Here's my 10 page Franchise Mode Wishlist I mentioned on the NHL 24 Discussion thread last month.
NHL 24+ Franchise Mode Wishlist
My Vision
My vision for Franchise Mode is a world where all the leagues in the game are going on at the same time. EA has the rights to leagues such as the SHL, Liiga and the DEL, but outside of randomly generated prospects they serve no real purpose in the game. Teams from these leagues should be playable with full seasons, with the ability to get jobs from teams in better leagues and work your way to the top similar to FIFA. There should also be the ability to play as an international GM in one of the below mentioned international tournaments. We should also have the option to play as multiple teams in a Franchise (say for example my favorite NHL, WHL, and European team).
Leagues/ Tournaments
-KHL
-NCAA
-USHL
-The other leagues that send representatives to the CHL (Europe)
-Second Division for Liiga, Czech Extraliga, DEL, and NLA
-IIHF World Championship/ Division 1
-IIHF World Juniors/ Division 1
-IIHF U18’s and Hlinka/ Gretzky
-World Cup of Hockey
-Winter Olympics
-The new Professional Women’s Hockey League if it’s ready by the release of the game
I realize getting the KHL would be a licensing nightmare, but this is a wishlist. NCAA players can get NIL money now so there isn’t any reason to not include the college teams. The USHL and other European leagues would basically add depth to the game, and the second divisions would make it possible to have promotion/ relegation battles which add excitement to the game. If KHL teams are not possible I would be okay with generic team names in a “Russian League” such as Moscow Red, Moscow Blue, St. Petersburg, UFA, Sochi, etc.
There should be the ability to be offered the role of the GM of a national team for a tournament. Similar to FIFA your GM should get better offers if they have a history of good performance so it would be unlikely you would be offered the GM for a large country like Canada or Sweden in your first season. About a month before the tournament starts you should get an offer with a rating of how good the program is out of 5, and the national program’s expectations for the tournament (Win, medal, avoid relegation, etc.). If you accept an offer you will be able to select a team from a pool of eligible players. If you become GM for Canada or the U.S.A for the Men’s World Hockey Championship many of the top players eligible should not want to participate true to real life. Also you should be able to keep roster spots open for players to join when their NHL teams are eliminated from the playoffs. I feel it would be fun to add IIHF Division 1 teams for the junior and senior levels to have a proper promotion/ relegation battle. It would give more meaning for managing a smaller hockey nation. Your team’s performance in the tournaments will impact future job offers both with club and international teams. Over time if a historically lower ranked country becomes more successful (ex. France, Ukraine, Italy, etc.) maybe they will produce more prospects that will become good enough to be drafted to the NHL. If EA cannot use the Winter Olympics name than just give it a generic name such as “International Winter Sports Championship” or something. We will all know what it means, but they can’t get sued for using it (as far as I’m aware).
AHL and ECHL
In Franchise Mode allow our GM’s to send players to or bring players from their respective ECHL affiliates. You can be the GM of an AHL team, where you can sign players to an AHL only contract. The GM from your NHL team would call up players and may ask you for recommendations for whom to call up. Same for being a GM of an ECHL team, sign players to an ECHL contract, AHL GM would ask for recommendations on who to call up to the AHL.
It would be cool to be able to switch AHL and ECHL affiliation in the middle of a franchise save, but I doubt it would be possible due to licensing agreements.
CHL, Europe, College Franchises
For a CHL or USHL Franchise Mode you would scout players playing AAA hockey in the regions they can draft players from. Other than that it would basically work the same as a normal NHL Franchise Mode, you can call up players from Junior A if you have injuries instead of the AHL, and you will lose your best or oldest players when they are ready to turn professional or become too old to play in the league. You would have a draft for regional players and a draft for international players, but you are unable to break any rules by having more international players than allowed.
A College Franchise would have you scout and recruit players playing in the USHL and Junior A to play at your school. Similar to the NCAA Football games you call recruits and try to convince players to play at your university with scholarship offers, promises and reasons why your school is a better place for them than your rivals. Each school would have a rating out of five stating how good the school is in certain categories such as championships won, NHL potential, academic prestige, and you will try to sway players to join for those reasons. Better schools are more likely to attract better players.
