure it has exactly 25 centers, 25 left wingers, 25 right wingers, 50 defensemen, and 25 goalies. If there are more than the target number of players at any position, the players who have been on the wire longest will be cut until the target number is reached for that position.

In several areas, such as the GM's Office, the players are displayed with an "ENG" or "Energy" percentage. Each player's energy can range from 0% to 100%, where 100% is no fatigue and 0% is completely exhausted.

If a player is fatigued you will want to rest him for a few games. The amount of rest needed depends on the player and what condition he is in.

A player's condition is based on how much they play in this SimLeague compared to how much they played in real life. If you have a player who only played 25 games in real life and you are playing him every game, he will fatigue a lot quicker than a player who played 80 games in real life. This also plays a factor in recovery time. The player who played 80 games will probably fully recover to 100% after resting for one game. Depending on how fatigued the guy who played 25 games is, it may take him 2-4 games of rest before he recovers to 100%. A good idea to minimize fatigue is to make sure a player is not playing on too many lines and pairs. In some cases, just reducing the number of lines or pairs he is on may help a player recover to 100%. Remember, fatigued is based on time on ice, not games played.

To rest a fatigued player, simply make sure he is not currently set to any lines or pairs. An easy way to verify this is by clicking the "View All Lines" and "View All Pairs" links found in the Coach's Office in the Line Management and Pair Management boxes. The only way a player could play when he's not on any lines or pairs would be if your "Sim Coach" decided to put him in to replace an injured player or if there was a line/pair conflict (more info on this here).

Once you draft your team and join a league, by default all of your lines will be set with the first center, first left wing, and first right wing you drafted. All of your pairs will be set with the first two defensemen you drafted. It is STRONGLY recommended that you set your lines and pairs differently than this. You want to make sure that when a new line goes out on the ice, it contains three fresh players. The same is true for your pairs. If your players get too much ice time, they will begin to fatigue. Even the toughest players rarely get over 30 minutes of ice time in a game. Try to configure your lines and pairs accordingly so that players get appropriate rest time between shifts. Needless to say, fatigued players will not perform to the best of their abilities. The more fatigued they are, the worse they'll play. Highly fatigued players are also more likely to get injured.

The "Sim Coach" tries to change lines around every 30 seconds and pairs around every 60 seconds. At even strength, you will cycle through your Scoring Lines 1, 2, 3, 4 then back to 1. Pairs will cycle through Defensive Pairs 1, 2, 3, then back to 1. In powerplay situations, PP Lines 1, 2 and PP Pairs 1, 2 will be cycled. In shorthanded situations, SH Lines 1, 2 and SH Pairs 1, 2 will be cycled. In a regular season overtime period, the even strength rotation will be: 4-on-4 Line, Scoring Line 1, 4-on-4 Line, Scoring Line 2, 4-on-4 Line, Scoring Line 3, 4-on-4 Line, Scoring Line 4, then back to the beginning of the rotation.

This is an advanced defensive option where you can set a player to "shadow" a player on your opponent's team -- meaning your player will play whenever the target player on the other team plays. Your designated player will play even if it is not his scheduled shift in your to be on the ice with the other player. You player will focus less on scoring and more on preventing the target player on your opponent's team from having a good game. If your player is a good defender, he may keep the other guy off his game fairly well. However, if the other player is a good player, he could reverse the effect on your player -- especially if your player is a poor defender.

Minor Leaguers are fictional players created for each team. Six of them will be created for each team and will have a Stamina, Shooting, Skating, Toughness, Saving, and Defense rating. The Stamina rating indicates how long a player can play before becoming fatigued. The Toughness rating is how likely he is to be penalized.

Initially rookies will be placed on the Minor League Roster located in the GM's Office. Once the season starts owners may activate players at any time with no limitations.

Minor Leaguers improve with ice time. If you click on a minor leaguer's name in the GM's Office to view his profile, you can read the coach's comments on his improvement. When he improves, his skill ratings will increase slightly in various areas.

NOTE: Minor Leaguers are only generated for full-season leagues. For theme leagues, the founder may set an option to not allow rookies.

Your hockey team has nine offensive lines that you need to set. Scoring Lines 1-4 are the main even-strength lines. Typically, you would place your best scorers on these lines. Powerplay Lines 1-2 are the lines that play when you are on a powerplay (other team has players in the penalty box). You would also want to put a player on this line that can score. Shorthanded Lines 1-2 are lines that play when your opponent has a powerplay (you have a player in the penalty box). You would want to typically put players on these lines that are better defenders. The 4-on-4 line only plays in regular season (not playoff) games since the sudden death overtime period in a regular season game is 4-on-4 instead of the normal 5-on-5. Also note that you can place a player on more than one line, but it is recommended that you do not over-play a player. This will cause him to fatigue. While we have listed some basic line strategies here, it is up to you to step up as the head coach and find the combinations that work best for your group of players.

