Hello SHL,

Late last night the Head Office was made aware that the Hamilton Steelhawks posted contracts for their draftees 1 hour after the imposed deadline, in this post. The Steelhawks also neglected to post a qualifying offer for these players.

Hamilton was able to provide proof that contracts had been agreed to in private messages prior to the deadline. In the past we have accepted private messages as proof of signing.

The SHL Head Office were in discussions about this today, but since there is a tight timeline for teams to get ready for the season and complete budgets, the owners stepped in and performed an expedited appeals process, therefore the decision outlined here will be considered final.

When the Draft Rights (Rulebook Section L) rules were written, the entire intent was to stop GMs from hoarding draftees without signing them. It was never really intended to deprive teams of draftees they were actively trying to sign. As such we are accepting the contracts posted by Hamilton as valid, but the Hamilton Steelhawks will face a punishment for failing to complete the task on time. Since there are 3 draftees involved we are increasing the punishment from the usual 3rd round pick that teams forfeit for being late on GM tasks up to the following:
-Hamilton's current GMs are now on Probation for Seasons 61 and 62, rules broken will result in firing.
-Hamilton is assessed a $1,000,000 cap penalty for Season 61
-Hamilton forfeits their next owned 2nd Round Pick (S64 in this case)

Head Office and the Owners will be working together to rewrite the rule to appropriately cover all situations such as this. I will reiterate that accepting contracts via PM is completely acceptable, but neglecting to post them by the outlined deadlines is not.