A European Franchise would be like a hybrid College and NHL Franchise. You would have to scout and recruit AAA players like the Junior and College Franchises, but you would also have to scout and sign senior players like in a NHL Franchise. Like the college teams, all European teams would have a rating out of five for various categories to recruit players to their teams with better players being more likely to play for higher quality teams such as Frolunda, Tappara, or HC Davos. It should be possible to convince lower end NHL players to play in Europe, and it should be tempting for a large number of AHL quality players, especially those who are European. You would also be in control of the franchises junior team which can only have players under 20 years old on it.
Professional Women’s Hockey Franchise
Assuming the league is set up by the release date of the game, it should be possible to start a franchise with the best women’s players in the world, as well as international hockey and possibly NCAA. Realistically it might have to wait until NHL 25 or 26.
Communicate With Players and Staff
As the season progresses your players and coaches should be able to communicate with them. Players should ask for more ice time, or want to know if we are going to extend their contract if there is less than a year remaining. Coaches, your assistant GM, management, trainers and the franchise owner should also be able to communicate with you on various subjects. You should be able to respond, and your response can affect their relationship with you. A player asks for a spot on the first line you can a) Move them to the first line making them happy, b) Say no risking they may dislike you and not want to resign when their contract expires or asks for a trade c) Challenge them to produce more which can affect them either way or d) Say you can’t, but offer them more special teams time instead. Coaches may ask for things like a second line RW at the trade deadline, and trainers would mostly give updates on injured players, maybe ask for which option to take when treating an injury.
Player Contracts/ Trades
I should be able to give players no trade/ no movement clauses in their contracts. This should include full NTC and limited NTC where they have to give a list of teams they can/ can’t be traded to. I can ask a player with a NTC to waive their NTC but they can say no if they don’t want to leave or be traded to that team.
Conditional draft picks should be an option for making trades in the game. Maybe not to the complex details of real life but something like trading a 1st round pick in 2024 that is lottery protected. Otherwise the pick becomes the 2025 1st round pick. Teams making certain rounds of the playoffs should also be part of conditional draft pick trades (ex. If Florida makes the Conference Final the pick they traded to Buffalo goes from a 3rd to a 2nd).
All Players should have categories of things they feel are important for signing in free agency. Things like market size, weather, taxes, cup contender, ice time, money, term, proximity to hometown (All players in game need a hometown, province/state, country to do this properly. Obviously if you are signing a player from Europe to an NHL team they shouldn’t have being close to hometown as a priority) should affect if they will sign for you or not. Currently I can sign anyone I wish as long as I have cap space, but it will be a better challenge if a player I want decides he doesn’t want to play in a cold weather city, and I have to pay him more or sign an alternative player.
If I’m negotiating a trade why can’t a team get back to me with an offer a couple of days later? In real life GM’s talk about how big trades take weeks or months to complete. Why can’t a team say we’ll review your offer and get back to you or just straight up reject your offer if they are not interested in giving up an asset in the trade? Teams should be able to communicate that a player is untouchable and will not give it up for any compensation.
There should be the ability to trade more than 5 assets at a time. Why can’t I negotiate extensions with coaches and scouts during the season like I can with my players?
Free Agent Frenzy
The five days before Free Agency starts you should be able to talk to potential free agents and see what they are looking for. The first day of free agency should work the same as the trade deadline. As the day goes on free agents will sign with teams and you need to scramble to get bids to the players (and coaches/scouts) you want, and have backup plans if they sign somewhere else. After the first day it shouldn’t take 5 or more days for free agents to sign. Usually most sign within the first week of free agency in real life. Almost always the big name players go on July 1. So a 90+ OVR player should not be able to be signed in August. Can there be a way to search multiple categories at once when signing players? For example if I want to look for a Sniper LW and filter out RFA’s and players over 30 I can’t do that currently.
