How to actually win cups in franchise mode(this is getting ridiculous).

[Mandalorian]

There must be something I don't understand about this sim engine.

I'm in year 7 of my franchise mode with NHL EA sport.

I never managed to go past Eastern conference in 7 years.

I think I build an actual powerhouse and fail to understand how I could improve even more. I'm always against the cap and have build a core of guys now all between 26-29, so their poise is good. I focused on getting defensively responsible player,I try to improve the team every season and this year I sacrified future and 1st draft pick to really go all in.

Here is my line up: 99 offense 98 defense 97 goaltending

Fuller(90) Barkov(92) Lafreniere(87)
Grachev(88) Draisatl(89) Kakko(88)
Tkachuk(87) Patrick(88) Rantanen(87)
Robertson(77) Pilon(81) Likhachev(82)

Chabot(90) McAvoy(90)
Sergachev(90) Hughes(90)
Broberg(89) Toews(79)

Luukkonen(91)
Haakana(77)

Season: 55-17-10, president trophy
Grachev: 82 23 44 76
Barkov: 82 28 45 73
Draisatl: 82 24 30 54

Luukkonen: 71 50V 13L 0.932 1.90

Out in the first round in 5 games against Colombus BlueJackets, who were last to clinch a playoff spot this season. lmao.

I don't see any weakness in that line-up besides goaltending back up, 1 forth liner and my #6 defenseman. Next season I'm gonna lose Tkachuk because I can't fit him under the cap.

This was peak year, a core I took 7 years to assemble and yet, they still can't manage to go past first round.

What am I missing here? How should I change that line-up to finally win a cup?

Click to read more...

 

[Anthony5967]

There must be something I don't understand about this sim engine.

I'm in year 7 of my franchise mode with NHL EA sport.

I never managed to go past Eastern conference in 7 years.

I think I build an actual powerhouse and fail to understand how I could improve even more. I'm always against the cap and have build a core of guys now all between 26-29, so their poise is good. I focused on getting defensively responsible player,I try to improve the team every season and this year I sacrified future and 1st draft pick to really go all in.

Here is my line up: 99 offense 98 defense 97 goaltending

Fuller(90) Barkov(92) Lafreniere(87)
Grachev(88) Draisatl(89) Kakko(88)
Tkachuk(87) Patrick(88) Rantanen(87)
Robertson(77) Pilon(81) Likhachev(82)

Chabot(90) McAvoy(90)
Sergachev(90) Hughes(90)
Broberg(89) Toews(79)

Luukkonen(91)
Haakana(77)

Season: 55-17-10, president trophy
Grachev: 82 23 44 76
Barkov: 82 28 45 73
Draisatl: 82 24 30 54

Luukkonen: 71 50V 13L 0.932 1.90

Out in the first round in 5 games against Colombus BlueJackets, who were last to clinch a playoff spot this season. lmao.

I don't see any weakness in that line-up besides goaltending back up, 1 forth liner and my #6 defenseman. Next season I'm gonna lose Tkachuk because I can't fit him under the cap.

This was peak year, a core I took 7 years to assemble and yet, they still can't manage to go past first round.

What am I missing here? How should I change that line-up to finally win a cup?

I got to wonder if this is the game doing this to prevent people from stacking teams like this. Because if it was this easy, to just assemble the best team, how would this mode be fun? Do you have chemistry on? Morale? I bet if you constructed a legit bottom six and didn't have an 89 LHD, for example, you'd have a better shot. How are you also under the cap?

 

[Mandalorian]

I got to wonder if this is the game doing this to prevent people from stacking teams like this. Because if it was this easy, to just assemble the best team, how would this mode be fun? Do you have chemistry on? Morale? I bet if you constructed a legit bottom six and didn't have an 89 LHD, for example, you'd have a better shot. How are you also under the cap?

Yes, I have chemistry and morale on.

I got under the cap by accumulating lots of elite prospect at the draft and trading them in package for good players with retention.

