Salary Cap

[Admin]

In 2018-2019 and thereafter, the EHEC salary cap will be $60,000,000, with a floor of $45,000,000. No further increases are planned, as EHM struggles when team budgets exceed $65M.
In 2017-2018, the cap was $58M, and $56M in 2016-17.

A. Salary Cap

Cap numbers are counted on a per-game basis, using the rosters that each team had on the game night (found in players_cap.ehm). To remain compliant, teams must be under the salary cap. This means that their average salary for all of the games played to date must not exceed the cap, and their projected end-of-season average must also not exceed the cap.

Teams that are over the cap will be hounded relentlessly to get under. If a team repeatedly exceeds the cap without appearing to correct the issue, action may be taken in the form of demoted players to the farm (even waiver-eligible players, if necessary), and/or applying penalties, including reducing the team's allowance of games played for their starting goalie. Teams that are over the cap at season end will have the overage applied as a penalty for the next season, as in the NHL.

A.1. Roster Minimum

In the event that a team does not meet the minimum roster requirement of 22 players, an additional cap hit of the league minimum will apply for each unfilled roster spot (e.g. $1.2M for a pro roster of 20 players).

B. Injury Exemption

EHEC follows the NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement’s framework on long-term injuries, although with its own alternate rule. When a player is injured for two (2) or more weeks, the team is granted a long-term injured reserve (LTIR) exemption, which allows it to temporarily exceed the salary cap by the amount of the injured player’s salary as long as they remain on the pro roster. The team must get back under the salary cap once the player is listed as day-to-day (DtD).

LTIR exemptions are calculated as of the next game played following the injury and do not change thereafter, unless the player is traded, at which point the exemption is re-calculated once the acquiring team plays their next game following the trade, or if the player is demoted (to the farm), at which point the LTIR exemption is lost. LTIR exemptions are applied on a per-game basis and reduce the team's cap hit to the maximum of (cap total - LTIR, maximum cap). This means that LTIR exemptions have no benefit to teams that are under the cap, and generally speaking, teams are better off sending waiver-exempt players to the farm. Examples, assuming a 60M cap:

A team at 58M has a player with a 3M salary injured. The LTIR exemption is (58M - 60M + 3M) = 1M. The exemption will have no effect unless their total cap hit exceeds 60M; however, the team may maintain a total cap hit of up to 61M while still counting it as 60M. If the player is waiver-ineligible and is sent to the farm, the team's cap hit will be reduced to 55M (plus the salary of the replacement player).
A team at 61M has a player with a 5M salary injured. The LTIR exemption is maxed out at 5M. The team may maintain a total cap hit of up to 66M while having their cap hit counted as only 61M.

C. AHL salaries

There will be $800,000 cap relief for players in the AHL. All players in the AHL making over $800,000 will have the difference in their salary (Salary - $800,000) count towards the cap. Players under 23 years of age as of September 16 (just before the season start) and therefore exempt from waivers under the current rules do not count towards the cap regardless of salary (previously, the cutoff was 24 as of October 1 and not consistent with waiver eligibility).

D. Salary Cap Retention

In order to facilitate trading of potentially overpaid players, teams may opt to retain salary on one or more of the players they are trading away, according to the following rules:

1. Every team has 2 retention slots.
2. Each player can have a maximum of two teams retaining their salary at any time.
3. Teams may choose to retain a maximum of 50% of a player's cap hit for the next two seasons of their contract, including the current season. i.e. if a player has 3 years remaining on their contract, only 1/6 + 1/6 = 1/3 of the total value may be retained.
4. Retention may not reduce a player's cap hit below the league minimum.
5. The cap hit of the retained player is reduced by an amount equal to the total retention, spread evenly over the remaining contract. i.e. if a player has 3 years remaining on their contract, and 1/3 of the total is retained, the player's cap hit is reduced to 2/3 of its current total.
6. The retaining team may choose to spread the retention penalty over either 1 or 2 seasons. E.g if retaining 50% of a 2y, 2M contract, the retention penalty may be either 2y 1M or 1y 2M.
7. Teams may not acquire via trade any player whose rights they owned in the current or previous season.
8. Teams may not re-acquire a player that they are retaining salary on, in order to prevent cap reshuffling via the retention spread option (rule#5).

[SharksGM]

Players 23 years old and younger do not count towards the cap regardless of salary.

Note that we are going to amend this rule effective immediately:

Players under 24 years of age as of October 1 (the start of the regular season) will not count against the cap.

This is to prevent players from being exempt one day then counting against the cap on their birthday.

[Vik (Habs)]

Players 23 years old and younger do not count towards the cap regardless of salary.

Note that we are going to amend this rule effective immediately:

Players under 24 years of age as of October 1 (the start of the regular season) will not count against the cap.

This is to prevent players from being exempt one day then counting against the cap on their birthday.

So you're saying I'm going to have to look through old code of mine, eh? That should go well.

*sigh*

[SharksGM]

So you're saying I'm going to have to look through old code of mine, eh? That should go well.

*sigh*

Yes, I'll have to change my code too. But I think it's worth it to prevent another case of a team going over the cap and needing to be hounded because a random AHLer turned 24 in March.

[NashvillePredatorsGM]

Hi. What salary cap will be in 2019-2020 season?

[IslandersGM]

hoping for 75M here on the Island!

[SharksGM]

I have added some more extended explanations of how the cap works in sections A and B. Let me know if you still have questions.

[SharksGM]

Players under 24 years of age as of October 1 (the start of the regular season) will not count against the cap.

This is to prevent players from being exempt one day then counting against the cap on their birthday.

