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LEAGUE VOTE

Hello Gentelmen,

Today our League of HGMs are called together to vote on RFA status in Free Agency (Majority Rules - Cut off Time to Vote; Monday @ 10pm PST)

As a precursor to these proceedings taking place - the League would like to apologize to Buffalo for the unfortunate timing of this previously unforseen need for a ruling as it pertains to Restricted Free Agents & Day 1 of Free Agency - however the ruling is seen as highly important as the League will have multiple 4.5* players going into RFA as the Rebuilt teams of the League continue to develop, with their players reaching RFA status, and a portion of those RFA's hitting Free Agency.

RFA Case "The Tanguay Rule" 2.2 (i)

On July 1st of 2020, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Edmonton Oilers made a trade for the RFA rights of Justin Tanguay prior to his accepting an Offer Sheet (accepting an offer sheet in EA constitutes EA alerting the rights holder of the RFA and saying, "player 'X' has accepted an offer sheet from team 'X' would you (the rights holder) like to match the offer, or take the compensation of picks?" - This alert is found in the RFA rights holders 'In Game - Inbox' following the FA SIM of Day 1of4, meaning if a Team trades for the Rights of an RFA, he will receive it in his inbox as an 'Alert' - with a Match or Take the Compensation message where he (the RFA rights holder) can accept or decline the Offer Sheet cap and term, and retain the player, or decline paying the salary and instead accept the compensation of Picks determined by the salary number offered by the team who sent the Offer Sheet one SIM prior.

In this particular case, 2.2 (i), Tanguay was given preliminary offers by both the WPG and BUF HGMs. The cap and term of those offer sheets are only ever disclosed in Day 2 of FA to the RFA rights holder, once the RFA has chosen an offer.

Currently the League only has one rule regarding RFA's, in regards to GM's 'matching' Offer Sheets that occur during Free Agency. To match, an HGM (RFA rights holder) is alloted 4 FA SIMs (7days in real NHL) to make the cap room necessary (if necessary) to match the Offer Sheet, and if the rights holder is unable, as in the NHL, the organization that relinquishes their RFA is compensated draft picks that depend upon the salary dollar value the RFA is offered.

The trade under review between Edmonton and Tampa Bay was negotiated and consumated on Day 1 of FA, and reads as follows;

Parise + WSH 1st 2021 + TB's next fours 1st's

for

Stephenson + Tanguay's rights

The decision that needs to be made here, is, 1. do we as a league allow RFA rights to be traded on Day 1 of FA, prior to the RFA rights holder receiving an alert in their inbox as to which team and offer their RFA has chosen. or 2. does the league limit the trading of RFA rights to before the Resign Period (meaning the last day the 'Make a Trade' option is available @ Pre Draft would become when an RFA's rights must be traded.)

BELOW IS A SECTION OF THE NHL CBA TO ASSIST OUR DISCUSSIONS AND DECISION MAKING AS A LEAGUE

(It is up to each HGM to read the legal language & make their best decision from there - A forum is also up below to discuss possible meanings)

NHL CBA SECTION 10.3 (a) "When a Restricted Free Agent receives an offer to sign an SPC from any

Club (the "New Club") other than his Prior Club, which offer the Player desires to accept,

he shall give to the Prior Club, in accordance with Exhibit 3 hereto, a completed

certificate substantially in the form of Exhibit 6 attached hereto (the "Offer Sheet"),

signed by the Restricted Free Agent and the New Club, which shall contain the "Principal

Terms" (as defined below) as well as all other terms of compensation of the New Club's

offer. The Prior Club, within seven (7) days after the date it receives the Offer Sheet,

may exercise or not exercise its Right of First Refusal, which shall have the legal

consequence set forth below. Once an Offer Sheet for a Restricted Free Agent has been

received by the Prior Club, the Prior Club may not Trade or otherwise Assign its Right of

First Refusal for such Restricted Free Agent." (End of NHL CBA Section 10.3)

(NOTE: A RULING WILL BE MADE FROM THE VOTES IN THIS POLL, BY MAJORITY, AT 10pm PST Monday - if need be we will go to Skype to get the personal HGM votes if all for some reason to not vote here - Thank you once again for your time on this important ruling, as it seems this will be a case that continues to come up as RFA's become available)

DISCUSSION FORUM

Subject: RFA Rights Trading - Day 1 of FA By: Pure GM League Commissioner Date: 14/01/2013

Gentlemen here is a Forum for our league to describe this topic in a results focused and professional way. Swearing, name calling, and the like will not be tolerated. However, great debate and a sharing of each persons point of view will be. Please include your Team in the Box marked 'Name' and keep your posts to a readable size as this page will hold the entire discussion to keep everything central. As a league we are looking forward to coming up with a fair and swift resolution to this topic, with a focus on improving our league with a ruling that can remain for many seasons to come.

NOTE: The reason the NHL did/has not faced this issue directly is because they do not have a CPU enforced trade freeze during the Re Sign Phase. We as a League know we can reach a sensible conclusion and put any and all hard feelings behind us by reaching a league consensus on the temporary challenges this topic has presented.

Subject: Yes- allow trading Rfa rights By: Ty- Edm Date: 14/01/2013

Until accepted, we should be able to move them.
Without knowing the salary demands as real life gms would during resign, and then can trade them before FA and Rfa offer period, we cannot trade them during the resign if we do not like their salary demands.
The game restricts trades once offer is acceptted.

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