This is the permanent Rules Thread.

League Calendar for each year will be posted elsewhere.
Rule Changes each year will have a separate thread.

1. OWNERS:
Teams: 12
Divisions: 1 Division of 12 teams
Entry Fee: $20. Payment must be made before the first NHL game, otherwise your weekly score will be set to 0 until you pay.


2. SCHEDULE:
Regular Season: 22 weeks, if possible.
Playoffs: 8 teams, 3 rounds, 1 week per round, (avoiding final week of NHL Regular season if possible).


3. SCORING
Scoring: Head to Head (most categories won, weekly)

Home Ice Tiebreaker: In cases of a category tie (Goals ends at 8-, the Home Team owns the tiebreaker and earns a win.
There would no longer be ties in the regular season.

Regular season: In our 22 week schedule, each owner will play each opponent twice (once as AWAY, once as HOME).
Playoffs: The top seed gets home ice advantage.


4. ROSTER:
Roster: 19
Starters: 14
Bench: 5
IR: 3

Starting Positions: 1 F, 2 C, 2 LW, 2 RW, 4 D, 2 Util, 2 G
Max Roster Goalies: 3 (note: does not count IR, so you could have 3 active goalies plus 2 IR goalies).


5. ROSTER CHANGES:
Lineup Changes: Daily
Waiver Period: 1 Day
Transaction Limits: 7 per scoring period
Trade Review: 1 Day

Votes to Veto Trade: 5

Trades: Players and Draft picks may be traded. Any other assets, such as Keeper Slots, future considerations, or money, cannot be traded. Conditional picks are not allowed.

Draft pick trades:
Only draft picks from the current and next draft may be traded.
During the 2021 draft, 2021 picks and 2022 picks may be traded. 2023 picks may not be traded.
Once the 2021-2022 season starts, 2022 and 2023 picks may be traded. 2024 picks may not be traded.
Please post full details of trades in the P&S Trade Thread on PH and have both parties confirm ASAP.

Trade Deadline: Will be prior to the start of the P&S Playoffs. Normally, it will be in the week after the NHL Trade Deadline, on whichever day of the week ESPN allows. In 2016-17, the NHL trade deadline was March 1, which led to a fantasy trade deadline of Thursday, March 2, 2017. This is during week 21 of a 22 week regular season.


6. CATEGORIES:
Skater Categories: 9: G, A, +/-, PIM, SOG, HIT, BLK, STP, Faceoff Wins.

Goaltender Categories: 5: W, L(counted negatively), SO, GAA%, SV%. (Min 3 GS to qualify for L, SV% and GAA%)


7. Playoffs:


The playoff tiebreaker will be head-to-head regular season matchup by total wins. In 2016, OVCH v CHOP ended the finals in a tie. OVCH was declared the winner based on their head to head matchups (Week 4: 6-6-1 and Week 15: 5-4-4 yields full season score of 11-10-5).
The second tiebreaker will be the ESPN default, which last I checked, is the higher seed.

The 4 non-playoff teams will compete in a three-week round-robin consolation bracket for the top pick overall (assuming ESPN runs it the same way as last year). We will manually track the overall head-to-head record from this three-week round robin. The best record (presumably 3-0) gets the first pick in the First Round (and subsequent odd numbered rounds). Second best overall record from the three-week round-robin earns second pick overall. Third best overall record from the three-week round-robin earns third pick overall.

If we need a tie breaker for the non-playoff teams (let's say two teams go 2-1), it will be the post-season head-to-head matchup, followed by regular season head-to-head matchups using overall record (such as 17-11), followed by overall post-season record (such as 30-12 to 28-14), followed by best overall regular season record, followed by coin flip.

The 4 playoff teams eliminated in the First Round will compete in a two-week tournament to determine picks 5-8. The two winners of Playoff Week 2 will meet in Week 3, and the winner of this matchup gets pick #5. The loser gets pick #6. The two losers of Playoff Week 2 will meet in week 3, and the winner of this matchup gets pick #7. The loser gets pick #8.

The 2 playoff teams eliminated in the Second Round will compete in a one week battle in Week 3. Winner gets pick #9, loser gets pick #10.

In the finals, the loser gets pick #11, winner gets pick #12.


8. Prizes:
Regular Season Champion: $20
League Playoff 2nd place: $60
League Playoff Champ: $160


9. KEEPER RULES:
Keepers per team: 5 (max)
Keeper Positions: 3 Forwards, 1 D, 1 G
Positional Eligibility: Position(s) they played in the prior season per ESPN, and if applicable, this coming season.
Keeper Eligibility: Players must be on your roster on the final day of Fantasy Playoffs. All rosters lock at the end of the playoffs.
Keeper Eligibility: Players drafted (or draft value) in prior year in rounds 1-3 are ineligible to be keepers.
Keeper Cost: Prior Season’s Draft Slot +2 rounds (a 2014 10th round draft pick may be kept in 2015 for an 8th round pick)

Keeper Deadline: TBD, generally over Labor Day weekend at 8 pm Eastern. Must be posted in PH by the deadline.