For example with retention, I got McAvoy for 4.5M$, Patrick for 5M$, Lafreniere at 4.7M$ and Broberg for 4.1M$. Grachev is franchise prospect on a 0.9M$ ELC.

Anyway, I finally won the cup with a few tweaks. I traded Draisatl and 1 1st for Shea Theodore(86) with retention who became my #6 defenseman and William Carlson(84) with retention.

Signed 37 years old Tavares(88) to replace Draisatl, who turned out to be my second best scorer in playoff and got 3 points in the cup clintching win.

Traded Chabot for Chychrun(87) with retention.

Signed two 4th lines in their thirtiees at 82(powerforward) and Coyle(81) overall while letting Tkachuk walk because he was asking for too much for what was going to be a 3rd liner on this team.

So the the team was more balanced and had no weakness, everyone over 80 overall.

I think there is no point having a team stacked of high overall young guys if you have no vets in there for leadership and poise. Maybe why the only time this team reached conference final before the cup was in year 2 with Thorton and Pavelski signed as UFA.

Next franchise, instead of going for a full young elite roster, I might play more with vets, poise, chemistry and having a mix of offensive minded, two-way player, defensive player and grinder.

 

[KaraLupin]

There must be something I don't understand about this sim engine.

I'm in year 7 of my franchise mode with NHL EA sport.

I never managed to go past Eastern conference in 7 years.

I think I build an actual powerhouse and fail to understand how I could improve even more. I'm always against the cap and have build a core of guys now all between 26-29, so their poise is good. I focused on getting defensively responsible player,I try to improve the team every season and this year I sacrified future and 1st draft pick to really go all in.

Here is my line up: 99 offense 98 defense 97 goaltending

Fuller(90) Barkov(92) Lafreniere(87)
Grachev(88) Draisatl(89) Kakko(88)
Tkachuk(87) Patrick(88) Rantanen(87)
Robertson(77) Pilon(81) Likhachev(82)

Chabot(90) McAvoy(90)
Sergachev(90) Hughes(90)
Broberg(89) Toews(79)

Luukkonen(91)
Haakana(77)

Season: 55-17-10, president trophy
Grachev: 82 23 44 76
Barkov: 82 28 45 73
Draisatl: 82 24 30 54

Luukkonen: 71 50V 13L 0.932 1.90

Out in the first round in 5 games against Colombus BlueJackets, who were last to clinch a playoff spot this season. lmao.

I don't see any weakness in that line-up besides goaltending back up, 1 forth liner and my #6 defenseman. Next season I'm gonna lose Tkachuk because I can't fit him under the cap.

This was peak year, a core I took 7 years to assemble and yet, they still can't manage to go past first round.

What am I missing here? How should I change that line-up to finally win a cup?

That's easy, fix your D as a whole on forwards and defence.

You need strong 2 way and checkers on the bottom 6, not just juiced offensive players. Put those players on your PK too, over high offensive players (unless also good D stats)

And get some good defensive/2-way d-men to pair with your offensive ones. McAvoy would be example of one, where Hughes would be a pure offensive D.

 

[AlexGretzchenvid]

Found your problem...

Your 4th line center, a very valuable player in the playoffs, is a Pylon.

SMH sorry PILON

 

[Elvs]

I don't care about overalls, but about performance. As Herb Brooks would say, it's not about having the best players, but about having the right ones.

I haven't played Franchise Mode in NHL 22 yet, but in NHL 21 I won three cups with Anaheim within 10 years. This despite the fact that I'm only allowed to play (at most) every 7th game in the regular season and every 4th game in the postseason. The rest I must simulate. And in the games I play, I'm only allowed to control one position.

For example, Eric Robinson was a horse in the bottom six. He had like 78-79 overall, but when the playoffs rolled around you could bet he'd score about half a point per game, including some big goals, and having a good plus/minus.

And way back, I think it was in NHL 15 or 16, me and my buddy played with the Boston Bruins. Even though Frank Vatrano, overall-wise, only ever panned out to a fringe player (79 overall) - he was always a lock to be a fixture in our top six and on the power play. The guy was always good for 50+ points, and even scored 37 goals and nearly 70 points one year.

