This is Unreal(Franchise Mode)

[Deku]

You also never win the draft lottery.

Early in NHL 18 I won it from the lowest possible odds after missing the playoffs by one point
since then, I've won it like 2 more times in hundreds of seasons in GM mode

 

[twiztidwolff]

Finally won the cup in my 8th season GMing the Seattle Kraken, went 16-2 in the entirety of the playoffs which was nuts considering we lost 8/10 headed to the playoffs and barely held on to the conference lead. I traded my 4th line winger for a guy with a better +/- and thought somehow I broke it lol.

The team was pretty stout honestly. First time I ran into a Defensive enforcer in the draft and he was my anchor on the bottom line defensively.

4th line was all guys who wanted to be 3rd liners, and somehow they played well.

I'm going to look through the roster and try to figure out what I finally did right.

Keep in mind I've struggled like hell this was my 2nd time getting to the finals in at least 100 seasons between attempts obviously

 

[GOilers88]

Finally won the cup in my 8th season GMing the Seattle Kraken, went 16-2 in the entirety of the playoffs which was nuts considering we lost 8/10 headed to the playoffs and barely held on to the conference lead. I traded my 4th line winger for a guy with a better +/- and thought somehow I broke it lol.

The team was pretty stout honestly. First time I ran into a Defensive enforcer in the draft and he was my anchor on the bottom line defensively.

4th line was all guys who wanted to be 3rd liners, and somehow they played well.

I'm going to look through the roster and try to figure out what I finally did right.

Keep in mind I've struggled like hell this was my 2nd time getting to the finals in at least 100 seasons between attempts obviously

I wouldnt look to far into it. I'm convinced everything about GM mode is 100% random on every playthrough. You can use the exact same team over multiple files, and will wind up with wildly varying results Everytime.

 

[twiztidwolff]

I wouldnt look to far into it. I'm convinced everything about GM mode is 100% random on every playthrough. You can use the exact same team over multiple files, and will wind up with wildly varying results Everytime.

I won the cup 3 years in a row using what I figured out, once I replaced a player that retired without checking their +/- history my team imploded because he was a free agent drafted by my favorite team and I jumped all over signing him as a UFA in his late 20's lol.

 

[GOilers88]

I won the cup 3 years in a row using what I figured out, once I replaced a player that retired without checking their +/- history my team imploded because he was a free agent drafted by my favorite team and I jumped all over signing him as a UFA in his late 20's lol.

I currently have a franchise gong with Vegas. I've simulated through the season on this file 5 separate times. Same team,same roster, same sliders, same rules, same strategies. The first year I went 59-20-3 and was swept in the first round. The second season I went 19-48-15. The third season I went 33-33-17. The fourth season I went 61-15-7 and was swept in the first round. The last season I went 26-42-14. On every season,I never had a guy break the 55 point mark. On the two seasons I destroyed the league, my goalies has some of the most unreal numbers I've ever seen in this game all season, then proceeded to be swept both times losing all my games by at least 4 goal margins. The first one was ridiculous, losing all four games by scores of 9-2, 5-0, 7-3, and 4-1. The second time I got swept I was playing against Buffalo who, behind Chad Johnson's otherwordly play, managed to shutout my team four games in a row. I played the first game was was beaten 3-0 in a game where I outshot the Sabres 63-18 and had possession numbers doubling that of my opponent.

I took the disc out and hummed in over my back fence and down the street. Hands down the most ridiculous, nonsensical, frustrating game I have ever played in my life. I had more fun with Dark Souls.

Nothing will ever convince me that ice tilt, and complete randomization dont run rampant throughout this game.

 

[n00bxQb]

I wouldnt look to far into it. I'm convinced everything about GM mode is 100% random on every playthrough. You can use the exact same team over multiple files, and will wind up with wildly varying results Everytime.

Yeah, the sim engine seems to be getting worse with every generation.

I remember in the NHL 09-NHL 12, for all its faults, if you put together an insanely strong team, they'd usually be unstoppable.

I remember one year, Washington traded Ovechkin to Pittsburgh for Mike Richards (don't remember how PIT got him) and some other pieces. That team with Crosby, Ovi, and Malkin dominated for years (lost a few times to them in the Stanley Cup Finals).

I felt the sim engine in NHL 13-NHL Legacy was still pretty solid and it was, IMO at least, probably the best overall BAGM/Franchise mode experience in the NHL series. Maybe a little more random, but it still seemed like you'd usually do well if you assembled a good team and not so well otherwise ("bad" teams with lots of low OVR players w/ high offensive attributes seemed to do well, despite poor team defense ratings).

