Guided Tour
The league has 30 teams that face off over a two-week period to determine the regular-season winner.
The teams play in league games based on a predetermined schedule during the regular season, which begins every second Monday.
Based on their regular season standings, 16 teams will advance to the Playoffs on the following Monday. The Playoffs last 5 days and the winning team gets the Cup. There are also several trophies that are awarded to the best players.
If there are not enough players in a league, some teams are managed by GM robots. They tend to be pretty useless and don’t have much to say, but they can still beat you...
When you start the Virtual Leagues of Hockey, you take the place of one of these robots (along with games played stats) and enter the game schedule with other players.
The league is divided into two Conferences (East and West) and into 6 Divisions.
The team points (PTS) are obtained by playing league games.
If two or more teams earn an equal total number of points during the regular season, the leading teams in each Division are guaranteed the top three spots in their Conference. Rankings are determined by the following criteria:
The Playoffs begin each Monday following the end of the regular season. Based on their standings, 8 teams per Conference (16 teams in total) will advance to this elimination series. The teams with the highest rankings get home-ice advantage—a strategic upper hand in the Playoffs.
The playoff schedule is posted in the Playoff Results section.
Each day of the Playoffs represents one Elimination Round:
For each Round, 7 league games must be played to determine a winner. The team with the higher ranking gets home-ice advantage, which means it can play up to 4 games on home ice while its opponent gets a maximum of 3 games on home ice.
The first team to win 4 games eliminates its adversary. Although not all teams will have to play games 5, 6 or 7, these games are still included in their stats.
Example 1: Player A (home-ice advantage) wins all of its home games. Its opponent, player B, loses all of its home games. Once all 7 games have been played, the Round is determined by the first 4 games played (all wins for player A). The Round is therefore listed as 4-0 for player A, but the statistics of the following games are still counted for both players.
Example 2: Player A (home-ice advantage) won its first 3 home games, but lost the 4th. The Round is therefore 3-1 for player A. Player B wins all 3 home games. The round therefore ends 3-4 in favour of player B.
You can change leagues during the pre-season only, which lasts 3 days beginning on the Friday of the Cup finals.
You can change leagues in the League Directory.
Changing a league will not change your team, player training or anything else. The only thing that changes are your opponents and the trophies you can win.
A team’s mean average is calculated from the accumulation of 4 performance attributes:
These team attributes are the cumulative attributes of players in the starting lineup.
They are influenced by their bonus, (player on a winning streak) or their penalty (player in a slump).
The players chosen for the starting lines have a bigger impact on the team’s average than the later lines because they get more ice time during games.
The starting goalie has an especially large impact on the team’s average.
Training your players will not only increase their average performance but that of the entire team as well.
Playing exhibition games and league games allows you to collect experience points (XP) and improve your standings. A higher ranking gives you access to better choices on the Market: the star players, the top coaches and the best team staff.
You earn experience points by:
However, if your players’ salaries exceed your salary ceiling, you do not earn any XPs after playing a game.
The currency used is called "Millions". Just like with XPs, these are earned after every game you play. You can also buy them.
Like experience points, the amount of millions earned depends on your performance. Keep in mind that you earn more millions for playing a league playoff game than a regular season league game (you earn even less for exhibition games).
Millions can be used to:
The seasonal salaries of the players on your team are not part of this Millions budget. Your salary ceiling is not affected by your Millions, either.
However, just like with XPs, if your players’ salaries exceed your salary ceiling, you don’t get any M after playing a game.
Your starting lineup is made up of offensive lines, defensive lines, power play units, short-handed units and the starting goalkeeper.
The first lines get more ice time than the later lines.
You can make lineup changes at the beginning of every game. You can also make changes to your lineup between periods during regular season league games and Playoff games.
Occasionally, a goalie will gas out during a league game (but not during exhibition games), and will be automatically replaced by the backup goalie in the starting lineup. You cannot cancel this decision.
Each player has a preferred position, which is indicated beside his name.
The forwards (LW, C and RW) can play a different position, but making this move will penalize their average by -5 points.
During league games, players can get injured 
, or worse, suspended 
for poor conduct. This does not happen during exhibition games when players are more careful.
If you do not change your lineup when a player is injured or suspended, he will be replaced in the next game (league or exhibition) by one of your reserve players. If you don’t have any reserve players, one of the players of the lineup will take his place. But that means this player will have to play a lot more, and will get tired more quickly.
If a player is injured or suspended during a league game, you can replace him with a reserve player between periods by changing your lineup.
You can also heal an injured player with a healing accessory.
Note that injured players cannot undergo training. However, your suspended players have nothing else to do...
A player’s morale is affected by their performance during league games. If a player’s performance level is maintained over several consecutive games, he can earn a bonus ... or incur a penalty.