I neglected to post about this when I edited the rule, but this amendment was itself amended in 2020 to the current rule (23 as of September 16), which also effected waiver eligibility. Enforcement of the cap exemption was delayed for one season to allow for prior contracts to expire without unduly punishing GMs but will be in full effect for the 2021-22 season.

[SharksGM]

Added the brand new retention rules. Please be gentle and let me know if any part of it is confusing or needs clarification, and try not to go overboard on day one (probably unlikely since only a handful of teams have cap space anyway).

[SharksGM]

A.1. Roster Minimum

In the event that a team does not meet the minimum roster requirement of 22 players, an additional cap hit of the league minimum will apply for each unfilled roster spot (e.g. $1.2M for a pro roster of 20 players).

Added this rule, which has been policy for years but apparently wasn't listed here.

[Bernyhawks]

I have reached out to Dan to change my decision in the trade I made with Tampa Bay.

I would like to absorb Frolik and Toews’ salaries over 1 year instead of 2. The reason is Cuma is now on LTIR for the rest of the season.

There is no rule saying you can’t come back on your decision after the trade is made.

Is there anyone opposing to this?

[SharksGM]

There is no rule saying you can’t come back on your decision after the trade is made.

The rules generally outline what you can do, not what you can't. Personally, I am not fond of the idea of allowing changes to retention/buyouts after the fact. You can't shuffle around cap hits from season to season without trading players in any other way.

Having said that, if we were to allow it, it would have to be a one way decision (no take backs, I don't want to keep redoing buyout calculations multiple times per season), and I'm not sure if I'd want to allow lengthening the period to 2 years if it's currently 1 year.

Furthermore, if you wanted to absorb Toews' 3.075M cap hit for the next season, you'd need to take a 82/46*3.075=5.48M cap hit for the rest of this regular season (more than Cuma's LTIR). Frolik would be 2.81M. I'm inclined to say that if we're to allow this, it should also incur some additional penalty for the reasons outlined above (perhaps for next season).

[Bernyhawks]

I agree it would be annoying to input every time someone would change his mind

What kind of penalty are you thinking?

[Jets GM]

extending the amortization of a hit should have no penalty; no advantage is gained. You've taken a larger cap hit up front for a portion of a season, and are now extending it to multiple seasons.

doing what bern is asking should have a penalty, because you have had a smaller cap hit for a portion of the season.

i'd say 5-10% penalty of whatever the original retained salary is added to the following season. also some type of time limit on these things.

[SharksGM]

extending the amortization of a hit should have no penalty; no advantage is gained. You've taken a larger cap hit up front for a portion of a season, and are now extending it to multiple seasons.

The advantage is giving yourself cap space immediately. You can't do that without a player transaction any other way.

I'm not inclined to allow it unless someone gives me a good reason. I'm expecting 1-year retentions to be used mainly by rebuilding teams who have cap room that they don't need now, and that's mostly the case so far. If anyone thinks they do want to extend a 1-year retention, then quote me and try to change my mind when it comes up.

doing what bern is asking should have a penalty, because you have had a smaller cap hit for a portion of the season.

i'd say 5-10% penalty of whatever the original retained salary is added to the following season. also some type of time limit on these things.

The total amount retained is the same as long as it's pro-rated, which it will be. And I think I'm inclined to go with a penalty too, because in Chicago's place this would have been completely impossible without Cuma's LTIR in the first place. The only reason I'm inclined to allow this is because LTIR is kind of a crappy reward when it's for a player you know won't be back for the playoffs, whereas it's unfairly awesome if the guy happens to come back just in time for Game 1.

As for limits, you can only do this once if retention extension aren't allowed, so no real problem there. If I haven't already done it, I'll add a trade deadline limit for buyouts and such. It would be pretty hard to do this at the deadline anyhow, you'd be looking at less than 1/4 of the regular season left so absorbing at least 4x the daily cap hit.

So fine, here's my proposal:

You can reduce a 2-year retention term to 1 year at any point prior to the trade deadline, provided that you have the cap space to do so. The retained amount for the next season will be prorated to the retaining team's remaining regular season games (i.e. multiplied by a factor of 82/games remaining). In addition, the retaining team will incur a penalty of 10% of the retention amount or 300k (whichever is higher) for the following season, which will be counted as using a retention slot on that player.

[Bernyhawks]

This is fair and thank you for being inclined to allow this

How much would it come up to for both players for this year?

[SharksGM]

Furthermore, if you wanted to absorb Toews' 3.075M cap hit for the next season, you'd need to take a 82/46*3.075=5.48M cap hit for the rest of this regular season (more than Cuma's LTIR). Frolik would be 2.81M.

[Bernyhawks]

Ok good just wanted to make sure

+ a 10% penalty for next year

Done

[SharksGM]

... for who? You only barely have enough room to do it for Toews (and without a trade you'd have a 21 player roster for the rest of the season), and certainly can't afford to fit both right now.

[Bernyhawks]

54.88 - 5.1 + 8.29 = 58.07 ?

[SharksGM]

There's no minus. You're paying off the retention for next season during this season. You still have to pay the retention for this season.

[Bernyhawks]

I know

The minus is for Cuma LTIR

[SharksGM]

It's 54.88 + 3.05 (Toews current retention) + 1.525 (Frolik current) + 5.48 (Toews' 22-23 prorated to this season) - 5.08 (Cuma LTIR) = 59.855.

Actually, any time we're spreading retention over multiple seasons, it should be pro-rated. You're retaining 2.05M x 3y for Toews, but you traded him after game 18 (78% of the season left), so it really should have been 2.05 * (2.78/1.78) = 3.2M retention rather than 3.05. All of that makes me think that it was a mistake to allow retention for any length beyond that of the current contract.

[Bernyhawks]

Oh wow ok this is a lot more than what I understood

Scrap it