Free Agency and Salary Cap
Navigate Free Agency and the Salary Cap
Section titled “Navigate Free Agency and the Salary Cap”HLM free agency lists players who can receive contract offers now or in a selected future season. Use Ask, Interest, Offers, and Status to compare them. Before sending an offer, check the salary-cap display and contract count at the top of the screen because each can prevent a signing for a different reason.
How to sign a player in HLM free agency
Section titled “How to sign a player in HLM free agency”- Open Free Agency.
- Select the current season to see players who can receive offers now.
- Filter or sort the list to find a player.
- Compare the player’s Ask, Interest, Offers, and Status.
- Select the player to open contract negotiation.
- Choose a term and salary within the ranges shown, then review Signing interest.
- Send the offer.
Free-agent signing begins on July 1. Before July 1, selecting a player shows Not possible to sign free agents before July 1 instead of opening contract negotiation. A future season in the year filter is for reviewing upcoming free agents; select the current season when you want to make an offer.
Read the Free Agency columns
Section titled “Read the Free Agency columns”| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Ask | The term and salary the player is seeking. |
| Offers | How many contract offers the player has received. |
| Interest | The player’s interest in signing with your team. |
| Status | Whether the player is an unrestricted or restricted free agent. |
The list also includes position, player type, age, overall, and potential when those ratings are enabled and known in your career. Select a column heading to sort it. The filters can narrow the list by name, position, contract status, connection to your team, free-agent year, watchlist, age, or nationality.
Understand UFA and RFA status
Section titled “Understand UFA and RFA status”An UFA can consider offers from any team. An RFA still has rights attached to the player’s current team. An offer from another team is an offer sheet, so the current team may be able to keep the player by matching it. If the team declines to match, the player joins the offering team and the former team receives the draft-pick compensation attached to the offer.
HLM scales the compensation bands with the league salary cap, so their dollar values rise or fall with the cap. The percentage is applied to the offer sheet’s compensation value:
- For a contract of five years or fewer, the compensation value is its annual salary.
- For a contract longer than five years, divide the contract’s total value by five.
The following percentages are rounded for readability.
| Approximate offer-sheet compensation value | Draft-pick compensation |
|---|---|
| Below 1.7% of the salary cap | No picks |
| About 1.7% to 2.5% | One third-round pick |
| About 2.5% to 5.2% | One second-round pick |
| About 5.2% to 7.8% | One first-round pick and one third-round pick |
| About 7.8% to 10.4% | One first-round, one second-round, and one third-round pick |
| About 10.4% to 13% | Two first-round picks, one second-round pick, and one third-round pick |
| About 13% or more | A first-round pick in each available compensation year, up to four first-round picks |
The offering team must own the required original picks; a pick acquired from another team does not replace one of them. The lower compensation levels use picks from the next draft. The two-first-round level also uses a first-round pick from the following draft. At the highest level, the first-round picks are taken from consecutive available draft years.
The player’s status affects which teams can complete the signing; it does not replace the cap-space or contract-limit checks.
Salary cap and contract limit are different
Section titled “Salary cap and contract limit are different”The Free Agency screen shows current cap spending beside the league’s cap. A new contract must fit the salary allowed for that offer. During the offseason, the game applies the career’s configured offseason cap allowance when checking an offer.
The Contract limit counts signed players against the maximum configured for each team.
| Message | What must change |
|---|---|
| Not enough cap space | Lower the offer or clear enough cap space before trying again. |
| Over salary cap | Reduce the contract’s salary or another cap commitment. |
| Over contract limit | Open a contract slot before adding another signed player. |
| Over contract max length | Shorten the offered term to the maximum shown in negotiation. |
Use a trade when you want to move salary to another team. A loan or waiver claim has its own restrictions; see waivers and roster moves before treating either action as a guaranteed way to solve a cap or contract-count problem.
How the salary cap works during the playoffs
Section titled “How the salary cap works during the playoffs”Regular-season and playoff cap spending are calculated differently:
| Regular season | Playoffs |
|---|---|
| Cap hits are accrued daily. A player acquired partway through the season only adds the portion of the cap hit remaining in the schedule. | Cap spending is the full annual cap hits of the 19 players dressed in your lineup: 12 forwards, 6 defensemen, and 1 goalie. |
| Scratched players still count toward the team’s daily cap spending. | Players outside the dressed 19 do not count toward the playoff lineup total. |
For example, suppose the salary cap is $105M and your projected regular-season cap spending is $100M. At the 75% mark of the season, you acquire a player with a $10M annual cap hit. Because only 25% of the schedule remains, he adds $2.5M to your regular-season cap spending:
$100M + ($10M × 25%) = $102.5M
You remain under the $105M cap for the regular season.
When the playoffs begin, cap hits are no longer prorated based on when a player was acquired. HLM adds the full annual cap hits of your 19 dressed players. If that lineup totals $110M, it is $5M over the cap—even though your regular-season cap spending finished at only $102.5M. This is why a team that was compliant after a deadline acquisition can be over the cap in the playoffs.
The dressed playoff lineup must fit under the league’s hard salary cap. If its 19 full cap hits exceed the limit, HLM stops the simulation and reports that your team is over the salary cap. To continue, replace one or more dressed players with lower-cost players until the lineup is compliant. Because only the dressed lineup counts, you can still move players between the major team and its affiliate without the regular-season soft-cap check blocking those roster moves.
Why a negotiation may not open
Section titled “Why a negotiation may not open”HLM checks the player and your team before showing the negotiation screen. It gives a specific message when:
- the date is before July 1;
- the player is still under contract;
- your team lacks enough cap space for even the league minimum salary;
- your team already sent that player an offer;
- your team previously bought out that player; or
- your team already has an offer sheet recorded for that player.
The contracts and extensions guide explains contract length, salary, Signing interest, and the clauses available during negotiation.