Back then, production didn't matter when negotiating contracts. Vatrano would always just ask for league minimum on a 2-way deal, but we gave him over $5 mil anyway to make the game more realistic, and not too easy.

 

[Elvs]

I found I even kept the Eric Robinson stats on my phone.

I picked him up before the 2027 deadline, and so he missed the first cup win, but was around to win in 2027 and 2031 before retiring.

Regular season:

Season	GP	G	A	P	+/-
26/27	20	2	4	6	-7
27/28	82	11	11	22	+1
28/29	82	7	14	21	-2
29/30	82	10	20	30	+10
30/31	75	8	20	28	+16

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Playoffs:

Season	GP	G	A	P	+/-
26/27	23	6	3	9	+4
27/28	11	2	2	4	+2
28/29	12	4	1	5	+4
29/30	19	1	9	10	+3
30/31	23	2	8	10	+6

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Nothing exactly earth shattering, but still shows how he was always dependable and could raise his game in the postseason, despite having a meh overall. So my suggestion is, ignore overalls. Keep players who performs, and move on from those who doesn't.

 

[CartographerNo611]

There must be something I don't understand about this sim engine.

I'm in year 7 of my franchise mode with NHL EA sport.

I never managed to go past Eastern conference in 7 years.

I think I build an actual powerhouse and fail to understand how I could improve even more. I'm always against the cap and have build a core of guys now all between 26-29, so their poise is good. I focused on getting defensively responsible player,I try to improve the team every season and this year I sacrified future and 1st draft pick to really go all in.

Here is my line up: 99 offense 98 defense 97 goaltending

Fuller(90) Barkov(92) Lafreniere(87)
Grachev(88) Draisatl(89) Kakko(88)
Tkachuk(87) Patrick(88) Rantanen(87)
Robertson(77) Pilon(81) Likhachev(82)

Chabot(90) McAvoy(90)
Sergachev(90) Hughes(90)
Broberg(89) Toews(79)

Luukkonen(91)
Haakana(77)

Season: 55-17-10, president trophy
Grachev: 82 23 44 76
Barkov: 82 28 45 73
Draisatl: 82 24 30 54

Luukkonen: 71 50V 13L 0.932 1.90

Out in the first round in 5 games against Colombus BlueJackets, who were last to clinch a playoff spot this season. lmao.

I don't see any weakness in that line-up besides goaltending back up, 1 forth liner and my #6 defenseman. Next season I'm gonna lose Tkachuk because I can't fit him under the cap.

This was peak year, a core I took 7 years to assemble and yet, they still can't manage to go past first round.

What am I missing here? How should I change that line-up to finally win a cup?

Fuller(90) Barkov(92) Lafreniere(87)
Grachev(88) (Too good) Draisatl(89) (<<<Same as Grachev) Kakko(88) (<<<)
Tkachuk(87)(Way too good for 2nd and 3rd line) Patrick(88) (<<<)Rantanen(87) (<<<)
Robertson(77)Pilon(81)(Your 3rd line center) Likhachev(82) (Way too Good for 4th line)

Chabot(90) McAvoy(90)
Sergachev(90) (Too good) Hughes(90) (Way too good)
Broberg(89)(Way Way too good) Toews(79) (Should be your number 4/5)

Luukkonen(91) (Too young, maybe a bit too good, goalies are weird in this series)
Haakana(77) (Not good enough)

 

[Faceboner]

Fuller(90) Barkov(92) Lafreniere(87)
Grachev(88) (Too good) Draisatl(89) (<<<Same as Grachev) Kakko(88) (<<<)
Tkachuk(87)(Way too good for 2nd and 3rd line) Patrick(88) (<<<)Rantanen(87) (<<<)
Robertson(77)Pilon(81)(Your 3rd line center) Likhachev(82) (Way too Good for 4th line)