Your hockey team has seven defensive pairs that you need to set. Defensive Pair 1-3 are the main even-strength pairs. Typically, you would place your most solid defenders on these pairs. Powerplay Pairs 1-2 are the pairs that play when you are on a powerplay (other team has players in the penalty box). You would typically want to put more offensively aware defenders on these pairs. Shorthanded Pairs 1-2 are pairs that play when your opponent has a powerplay (you have a player in the penalty box). You would want to typically put your best defenders on these pairs. Also note that you can place a player on more than one pair, but it is recommended that you do not over-play a player. This will cause him to fatigue. While we have listed some basic pair strategies here, it is up to you to step up as the head coach and find the combinations that work best for your group of players.

As you may have noticed, there are some advanced settings in the Coach's Office that will allow you to set a specific style based on certain criteria. The "Default Offensive Style" is the style the line plays if none of your advanced criteria is met. Aggressive means that your line will play an aggressive forecheck, increasing your likelihood of scoring but at also increases the chances of your opponent scoring on you. Medium means that your line will not be as aggressive and your defense will be more solid as well. Conservative means that your line will focus on defense and not try hard to score goals.

You have the ability to specify how each defensive pair will play on offense. If you have a pair of decent shooters, you can have them shoot. If not, you can tell them to pass the puck more and allow forwards to shoot. If you decide to let them shoot, their real life shots per game average is used to determine how often they will shoot.

Yes, but the extent to which his performance is hurt depends on several factors. Generally, if you switch around any offensive players (such as playing a center at left wing), you shouldn't see his performance decrease much. However, playing a center on defense, even if he has a high defensive rating, will decrease his performance much more significantly. The same is true for playing a defender in an offensive position. The degree to with the players are affected varies from player to player.

NHL teams are only allowed to dress 18 skaters and 2 goalies for each game. SimHockey uses this same rule. You can scratch and unscratch players as often as you like. When a player is on the scratch list, it guarantees that he will not play in the next game, so this is also a good way to rest fatigued players.

This setting allows you to control how patient your coach is with your goalies before he pulls them out of the game. If you have your patience set to "Only pull his as an absolute last resort", it's a pretty safe bet that the starting goalie will never be taken out of a game -- no matter how many goals he allows. If you set it to "Pull him after his first mistake," the goalie is yanked quickly if he starts allowing goals. The situation does vary based on the time of the game and how quickly the goals are scored against him.

There are two types of contracts you can sign your players to. A "Professional" contract means the player is playing in the big leagues. These contracts are more flexible. You can waive or release players signed to a professional contract. A "Minor League" contract is used to sign a player to your minor league system. This contract is typically less expensive, but you cannot waive or release anyone sign to this contract. When joining a SimLeague, you will draft a team of 23 players with professional contracts and be assigned six players with minor league contracts. In Dynasty SimLeagues, if a player signed to a minor league contract plays 20 or more games in the big leagues for your team, he will automatically be signed to a professional contract for the following year.

There are two ways you can release a player. At any point during the season, you may go to your GM's Office and click the "Release" button next to the player you wish to release. This action will release the player, but you will not receive anything in return except the units in which you were paying that player. You can also use the Waiver Wire to release a player and gain another in return. Click here for more information on the Waiver Wire. Note that only players signed to professional contracts may be released during the season.

This page, located in the GM's Office, is important because it allows you to see where all of your player units are allotted -- including adjustments such as waiver wire transaction fees, rule violation fines (Theme & Dynasty SimLeagues only), and winning bonuses (Dynasty SimLeagues only). It also breaks down all of your players' contract types and values. In Dynasty SimLeagues, you will be able to see each player's previous contract so you can tell if his value went up or down between seasons.

This can happen when a player who was set on lines or pairs is no longer available to play. Reasons could be that we was scratched, released, sent to the minors, or is injured. This created an empty spot on the line or pair. If you click on the "View All Lines" or "View All Pairs" link, you can easily spot the line or pair with the empty spot. Simply fill all the empty spots with different players and the caution message will go away. If you do not fill the empty spots by the start of your next game, your coach will fill the spots for you.

When a player commits a minor or major penalty, he must serve the penalty himself. However, if a player receives a 10 minute game misconduct (ejection), or a 5 minute major and a 10 minute misconduct, another player is required to serve the penalty for the ejected player, or the 10 minute misconduct while the other player serves the 5 minute major. In this case, NHL rules allow the coach to specify any player he wishes to serve the penalty. The player you specify in your Advanced Defense settings will serve these penalties, provided he is not already serving a penalty, injured, or ejected. If he is not available, your Sim Coach will select the weakest (most likely to be injured) player on your roster to serve the penalty.

