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NAHL Constitution

1.0 The Constitution and Bylaws

1.1 Copies of the Constitution and Bylaws

1.2 Effective dates

1.3 Amendment and repeal

1.4 Notification of bylaws changes

2.0 League Name and Organization

2.1 Official name and abbreviation

2.2 Divisions

3.1 Game used

3.2 Online availability

4.0 League Office

4.1 Definition

4.2 The Commissioner

4.2.1 Duties and powers

4.2.2 Power over trades

4.2.3 Appeals of decisions

4.2.4 Term of office

4.2.5 Removal from office

4.2.6 Filling vacancies

4.3 Vice President-Personnel

4.3.1 Duties

4.3.2 Term of office

4.4 Vice President-Statistics

4.4.1 Duties

4.4.2 Term of office

4.5 Executive Committee

4.5.1 Duties

4.5.2 Composition

5.0 Season Length

6.0 Standings

6.1 Determination

6.2 Tie breaking

7.0 Playoffs

7.1 Format

7.2 Home ice

7.3 Playoff procedure

7.4 Overtime

9.0 Team Rosters

9.1 Active roster

9.2 Reserve list

9.3 Releasing players

10.0 Player Availability

10.1 Player eligibility

10.2 Combination players

10.3 Number of games per season

10.4 Positions allowed

10.5 Penalties for overuse

11.0 Trades

11.1 What can be traded

11.2 When trades become effective

11.3 Trading deadlines

11.3.1 Pre-Entry draft

11.3.2 In-season

11.4 Conditional trades

11.5 Trading draft choices

11.6 Future considerations

11.7 Appealing trades

12.0 The Entry Draft

12.1 Entry draft order

12.2 Pre-entry draft rosters

12.3 Entry draft date

12.4 Entry draft length

12.5 Member availability

12.6 Leftover players

13.0 Instruction Sheets

13.1 What and when to send

13.2 Failure to receive a strat file

Contents (cont.)

14.0 Game Rules

14.1 Faceoff options used

15.0 Statistics and Record Keeping

15.1 Sending result files

15.1.1 Sending to the league office

15.1.2 Sending to opponents

15.1.3 Sending opponents' sheets through league office

15.2 Penalties for late game results file

15.2.1 League office playing game

15.3 Official statistics kept

16.1 Full season stewardship

16.1.1 Duration

16.1.2 Responsibility

16.1.3 Lineups against steward's team

16.1.4 Trading

16.1.5 Penalties

16.2 Midseason stewardship

16.3 Ending stewardship

17.0 Dispersal Draft

17.1 What is available

17.2 Timing

17.3 Dispersal draft order

17.4 Dispersal draft length

17.5 Future draft choices

18.0 Expansion

18.1 Expansion timing

18.2 League approval

18.3 Initial entry draft

18.3.1 When and in what order

18.3.2 Number of players to draft

18.3.3 Uncarded players

18.4 Midseason draft

18.5 Expansion draft

18.6 Second entry draft

18.7 Trading

18.8 "Neutral Site" games

1.1 Copies of the Constitution and Bylaws

The Commissioner will supply each member with a copy of the league Constitution and Bylaws, either electronically, or in hard copy. In addition, a current copy of the Constitution will be posted at the league website.

1.2 Effective dates

This Constitution and Bylaws is in force immediately upon issuance by the Commissioner. It shall continue in force until amended and/or repealed.

1.3 Amendment and repeal

The Commissioner has the power to add to, amend or repeal any of the bylaws listed hereafter, with the exception of those requiring a league vote. In all cases, the Commissioner will seek advice and opinions from league members concerning alterations to the league bylaws. The commissioner may ask for a league vote on such matters even if one is not required by the league bylaws.

1.4 Notification of bylaws changes

The commissioner may notify league members of bylaws changes orally or in writing. Written notification may consist of pages of additions to be added to each member's copy of the bylaws, amendments to replace pages in each member's copy of the bylaws, an entirely new copy of the Constitution and Bylaws, instructions to remove pages of bylaws, publication of the changes in league letters or updates or on the league website.

2.1 Official name and abbreviation

The official name of the league will be "North American Hockey League." The official abbreviation for the North American Hockey League will be "NAHL."

2.2 Divisions

The North American Hockey League is organized into two subunits called "divisions." One is named the "Horky Division" the other the "Sauberer Division." These divisions are used in determining league schedules and playoff participants as detailed in later bylaws. The composition of each division will be determined before the beginning of each season.

