Deep enough to matter.
Simple enough to master.

League Structure

IceCore Dynasty consists of 20 permanent franchises.

Each General Manager controls the sporting direction of a franchise across multiple seasons. Franchises retain their identity, history, records and long-term assets regardless of who manages them.

Yahoo Fantasy is the official platform for scoring, matchups, standings, player statistics, transactions and playoffs.

Reserve & Development Slots

IceCore uses 3 IR+ positions for injured players and 5 NA positions for eligible prospects and inactive players.

IR+ and NA positions exist outside the 20-player active roster and do not increase the number of players selected during the Salary Cap Draft.

The five NA positions form each franchise's in-season development space. They are intended primarily for young players and prospects, but a franchise may also use NA for an older player when that fits its roster strategy. Players held there may become eligible for offseason Development Keeper protection.

Regular Keepers

Every franchise protects between 11 and 15 regular keepers before the new season.

The regular keeper group must contain exactly one goaltender. The remaining regular keepers are skaters.

Keeper selections must fit the franchise's configured positional roster limits: 8 C, 8 LW, 8 RW, 6 D and 2 G. The limits for C, LW and RW allow additional players at those positions, which is especially important for players with multiple-position eligibility. The limits of 6 D and 2 G are fixed.

Regular Keepers may be selected only from players belonging to the franchise's active roster or IR+ at the end of the previous season.

Players held in NA positions are not part of the regular keeper group. They are handled separately through Development Keepers.

Protecting more players preserves roster continuity but commits more salary and leaves fewer opportunities in the live market.

Protecting fewer players creates more roster openings and greater Salary Cap Draft flexibility.

Different franchises may therefore enter the offseason with very different roster structures while operating under the same 500-coin Salary Cap.

Development Keepers

Every franchise must protect between one and three players from its previous-season NA farm.

Development Keeper eligibility is based on the player having been held by the franchise in an NA position at the end of the previous season.

If a franchise has no eligible player in its previous-season NA farm, the Commissioner will assign an eligible young player from the available player pool to satisfy the minimum one-Development-Keeper requirement. The assigned player carries a salary of 1 coin.

A Development Keeper may be protected only if his position still fits the franchise's configured positional roster limits after the regular keepers are selected. The maximum limits are 8 C, 8 LW, 8 RW, 6 D and 2 G. The C, LW and RW limits allow additional players at those positions, while the D and G limits are fixed.

A selected Development Keeper remains eligible for protection even if Yahoo changes his NA status before the following season.

A Development Keeper retains the IceCore salary at which he was acquired. A player acquired from free agency or waivers carries a salary of 0 coins; a player acquired through the Salary Cap Draft carries the winning Salary Cap Draft price.

Development Keepers use a separate development escalation: their salary increases by +1 coin per offseason when they are protected again as a Development Keeper. The regular keeper +4 Base and Value Bonus system does not apply to Development Keepers.

Development Keepers also count toward the franchise's total positional roster limits. A franchise may have up to 8 C, 8 LW, 8 RW, 6 D and 2 G across its protected players and later roster additions. The C, LW and RW limits allow additional players at those positions, while the D and G limits are fixed. These limits also apply when filling the remaining roster through the Entry Draft or Live Salary Cap Draft.

The five NA slots available during the season provide development space. They are not five automatic additional offseason keepers. A maximum of three players from that group may be protected; any other NA player is released into the player pool for the following season.

Entry Draft

Beginning with the second IceCore season, each franchise receives one selection in the annual IceCore Entry Draft. The selection is for a rookie chosen in the first round of the relevant real-world NHL Entry Draft. The IceCore Entry Draft does not exist during the inaugural season.

The first four picks go to the four division last-place franchises, ordered by a mini-table of their already-played head-to-head games against the other divisional last-place teams: a win is worth 2 points and a draw 1 point. If tied, the worse regular-season finish gets the higher pick. The remaining positions follow reverse regular-season standings. Entry Draft selections cannot be traded. The Commissioner conducts the Entry Draft manually.