Keeper Notes:
-Drafted Players maintain their keeper cost for the entire year even if they are waived or traded from a fantasy roster.
-Undrafted Free Agents have a de facto 20th Round value, and will therefore have an 18th round keeper cost the following year.
-You may use other team’s draft picks for your keepers.
-You may keep two or more players with the same keeper cost if you have two or more draft picks in that round.
-You may also use a higher round draft pick for a keeper.
---An owner with 2 players drafted in round 18 last year may keep the players with a 16th and a 15th this year.

Keeper Cost/Value Clarification: A player maintains his keeper value long term, regardless of the draft slot each year.
For example, if a player is drafted in 2013 in round 18, he may be kept in 2014 with a 16th round pick. If an owner does not own a 16th, a 15th may be used to keep that player. The keeper value for 2015 will be a 14th round pick (based on original draft year), not a 13th round pick (based on the prior year's draft pick).

If you have multiple picks in a round, and are keeping one player, we'll assume you want to use the lower (worse) pick for your keeper. However, it is the owner's responsibility to confirm that the commissioners posted correctly.


10. DRAFT:
Draft Location: Punshouse.com
Draft time: TBD. Normally, about a half an hour after Keepers are due and rosters lock.

Draft format:
19 round snake draft.
8 hour draft clock. Clock suspended from Midnight to 8 am Eastern (but picks made after midnight are encouraged).
Back to Back Picks are all on the same clock.
An owner may not have more than 19 players on their roster at any time during the draft.
---An owner on the clock with 19 players will immediately have that pick voided.
---These extra picks may be traded prior to being on the clock.
Owners with fewer than 19 players after 19 rounds may select players in a supplemental Round 20.
---Round 20 follows the snake draft. The first pick of Round 20 (if applicable) belongs to the League Champion.
---Round 20 picks count as 20th round picks for Keeper Purposes.
---All Supplemental picks count as Round 20 picks. There is no Round 21.

In the case of a mispick (i.e., an owner selects a player who has already been selected), the owner who made the mispick has a floating pick to be made at any time and the next owner is officially on the clock as of the mispick.

In the case of a clock running out the owner will have a floating pick to make at any time and the next owner is on the clock. If an owner misses three clocks, he will automatically be given the best available player according to ESPN each time his pick comes up for the remainder of the draft, regardless of his team's needs. In other words, show up to check in or leave a list with someone.

First missed clock = OOPS!
Second missed clock = you are placed on 4-hour clocks moving forward.
Third missed clock = yeah, we’re skipping you from now on.
In the event of ANY missed clock, you will be auto-skipped until you post in the draft board to indicate you’re back and make your missed selection(s).

Draft Order:
Post-season play determines the draft order, as detailed above.
This was changed due to voting, effective with the 2017-18 Playoffs.

To clarify and explicitly state the rules and timing regarding keepers and the draft:

Keepers are due at 8 pm on the draft night, usually the day after US Labor Day.
At 8 pm on Tuesday, there is a complete roster and player freeze. No draft picks may be traded. No keepers may be added or changed. All keepers are locked at their designated draft pick, and those picks are forever tied to their respective keepers and may not used to select a different player.
---Any open threads regarding Keepers or Offseason Trades on punshouse will be locked.
---(The roster freeze is so that the commissioners may complete their organization and posting of the draft board. We don't want a moving target in regards to keepers or draft picks changing teams.)
The draft officially begins at 8 am.

Once the Draft Thread is posted:
---The Trade and Roster freeze has ended.
---Keepers are now officially on your roster, and their respective draft picks are used.
---Keepers officially count towards your roster limit of 19. Most teams will immediately have 5 players on their roster.
---The owner with the first pick may select a player before 8 am if he chooses, but the 8-hour clock will not officially begin until 8 am.
---Keepers may be traded immediately at 8 am, just like any other player that has been drafted.
---From the moment that the Draft Thread is posted, until the draft ends, all trades shall be posted (and confirmed) in the draft thread.
Once the draft is posted, it is the responsibility of every owner to review your picks in the draft thread to confirm accuracy. Please notify the commissioners if there are any errors or omissions by the end of the first day of the draft. 16 hours is plenty of time to check your draft picks and keepers.



Any rules not explicitly stated here default to the ESPN Fantasy Hockey League Rules, if applicable.