The Rule Book

FUNBOY HOCKEY LEAGUE

Rule Book

The rule set and the FAQ, all on one page.

SCORING & PRIMARY KEEPER SLOTS

• H2H categories: G, A, PIM, HIT, BLK, SOG, PPP, GWG, SV, W, SO
• 1 C, 1 LW, 1 RW, 2 D, 1 G and any 2 additional players

KEEPER POSITION ELIGIBILITY

• Players can be kept based on their eligibilities on Yahoo as of the final day of the prior season.
• A list of players and their position eligibilities will be uploaded to the group page after the season ends.

GOALTENDERS

• Teams can only keep goaltenders from 2 NHL teams.
• 22 and under Prospect keepers are exempt from this restriction.

ROOKIE KEEPERS

• 2 additional keeper slots that don't affect the defaults.
• Age for forwards is 21 and under.
• Age for defense and goalies is 22 and under.
• Age determination is as of the first day of the upcoming regular season — the same opening day used for prospects (league ruling, August 2026).

PROSPECTS — DRAFTED 2024 OR EARLIER

• Forwards: fewer than 42 NHL regular season games played.
• Defense: fewer than 42 NHL regular season games played.
• Goalies: fewer than 25 NHL regular season games played (games only, no age consideration).
• Must not have been activated. For players drafted 2023 or later there is no age test to keep a prospect — league ruling, August 2026. Players drafted 2022 or earlier stay under the age gate in force when they were drafted: forwards 21 and under, defence 22 and under, goalies no age test. Age also still decides the separate rookie keeper slots above, and who you may draft as a prospect below.

PROSPECTS — DRAFTED 2025 OR BEYOND

• Forwards: fewer than 83 NHL regular season games played.
• Defense: fewer than 83 NHL regular season games played.
• Goalies: fewer than 40 NHL regular season games played (games only, no age consideration).
• Must not have been activated. There is no age test to keep a prospect drafted in 2025 or beyond — league ruling, August 2026. Age still decides the separate rookie keeper slots above, and still applies to who you may draft as a prospect below.

GOLDEN PROSPECT

• Any prospect drafted in 2025 or beyond is eligible to be kept as a Golden Prospect. To be eligible you must own them as a prospect and not have activated them during the current season.
• The Golden Prospect is distinguished on the Prospects tab and only 1 can be designated per team for each keeper list declaration.
• If you activate your Golden Prospect during the season, you must wait until the upcoming keeper list declaration to replace that designated slot.
• A player eligible as a Golden Prospect can be kept each year regardless of age and games played.
• A player is no longer eligible as a Golden Prospect as soon as they've been activated by the team's owner and placed on their roster.

For the 2025 draft only, you could draft 1 of your own existing prospects to have them as an option to be kept as a Golden Prospect. This used up one of your 3 prospect picks for that draft.

PROSPECT QUALIFICATIONS (FOR DRAFTING)

• Forwards: 21 years old or younger on the first day of the regular season, fewer than 83 NHL regular season games played.
• Defense: 22 years old or younger on the first day of the regular season, fewer than 83 NHL regular season games played.
• Goalies: fewer than 40 NHL regular season games played.
• Must not have been activated.

DRAFTING / ACQUIRING PROSPECTS

• You can draft up to 3 prospects each year (you can keep an unlimited number).
• You are allowed to draft as many prospect-eligible players as you want, but only 3 may be classified as off-roster prospects. A prospect you own may instead be kept in one of your eight positional keeper slots (or a rookie slot) — useful when he has outgrown prospect eligibility and you still want him.
• You can only acquire players as prospects through the draft or trades.
• Prospects must meet the age requirements on opening day of the current NHL season.

PROSPECT ACTIVATION

• Prospects are only classified as such if they remain in free agency (not added to your roster).
• Activate your prospects by adding them to your team roster.
• You cannot activate a prospect whose rights are owned by another team.
• Once a prospect is activated, you cannot demote them back to your off-roster prospect slots.
• If a previously activated prospect is dropped, their rights are forfeited; if still eligible next season they can be re-drafted as a prospect.