3.1 Game used

The NAHL uses Faceoff Computer Hockey to play all league games. No other board, computer or video game is to be used to play a league game, even if the members involved agree. League members must own or have unlimited access to a copy of the latest version of Faceoff Computer Hockey and a current roster disk. Any copies used by league members must be original copies purchased from Land-Sports, Inc. Any league member who violates copyright laws and uses a pirated copy of the software is subject to expulsion from the league.

In order to eliminate the need to charge dues to league members, each member must have a valid e-mail address to receive league news and strat files from other members. It is also recommended that each league member join the NAHL Chat Room hosted on Yahoo!. Any current member can issue an invitation to join this club.

The term "league office" refers to the NAHL Commissioner, the Commissioner's designees who are charged with administrative, record keeping and judicial duties of the NAHL, and/or the Executive Committee of the NAHL. One or more individuals may fill each position listed below and one individual may fill more than one position.

4.2 The Commissioner

4.2.1 Duties and powers

The job of the Commissioner is to keep the league running smoothly. The Commissioner's powers include, but are not limited to, altering, suspending or adding to the league Constitution and Bylaws. The Commissioner will enforce the Constitution and Bylaws, mediate and adjudicate disputes between league members, monitor other members of the league office and take all actions necessary to keep the league functioning.

4.2.2 Power over trades

The Commissioner may overrule a trade that he considers against the best interests of the league if such a trade is appealed to him by any league member, according to the process detailed in section 11.7 below. Appeals of the Commissioners ruling on such a trade may be made to the Executive Committee, as provided in section 11.7.

4.2.3 Appeals of decisions

Any of the Commissioner's decisions may be appealed to the Commissioner. After getting information pertaining to the appeal, the Commissioner will either uphold or overturn the original decision as quickly as possible. If the league member is dissatisfied with the Commissioner’s more deliberate ruling, he may appeal to the Executive Board.

4.2.4 Term of office

The Commissioner serves at the pleasure of a consensus of the NAHL members. There is no set term of office.

4.2.5 Removal from office

The Commissioner will be removed from office with a majority vote of current NAHL members. The Commissioner may continue to serve as Commissioner until a successor is named.

4.2.6 Filling vacancies

If the office of Commissioner becomes vacant, a majority vote of current NAHL members is required to name an individual as the new Commissioner.

4.3 Vice President-Personnel

4.3.1 Duties

The Vice President-Personnel will keep track of current team rosters, register trades, keep a record of draft choice changes and notify league members of the above matters in a regular fashion.

4.3.2 Term of office

The Vice President-Personnel is named by the Commissioner and serves at the pleasure of the Commissioner.

The Vice President-Statistics will compile and distribute the official statistics of the league during the course of the season. He will also be responsible to quickplay any games that are required to be resolved in that manner.

4.4.2 Term of office

The Vice President-Statistics is named by the Commissioner and serves at the pleasure of the Commissioner.

The Executive Committee will function as a body to hear appeals of Commissioner’s rulings on trades or other matters. All matters before the Executive Committee will be decided by majority vote of the Committee.

The Executive Committee will consist of the Commissioner and one representative from each of the NAHL divisions. In addition there will be one alternate Executive Committee member from each division who will function as an Executive Committee member in the event that one or more of the regular members is the subject of the business currently before the Executive Committee.

5.0 Season Length

The NAHL regular season currently consists of 80 games per team, split evenly between home and road. The season is played in six sets. The Commissioner will inform league members of the dates for each set. The Commissioner will also send each member a complete schedule for the season, listing which games are to be played in each set, as well as posting it to the Yahoo! Club for reference.

6.1 Determination

The order of standings in a division or in the league overall will be determined by amount of standings points. Each team receives two standings points for every game it wins and one standings point for every game it ties.

6.2 Tie breaking

In the event that two or more teams have the same number of standings points, the following tie breakers will be used, in order, to determine which team is highest in the standings:

Most wins

Head to head record (the odd home game will be ignored, if applicable)

Division record (if in same division)

Goal Differential

Coin flip

7.1 Format

The playoff format will be determined by the Commissioner prior to the start of each season. Currently the first four teams in each division make the playoffs. All playoff series are best-of-seven. In the first round, the first place team in each division plays the fourth place team in that division and the second place team in each division plays the third place team in that division. The winners of these series in each division play each other in the next round of playoffs for the division championship. The division champions then meet in the Gregory Cup finals. The winner of the Gregory Cup is the NAHL champion for that season.