This feature allows you to save a default group of players for each line and pair. If you find a player combination that works, saved them as the default profile for that line or pair. Then later on, if a player suffers an injury or suspension, or if you change your lines and pairs to experiment with new combinations, you can recall the default profile at any time if you wish. If you find a better combination, you can always update the default profile at any time.

The feature is turned off when your team is created. To turn it on, go to your Coach's Office. In the Line Management section, click the Advanced Line Settings option. Then, check the "Line/Pair Profiling" option and click "Save Settings." Once you've done this, each line and pair will have two additional buttons to set the defaults and recall the defaults.

This feature allows you to specify certain criteria, based on how fatigued your starting goalie is, to have the system automatically swap the starter for one of your backups between games. This is particularly useful when you are out of town or cannot manage your team for a period of time.

Game are played between 2:20 AM/PM EST and 3:00 AM/PM EST each day. The automatic swapping, if turned on, will occur between 3:45 AM/PM EST and 4:15 AM/PM EST, or roughly one hour after each game is played.

Dynasty SimLeagues are leagues that play for multiple seasons with the same teams. Players' stats are kept for each season, minor league drafts occur between season, unit values are renegotiated, prospects mature from season to season, and much more. The number of seasons can vary between 3, 6 and 10.

There is no additional charge to play in a Dynasty SimLeague -- however, you must purchase all seasons up front. You are required to have enough incomplete teams in your account to cover the length of the league. One incomplete team is good for one season of a Dynasty SimLeague. So if you wanted to play in a six season Keeper League, for example, you would be required to have six incomplete teams in your account prior to joining the league. Once you join the league all sales are final. We will not be able to remove you from a Dynasty SimLeague before it is finished (all seasons played).

Between seasons of a Dynasty SimLeague, there is a minor league draft. The draft is six rounds long and there is a pool of available prospects. The drafting order is determined by the final standings of the previous season. The team with the worst record will draft first, the team with the second worst record will draft second, and so forth until the team with the best record drafts last. For each round, you will be able to specify the type of player you would like to draft. If you do not like the players you draft, you are not required to keep them. All players acquired in the draft, should you decide to keep them, will be signed to 165,000 unit contracts. You have until a specified date to decide which prospects you wish to sign. Once you sign a prospect to a minor league contract, you will not be able to release the player until he is signed to a major league contract. See [this question] for more information about major league contracts.

Once you have drafted all six round in the minor league draft, you will have until a specified date to decide who you are going to sign to minor league contracts and who you are going to release (if any). If you do not complete these tasks by the specified date, the tasks will be completed for you automatically. If you are under the 35 player limit and are under the league max, no changes will be made to your roster. If you do not have enough roster spots available, your coach will cut your worst players until you are down to the 35 player limit. If you are under the roster limit, but over the league unit max, your coach will cut the one player that will bring your payroll under the max. If cutting one player will not be enough to bring you under the max, he'll cut your most expensive player, then the additional one player that brings your payroll under the max.

It depends on how your team does. The team with the most points will get a 5 million unit bonus to spend in the following season. The team with the second most points will get 4 million, the team with the third most points will get 3 million, the team with the fourth most points will get 2 million, the team with the fifth most points will get 1 million, and the team with the sixth most points gets 500,000. Note this is NOT based on playoff seeding, it is simply based on the amount of standing points earned in the previous regular season. In the event of a tie in which two teams have the same amount of points, the winner will be decided based on which team had more regular season wins. If there is still a tie, the team that recorded more wins against each other (head to head record) will be proclaimed the winner. If their head to head record is identical, then the team with the better goal differential is the winner.

At the end of each season, your team renegotiates its contracts will all of your players. The salary of each player will go up or down based on the stats he put up in the past SimLeague season. In order to qualify for a renegotiated contract, the player must have played at least 20 games in the previous season. A new contract will never be more than a 30% increase, nor will ever be more than a 30% decrease from the previous season.

As part of the terms and conditions you agreed to when joining a Dynasty SimLeague, it is your responsibility to find an owner to take control of the team. You may use the public forums to advertise your team. Once you have found an owner willing to take over, submit a support ticket to our customer support department to complete the switch. We cannot give refunds if you have to give away your team.

First things first, go to your GM's Office's "Manage Team Roster" section. There is a column for each player called "Trading Block." Putting a check mark next to any player you are looking to trade, then scroll down to the bottom of that column and click the "Save" button. The rest of the league can now easily see who you are looking to trade.

