Types of Player Contracts and Free Agent Status
When a player is without a contract, or when their current contract has expired, they are considered a free agent.
Here are the three types of contracts that determine a player’s free agency status, depending on the player’s age when their contract expires.
| Contract Type | Age at Contract Expiration |
|---|---|
| No Autonomy (Type 1) | 24 years and under |
| With Compensation (Type 2) | 25 to 29 years |
| No Compensation (Type 3) | 30 years and over |
Example #1: 21-year-old player with a 1-year contract
| Year 1 | Contract Expiration | |
|---|---|---|
| Age | 21 | 22 |
| Year | 1 | 0 |
| Contract Type | 1 |
The player’s contract in this example is Type 1, as he will be 22 years old when the contract expires.
Example #2: 25-year-old player with a 3-year contract
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Contract Expiration | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
| Year | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Contract Type | 2 |
The player’s contract in this example is Type 2, as he will be 28 years old when the contract expires.
Example #3: 29-year-old player with a 2-year contract
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Contract Expiration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age | 29 | 30 | 31 |
| Year | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Contract Type | 3 |
The player’s contract in this example is Type 3, as he will be 31 years old when the contract expires.
Minimum and Maximum Player Salaries
The minimum salary of a player without a contract depends on the league’s salary cap, being 0.83% of that cap. The same principle applies to the maximum salary of a player, which is between 12% and 20% of the salary cap, configurable under Rule R1.1 – Maximum Player Salary.
Example: the league salary cap is $65,000,000. The minimum salary will be $539,500 (65,000,000 * 0.0083). With a voted percentage of 15%, the maximum salary for a player will be $9,750,000 (65,000,000 * 0.15).
Player Salaries in the Farm Club
Players in the farm club are not counted in the team’s payroll calculation, unless the player’s salary exceeds the maximum allowed value for a farm club player. This amount varies by league and is set in Rule R12.1.
Players in this situation will have their salary added to the team’s total salary expenses for the season, but it does not count towards the team’s current payroll calculation.
At the end of the season, if salary expenses exceed the owner’s budget, a penalty may apply (see the section on team payroll management).
Drafted Player Contracts
Players eligible for a league’s entry draft are new players created who have never been available before in that league. These can be rookies or new veteran players. The contracts (years and salaries) of these players vary depending on the player set used. For real leagues, the player’s actual NHL contract is used, but the duration is capped at 5 years.
Rookie Status
A player is considered a rookie in a WebSim league if they meet all the following criteria:
- The player is 24 years old or younger.
- The EXP attribute is equal to or less than 55.
- They have never played more than 40 games in a WebSim season as a skater, or 10 games as a goaltender.
Automatic Signing of Free Agent Players (Type 1)
A Type 1 player automatically re-signs with the same team, receiving a 25% salary increase for a variable number of years based on the player’s average rating.
For leagues using Virtual Evolution mode, the average used to determine contract length is the one after the player re-evaluation at the transition to the postseason. In Real Evolution mode, the average used may be the one before re-evaluation if official new attributes are not available at that time.
Number of contract years based on player’s average rating at postseason transition
| Average | Contract length |
| 0 to 69 | 4 |
| 70 to 75 | 3 |
| 76 to 79 | 2 |
| 80 and over | 1 |