7.2 Home ice advantage

The team with the better regular season record is the home team in games 1,2 and, if necessary, 5 and 7 of each series. The team with the worse regular season record is the home team in games 3, 4 and, if necessary, 6.

All playoff games will be played by a neutral third party, unless they are played face-to-face. The visiting team will send a strat file for each game to the person playing the game(s) and lineup and/or strat file to the home team owner. The home team owner will then send a strat file to the person playing the games(s). Each owner may request that game by game results be given to him/her so that changes in lines and/or settings can be based on game results.

7.4 Overtime

In the event of a playoff game resulting in a tie score after three periods of play, sudden death overtime will be played. Overtime will consist of periods and lines of the same duration as regular play, with the exception that the first team to score a goal in overtime wins the game and the game ends at that point. Strat files sent by coaches may specify that lines may be changed and/or the order they play may be different from those used in regulation play.

At the close of each season the league office will name the winners of the following awards:

Gregory Cup- given to the winner of the league championship series

Commissioner's Trophy- given to the team with the most regular season standings points

Paul Sauberer Trophy- given to the winner of the Sauberer Division championship series

Roger Horky Trophy- given to the winner of the Horky Division championship series

Laurel Horky Molloy Award- given to the most valuable player in the NAHL

Helen Margaret Gutowski Award- given to the NAHL rookie of the year, rookie being defined as a player who did not play in the old CAHL/NAHL or in more than 25 total regular season NAHL games prior to the current season nor more than 15 games in any single NAHL season.

Dom Denaro Award- given to the NAHL scoring leader

Randy Beeler Award- given to the NAHL defenseman of the year

Dave Eamma Award- given to the NAHL goalie of the year

Andrej Koropechyj Award- given to the most valuable player during the NAHL playoffs

Frank Kenny Award- given to the goalies of the NAHL team with the fewest goals allowed. A goalie must have played in 10 or more games with that team to qualify for this award.

Tim Draper Award- given to the NAHL plus/minus leader

Tom Young Award- given to the NAHL coach of the year

Steve Nelson Award- given to the NAHL executive of the year

At the end of each year's entry draft, each team's active roster will consist of no more than 35 players who meet the eligibility requirements for the upcoming season. During the season, a team may have any number of players on its active roster as long as the team can put a full squad on the ice for each game.

9.2 Reserve list

At the end of each year's entry draft, in addition to the active roster, each team may retain the rights to up to 10 players who were previously on its active roster but no longer have a card. A player may be carried on the reserve list from year to year, but once released is subject to the entry draft if he gets a card again.

9.3 Releasing players

Players may be released from both the active roster and the reserve list at any time between the end of a season and the deadline set by the Commissioner for turning in final cuts. Players may not be recalled once they are released. They may only be reacquired via draft or trade with another team who has acquired the player via draft or trade.

10.1 Player Eligibility

A player is eligible for the NAHL season if he received a card (either regular or additional) in the Strat-O-Matic hockey board game. A list of eligible players will be distributed to league members well in advance of the annual free agent draft. No other players are eligible, even if they are rated on the Faceoff roster disk.

Any players that are rated as combination players on the Faceoff roster disk must use that rating in the NAHL. Their individual team ratings may not be used.

10.3 Number of games per season

Each player is available to play a number of NAHL regular season games each season equal to 110% of the number of games he played in the NHL (NAHL GP= 1.1 * NHL GP). Any fractions are rounded up. Each player may play a number of playoff games each season equal to the number of NAHL regular season games he played for his playoff team. Games played for another team during that regular season do not count toward his playoff availability.

10.4 Positions allowed

A player may only be put in a lineup at positions listed in his rating with the exception of power play and shorthanded situations, as explained in the game rules. Players may shift positions during the course of a game as needs arise, suffering whatever penalties are imposed by the game.

10.5 Penalties for overuse

An owner will lose his/her first round entry draft choice (or equivalent player if the team has no first round choice) and subsequent draft choices for every three games, or portion of three games, used over the limit. Overusage of multiple players will be added together to determine the proper penalty. This penalty is subject to review on appeal. This penalty will not be applied to a team for which the program chooses more than 50% of game lineups.

11.1 What can be traded

Trades can involve players and/or draft choices for the next draft or the one after that (e.g. 2002 draft picks cannot be traded before the conclusion of the 2000 draft). Considerations such as not drafting a player desired by another team may also be dealt.

