14.1 The OLTHPA (Old Time Hockey League Players Association)
The OTHL Player's Association handles all the leagues financial contracts. The OTHL will have agent(s) who will be in charge of negotiating contracts for their clients. The agent will act as the player's voice in negotiations and carefully decide where they would like to sign and why. Players may sign with a team for various reasons such as location, money, contract length, whether the team is a contender, if they have played for the team in the past, they have someone they know on the team, they need a change of scenery etc., GM's are encouraged to develop a good relationship with the agent(s), or it may hurt their chances at signing players.
14.1.1 Player Agents
The OTHL has multiple agents that share the responsibilities and work together as a panel. They will negotiate contracts for the restricted free agents, the unrestricted free agents, and the undrafted free agents..
14.2 Types Of Free Agents
There are three types of free agents, restricted free agents (RFA's), unrestricted free agents (UFA's) and undrafted free agents (UDFA's).
14.2.1 Restricted Free Agent Definition
Players whose contracts expire who do not qualify for unrestricted free agency can have their free agent rights restricted by their former club. If another team signs a RFA then compensation will be provided to the player's former team (See sec 14.6). In order to keep the rights to an RFA player and be entitled to draft choice compensation the player must be offered a qualifying offer by his team. In order to qualify a player the team must offer the player in question them same salary amount the player earned in his previous contract. The qualifying offer must be made by the deadline set by the BOD, or else the player in question will become an unrestricted free agent.
14.2.1.2 RFA Qualifying offer
A qualifying offer is a contract offer that matches the players previous salary. A player doesn't have to accept the qualifying offer in order to make the player qualified. If the player has received the offer, and the offer matches, or is higher, then his previous salary, then the player has been qualified and the rights are retained by his current team. A qualifying offer will always be a one year contract at the same salary the player had a year before. If the qualifying offer is unsigned at the start of the UFA Period, then the player is free to sign offer-sheets made to him by any team, with his current team entitled to compensation (See 14.4.1, 14.4.2). If player doesn't sign the qualifying offer (or any contract offer made to him), and the season starts, the player will be left unsigned and cannot play with the team that holds his rights, or any other team. He is then considered to be a hold out and will not count against the teams roster limit. A player can sign the qualifying offer at any time after he is qualified and the team who holds his rights must accept the contract.
14.2.2 Unrestricted Free Agent Definition
The unrestricted free agent age in the OTHL is currently 29. Any player of the age of 28 or older during the season, and with an expiring contract, can become a unrestricted free agent when the unrestricted free agent signing period starts during the off-season. UFA's can be signed during the UFA period by any team without compensation to the former team. Because all players are grouped by year of birth, that is the metric we use when determining the player's unrestricted free agency status. Players with late birthdays will still be considered UFAs even if they are still 28 at the time of UFA opening. The UFA panel will announce the birth year considered to be UFAs for each upcoming offseason. As an example, in the 2019 offseason, any player with an expiring contract who was born in 1990 or earlier will be considered UFAs.
14.3 Signing Unrestricted Free Agents (UFA)
A players who is without contract and whose rights are not owned by any team qualifies as a UFA and is free to sign with any team. (Information on who owns the rights to a particular player is kept in one of 3 places. 1 – OTHL portal prospect list, 2 – OTHL portal player list, 3 – OTHL forums' inactive list.)
14.3.1 Acquiring a new player
Any player who has played at least 1 NHL game in the past 2 NHL seasons, and has played in the AHL during the last season (should they not have appeared in the NHL in the previous season) and it not listed on any team's prospect list, signed to an OTHL contract, retired from the NHL, on a team's inactive player's list or eligible for the OTHL Draft, can be acquired by any team at any time, except during times where new free agent signings are not allowed.
14.3.3. Unrestricted Free Agency
Unrestricted free agency is for any player qualifying for UFA status based on his age (see sec 14.2.2), and whose current contract has expired. Any team can sign UFA’s without compensation to the former team. The process will be very much like the NHL. GM's will be able to send in offers on the day Free Agency begins (determined by the BOD and UFA Panel) to ufa@othl.ca and the OTHLPA agent(s) will begin negotiations. Teams are limited to five (5) open negotiations at any given time. Any offers above this limit will be simply thrown out with no indications.
Offers need to include:
1. Salary Per Year
2. Length of contract (ie. years / term)
If a Bonus is included, it must be calculated with an actual dollar value. GM’s cannot just say “max bonus” in their offer. If not calculated, the offer will be voided and no notification given to the GM. Max bonus allow is 25% of the total contract value.