Each General Manager may submit a ranked list of eligible first-round NHL rookies before the published deadline. When a franchise is reached, the highest-ranked available player on that franchise's list will be selected.

A GM may submit a short list rather than ranking every eligible rookie. If the list runs out before the franchise's selection, the Commissioner continues from the remaining eligible rookies in the order they were selected in the first round of the relevant NHL Draft.

If no rookie list is submitted, the franchise remains in the draft and the real-world first-round NHL Draft order is used as its default ranking. Missing the priority-list deadline does not result in a league penalty.

If the highest-ranked available rookie would cause the franchise to exceed its configured positional limit, the selection moves to the next available eligible rookie who fits the franchise's roster. The positional limits are 8 C, 8 LW, 8 RW, 6 D and 2 G; the limits for C, LW and RW allow additional players at those positions, while the D and G limits are fixed.

Entry Draft selections enter their IceCore franchise at a salary of 1 Coin and are immediately placed on the franchise's keeper list as a mandatory keeper for that offseason.

The Entry Draft rookie is a mandatory keeper immediately after the draft. After the draft, the GM may release the rookie or move him to an NA position and replace the resulting active-roster position through the normal player market. If the rookie remains protected as a regular keeper for the following offseason, the normal salary escalation applies to his 1-coin salary. If he is moved to NA, the Development Keeper rules apply instead if he is eligible. If the rookie is not yet available in Yahoo when offseason rosters are prepared, the franchise retains exclusive rights to that rookie.

Yahoo currently does not support draft-pick trading in Salary Cap Draft leagues. If Yahoo introduces support for draft-pick trading in this format in the future, IceCore may introduce draft-pick trading beginning with a future season.

Salary Escalation

Salaries increase whenever a regular player is protected for another season. Every regular keeper begins with a +4 Base Increase. The Base may automatically float between +3 and +5 from season to season according to the league-wide salary economy.

The salary calculation is: New Salary = Current Salary + Base Increase + Value Bonus. A regular keeper whose salary is below the benchmark of his performance group receives an additional Value Bonus equal to one third of the positive difference between the benchmark and his salary. The result is rounded to the nearest whole coin. A player at or above his benchmark receives only the Base Increase.

The Top 150 skaters are divided into groups of ten and the Top 10 goaltenders form one additional group. In every group, the highest and lowest salary are removed before calculating the average of the remaining eight players. Rankings are based on final Yahoo Fantasy point totals after the completed regular season.

The system uses no fixed salary price for individual players. The 20 GMs create the salary economy through auctions, trades and roster decisions; the Commissioner does not decide how much a particular player is supposed to be worth. A player who performs strongly can therefore move into a higher-value performance group and receive a larger escalation.

The floating Base acts as an automatic inflation control. The average of all 16 performance-group benchmarks is tracked from season to season: if the rounded league average rises, the Base decreases by 1; if it falls, the Base increases by 1; if it stays the same, the Base does not change. The Base can never fall below +3 or rise above +5. There are no additional emergency adjustments or exceptions.

General Managers do not need to calculate the system themselves. The IceCore Value Board publishes the current data, benchmarks and calculated increases. GMs may use the board as the official reference, while anyone who wants to follow the economy during the season can calculate a provisional increase independently from the published formula. Detailed calculations and worked examples are maintained on the Value Board.

Free Agents, Waivers & Existing Salaries

A player without an established IceCore salary enters from free agency or waivers at 0 coins. If protected for the following season, the normal salary escalation applies.

A player who already carries an IceCore salary does not become a new 0-coin asset simply because another franchise released him.

His established salary remains the basis for future keeper cost, followed by the normal offseason escalation.

Offseason Roster Construction

Beginning with the second IceCore season, every franchise builds its 20-player opening roster through four sources. In the inaugural season, all 20 active roster positions are filled through the inaugural Live Salary Cap Auction.