Chabot(90) McAvoy(90)
Sergachev(90) (Too good) Hughes(90) (Way too good)
Broberg(89)(Way Way too good) Toews(79) (Should be your number 4/5)

Luukkonen(91) (Too young, maybe a bit too good, goalies are weird in this series)
Haakana(77) (Not good enough)

Yea typically I can only win the cup with a goalie 84-87 and any elite goalies just do bad for me

 

[ColbyChaos]

In short this sim makes zero damn sense. Nothing like having a trash tier team make the playoffs while a team rivaling the 70s habs finishes 2nd to last in the league

 

[Tak7]

Don't real-time sim or in-game sim in the playoffs - do the calendar sim, or advance day past gameday, and you'll get a much more representative sim experience.

 

[Matty Sundin]

The stacked super star team strategy almost never works I find.

 

[UED]

In my opinion the best players in be a GM are the ones who shoot the most, an 84 overall sniper who shoots 350 times per season is a better player than a 91 overall sniper who only shoots 175 times a year. He shouldn't be, but the game's awful so he is. This lineup appears to be full of players who don't shoot, which would be why it doesn't work well. It should work as the team is obviously unrealistically good, but the game's awful so it doesn't.

 

[PatrikBerglund]

Coaches, especially head coaches, seem to be at least 60% of a team's success.

Other than that, I always load up with three defensively strong centers and try to get at least +3 in chemistry on every line.

 

[standers]

After years of no success on franchise mode, I managed to win 5 cups in a row (all sim). Didn't have good line chemistry. I also don't get it.

 

[BlueBaron]

Lol. I can't speak to this year's version but in last years version , on more than one occasion, I won the Cup in the first year of an expansion franchise with an 84 Vrana and an 83 Manson and a mid 80s goalie as my best players.

One common thread was always high chemistry on every line and pairing, another was always having 2 or 3 vet leaders.

 

[Silkytentacles]

You played the blue jackets. They tend to do that to superstar teams

 

[stempniaksen]

Coaching matters a lot

 

[GOilers88]

After years of no success on franchise mode, I managed to win 5 cups in a row (all sim). Didn't have good line chemistry. I also don't get it.

Yeah I don't think there's any rhyme or reason to how the simulations work.

Though in my personal experience, whenever I try and franchise with a bottom feeder and sell off everything of value for picks, I end up running the tables and make the playoffs, usually winning a round or two before being bounced. When I start with a contender I ususally wind up missing the playoffs and land a top 5 draft pick.

Always have morale and chemistry on and have never noticed a marked difference between having good or bad line chemistry or team morale. Can win 12 games in a row and the morale won't go up but as soon as I lose a game it drops.

Finally got to try EHM and my god its so much better.

 

[ColbyChaos]

Yeah I don't think there's any rhyme or reason to how the simulations work.

Though in my personal experience, whenever I try and franchise with a bottom feeder and sell off everything of value for picks, I end up running the tables and make the playoffs, usually winning a round or two before being bounced. When I start with a contender I ususally wind up missing the playoffs and land a top 5 draft pick.

Always have morale and chemistry on and have never noticed a marked difference between having good or bad line chemistry or team morale. Can win 12 games in a row and the morale won't go up but as soon as I lose a game it drops.

Finally got to try EHM and my god its so much better.

Its sad because you can play old gen 07-15 and if you have a star team you wont be shitting around in the bottom 5. EA's changes have been garbage

 

[Just Linda]

Lol. I can't speak to this year's version but in last years version , on more than one occasion, I won the Cup in the first year of an expansion franchise with an 84 Vrana and an 83 Manson and a mid 80s goalie as my best players.

One common thread was always high chemistry on every line and pairing, another was always having 2 or 3 vet leaders.

My experience has been similar. I always seem to win about years 2 and 5 (usually get bored around year 7).

Load up on lots of leaders, have a steady but not well paid goalie (Swayman has been gold for me). Lots of depth and good d. Get players that fit the system (which leads to good chemistry).

 

[behemolari]

Vets