For hiring coaches, I should be able to interview associate/ assistant coaches from other NHL teams for a NHL head coaching position, as well as any coach from a lower league. My assistants should be able to be poached as well. There should also be more than 33 people in the world who are “A” level coaches. Same goes for executives so I can hire my own assistant GM.
Scouting
Right now scouting is pretty straight forward. You have amateur scouts in every region; select the best prospects to scout one or two times a season. It’s not super realistic. I would have a scout watch a team for a predetermined period of time (say 2 weeks) and during that time they would write reports on the players they’ve seen both on that team and their opponents. After the two weeks, they would email you their reports and you would send them to watch another team.
Scouts can write reports on players that are draft eligible in the upcoming draft, future drafts, prospects of your team and others (for future trades), and in Europe players that can be signed in Free Agency. I should be able to send scouts to international tournaments such as the World Juniors or U18’s to scout players there as well.
I don’t understand why regional familiarity matters so much when it comes to scouting. I’m sure a scout who is an “A” would be just as good at scouting the WHL or QMJHL as they would scouting ICE or in the NLA.
Draft Classes
From year to year, draft classes should be more random in terms of quality. Right now I know the top 5 picks are going to be Medium Elite with a bunch of X-Factors 82-77 OVR, then the rest of the top 15 will be between 77-65 OVR usually with 1-2 X-Factors, then the rest of the first round will be between 70-63 OVR, usually with 1 or 0 X-Factors. Then at the start of the second round there are some players with multiple X-Factors sprinkled in with top 9 prospects. High Elite goalies start going in the second round.
There should be years where there are 10-15 potential elite players near the front of the draft, and some years with maybe 3 in the first round. There should be years where there are lots of draft steals available in the 2+ rounds, and some years with few. Every so often there should be a goalie who goes in the first round.
The nationality of players being drafted isn’t realistic enough. Why does every draft have so many players from Norway, Poland and Lithuania often going in the first round where as I rarely see anyone from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, or Austria getting drafted. In my current save, the first round has 8 projected players from non-traditional countries going in the first round! Somewhere around 95% of players drafted should be from Canada, U.S.A, Russia, Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Switzerland with the occasional prospect from places such as Germany, Latvia or Denmark, with rare players from places like Italy, France or South Korea every few years.
Player Names
Why do lots of European players have North American/ British names? It ruins the immersion of the game when you draft a guy from Poland with the last name of Smith or Daniels or a similar name. Also there are lots of very distinct hockey names that get drafted every year that should not appear very often in generated prospects. There are too many “Datsyuk’s,” “Selanne’s,” Niedermayer’s or “Langenbrunner’s” being drafted.
Maybe the NHL guys can work with the FIFA team to get more appropriate regional names into the player name database. Also could the game have the ability for the player to adjust how often a name appears for generated prospects as well as the likelihood it appears as a name for certain nationality or races of players. This way there will be more “Smith’s” and “William’s” in the game for Canadian/ American prospects, and less Swedish and Finnish prospects with these names. Maybe players could add additional names to the name pool if they so choose with their own parameters. Also since I’m partially on the subject there should be much less African appearing prospects from Nordic or former Soviet nations since they have a very small population of African appearing people compared to North America.
Fog of War
I like the concept of Fog of War, but I feel there needs to be levels to it. I personally feel like in the NHL everyone knows how good everyone else is by the middle of the season, but I shouldn’t know how good players from European Leagues or prospects in the CHL are at all times. There should be 100% FOW where you have no idea how good anyone else in the hockey world is, 75% FOW where you know how good top players are, but not bottom 6 players, 50% FOW where you know how good NHL players are but not anyone else, etc. This continues until you get to 0% FOW where every player’s ratings are available.
Player Ratings/ Chemistry/ X-Factors
I despise X-Factors. I don’t need Auston Matthews to have “Shock and Awe” or “Make it Snappy” to know that he has a great shot. Remove them from the game completely, or at the minimum make sure they have no effect on chemistry. If they do stay in the game they need to be able to be gained or lost by players over time. Corey Perry doesn’t have an X-Factor in the game but I guarantee at some point in the past he would have had many if they were in the game during his prime, yet Patrice Bergeron who still has 5 has them until he retires in game. How does that make sense? If I draft a Medium Elite player with no X-Factors they are a chemistry drain when they make the NHL, but now if they have the potential to gain them over time it would be worth developing them hoping they would get a few.
