1. Pre-Season Classic All 16 teams (Excluding 1st, 2nd and 3rd from the season previous) will play in a round robin style tournament lasting one week, however teams will only have 7 games each. The top 8 teams at the end of the tournament will be placed in the Veteran Group, the bottom 8 teams will be placed in the Rookie Group. Any games unfinished by Thursday night will be converted into "Weekend Games".
1st, 4th, 5th, and 8th will be placed in the Crosby Division of the Veteran Group 2nd, 3rd, 6th, and 7th will be placed in the Ovechkin Division of the Veteran Group
9th, 12th, 13th, and 16th will be placed in the Makar Division of the Rookie Group 10th, 11th, 14th, and 15th will be placed in the Hughes Division of the Rookie Group
2. Regular Season Each group will be split into 2, 4 team divisions based on how teams place in the Pre-Season Tournament. Teams will only play against teams that are also in their group. Teams will play a total of 10 games in the regular season, 2 against each of their divisional opponents(6) and 1 against each team in the other division(4). Schedules will be split up into 2 weeks with 5 games each. Top 3 teams at the end of the regular season in each division of the Veteran Group will receive coin prizes. Regular Season will last 2 weeks
3. Relegation/Promotion Bracket The 1st place teams in each division of the Rookie Group + the 4th place teams in each division of the Veterans Group will play in a number of series to decide who is Promoted to the Veteran Group, and who is Relegated to the Rookie Group before the Pre-Playoff Jamboree. Single game series will be on Monday after the regular season. Each best of 3 series will be held in a two day period.
Series One and Two: VC 4th VS RM 1stwill play, and VO 4th VS RH 1stwill play, both in single game series. (Monday) Series Three: The winners of the first two series will play each other in a best of 3 series. The winner of this series will be promoted to the Veteran Group, this team will be placed in whatever division they were in before, no matter the group. (Tuesday and Wednesday) Series Four: The losers of the first two series will play each other in a best of 3 series. The loser of this series will be relegated to the Rookie Group, this team will be placed in whatever division they were in before, no matter the group. (Tuesday and Wednesday) Series Five: The loser of Series Three and the winner of Series Four will play each other in a best of 3 series. The loser of this series will be relegated to the Rookie Group, this team will be placed in the opposite division of the team that was relegated in Series Four. The winner of this series will be promoted to the Veteran Group, this team will be placed in the opposite division of the team that was promoted in Series Three. (Thursday)
4. Pre-Playoff Seeding Jamboree Once team have been promoted/relegated the Pre-Playoff Seeding Jamboree will start. Both divisions in both groups will be playing 3 games against their divisional opponents to decide playoff seeds. Once this is complete each team will be given a pre-playoff division rank ranging from 1st-4th in their division.
5. Playoffs Based on the Pre-Playoff division rank of each team, teams will cross over divisions in their group for their first round matchups of the playoffs. Example: Div 1 1st VS Div 2 4th, Div 1 2nd VS Div 2 3rd...etc. 1st in each division will be on opposite sides of the bracket. 2nd in each division will be on opposite sides of 1st in their division in the bracket. All series excluding the finals(best of 5) will be best of 3. 1st will receive the largest prize, 2nd will receive a prize as well. Teams eliminated in the Semi-Finals will be playing for 3rd/4th, both teams will receive prizes.