Affiliate teams

Your affiliate is your farm club. Send it a player who would sit most nights on your team, and he plays its games instead; call him back when you need him.

Your affiliate

The game sets up your affiliate for you, so you don’t create or rename it. It plays in your city, in the affiliate league that suits your league, and it plays your tactics.

You find it on the World page under Leagues, among the Affiliate leagues. Once you have players there, the Assigned to … heading under your roster links to its page, which names the club it belongs to (Affiliate of) and how many of your players are there.

Your league	Your affiliate plays in
GHL, SHL	AAHL
BHL, CHL	AAHL 2
IHL, LIHL	AAHL 3

If you move your franchise with Edit franchise…, your affiliate moves to your new city.

Assigning a player

Choose Assign to affiliate in the player’s actions menu, on his page or on his roster row, and confirm. If a player is scratched most nights, assigning him gets him games; if he then shows Unhappy with assignment, the affiliate’s league is too far below him (see player form and happiness).

Only a player on a two-way contract can go: a player with the One way contract clause has no Assign to affiliate in his menu. See player contracts. He must also be under contract and not on waivers.

The assignment takes effect at once. He leaves every spot he held in your lineup, and his captaincy if he wore a letter. He leaves your active roster and can’t play for your club until he is recalled, but he is still on your roster and counts toward your roster count. While he is there, only part of his salary counts against your cap; see salary cap.

Your assigned players are listed in their own Assigned to … section under your roster. If you would rather see them in the main roster, turn on Display affiliate assignments under Preferences in Settings.

Recalling a player

Choose Recall from affiliate in his actions menu, on his page or on his row under Assigned to …, and confirm with Recall player. Recall him when you want him in your lineup and your cap has room for his full salary.

His full salary counts against your cap again, so a recall you make yourself needs room under it; without it the screen tells you, and the recall can’t go through. See salary cap. He comes back scratched, so put him in your lineup in Edit lineup.

If Auto in Edit lineup leaves spots empty, it can offer to recall players from your affiliate to fill them. See lineup.

The game also recalls players by itself, before every game. If a spot in your lineup is empty, or its player can’t play, and no player on your roster at that position can fill it, the game recalls your best affiliate player at that position and puts him straight into your lineup, whatever your cap. You get a notification when it does. The recall at the start of a season is under trades, signings and league moves.

How your players do there

Your players here, at the top of your affiliate’s page, shows how each of your players is doing: games played, points (goals against average and save percentage for a goalie), Overall and an arrow for his confidence (see player form and happiness). Two flags tell you he isn’t getting the ice time you sent him for:

• Not playing — the season is under way and he hasn’t played a game for the club.
• A count of his games against the club’s — he has played only a small share of them.

If a healthy player who has been there a while shows either flag, recall him, or accept that he sits.

The affiliate sets its own lineup before every game, and you can’t change it. It plays your tactics but picks its own lines from its best available players. Its contracted depth only fills the spots left open by your players and the players it has signed. A player of yours can still sit when the club has more players at his position than it dresses, or as its backup goalie, and an injured player doesn’t play.

Your players there are on your Training screen like the rest of your roster, and they train with the program you give them, under your tactics; an injured player doesn’t train. Their games there count toward their development, though the dressing-room effect only applies on your main team. See training and development.

The affiliate also signs free agents of its own. It counts your players as part of its roster when it does, so it looks for less depth at a position yours fill, but it may still sign a better player there.

Trades, signings and league moves

A player on your affiliate can be traded like any other, and he arrives on the other club’s roster, not on its affiliate. A free agent you sign joins your roster first; assign him once he is there.

When your club goes up or down a league, your affiliate moves too if its league no longer suits your new one, and your players stay on it. A player on a One way contract is released when you go down and leaves the affiliate too; see player contracts.

Going down also gives the One way clause to every contract except entry-level and lower-league contracts. When the new season starts, the game recalls every player on your affiliate whose contract is one-way, whatever your cap, and his full salary counts against it. Each recall comes with a notification. See player contracts for what a league move does to contracts.

Worth knowing

• Before every game, if a spot in your lineup is empty and no player on your roster at that position can fill it, the game recalls your best affiliate player there and puts him in, whatever your cap.
• When a new season starts, the game recalls every player on your affiliate whose contract is one-way, and his full salary counts against your cap; after a relegation, that is everyone there except players on an entry-level or lower-league contract.
• A player you recall from his page or roster row comes back scratched; put him in your lineup yourself.
• A player traded away from your affiliate arrives on the other club’s roster, not on its affiliate.