I would completely overhaul how chemistry works in this game, and how player rating affect the chemistry between players. Instead of coaches having complicated system players that players must fit into to have good chemistry as well as the proper player type I would have it so coaches would simply have a line style such as a scoring line, shutdown line, energy line, etc. Each line would have certain player types complete that line for good chemistry (sniper, playmaker, power forward would have max chemistry for a scoring line for example). Instead of before where a player can have one player type that never changes, I would allow it so every player would have a rating in every current player type for their position (sniper, playmaker, power forward, grinder, two way forward, enforcer, two way defenseman, offensive/ defensive defenseman, plus bring back dangler). This would allow a player who is great at multiple things to have more value up and down the lineup. A player like Crosby who has very good offensive and defensive abilities would be more valuable than in previous games where he would be typecast into one specific line and role on a team, and if it doesn’t match with the coaches system then he is way less useful than in real life. Basically at the NHL level for a line to have max chemistry each player must have a 90+ rating in one of the proper player types. At the AHL, International Senior, Champions Hockey League and better European Leagues it can be an 85+ rating, and at the ECHL, CHL, NCAA, lower European Leagues and International Junior level it can be an 80+ rating. I would also get rid of the -3 to +5 system and change it to low, average, or high chemistry, where high chemistry means a player plays to their rating, not their rating +5 OVR, average would mean they play a little below their OVR, and low would be a very low level below their OVR.
In case I didn’t explain it well enough say Auston Matthews is a 97 Sniper, 94 Playmaker, 94 TWF, 94 Power Forward, 93 Dangler, 88 Grinder, and 62 Enforcer. Mitch Marner is a 96 Playmaker, 94 Dangler, 93 Sniper, 91 TWF, 89 Power Forward, 79 Grinder, and 57 Enforcer. If they play on a line together all they need to get max chemistry on a scoring line is a player with an over 90 in the Sniper, Playmaker, or Power Forward player type.
Similar to the FIFA games I would introduce a “Form Meter” which shows how well a player has played over their last 5-10 games. A player in great form will be more likely to improve their ratings as the season progresses, and a player with bad form is more likely to regress over the season. Form is based heavily on stats so true to real life if a player is playing poorly they are more likely to be moved to a lower line by the coach or traded. Form would also be influenced by chemistry because a player with high chemistry would be more likely to get in good form. Age would also be a factor with younger players needing to be in form less often to develop compared to older players.
Injuries
An injured player can be placed on Long Term Injured Reserve (LTIR) or it can be used to bury contracts of players who have essentially retired or stopped playing.
Players who are injured during a game or are playing with a non-serious injury can continue to play injured, but their overall skills associated with that injury are affected. If a player has a Leg injury for example their speed, acceleration, strength, etc. will be affected by the injury and can get better/ worse as the game goes on. There should be a history of player’s injuries, which should have long term effects on a player’s career. Say a player who is 87 OVR at 24 years old regresses early and is 76 OVR by the time they are 28 years old due to multiple ACL injuries. A player should be able to suffer a career ending injury if they get injured badly enough, or if they re-injure an area too many times.
There are more injuries in the hockey world that mild concussions, pulled groins and bruised hands. I feel like 90% of my injuries are from these issues. Also we need more realistic timelines of these injuries. I doubt my goalie is going to be out over a month with a bruised hand, but my best offensive defenseman is going to be back less than a week after getting a mild concussion? Then when he re-concusses himself, he isn’t out for too much longer? It doesn’t make sense. Players should also have setbacks in their rehabilitation process occasionally and they are out for longer than originally expected.
Why when one of my goalies gets injured and returns from that injury am I forced to send down his replacement before he is fully healed? Also when I have him as a backup why is he reinjuring himself (I play without auto goalie rotation so he shouldn’t be playing)? This has happened to me probably about a dozen times in my current franchise save.