The exact number of Live Salary Cap Draft positions depends on how many regular and Development Keepers a franchise protects.

All protected players must fit the franchise's configured positional roster limits: 8 C, 8 LW, 8 RW, 6 D and 2 G. The C, LW and RW limits allow additional players at those positions, especially for players with multiple-position eligibility, while the D and G limits are fixed. This positional structure also determines which Development Keepers and Entry Draft selections can be carried into the opening roster.

A franchise may therefore preserve most of its organization or reopen a larger part of its roster to the live market while remaining under the same 500-coin Salary Cap.

Once Yahoo opens post-draft roster management, eligible prospects may be moved to NA positions. Any resulting active roster openings are filled through the normal player market.

Live Salary Cap Draft

After regular keepers, Development Keepers and Entry Draft rookies have been assigned, all remaining active roster positions are filled through Yahoo's Live Salary Cap Draft.

Every franchise operates under the same 500-coin cap, but committed salaries are deducted before the draft.

Every GM therefore enters the same live market with a roster and budget shaped by previous franchise decisions.

Trades

Players may be traded according to the current league calendar and Yahoo transaction settings.

Player salary always travels with the player. IceCore does not use salary retention or transfers of Salary Cap coins between franchises.

Entry Draft selections cannot be traded.

Trades are not subject to league voting. The Commissioner retains veto authority only where a transaction presents a credible concern involving collusion, deliberate competitive manipulation or another material threat to league integrity.

Deadlines & Fallbacks

IceCore is designed so that one unavailable GM cannot stop a league-wide offseason process.

Keeper selections, rookie lists and other mandatory submissions must be provided through the designated league channel before the announced deadline.

If a valid keeper list is not submitted, the GM receives a warning and the Commissioner will construct the franchise's keeper group from its eligible players.

The fallback selection begins with the highest-performing eligible players and continues until the required keeper structure is complete, while respecting the franchise's 500-coin Salary Cap.

Regular Keeper selections are limited to eligible active-roster and IR+ players. Development Keeper selections are limited to players held in the franchise's NA farm at the end of the previous season.

If no rookie ranking is submitted, the franchise receives a default ranking based on the actual order of the relevant NHL first round.

Commissioner fallbacks preserve the league schedule. They are not used to optimize an absent GM's franchise.

GM Responsibilities

IceCore is a GM-first league. Managers are responsible for building and maintaining their franchise rather than constantly managing daily fantasy lineups.

GMs are expected to complete the league's limited mandatory offseason decisions, respect deadlines, prepare for drafts, respond to roster problems and remain reasonably active during the season.

Missing a mandatory deadline may result in a warning. Repeated missed obligations, prolonged inactivity or abandonment of a franchise may result in replacement of the General Manager.

Abandoned Franchises

A franchise exists independently of its current General Manager.

If a GM leaves, the franchise retains its roster, salaries, prospects, history, records, awards and Entry Draft position.

The Commissioner may temporarily operate the franchise until a replacement GM is appointed.

Temporary management exists to maintain the roster, meet required deadlines and preserve competitive integrity — not to strategically rebuild the franchise for its future manager.

Competitive Integrity & League Conduct

IceCore encourages rebuilding, prospect development and different roster-building philosophies. Managers may take risks or make unconventional decisions, but every franchise is expected to make a genuine effort to compete and manage its roster in good faith.

Deliberately tanking games or weakening a roster primarily to obtain a better future draft position is not permitted. A rebuild may include prospects and developmental players, but it is not considered legitimate franchise management to field a deliberately non-competitive prospect-only lineup throughout the regular season or intentionally lose all 23 matchups. Likewise, collusion, coordinated roster dumping, waiver manipulation, artificial or knowingly unreasonable salary inflation, or other actions intended primarily to distort the competition or benefit another franchise are prohibited. A normal disagreement over a player's value is not, by itself, a violation.