Trades may not be "rent-a-player" deals where a player is traded for the remainder of a regular season with the understanding that the player will be returned to his original team at the end of the playoffs.

Trades may include "future considerations," as specified in section 11.6 below.

Trades may not involve non-league items such as cash, food, beer, etc.

All trades are binding as soon as they are communicated to the league office. They become fully effective as soon as they are posted by the league office to the league mailing list. Any players involved in trades will change teams no sooner than the beginning of the next set of the team which has played the most sets, providing that they have been communicated to the league office prior to the trading deadline for that set.

11.3.1 Pre-entry draft

No trades will be effective during the time between the final pre-draft roster cuts and the end of the entry draft.

11.3.2 In-season

Each trade must be communicated to the league office so that the rest of the league can be informed. In order for a trade to be effective for all but the final set of games, the trade must be communicated at least five days before the set is to begin. For example, a trade to be effective for a set which starts on December 1 must be communicated by November 25. No trades are effective at the beginning of the final set of games. Any players traded after the trading deadline for the penultimate set do not change teams until the conclusion of the playoffs.

11.4 Conditional trades

Any trade communicated to the league office that is to be effective beyond the next set (e.g. we are playing the third set and the trade is to be effective as of the sixth set) will be considered conditional until the set before the trade is to take place. If neither team is more than a month behind in playing games or sending in result files, the trade will be considered official. If either team is more than a month behind, the trade will not be effective. This is to prevent members from making trades and then leaving the league with the next owner of the team left holding the bag for what may be considered a bad trade. This rule is not to be construed as allowing a team to back out of a trade. As soon as it is communicated to the league office, it is final. It just will not be fully implemented until both teams are considered likely to survive.

11.5 Trading draft choices

Only specific draft choices (e.g. Seattle's second round choice in 1996) may be traded. A member may not trade a provisional draft choice (e.g. Minnesota's third best fourth round choice in 1997). This is to prevent problems in interpreting when a "____ best" draft pick is to be determined.

11.6 Future considerations

"Future considerations" consisting of a player to change hands at the end of a season may be dealt. This player must be identified to the league office at the time of the deal. Once a player has been dealt for a future season, he may not be dealt for the remainder of the current season (i.e. trading him to Team A for the rest of this season, after trading him to Team B for next season).

If members come to an understanding and trade future considerations that are outside the bounds of the rules (e.g. future draft choices that cannot officially move yet), the members take upon themselves the risk that one or both of the members may no longer be in the league at the time the future considerations become official. If a dispute arises from future considerations due and it cannot be settled by the members involved, they will submit to binding arbitration by the Commissioner. The Commissioner will look more favorably on the side of a new member and will be hesitant to make the new owner live up to a deal made by a former member outside the boundary of the league bylaws.

11.7 Appealing trades

Any league member may appeal to the Commissioner to void a trade that is considered to be so grossly lopsided as to be against the best interests of the league or that appears to violate a league rule regarding trading.

Any appeal to a trade must occur within two days of the trade notification on the league mailing list. The Commissioner must then rule on the appeal within two days of receiving the appeal. If the Commissioner has not communicated a ruling in that time, the trade is to be allowed to stand. The Commissioner may designate another individual to hear appeals during times when he is out of communication with the league. In those cases, that individual will be authorized to make the appeal ruling.

Any party to a trade or an appeal of a trade may appeal the Commissioner’s ruling to the Executive Board. If any member of the Executive Board is a party to the trade or appeal, an alternate member will be part of the appeal process. Whoever appeals to the Executive Board will be obligated to include their basis for appeal with their appeal. The other side will then have a day to respond to this appeal and the Executive Board will make their ruling within one day after that. This ruling shall be considered final.

Before each NAHL season, the league will conduct a draft of eligible players that are not on the active roster of any team's rosters.

12.1 Entry draft order

The entry draft order will be determined by inverse order of the previous NAHL season's standings, unless altered by expansion and/or folded teams (see constitution sections 18 and 19).

12.2 Pre-entry draft rosters

The Commissioner will set a deadline for setting final pre-entry draft rosters. Each team must inform the Commissioner of its final pre-entry draft roster by this deadline. The Commissioner will then inform all league members of all final pre-entry draft rosters. No trading or releasing of players will be allowed between this deadline and the end of the entry draft.