Auto Lineup/ Trade Block
Please get rid of automatically updating my trade block every so often. If I wanted to update it myself I would. When I have to call up a player due to injury it needs to be possible to save my past lineup so I don’t waste an hour trying to put everyone back after they come back from injury. Also there is a glitch where sometimes you can’t call up a player because your team would be above the salary cap when it won’t be. That needs to be fixed. Right now the only way to solve it is to have your Assistant GM manage the roster and fix lines, so like before I need to spend an hour going through my lines and putting players back where I want them.
Practice
Like on NHL 07, you should be able to choose when players practice, and the length/ intensity of the practices. I should be able to hold optional skates as well. I want to be able to choose up to 3 individual attributes I want every player in my system to work on to improve as a player. Some players maybe it would be an individual skill like “acceleration” or “faceoffs,” others it may be an entire category such as “defensive abilities,” and some players I would just want to maintain their current skill set so it doesn’t decline as an older player ages. If I have a player focus on one area of development it could result in another area of his game regressing and going down as a result.
Training Camp
Before the start of a new season it would be cool to get an opportunity to play with the players you drafted or just signed in free agency and see how they feel. Maybe you could do a few drills, have an inter-squad scrimmage. Maybe have the ability to make a few cuts before preseason starts.
Owner Mode
Owner mode should work on a system similar to the old NCAA Football games. You have goals set in place depending if your team is a Cup contender, playoff team, or rebuilding. Your GM has a rating from 0-100 on how safe their job is with being below a 50 meaning they are on the hot seat and can potentially be fired. Some goals will be more important to complete than others and can range from winning the Stanley Cup, making the playoffs, finishing in a lottery position, finishing top 5/10 in team goals, having players win awards or break team records, beating team rivals etc. Even if my team is a Cup Contender, I should not be fired for simply not winning a Stanley Cup. This isn’t FIFA and I’m not playing with Real Madrid.
Why do I have to repair my bathrooms like every 2 weeks? Is there no cleaning crew? Are degenerates just destroying toilets during every game? Why do I not ever have enough budget to cover this?
Coaches Mode
This could be its own game mode separate from GM Mode, but basically you set the player lineup, change tactics, decide how you want to run practice (length, intensity, optional skate) and can request to the GM what/ who you would want to bring in to improve the team.
Expansion
I should be able to expand or contract the NHL or any other league every off season. I should also have the ability to relocate teams, even those I do not have control over. Also it should be possible to just add an AHL and ECHL affiliate to my expansion team instead of having to create one on the spot before I start the Franchise.
Traditional/ Social Media
There should be articles written on the NHL and the other leagues in the game from sources such as TSN, Sportsnet, The Hockey News, etc. They should be about upcoming games/ matchups, how teams are doing in the standings, injuries, prospects. It would be nice to be just simming along and get a headline that reads “Berlin Eisbaren wins DEL!” Quarterly prospect rankings would be a nice touch, If EA can’t use real networks than just make up a couple of fake ones to add some diversity and depth to it.
It would be cool if there was a fake social media site where fans react to what is happening in the hockey world. Maybe the team could hire a social media manager to try to get more followers for the team and could have an effect on the morale of the fans. Also get “hockey insiders” with better names than “Hockey Analyst.”
Rivalry Meter
My team should have natural, traditional rivals that we dislike at the start of the franchise (Boston/ Montreal, Calgary/ Edmonton, The California Teams, etc.), but there should be a way to create new rivalries with teams that heat up or cool down over time. The rivalry meter will heat up if a team plays many intense games against each other in the playoffs, or with lots of fights, or the result of a dirty hit. Rivalry Meter will be a percentage going from 0% (no rivalry) to 100% (Most hated rivals).
All Star Weekend
Let us perform in the Skills Competition, and the All Star Game itself. The drills in the Skills Competition could be used for practice modes, or in Be A Pro. Have an All-Star MVP Award. Be able to choose what All Star Game format you want (divisions, conferences, North America/ World, 5 on 5, 3 on 3 etc.).
