Chapter 14: Free Agency

[OTHL]

CHAPTER 14: FREE AGENCY

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).

14.2.1.2 Automatic RFA Qualification
All players who are considered Restricted Free Agents are automatically considered qualified. If a GM wishes to unqualify an RFA then they must specifically state to the RFA Agent prior to the start of Free Agency that the player is being unqualified and therefore becomes a UFA. Should a GM wish to offer a contract below the current contract value of the RFA, they are free to offer that and begin negotiations, this does not unqualify the player.

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.

14.3.3.1 UFA Testing
GMs have the ability to negotiate with their pending UFA players once that window is opened. However, if the agent responds that the player is testing, that player will not open negotiations with any other team until the start of Free Agency. In other words, if the player tested on Team A and Team A trades the player to Team B, Team B is ineligible to open negotiations to keep that player, that player will head to Free Agency.

If a player tested on a team at the deadline and remained on the team and then it is the offseason, the team cannot trade the player's UFA rights as the player has already chosen to test and will be entering Free Agency. If the team never opened negotiations with the player, then they are free to trade the player's UFA rights. Opening negotiations with a UFA player is defined as sending an offer to retain their services to the UFA Agent, as soon as that offer is sent, regardless if the GM revokes it later or trades the player before the agent responds, the player can only sign with that team or test and head to Free Agency.

GMs who traded for players that have already decided to head to Free Agency are strictly not allowed to send emails to the UFA Agent stating they have interest in the player and would offer if they were able to. Any emails sent of this nature will be immediately deleted and will negatively impact any attempt to sign the player in Free Agency by that team.

When a GM decides to trade a pending UFA player that they have already opened negotiations with, they arerequired to inform the other GM involved in the trade that they will be unable to negotiate with that player. Failure to do this may result in the trade being void.

14.3.4. Undrafted Free Agents
Undrafted free agents (UDFA) are any players who have 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.

Beginning the 2026-2027 offseason, the rules for UDFAs have been amended to the following rules:

The bottom three finishing teams in the previous regular season will have an exclusive UDFA signing window only available to them. The draft lottery has no impact on this process as only regular season standings are used to determine the bottom three teams. Each of the bottom three teams will be given an opportunity to sign one UDFA once the designated UDFA window is opened by the BOD each offseason. The process begins with the 32nd finishing team selecting which UDFA, if any, they wish to sign. Next will be the 31st and 30th finishing teams. The players selected will be given their NHL contract (NHL AAV and remaining term) as an OTHL contract, there will be no cash charge to sign these players. None of these bottom three teams are obligated to sign the one UDFA they are allowed to sign in this exclusive window.

Once the bottom three teams have made their selection/no selection, all remaining UDFAs eligible to be signed that summer will immediately become UFAs that are eligible to be signed in Free Agency by any team.


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. See table below for 2024.

$1,511,701 AAV or less - No compensation
$1,5111,701 to $2,290,457 - 3rd round pick
$2,290,457 to $4,580,917 - 2nd round pick
$4,580,917 to $6,871,374 - 1st and 3rd round picks
$6,871,374 to $9,161,834 - 1st, 2nd and 3rd round picks
$9,161,834 to $11,452,294 - Two 1st's, 2nd and 3rd round picks
Above $11,452,294 - Four 1st round picks

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