This is a thread to answer questions about the rules and clarify any confusion. If there is still clarification that needs to be done, please ask about it in a new thread and the answers will be added here.


Signing a FA longer than 0 years to replace a player on the DL:

Posted by andyr13 on the messageboard:
"I am not sure if I understand this right, but say player "A" gets injured. I place him on the DL, and sign player "B" to a 1 year deal from the FA list. After player "A" is not injured anymore, and I realize that I did not leave enough cap room to bring my player back off the DL I am going to be allowed or forced to cut player "B"? I don't think this is how this should be handled. I thought we had a DL stashing rule already in place, and I think that would also be effective in the matter."
<font size="3" face="Sylfaen, Verdana, Helvetica">This is a consequence of the DL stashing rule, the hard cap, and the guaranteed contract rule. In a nutshell these are:
</font><ul type="square">[*]<font size="3" face="Sylfaen, Verdana, Helvetica">Healthy players cannot stay on the DL more than 2 days.</font>[*]<font size="3" face="Sylfaen, Verdana, Helvetica">You can't go over the cap to sign FA's.</font>[*]<font size="3" face="Sylfaen, Verdana, Helvetica">Any contracts longer than 0-years are guaranteed.</font>[/list]<font size="3" face="Sylfaen, Verdana, Helvetica">So, with your example: Player A gets injured. You put him on the DL. You sign Player B to a 1 year deal that puts your guaranteed contracts over the cap. THIS IS WHERE THE VIOLATION TAKES PLACE. You now have guaranted contracts totalling more than the salary cap -- which is against the rules.

The league has two options. We can either allow you to keep Player B until Player A is healthy giving you the benefit of breaking the rule or we can require Player B to be cut immediately making you have to deal with the consequences of violating the league rules. Since we don't want a rule-breaker to benefit from his actions, we go with the second option.

Further clarification:

In the example above, what if signing Player B raises my total salary to $70,000,000 and Player C on my team has a 0 year contract for $3,000,000. Did I violate the rule?

No. The only problem is if your guaranteed contracts go over the cap. When Player A gets healthy, you will have to release Player C, since that is the only way you can abide by both the DL stashing rule and the guaranteed contracts rule.

What if it's the same situation as above, but Player A is my only 0 year contract?

In the case where cutting Player A is the only way to abide by the rules, you simply have to cut him.

What if I sign Player B to a 1 year deal, but I intend to trade him to another team for a 0 year guy while Player A is still injured. Did I still violate the rule?

Yes. You violated the rule at the moment you signed the Player B to a deal that put your guaranteed contracts over the salary cap. Allowing you to maneuver your way out still gives you the benefit of violating the rule.