The PS4/XB1 engine, I've never seemed to get repeatable results as others have mentioned. Seems like you're always either on a massive win streak or a massive losing streak.

 

[tucson83]

im going to guess that experience matters and not overall in this sim, just for that reason of why players with low overalls on your team win more cups, it's because of experience and high offensive attributes.

try to get all the vets from free agency and trades as you can and maybe it will help your chances of winning because i had very low overalls/vets accept for goalies on my team and i won the cup three times.

 

[Deku]

The PS4/XB1 engine, I've never seemed to get repeatable results as others have mentioned. Seems like you're always either on a massive win streak or a massive losing streak.

The regular season sim seems to be built on streaks, it's really dumb. No matter how good or bad my team is, they always get a large chunk of their wins/losses at once. If you just look at your overall record and don't look too closely at the calendar screen, it's not too bad I find.

From my experience in 18, I have much better luck stacking my offense than my defense. Teams built kinda like Pittsburgh recently IRL do the best.

im going to guess that experience matters and not overall in this sim, just for that reason of why players with low overalls on your team win more cups, it's because of experience and high offensive attributes.

try to get all the vets from free agency and trades as you can and maybe it will help your chances of winning because i had very low overalls/vets accept for goalies on my team and i won the cup three times.

I think poise matters a ton in the playoff sim - your theory makes sense considering EA will give high poise to all the current elite players, but then it often fails to grow on a lot of the game generated prospects or younger players.

 

[fcpremix88]

I won 3 cups in 5 SCF appearances in a row with a Houston expansion team. I got lucky with drafting a franchise defenseman, franchise winger, and signing Tavares in FA. I would usually try to stack my top 4 and top 6, and then trade for the best rentals at each trade deadline for the bottom pairing and third line.

 

[Hansen]

In a recent franchise mode I had a few iterations of a team that went to the finals like 5 times over 20 years and lost every single time, and then other times you have a team that wins the cup almost every year

 

[Horse McHindu]

So, I have a Colorado Franchise mode going. Season 2023-24. Out of the last 6 seasons, my team has made the Stanley Cup finals five times. We've one the Stanley Cup once. We've lost to Tampa Bay three times out of the five. Our record against them in the finals is 3-12. We got swept the first time, beat in 5 the second time, beat in 6 the 3rd, and most recent time.

It's so frustrating. Make the cup practically every year and never win it, almost. The one time we won was against Toronto in 5, and the other one we lost was against Carolina in 6(or 7? I forget).

It's just so frustrating. Has this ever happened before to anyone else?

Hasn't happened to me but I was up 3-0 in a Stanley Cup series once and lost the next 4 games. I smashed my PS3 console and then threw my German Sheppard out the window.

 

[Its a Trap]

The regular season sim seems to be built on streaks, it's really dumb. No matter how good or bad my team is, they always get a large chunk of their wins/losses at once. If you just look at your overall record and don't look too closely at the calendar screen, it's not too bad I find.

From my experience in 18, I have much better luck stacking my offense than my defense. Teams built kinda like Pittsburgh recently IRL do the best.



I think poise matters a ton in the playoff sim - your theory makes sense considering EA will give high poise to all the current elite players, but then it often fails to grow on a lot of the game generated prospects or younger players.

I’ve come to the conclusion that poise is something players either have right off the bat or will never have it.

I’ve creates franchise players who start off at 80 overall as an 18 year old and 5 years later while the rest of their attributes have increased, poise has stayed exactly the same or gone up a point or 2.

I’ve followed drafted players who’ve had 80 poise when drafter and it will go up as they progress and players who have low poise that never gets close to 80 despite becoming second/first liners or top-4/2 defensemen.

Basically what I’m trying to say is: poise sucks.

Also the ratings system is still a joke. Except it’s just a bigger joke

Also make team and line strategies impact simulation results. It’s an 82 game season. I wouldn’t play every damn game of the year even if I wanted too. This isn’t be-a-pro in nba or mlb where there’s legit reasons to play a majority of games, I want to build my team and see how they do without having to worry about it sucking because the computer decided, “oh yea that’s a nice 94 overall rated team you have there, you’re gunna have a solid 30 win season while Arizona makes a cup run.”

 

[tezgm99]

The bad thing is that you lose in Round 1 or Round 2 to a team that has an 80 OVR goalie.

Yes, I'm starting to wonder if giving my elite goalie a nice contract was such a good idea now

 

[phillyb]

I've won with 89OA G making 13m and I've gone on deep runs with 82OA starter before. It's weird.

