Hello to all Commissioners, GMs, Players and Fans of the FHL,

As you know, the Commission placed a vote over the last week on the subject of adding an Age Penalty to XP, starting with Season 8. As of Thursday, the vote completed, and with a vote of 10 to 6, the Age Penalty proposal passed. Penalties have been applied to affected players and GP Debt numbers have been calculated.

As part of the vote, we also took comments on the form and we will try to answer the question now for clarity. All of these responses will remain anonymouse:

“It seems unfair for a player to be forced to lose stats already earned if they don't have as much of a productive season as others that may have superstar stats (whether it due to a player being on a weak team or just had had unlucky campaign), plus having it after 4 seasons does seem low (perhaps raising it to 6). Having it be 4 seasons could make potential players not want to stay long. Other reasons too which I don't think I can properly word here. While not part of the original question, was an xp gain cap (instead of a loss, or combination of) ever considered?”

The Proposed Penalty was actually changed in setup to take set CGP into account. A player of the same entry season with higher CGP will have a higher penalty than a player at lower CGP.
To be clear, as the equation is set, a player won’t see their first penalty until their fifth season, and even in that case, unless the player is pushing into the 35+ range, the penalty is minimal, not more than 1000-2000 XP. We also chose that partially due to the average point in which an NHL player begins to decline, which is between 5-6 years.
A Cap was discussed several seasons ago, and was mostly not seen as good because a player would be seen as having no growth. It may be looked at however at a later time as the Commission has seen issues when it comes to players reaching a certain point when it comes to performance.
It must be understood that some sort of Penalty was needed, as even with a cap, we still run into the issues of before of newer players still chasing a moving line of older players.

“I voted yes, but I also think this could be encouraging to have player characters retire/cycle out, lest they turn into a Brett Favre situation, not knowing when to quit”

It is a risk of this yes, but that is part of the function of this penalty, as some level of cycling is needed. The commission understands the risk with that, but in the current situation it is for the best.

“Too complicated, a similar effect can be done by adjusting the already in place growth point system. Example would be adjusting the xp number to 100 or 150 (from 50)”

We don’t really see how it is all that complicated. In the end, the penalty is simply a small equation, and we feel it is easy for most to calculate, especially after this season when retroactive penalties no longer applies. As for the scaling example, it has been looked at, but it does not solve the secondary issue the penalty deals with, with the gap between older and newer players.

With the Age Penalty vote completed, and the penalties have been applied, the Commission is now welcome to open up the XP Season for the Season 8 Off Season.

XP numbers are available here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1dxvgeql3kyc6PQOp7glUP3iGG8iXiOD_QGpRJ0B3QK4/edit?usp=sharing

Spending costs are available here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/1cMmmf2saEapSf17h3srbzTODGPg_Wq49AeMu7odHals/pub?output=html

XP Submission can be submitted here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScZVv634Ig-G4aRfCkeHn5GEEN0I1nK9XNP5SA8C4RLIls_ow/viewform
Alternatively, you can DM to this page.

GMs will also be given numbers, thought we will ask Teams to note us if they wish for contact information.

The XP Season will be for 2 weeks, and all spending will be locked on October 11th, at 11:59pm. Any player who has not had player or GM spending by this deadline will be spent by Commissioners. Withholding XP is also allowed, but you must contact the Commissioners so that we can note that.

If anyone has questions, you may comment on this journal or leave us a DM and we will do our best to get back to you. We hope you are having an good off-season and we hope to see you with the opening of Season 9.