PROSPECT ELIGIBILITY MID-SEASON

• Eligible owned prospects at the beginning of the season may remain owned off-roster throughout the season even if they cross the specified game or age threshold mid-season.
• They cannot be kept as prospects at the end of the season if they no longer meet the criteria.

TRADING PROSPECTS

• Prospects can be traded.
• You must communicate to your trade partner as well as the league group chat that a prospect is included in the deal. You must update the prospect sheet to reflect that change.

INELIGIBLE PLAYERS

• Players who transfer from overseas / NCAA / other leagues to the NHL mid-season cannot be added via free agency or waivers.
• If a team activates an ineligible player and plays them on their roster, they will be deducted a 7th round draft pick (or next highest available).

TRADE APPROVAL

• Trades are approved by league vote. Veto should only be used if trades break the rules or are extremely predatory.

OFFSEASON TRADING

• Offseason trading is allowed, but only after keepers have been declared. Offseason trading ONLY includes keepers, prospects, and picks.
• Teams are barred from trading until full payment has been received.

RESTRICTIONS ON TRADES

• Assets 3 drafts or beyond from the current year cannot be implicated in trades, either directly or indirectly through conditions.

Example: in the 2024-2025 season you can trade picks for the 2025 and 2026 drafts. Picks for 2027 and beyond cannot be traded.

• A team may roster a maximum of 3 healthy goalies. They are permitted 1 goalie in the IR slot. If an IR goalie's status changes and they are no longer IR eligible, a move must be made within the day to get back down to the 3 goalie limit.
• GMs must ensure that their lines are set every day.

DRAFT STRUCTURE

• The draft is a snake draft.
• 3 additional bench slots are added in the draft for the purpose of drafting prospects.
• After the draft, the league will be reset and the 3 additional bench slots removed. Prospects are removed from your roster and you retain ownership of their rights.
• If you do not draft at least 3 prospects you will have an excess of players; any excess players are automatically removed from your roster based on when they were drafted (those drafted latest are removed first).

DRAFT ORDER DETERMINATION

• Lottery for all non-playoff teams. Teams that finished in the playoffs aren't eligible.

1st last place — 26%

2nd last place — 21%

3rd last place — 17%

4th last place — 14%

5th last place — 12%

6th last place — 10%

• Draft picks 7-14: sorted by rank in playoffs.

• Keeper Declaration Deadline: set by the commissioners each year — see the deadline on the Keepers tab.
• League Payment Deadline: payment deadline is typically 24 hours before the draft. Deadline subject to change.

All penalties are enforced automatically. There is no commissioner discretion over whether to enforce them. They can only be reversed by league vote.

• For all pick forfeitures, if the appropriate pick is not owned, then you forfeit your preceding earlier pick.
• The notional forfeited pick will not be affected by any adjustments in the previous bullet.

MISSED KEEPER DECLARATION DEADLINE

• Loss of a 7th round draft pick in the upcoming draft.
• For each additional day late the forfeited pick moves 1 round / 1 pick earlier.

MISSED PAYMENT DEADLINE

• Loss of a 7th round pick in the upcoming draft.
• For each additional day late, the forfeited pick moves 1 round / 1 pick earlier.

ILLEGAL USAGE OF ADDITIONAL IR SPOT

• You cannot exploit an IR spot (setting lines in advance where a player is in your lineup, then putting them on IR the next day when healthy).
• Loss of a 7th round pick in the upcoming draft.
• For each additional violation, the forfeited pick moves 1 round / 1 pick earlier.

ILLEGAL PICKUP OF A PLAYER / PROSPECT OWNED BY ANOTHER TEAM

• Loss of a 7th round pick in the upcoming draft.
• For each additional violation, the forfeited pick moves 1 round / 1 pick earlier.
• If the added player impacts league standings, more severe penalties will be applied.

• $50 buy-in per team.
• Prize money used on a jersey of choice for the winning team.
• Remaining prize money awarded to the winning team.

Questions, answered · the ones that come up every single year

DECLARING YOUR KEEPERS

How many players can I keep in total?

Eight regular keepers (1 C, 1 LW, 1 RW, 2 D, 1 G and 2 flex), plus up to 2 rookie keepers, plus an unlimited number of eligible prospects. The rookie and prospect slots do not eat into your 8 regular slots.

Which position eligibilities count?

