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reid · 04-09-2021, 05:21 PM

Hello SHL Community.

It has come to our attention that in early S55, Toronto offered the following contract extensions, with the intention of their bonus applying to their S56 cap:

https://simulationhockey.com/showthread.php?tid=108959

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Ryosuke Sato! @Dextaria

S56: $3,000,000 *

S57: $3,000,000

*= $1mil Bonus for doing all PTs in S55 (mPTs, 3on3s, etc not included)

Scoochie Stratton! @honkerrs

S56: $3,000,000 *

S57: $3,000,000

*= $1mil Bonus for doing all PTs in S55 (mPTs, 3on3s, etc not included)

As both players met their bonus stipulation, Toronto paid them and budgeted $4M per player on Toronto’s S56 cap as intended.

Rule C-5 in the rulebook states:

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If a player meets the requirements for a bonus in their contract, the bonus is paid out and counts towards the following season’s cap (ex. Player achieves a bonus in S50, bonus is paid out in S51 and counts towards the S51 Salary Cap).

Thus, the bonuses were counted against the cap in the incorrect season (S56 contract bonuses should count against the S57 cap). This resulted in the Toronto North Stars being 2M over the cap in the S57 season.

This mistake seems to be caused by a misinterpretation of rule C-5, where the stipulation was thought to have been met in S55 and should payout in S56. However, as the bonus was stipulated in the S56 contract extension (not in effect until S56), this was not the case. Rule E-2 states:

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Once signed, any contract that is not a General Manager’s contract can not be modified.

Because of this rule, the bonus was not eligible to be “met” in S55, as the players in question were still playing on their previously agreed contracts, which did not include the bonus condition.

The rulebook punishment for being over the cap is as follows:

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C-6 If a team spends more than their Salary Cap allows, they will be issued a cap fine equal to twice the amount of the surplus towards the following season’s cap.

This would result in a cap fine of $4M being applied to Toronto’s S59 budget.

However, SHL HO acknowledges that the wording of the rulebook is murky at best in this particular case. This should also have been caught by the budget team before approving Toronto’s S56 and S57 budgets.

Because of this acknowledgement, we are choosing to reduce the cap fine to $2M against Toronto’s S59 cap.

There will be further action by SHL HO to:

- Clarify rule C-5
- Deal with the budget team’s involvement in this mistake
- Add checks and balances that should catch similar situations in the future

So watch for those in the near future.

As always, Toronto GMs @ml002 and @UrsinZ are welcome to appeal this decision to the owners.

On behalf of SHL HO,

reid