12.3 Entry draft date

The date(s) of the entry draft will be set by the Commissioner. All league members will be given ample warning of the entry draft date(s) so arrangements can be made for such things as days off from work. The Commissioner may start asking members for choices prior to the set draft date(s) in order to reduce drafting on that day. Members must be prepared to make choices at any time after pre-entry draft rosters are set.

12.4 Entry draft length

The entry draft will be conducted online, through chat, e-mail or instant messaging. Each team will choose until its active roster is filled. After a team fills its active roster it does not choose anymore. Teams may, and most likely will, have different numbers of choices. Any draft choice that a team owns which comes after it has filled its active roster is forfeit. This includes other teams' choices which have been acquired via trade but does not include its own choices which have been traded to other teams which have not filled their active rosters.

12.5 Member availability

Every member must be available for the time that the entry draft is to be held. If a member knows beforehand that he/she will be unavailable for the entry draft, the member may designate someone else to make his/her choices, may leave a list of choice preferences or make other arrangements for choosing players. In the event that a member is unavailable to make an entry draft choice and no directions for that choice were left, the Commissioner shall choose for that team. The Commissioner may ask for input from other league members before making such choices.

Any players that are not on an active roster after all teams have filled their active rosters are not available to any team for the remainder of the season.

Each member is required to send strat files to each road opponent who will not be played face-to-face. Strat files must be sent before the beginning of each set.

13.2 Failure to receive a strat file

If a member has not received a strat file from an opponent that is to be played by the 8th day after a set starts and the member has played all games he/she has received strat files for, the member may play the game allowing the Faceoff program to choose the lineup for his opponent. Failure to receive a strat file is not an excuse for failing to finish a set's games on time.

14.1 Faceoff Options Used

Skater Limit-18

Goalie Limit-2

Modern Day Fatigue

Have Overtime

Overtime Length- 5

End on goal

Injuries- leave blank

After each game, the home team must send a copy of the team game results file (.fol file) via e-mail to the league office. All result files for a set must be received by the last day of that set.

15.1.2 Sending to opponents

Since the Faceoff game includes the boxscores as part of the league .fol file, it is no longer necessary for league members to send .txt files to their opponents, unless they wish to do so. Owners may also post the .txt files of games they play to the league mailing list, as well as game recaps that they wish to write, but are not required to do so.

If the league office has not received a game result file for a game by the last day of the set and the Commissioner determines that the owner will not be able to finish his games in a timely fashion, the league office will contact the road team and request a strat file from him. (Note: owners may send strat files to the league office at the time they send them to their opponents. This is not mandated but will eliminate possible later delays.) The road owner must send the strat file to the league office within two days. The league office will then quickplay the game. This game will count as the official version of that game.

The league office will keep a record of all statistics tracked and available through the Faceoff program. They will be made available to league members through the league web site. In addition, copies of the league .fol and .fot files will be distributed to league members at the start of each set.

In special cases, it may be necessary for a franchise to be run by another member of the league. There will be two kinds of these situations-full season stewardship (picking up a team at the beginning of a season) and mid-season stewardship (picking up a team after a season has started). In both cases, stewardship will be considered only as a last resort. It is always preferable to have each league member running only one team.

16.1.1 Duration

Full season stewardship will not last longer than one season for any given franchise. If a new owner is not found for the franchise by the start of the next NAHL season, the franchise will fold and its assets will be distributed via dispersal draft (see section 18).

16.1.2 Responsibility

The owner who takes over a franchise under stewardship has full authority over that franchise. For all intents and purposes he/she will own that franchise and be responsible for it, just as he/she is for his/her own (barring the exceptions listed in these bylaws). This includes, but is not limited to, playing the games, suffering penalties for late play and/or stats, drafting and trading. The steward will not, however, have to make a dues payment for the franchise under stewardship.

16.1.3 Lineups against steward's team

When a team under stewardship plays the steward's other team, it must use a lineup that has been produced by the Faceoff program.

16.1.4 Trading

The only checks on trading for a franchise under stewardship are on trades between it and the other team owned by its steward. Trades between these two teams must be approved by two other NAHL owners, at least one of whom must be in the same division as the steward's own team.

16.2 Mid-season stewardship

Rules for mid-season stewardship will be identical to those for full season stewardship with the exception that a team may go into full season stewardship for the following season if it is deemed in the best interest of the league to do so.