A player who plays really well can end up on a winning streak 
, which gives him a bonus of +5 points on his average! A winning streak lasts 5 league games and can be extended with accessories.
Inversely, a player who does not play well can end up in a slump 
and will incur a penalty of -5 points on his average. Slumps also last 5 games, but can be remedieds with certain accessories.
How quickly players get tired during league games and exhibition games will depend on their ice time and endurance. The more endurance attribute a player has, the less he will get tired. The units on your first lines therefore need to have lots of endurance because they get a lot of ice time during games!
Also, once players get to be around 34 years old, they start to lose a little endurance each season. So don’t forget to train them!
There are 3 levels of fatigue:
A player’s level of fatigue is indicated by the color of his name in the lineup. The energy bar of each line is the average fatigue of the players in this line.
Players usually have enough time to recuperate all of their energy before the next game, although a certain level of fatigue will set in during the season with all the league games. At the beginning of a new season, however, all players are back to 100% of their energy. Ah, the restorative benefits of golf!
Unlike other players, goalies experience fatigue based on the number of league games they play, but not during the periods of a game. Between games, if a goalie is too tired, he will be automatically replaced by the backup goalie in the starting lineup.
Make sure you put your backup goalie in nets from time to time to give your star goalie a chance to rest and recuperate!
The "exhibition" game mode allows you to earn Millions and experience points without affecting your results (games won/lost) or player statistics (goals, passes, injuries, etc.) and fatigue during the current season. It’s also the perfect mode for testing and improving your strategies!
Exhibition games can be played against any other VLH player, regardless of the league they are in. You can also form major rivalries by playing against your rivals.
At any time, you can play up to 10 exhibition games. Once you start playing exhibition games, a new exhibition game is added every 30 minutes until you once again have up to 10 available to play.
Keep in mind that you cannot play more than two games against the same player on the same day.
You can also increase the bank of games you are eligible to play each day by adding certain members to your team staff.
All the hockey players on your team are under a 1- to 5-year contract. These contracts represent your team’s total payroll. The salary ceiling for your entire team is $64.3 million.
The value of a player’s contract is determined by his potential and the average of his current attributes. His age also factors into this value.
You can sign players for a contract of up to 5 years. It can only be renewed during its final year.
If you do not renew a player’s contract before it expires, the player will be automatically relegated to the league's free agents market. The player will be replaced by a reservist or by a new player with low stats. If this causes your team to exceed it salary ceiling, penalties may apply.
You can also renegotiate contracts (with the help of the Assistant General Manager), or even cancel a player’s contract and put him back on the market (provided he is not a star player) for the next season as one of the leagues’ free agents.
The salary ceiling for your entire team is $64.3 million and is the same for all players of the VLH.
If this salary cap is exceeded by the total payroll (the total in millions of dollars per year of the salaries of all the players on your team), the following penalties will apply:
Given these harsh conditions, it’s strongly recommended that you resolve the situation quickly. You can do this by cancelling expensive contracts and by rearranging the players of your team... Sometimes you just have to get rid of your prized players. :(
During the pre-season and during the first 6 days of the regular season, you can sign free agents: players who have been released by other teams in the league and who don’t have a contract.
The draft begins on the day after the finals, during the pre-season, which lasts for the whole weekend before the new season begins. During these three days, you can pick a new recruit for free.
The teams that had the worst performance in the season that just ended get the first pick. Teams with highest standings get the last picks.
Recruits can help you obtain achievements.
Friends can be added as Rivals.
All the players on your team can be trained until they reach their full potential.
The training bonus takes effect once the training is completed. This bonus lasts indefinitely for the player, and will increase that particular attribute and his average.
Goalie training cannot be used for other players, and vice versa.
You cannot train an injured player or have him do more than one training at a time.
Strategies and events are for a limited time. Their bonus comes into effect upon activation.
Strategies will increase the entire team’s strength for as long as they are active, and can help you win games by outplaying the strategies of your adversaries!
Events only apply to a group of specific players based on their position or nationality. These events can vary greatly and change the outcome of a game!
Accessory cards act instantly upon being enabled. They can be used only once.
The bonus of equipment cards is active for a limited time only. Once this time runs out, the card is removed from your inventory and no longer has any effect. However, when it is active, its bonus applies to the entire team!
Following the news allows you to stay up to date on what’s happening in the game — both within your team and your league.
Follow the news closely because it contains tips and information that could influence the decisions you must make to ensure your team performs well in your league.
Discussed games appear in the News section. Only the members of a league can start a new discussion, but all players can read them. Any player can comment on a discussion, even if they are not in that league.
If someone comments on an exhibition game between two teams in different leagues and shares it, the thread will appear in the discussion pages of both leagues.
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