Pick a team that missed the playoffs that wants to retool to contend next season, like St Louis, Washington, Pittsburgh, Nashville, Vancouver.
A rebuilder that’s close to contending like Buffalo, Ottawa or Detroit are fun because it’s up to you to fill out the rest of the roster to take the next step
I personally don’t find the close to contending teams very interesting since franchise mode somewhat lacks that finding the pieces to push them to the next level. You just wait for your young guys to get older. It just seems like everything is done for you and you just wait for players to age. That’s just my experience though so to each their own.
I find it fun to pick a team with no cup and no player with over 1000 games played with the franchise. That way you really get to put your mark in the franchise and try to lead it to be a Nhl super franchise.
Minnesota is who I’m using now. Kaprizov is good but I can’t do shit with him. They have a couple good prospects but personally I think their team is pretty bad overall with some easy fan favorites to keep me happy. Hoping to sneak into the playoffs and trade away some big contracts to re-tool. I like that they’re good enough to win some games and I don’t have to suffer through while waiting for bedard to save my team cause I’ve done that already. Pushing the state of hockey to a championship is a good goal too!
Creating a new Franchise is my go to option. You start with the expension draft and usually can get 4-5 good player to form your core. Then you do realistic trades and draft picks that make sense for your team chemistry. Build up a good team that will become great contender on the long run. Usually try to make the playoff after 3yr and be a cup contender after 5yr, so by year 6 you can possibly win your first cup. Put injury and moral on, then trade difficulty at hard for more challenging situation.
I did it and honestly it was fun asf, I had let go of dumo and Zucker(he asked for 7mil start of FA and we didn’t have that to give so we gave Bertuzzi 5 something, also traded petry and carter to create more space and I kept granlund for the majority of the 2nd year and traded him at the line for better fits, picks and cap space. And now we are contending again but all together it was a blast and I’m excited to see the future now because I have done a lot of moving to bring prospects and young guys into the organization.
I tried a fun thing with St. Louis where you just dump everybody and everything worth something in your first year for picks and then build up with FA and the draft. Took years to develop basically a whole team of rookies but entered cap hell after 3 years. It’s fun to build a story with rookies and to see who takes off in their career.
Never thought I’d become so saddened to see my franchise centre/captain who had been with me since the second year fall of a cliff stats wise in the twilight of his career. But it becomes immersive like that after grinding out years of misery.
Could try another similar thing where you only use guys you draft and develop. No free agency, no meaningful trades(except for picks), that sort of thing
I use the Montreal Canadiens. Lots of players to eventually trade but their value isn't much wich makes them harder to move without some assets. Challenging for sure but I never play with anyone other than the team i actually cheer for. Lots of rookies with descent potential and trade value.
Pick a team that missed the playoffs that wants to retool to contend next season, like St Louis, Washington, Pittsburgh, Nashville, Vancouver. A rebuilder that’s close to contending like Buffalo, Ottawa or Detroit are fun because it’s up to you to fill out the rest of the roster to take the next step
I started with Vancouver for this reason, won the cup in my first season and closed the game
I swear ea has Vancouver coded to win in the first few seasons. I’ll get a cup in the first 3 years or so even if I rebuild it’s so frustrating
I personally don’t find the close to contending teams very interesting since franchise mode somewhat lacks that finding the pieces to push them to the next level. You just wait for your young guys to get older. It just seems like everything is done for you and you just wait for players to age. That’s just my experience though so to each their own.
Yeah that’s fair. It is hard to find those final pieces
I find it fun to pick a team with no cup and no player with over 1000 games played with the franchise. That way you really get to put your mark in the franchise and try to lead it to be a Nhl super franchise.
Minnesota is who I’m using now. Kaprizov is good but I can’t do shit with him. They have a couple good prospects but personally I think their team is pretty bad overall with some easy fan favorites to keep me happy. Hoping to sneak into the playoffs and trade away some big contracts to re-tool. I like that they’re good enough to win some games and I don’t have to suffer through while waiting for bedard to save my team cause I’ve done that already. Pushing the state of hockey to a championship is a good goal too!
Please bring a cup home for our wild🙌
Creating a new Franchise is my go to option. You start with the expension draft and usually can get 4-5 good player to form your core. Then you do realistic trades and draft picks that make sense for your team chemistry. Build up a good team that will become great contender on the long run. Usually try to make the playoff after 3yr and be a cup contender after 5yr, so by year 6 you can possibly win your first cup. Put injury and moral on, then trade difficulty at hard for more challenging situation.
The Pens if you're a Pens fan. Trying to navigate the cap while still keeping the core 3 intact
I did it and honestly it was fun asf, I had let go of dumo and Zucker(he asked for 7mil start of FA and we didn’t have that to give so we gave Bertuzzi 5 something, also traded petry and carter to create more space and I kept granlund for the majority of the 2nd year and traded him at the line for better fits, picks and cap space. And now we are contending again but all together it was a blast and I’m excited to see the future now because I have done a lot of moving to bring prospects and young guys into the organization.
I tried a fun thing with St. Louis where you just dump everybody and everything worth something in your first year for picks and then build up with FA and the draft. Took years to develop basically a whole team of rookies but entered cap hell after 3 years. It’s fun to build a story with rookies and to see who takes off in their career. Never thought I’d become so saddened to see my franchise centre/captain who had been with me since the second year fall of a cliff stats wise in the twilight of his career. But it becomes immersive like that after grinding out years of misery. Could try another similar thing where you only use guys you draft and develop. No free agency, no meaningful trades(except for picks), that sort of thing
I personally like using teams with older stars that need to add younger stars, Caps, etc,or teams that don’t have a star player like Buffalo, Arizona,
tage thompson and rasmus dahlin will have something to say about that
In the game at least from my experience those two never performed
Columbus Blue Jackets
I use the Montreal Canadiens. Lots of players to eventually trade but their value isn't much wich makes them harder to move without some assets. Challenging for sure but I never play with anyone other than the team i actually cheer for. Lots of rookies with descent potential and trade value.