Next, click the "Trading Block" section of the GM's Office. This screen shows you all of the players in your league that other teams have placed on the trading block. Note that your trading block players are NOT visible to you, although other teams will see them. If a player's name is followed by (F), this indicates that the player is a fantasy player, and not a historical real player.

If you see a player you are interested in, simply click his name and a trade proposal will automatically be started for that player. If not, you can start your own trade proposal. Next, click the "Trade Proposals" section of the GM's Office. This screen will show you any existing proposals for your league and give you the option to start a new one. If a proposal is submitted to you, you will see who it is from and the link to "Respond" to the proposal. Your responses can either be to accept the trade, reject it, or make a counter offer. An offer can consist of 0-6 players (max of 3 per team) and additional players units (SimLeague money). You can also save comments along with the proposal in your team's box under "Team Notes."

Once you submit a trade proposal, its status is marked as "On the Table" until the other person either accepts or rejects the offer. You can also withdraw the offer. If the same players are in more than one trade proposal, when one trade goes through the other trades will be cancelled automatically. If you waive a player in a trade proposal, the trade will also be cancelled. All cancelled trades will be marked as "Off the Table." If the other person rejects the trade, it is marked as "Rejected." If the other person accepts the trade, it enters a 24-hour "Pending" status. During the pending status, everyone else in your league has the ability to review the trade. If they feel it is fair, they can choose to approve it. If people feel the trade is not fair, they can veto the trade. If a trade proposal tallies up 6 vetoes during the 24-hour pending period, its status will be changed to "Vetoed" and will be cancelled.

If the trade is not vetoed or cancelled during the 24-hour pending period, its status will be changed to "Completed" and the trade will be processed. Trades will not be processed during the time blocks of 12:00pm-3:00pm or 12:00am-3:00am EST due to the NHL roster lockout period. If the 24-hour period expired during one of those blocks, it will be processed within an hour passed the blocked time period.

Alerts! It is very important that everyone keeps up with trades going on in the league. Whenever a new proposal is pending, you will see trade alerts on most SimLeague Hockey screens notifying you that you need to look at the trade and either approve it or veto it. Once you vote on a trade, it disappears from the trade proposals screen. This is always done from the "Trade Proposals" section of the GM's Office and clicking on the GM's Office tab while the alert is flashing will automatically take you there. The alert will continue to flash until you have either voted on all pending trades or reviewed all completed trades.

We hope this quick introduction to SimLeague trading was helpful. If you have any further questions, check out the rest of the trading topics in this FAQ or contact us.

Most definitely. Anybody and everybody can be traded away. You can free some payroll by dumping veterans for prospects. Or you can burn that available cash by trading away a prospect for another superstar. Anything goes!

Absolutely not! Uneven trades are permitted. 2-for-1, 3-for-1, even 3-for-none is allowed. If you have a lot of spare player units and would almost rather buy a player, you can offer player units to help sweeten the deal in some situations.

Yes, but it's pretty flexible:

• Your roster size cannot fall below 25 players (23 skaters, 2 goalies) after a trade is completed.
• The number of goalies on your team cannot fall below 2 players after a trade is completed.
• The number of players (skaters & goalies combined) cannot exceed 35 players after a trade is completed.
• You must have at least 10 forwards, 5 defenders, and 2 goalies on your roster. Minor league prospects DO NOT count toward these requirements -- they must be real players. This requirement may be not apply if you are in a theme league, as the founder has the ability to turn it off.

And don't worry, you'll be informed of these restrictions if your trade proposal violates any of the requirements.

Sure, but it's simple. Add up all you're trading away, subtract all you're receiving and make sure it doesn't break your team's budget. But all this is calculated for you when you build your trade proposal, so you'll always know where you stand on budget issues.

Most SimLeague Hockey pages display information boxes at the top (unless there is no information to display), just under the header menu. Any trade information that needs your attention will show up in those boxes. In addition, you will receive an email any time one of your team's trades is completed or vetoed.

It sure can. As soon as a trade proposal is agreed upon by both sides, a 24-hour owner approval process begins. During this time, each owner may choose to approve or reject the trade proposal. After the approval period expires, the votes are tallied and the trade is either completed or vetoed. A veto requires at least 6 owners to reject the trade.

Remember, your veto vote isn't a secret! The owners will see who approved and who rejected a trade. Who knows how this could affect your future wheeling and dealings?

Please Note: All roster moves are blocked during the 2 hours before game time. If the 24-hours approval period expires during this time period, the trade will not be completed until the games are played.

If any of the players traded away are on one or more lines or pairs, that spot will become empty. You'll need to go in and make the necessary changes before the next game or else the simulation engine will do it for you.

All newly acquired position players on the active roster will be placed on the scratch list.