Retirements/ HHOF
Players in the game don’t always seem to retire at a reasonable time. Players could be 37 with an 88 OVR having scored 90 points and retire, or retire right before an important milestone (In my save if McDavid played another year he likely would have finished second all time in points), or they drop to like a 75 OVR and expect $4.00 M per season and retire as a Free Agent 2 seasons later when they are a 67 OVR.
When a player does retire, their statistics should be held and after 3 seasons should be eligible to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. The game should keep a list of players that have retired in real life that haven’t been inducted that reasonably can be inducted (Curtis Joseph, Theo Fleury, Jeremy Roenick, etc.) to fill the gaps until there are enough deserving players in game who could make the HHOF.
Sim Engine
The game simply needs a more realistic sim engine. I don’t know how many times I would watch a stacked YouTuber team (think 99 OFF, 96 DEF, 89 GOL) lose in the first round against a team with players in the 70’s in the bottom six/ bottom pair. Sure the argument could be made that upsets happen in real life such as the Panters over Bruins upset this season, but it happens far too often in the game compared to real life. Also there needs to be more OT games played in the regular season. There are way too many teams that make the playoffs with less than 90 points. Since 2015-16 only 1 team has made the playoffs with less than 90 points, but in the game you see a division where the top team got 110 points, and the rest of the division is low 90’s, high 80’s. It’s just not realistic. The President’s Trophy team usually finishes above 117 points, but in the game I’ve seen it won by teams getting as low as 105 points.
Customization
There should be a “God Mode” in Franchise that allows you to customize anything you want in the game. Every aspect of every player on every team should be customizable in Franchise Mode. If I want to change their hair colour, equipment, height, weight, attributes I should be able to. If I want to make custom trades, I should be able to, even if it doesn’t involve my team. I should be able to customize the ice surface in my arena (maybe not the rest of the rink because of copyright issues). I should be able to make customized goalie masks similar to liveries in Gran Turismo 7.
As cool as it would be to make custom jerseys for current real life teams, I know that it’s super unrealistic because of licensing, so instead how about the option of choosing each team’s primary home and away jerseys. If you prefer Anaheim’s eggplant and jade 1993-2006 jerseys you can make them the home/ away jerseys and set the ice to show the Mighty Ducks logo, and over time the crowd would wear more eggplant and jade and less orange and black. Same goes for other teams with huge colour shifts like Buffalo, Vancouver and L.A.
The idea for custom national teams would be an interesting option. You could add Russia and Belarus if they are still excluded from the game, or maybe make provincial or state teams.
The current ability to make custom conferences and divisions in the NHL should be able to be done with the other leagues too. Also I should be able to change or create a custom AHL or ECHL affiliate if I want to bring another team to a different level. Say I want to bring the Hartford Wolf Pack to the NHL, then I would have to give the Wolf Pack and the New York Rangers new AHL affiliates. No more having a random SHL team as your AHL team with no way of changing it.
Promotion/ relegation should be a customized option in the game. If FIFA can do it than why can’t the NHL? I should have the ability to have a league of up to 96 teams in it.
If I want to have a custom draft to start my franchise I should be able to specify what my player pool looks like. Do I want to include every player in the game? Professional players only? Players that play in a specific league or teams only? Players from a certain nationality only? There are so many options to play with here.
There of course should be the ability to play with whatever rules you like at the start of Franchise because for every hardcore player like me who wants absolute realism, there are probably a few 6 year olds who just wants to play with their favorite team and doesn’t care about player’s contracts, the draft, chemistry, or custom goalie masks.
Commentary
There should be at least 3 teams that do the commentary in the game so that it doesn’t get boring very quickly. I would suggest a “national team” for the biggest most important games that feels like it would be on a national network, and 2 “regional teams” that sound a little less polished, maybe slightly biased towards the home team. It would make bigger games feel more special if you didn’t hear the same commentators call every game. Also get rid of James Cybulski, as he is quite annoying compared to past commentators.
Online Franchise/ GM Connected
The ability to play a Franchise Mode with your friends has long been requested and should make its return to the game. With cross platform play working it should be available for GM Connected as well. Play with up to 32 friends, or as many as possible.