If a player is deliberately dropped or a roster is otherwise manipulated in a way that threatens league integrity, the Commissioner may reverse the sabotage-driven player release where technically possible, restore the affected roster state, or take another reasonable corrective action.

GMs are expected to keep league discussions focused on hockey and fantasy hockey. Personal attacks, harassment, discriminatory or inflammatory remarks, and prolonged political or other socially sensitive debates have no place in IceCore. Competitive banter is welcome when it remains respectful and does not target another GM personally.

If conduct or roster decisions threaten the fairness or atmosphere of the league, the Commissioner may request a correction, reverse an improper transaction where technically possible, restrict further activity, or take other reasonable action up to and including removal from the league. The Commissioner may intervene whenever necessary to protect the integrity and long-term health of IceCore, including in situations not explicitly covered by these rules.

Build your franchise your way.
Protect the league along the way.

Franchise History & League Legacy

IceCore records franchise history across seasons.

Championships, division titles, regular-season performance, draft history and other achievements become part of each franchise's permanent record.

General Managers may also earn league honors and historical recognition based on competitive success, activity, reliability and contribution to the league.

These records form IceCore's history. They do not alter Yahoo scoring or competitive results.

Franchise Expansion & Reset

If IceCore expands and a new franchise is introduced, the expansion franchise enters with a complete 20-player roster and does not participate in the Entry Draft or Live Salary Cap Draft. The Commissioner will establish and enter the expansion roster using the available Yahoo commissioner tools and the league's current structure.

If an existing franchise is reset, the reset takes place during the offseason. The franchise may protect 8 skaters plus 1 goaltender from its active roster or IR+, together with its entire NA farm.

The protected players must be identified by the GM in the keeper email sent to the Commissioner. If no reset-protected players are specifically identified, the first 8 eligible skaters and first eligible goaltender in the submitted keeper list are treated as protected. Because a reset reduces the protected core, the franchise may end up keeping fewer than the normal minimum of 11 regular keepers.

After the reset-protected players are carried over, the franchise has 19 players. The 20th and final roster player is selected through the IceCore Entry Draft.

The protected group becomes the foundation of the reset franchise, while the remaining players return to the player pool according to the applicable offseason process.

Rules Stability

IceCore rules and core league settings are intended to remain stable and consistent across seasons. General Managers make draft, keeper, salary and roster decisions based on the published framework, and the goal is to avoid repeatedly reshaping the league as the dynasty develops.

The long-term goal is to let the IceCore economy develop in its own way. Player values, salaries, roster strategies and franchise identities should emerge from the decisions of the 20 General Managers rather than from frequent rule changes or Commissioner intervention.

The Commissioner may make non-competitive corrections where necessary to fix an obvious error, clarify an ambiguity or reflect a technical Yahoo platform requirement. Any such correction should preserve the intended competitive framework and will be communicated to the league.

GM Experience & Development League

IceCore is an advanced fantasy hockey league built around long-term franchise management, salary-cap strategy, keeper decisions, prospects, waivers and Yahoo Fantasy. It is not intended to be a first experience with fantasy sports, so applicants' previous fantasy experience is reviewed as part of the selection process.

Yahoo Fantasy experience is preferred, as familiarity with the platform and its mechanics is particularly valuable in IceCore. Relevant experience from other fantasy hockey platforms, or from other fantasy sports involving similar formats and systems, is also taken into account when assessing an applicant's overall experience and readiness.

The IceCore Development League is intended primarily for fantasy newcomers who need time to learn the platform and the practical aspects of the IceCore format, including drafts, waivers, FAAB, roster management and salary systems. It will be opened when there is sufficient interest to form a meaningful group.

Development League participation provides an opportunity to demonstrate activity, reliability and strategic thinking, with strong and engaged managers having a path toward future IceCore franchise opportunities. The Commissioner may also use the Development League or Reserved List to assess an applicant's activity, reliability or overall fit with the IceCore community before offering a permanent franchise.