It was confirmed a couple of days ago that the ten EIHL teams had agreed upon new roster regulations for the 24/25 season and the key part seen in these regulations is the rule surrounding two-way contracts. These roster regulations haven’t changed much regarding game day rosters however, have changed to support the development of homegrown players.
The first change to the roster regulations is the roster size, in previous season teams were allowed roster sizes of up to 29 however, that will not be the case this year as teams are now restricted to a maximum roster size of 25 players. With this decrease many would think teams are too restricted however, this is not the case as the league has changed who counts towards the roster size and who doesn’t. First change would be the biggest one which is two-way contracted players as they will no longer be considered towards the overall roster size unless they play more than 20 games with their team (excluding Challenge Cup group stage games), this is beneficial towards the growth of homegrown players in the league and producing stars for the future of the league but also the future of Team GB. Another change is the amount of imports allowed to be registered to a team, this has changed from 20 to 18 registered at any one point in time and overall 20 in one season can be registered, so for example the Sheffield Steelers have 17 imports/non-homegrown players on their roster therefore they can sign one more but after that they can’t sign more unless two were to leave the team, if to say two players left and the Steelers brought in two more imports that would make them reach their limit and no matter whether a player leaves or not they can’t bring another in.unless they still have there five changes left (this will be covered later).
Another change to rosters is that every team now must sign at least one British (homegrown) goaltender to their rosters, this is to ensure teams can ice 14 import skaters per game. This will be good for the development of homegrown goaltending for the future of Team GB. Please note two way goaltenders do not count towards this, therefore every team must have a full time British (homegrown) goaltender on their roster.
Photo From Belfast telegraph
Injury Reserve (IR) is a big part of the roster regulations every year and it is one of the biggest changes to this years roster regulations. In previous seasons any player who was injured could be placed on the IR list and a replacement could be brought in to replace the said player which is still the case this year however, last season when a player was placed on the IR list they were ineligible to play for 28 days from the day they entered the list whereas this season if a player is placed on the IR list they will be ineligible to play for the next 90 days (roughly three months). This seems to be an excessive amount of time however, it may very well be this case to prevent any team from abusing the IR system, using it to bring in better players when struggling however, we aren’t sure nor are the fans and it is too bold of a move for anyone to assume it is only the teams who know the reason. The long term IR cannot be used after the IIHF transfer deadline which is the 15th February 2025.
Short term replacements such as replacing players who have left the team or short term injuries will count towards one of the five changes available to every team. In previous seasons teams were allowed to replace players who walked out their contracts without it counting towards their five changes however, this will not be the case this year so if a player decides to request a released or retires early teams will have to us one of their changes to replace the said player however, they can appeal to the league and if the league sees fit they will be awarded a free change. Players who are released/let go from teams when replaced will count towards one of the team's changes as well. Any additional player counts as a change.
Photo From David Ingham
Emergency Backup Goaltenders (EBUGs) are another key part to the roster regulations as we have seen many teams use them in the past with the most common teams being the Fife Flyers and Dundee Stars; if a team can’t dress two fit goaltenders ahead of a game they may apply for EBUGs however, in doing so they must supply the league with a medical report regarding the injured goaltender. Another key rule behind EBUGs is that a team’s application may be declined if league officials feel like the system is being abused.
Teams can sign an unlimited amount of two-way players and with that it is important fans know who could be a two-way player and the following criteria is that the player must be under the age of 25 years old, must be primarily contracted to a lower league (examples are the SNL, NIHL, NIHL1 etc) and have written permission from their parent club to dress for an EIHL club and they must be a homegrown player. It is important to note that imports cannot be registered as a two-way player. Two-way players do not change the overall game day roster size of 20 players. It has been previous mentioned that every team must have at least one homegrown goaltender who is full time and not a two way goaltender which is the case however, this does not prevent teams playing a two-way goaltender and if a team decides to play a two-way goaltender than they must have a full time homegrown goaltender on their overall roster.
These are the 24/25 roster regulations which are quite different from previous seasons however, they are beneficial to the skill level of the league and the future of both the league and Team GB.
Author: Calan Yule
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