Your player's Yahoo eligibility as of the final day of the prior season. The league sheet has them pre-loaded on your Keeper Selection tab.

What are the 2 flex slots for?

Any two additional players at any position. Position doesn’t matter in a flex slot; the player only has to be on your roster and not used in another slot.

How do I actually submit?

In the league sheet: open your own tab, set the Keep as column beside each player you want, get every line of the Rule check to a green tick, type your name in the signature box, flip the lock to LOCKED IN, then DM Anthony the declaration text the sheet builds for you. Your picks appear live on the Keepers tab the moment you enter them, and your keeper list builds itself in section ③ as you go.

Can I change my mind after submitting?

Yes, until the declaration deadline. Edit your tab and send Anthony a fresh DM. The last DM before the deadline is the one that counts.

What happens if I miss the deadline?

Automatic loss of a 7th round pick in the upcoming draft, moving 1 round earlier for each additional day late. No commissioner discretion — it can only be reversed by league vote.

GOALIES

How many goalies can I keep?

Goaltenders from no more than 2 different NHL teams, counted across every goalie in your regular and rookie slots (the league sheet flags your goalie slot red if you break it). Prospect goalies aged 22 and under are exempt and are not counted.

ROOKIES

Who qualifies as a rookie keeper?

Forwards must be 21 or under; defence and goalies get 22 or under. Note that goalies are grouped with defence here, unlike the prospect rules where they have no age test at all. Age is measured as whole years on the first day of the upcoming regular season. In the league sheet, set that player’s Keep as column to ROOKIE and add their birthdate; the sheet works out the age for you.

Is a rookie keeper the same as a prospect?

No. Rookie keepers are on your active roster. Prospects are held off-roster and never take a roster spot until you activate them.

PROSPECTS

How many prospects can I keep?

As many as remain eligible. You can only add up to 3 new prospects per draft, but there is no cap on how many you carry.

Which games-played limit applies to my prospect?

It depends on when they were drafted. Drafted 2024 or earlier: forwards and defence under 42 NHL games, goalies under 25. Drafted 2025 or later: forwards and defence under 83 NHL games, goalies under 40. Golden list players count as 2025-or-later, since a Golden Prospect has to have been drafted in 2025 or beyond. Every kept prospect’s games against his cap are on the FBAHL page.

What are the prospect age cut-offs?

For prospects drafted 2023 or later there is no age cut-off at all — games played is the only test. Players drafted 2022 or earlier keep the gate they were drafted under: forwards 21 or younger, defence 22 or younger, goalies no age test. Age means whole years on opening day. The separate rookie keeper slots have their own ceilings and are unaffected.

What is a Golden Prospect?

One prospect per team, drafted 2025 or later and never activated, who can be kept every year regardless of age or games played. Mark them Golden on your tab in the league sheet. The moment you activate them they stop being golden, and you have to wait until the next declaration to name a replacement.

What if my prospect finished the season on a roster?

A prospect who finished the season on someone's active roster was usually activated, and can no longer be kept as a prospect (the league sheet checks every prospect against the 14 ending rosters). Check with the commissioners if you think it's wrong.

Can I trade a prospect in the offseason?

Yes, but only after keepers have been declared, and offseason trades can only involve keepers, prospects and picks. You must tell the league group chat and update the Prospects tab in the league sheet.

HOUSEKEEPING

Something on my tab in the league sheet looks wrong — a missing birthdate, a stale prospect, a player I traded.

Blue cells are the ones meant to be typed in. Anything else that looks off is a data issue for the commissioners: flag it in the group chat rather than editing another team's tab.

What is the farm club step on my tab?

Pure decoration. Name an expansion city and club in step ④ of your tab in the league sheet and that name replaces your GM name across The FBAHL. It affects no rule, no keeper and no pick, but both boxes must be filled before you can sign.

Where can I see old trades?

On the Trades page: every deal back to 2016, pulled from the league emails. Filter The Ledger by your name to see only yours.

Where did the old tabs go?

Nothing was deleted. Every historical tab is still in the league sheet, hidden and prefixed ARCHIVE. Penalties and the FAQ now live at the bottom of this page.

Still stuck? Ask in the group chat, or message Anthony or Artur.