Stewardship of a team may end in one of three ways. First, a permanent owner is found for the team. Next, the team's steward resigns. A team's steward may resign at any time with no penalty for that act. A replacement steward will be named for the team. Last, stewardship ends when a team folds and its assets are dispersed.

In the event that a team or teams cannot continue into a season the team(s) will fold and the assets of the team(s) will be divided among the remaining teams via a dispersal draft. Only one dispersal draft will be held per season, no matter how many teams fold.

17.1 What is available

All players on both the active and reserve rosters of a folded team will be available in the dispersal draft. In addition, all entry draft choices that the folded team owns that are from surviving teams for the next or following entry draft are available to be chosen. The folded team's own choices that they still own are not available.

17.2 Timing

Any dispersal draft will be held approximately one week prior to the date that final pre-entry draft rosters are to be given to the Commissioner. This will usually be two weeks before the entry draft.

17.3 Dispersal draft order

The order of choosing in the dispersal draft will be selected by weighted lottery. The surviving team with the worst record in the previous season will have a number of chances equal to the number of surviving teams, the team with the next worst record will have one fewer chance and so on, with the team with the best record having one chance. The draft order will be drawn randomly from these chances with each team's draft order being set when they are first drawn from the chances. Any time a team's chance is subsequently drawn, it will be ignored.

17.4 Dispersal draft length

The dispersal draft ends when every team passes consecutively (there is nothing left that anyone wants). Any players remaining who have cards will be eligible for the entry draft. All players chosen in the dispersal draft will count towards a team's roster limit and will affect the number of choices it has in the entry draft. Any entry draft choices that go unclaimed are forfeit.

17.5 Future draft choices

Any entry draft choices for a future entry draft traded away by a folded franchise shall be positioned as follows:

If the folded franchise played during the season before the entry draft the choices will be positioned as normal using the folded franchise's previous season record.

If the folded franchise did not play during the previous season, position the entry draft choices as if the folded franchise had finished with a .500 winning percentage. If any surviving franchises had exactly a .500 winning percentage, position the folded franchise's choices after those of the surviving franchises. If more than one folded franchise has entry draft choices qualifying under this rule in the same round, their position relative to each other will be determined by lot.

18.1 Expansion timing

Expansion will be decided on no later than April 30 two years prior to the proposed expansion (e.g. expansion for the 2001 season must be decided on by April 30, 1999).

18.2 League approval

Expansion must be approved by a minimum of three-fourths of league members at the time of the expansion vote.

18.3.1 When and in what order

Expansion teams will participate in the entry draft one season prior to their first season of NAHL play. They will choose at the end of rounds 1 and 2, the middle of rounds 3 and 4 and the beginning of rounds 5 and later. If there are multiple expansion teams their draft order relative to each other will be determined by lot.

18.3.2 Number of players to draft

New expansion teams will draft until they have a combined total of 15 players on their active roster and reserve list.

18.3.3 Unavailable players

New expansion teams may draft normally unavailable players (future or veterans) not on a reserve list with their own choices in any or all of the first three rounds. If an expansion team trades one or more of these choices, the team acquiring the choice may draft a normally unavailable player. If an expansion team trades for an established franchise's choice in the first three rounds, that choice may not be used to draft a normally unavailable player.

18.4 Midseason draft

During the NHL All Star Break immediately before an expansion team's first season of NAHL play, each expansion team will alternately choose three players who have played in at least one NHL game in that current season but are not on any NAHL active roster or reserve list.

18.5 Expansion draft

Prior to the entry draft and any dispersal draft of the season in which an expansion team will begin play, each established team will rank its players (both active and reserve) in order of preference. The first 12 players of each established team will be protected and unavailable for the expansion draft. Each expansion team will alternately choose from the unprotected pool until each expansion team has made 12 choices. When an established team loses a player, the team will add its next highest ranked player to the protected list. In addition, no expansion team may choose another one of that team's players until at least 5 players from other teams have been chosen.

18.0 Expansion (cont.)

18.6 Second entry draft

Expansion teams participate normally in the entry draft immediately before the season they begin play. They are subject to the same roster limits as established teams. Expansion teams will choose at the end of all rounds. If there are two or more expansion teams their relative positions will be determined by lot.

18.7 Trading

Expansion teams may trade any assets they have, including draft choices, even during the season they have not yet begun play.

Expansion team owners may be required to play "neutral site" games for other teams during the season before they begin play with their own teams. The number of "neutral site" games will be determined before that season begins.