GM's can revoke their offer. GM's cannot modify their offer unless requested by Agents.
14.3.4. Undrafted Free Agents
Undrafted free agents (UDFA) are any player who has played in the NHL the previous season, but who's rights are not owned by any OTHL team (signed roster player, as a prospect, or on a team's inactive list). Most often this will be undrafted NHL rookies.
Each offseason all UDFAs will be eligible to be signed by any OTHL team, during a designated window of time determined by the BOD. All UDFAs will be given their NHL contract (NHL AAV and remaining term) upon signing with an OTHL team as well as a one year NTC. All UDFA must enter the UDFA process before being allowed to be signed in regular Free Agency as UFA's. Outside of this UDFA signing window, no UDFAs will be allowed to be signed for any reason.
The system for determining which OTHL team will be awarded the player is through a bidding system. Essentially, the team who places the highest bid on a player is awarded that player, but with a few rules:
- There will be only one round of bidding. No alterations of bids will be accepted for any reason. Contrary to signing a player, all bids should appear in one email to undrafted@othl.ca. Only one email per team will be accepted by the agents, and only the bids appearing in the first email will be looked at.
- Your bid amount, win or lose, will be deducted from your team's finances. If you bid $5 million on Player X, and lose to a team that bids $6 million, you will still have $5 million deducted from your finances.
- Teams will have a maximum of $15,000,000 ($15 million) to spend in total across all their bids. If a team spends more than this, all bids will be null and void.
- A minimum bid on any UDFA will be $500,000.
- Any ties will be awarded to the lower ranked team in the standings.
- If any UDFAs are not bid on by any team, they will become UFAs and can be signed by any team during the UFA period.
Actual Bid + ( Actual Bid * [Spots Away From Playoffs]% ) = Weighted Bid
What that formula means is, if the last place team during the season bid $7 million dollars on a player, their weighted bid will actually be $8.05 million ($7 million + 1.05 million [15% of $7 million]). Keep in mind that the weighted bid will not be taken out of their finances, nor will it be the number that is used toward the $15 million spending limit. The $7 million bid is still used for those calculations.
Regular Season Finish |
Bid Modifier |
31 |
15% |
30 |
14% |
29 |
13% |
.. |
.. |
19 |
3% |
18 |
2% |
17 (highest non-playoff team) |
1% |
Another example:
The 25th place team bids $6 million on a player, while the 5th place team bids $6.5M for the same player.
Team |
Original Bid |
Modifier |
Modified Amount |
Weighted Bid |
25th Place |
$6,000,000 |
9% |
$540,000 |
$6,540,000 |
5th Place |
$6,500,000 |
0% |
$0 |
$6,500,000 |
In this example the 25th place team will still be awarded this player even though their actual bid was less before the weighted calculations took place. The 5th place team will be charged $6.5 million and the 25th place team will be charged $6 million.
14.4. Signing Restricted Free Agents (RFA)
Players whose contracts expire but who do not qualify for unrestricted free agency (i.e. they are under the UFA age, see sec 14.2.2) are restricted free agents, meaning they remain property of their current club. This means that these players may sign with another club, however there are restrictions. RFA’s may not sign a contract with another team until the start of the free agency period (announced by the BOD each off season). If another team signs the player, the restrictions are that the player's former team has the right to either match the offer (the player automatically returns to his former team with the new contract), or take compensation from the new team.
14.4.1. RFA (Restricted Free Agent) Compensation
When a team loses a RFA to another team then they are entitled to compensation. The compensation table we use is identical to the one used by the NHL, and changes to their table will also mean changes in our table. You can find a copy of this table here.
14.4.2 RFA Compensation Pick Rules
The team that signs a player to an offer-sheet, can only do so if they have the draft picks that match the compensation (see above), otherwise the offer sheet is voided. The draft picks must be the offering team’s original picks. The draft picks must also be available in the upcoming draft. If the compensation is two 1st round draft picks, then they must be in sequential years.
14.4.3 Other RFA Compensation
Once an offer-sheet is ruled valid, the two teams are free to negotiate the compensation. The negotiated compensation will then be reviewed and approved by the Board of Directors (BOD).
14.4.4 RFA Trade Restrictions
If a team decides to match the offer sheet made to one of their players, they are not allowed to trade that player for one (1) season.
14.4.5 RFA Salary Arbitration
See sec 13.7