 

[The Nuge]

Yes, I'm starting to wonder if giving my elite goalie a nice contract was such a good idea now

It probably was. I had a franchise goalie in last years game who played into his 40s, and single handedly won me multiple cups (and would easily have gone down as the GOAT). Just because a lower overall goalie can have a hot run doesn’t mean you should bank on it

 

[Its a Trap]

It probably was. I had a franchise goalie in last years game who played into his 40s, and single handedly won me multiple cups (and would easily have gone down as the GOAT). Just because a lower overall goalie can have a hot run doesn’t mean you should bank on it

They go on hot streaks far too often.

 

[Vancouver Canucks]

Yes, I'm starting to wonder if giving my elite goalie a nice contract was such a good idea now

You can always trade him for a really good asset.

 

[tucson83]

im thinking about just having two elite centers. one elite winger, two elite defensemen and goalie and the rest of depth players being 75 overall and see how that goes.

i believe the way the sim works is focusing on the elite players, more elites the better chances of winning.

 

[M88K]

I've had no issues with my 32nd team. First 2 season were bad (intentionally so), but my makeup now is
Connor-Seguin-L.Andersson
Panarin(UFA)-Point-Marner (RFA poaching)
Dickinson-Faksa-Kapanen
Guryanov-Brown-Shore

Brodin-Heiskanen
Dahlin-Vlasic (deadline pickup)
Ekholm-Lindell
Kopisalo
Grubauer

Ekholm and Brodin are the only two that have been around since the expansion.
But the sim has gone largely as expected, some ups and downs depending on injuries, but have been pretty consistently near the tops of the league usually make a deep run, a few game 7s some won and lost. but Nothing as extreme as previous years.

 

[TheChamber91]

I have a 95 offense, first line of Panarin(88 OVR), Zadina(89 OVR), and Tarasenko(93 OVR). I also have a 95 defense and keep losing in the second round.

 

[abparry87]

I have a 95 offense, first line of Panarin(88 OVR), Zadina(89 OVR), and Tarasenko(93 OVR). I also have a 95 defense and keep losing in the second round.

Who is your fist line centre?

 

[DontPanik]

I think I'm in 2024 now with the Leafs and I've made the final 4 years in a row, won the cup 3 times.

 

[Pucker77]

I did a Be A GM mode recently doing the 32nd team expansion draft. My team, the New Orleans Storm (a bit of a troll job I'll admit... Our mascot was named Katrina) made the playoffs and more importantly the 2nd round before losing in 7 to Winnipeg in its first year. The next year despite better talent we finished 4th last in the league. By my 3rd season we had a solid nucleus and made the playoffs again but lost in 5 to St Louis.

I had really good depth in terms of player overalls, but for whatever reason they didnt score in the series. I checked out St Louis' line combos and was astonished at how terrible their team was compared to mine. My 4th line was an 82, 81, and 80, their 2nd line had 78's. So I checked the defense and besides Pietrangelo and Parayko the defense was terrible. So my final thought was maybe its their goalie, since mine was an 88 I figured maybe they had a ridiculous starter... Nope, he was an 83 overall.

The next year I lost to Nashville in the 2nd round who was the same story, decent offense, weak defense, bland goalie. but once again my team could not score. The year after that it was the same story against the Coyotes who to be fair had MacKinnon and another 88 overall center, but the team was terrible and an 83 overall goalie, but they won the William Jennings for least goals against 2 years in a row and my team could not solve them.

My team was:
Rantanen (89) - Hischier (88) - Mantha (87)
Pihlstrom (85) - Johansen (87) - Marchessault (84)
Farrell (84) - Weekes (84) - Debrincat (83)
Dahlen (81) - Howden (80) - Brown (80)

Brodin (85) - Faulk (89)
Ekholm (83) - Myers (83)
Rowe (80) - Liljegren (80)

Subban (88)
Jarry (82)

 

[tucson83]

I did a Be A GM mode recently doing the 32nd team expansion draft. My team, the New Orleans Storm (a bit of a troll job I'll admit... Our mascot was named Katrina) made the playoffs and more importantly the 2nd round before losing in 7 to Winnipeg in its first year. The next year despite better talent we finished 4th last in the league. By my 3rd season we had a solid nucleus and made the playoffs again but lost in 5 to St Louis.

I had really good depth in terms of player overalls, but for whatever reason they didnt score in the series. I checked out St Louis' line combos and was astonished at how terrible their team was compared to mine. My 4th line was an 82, 81, and 80, their 2nd line had 78's. So I checked the defense and besides Pietrangelo and Parayko the defense was terrible. So my final thought was maybe its their goalie, since mine was an 88 I figured maybe they had a ridiculous starter... Nope, he was an 83 overall.

The next year I lost to Nashville in the 2nd round who was the same story, decent offense, weak defense, bland goalie. but once again my team could not score. The year after that it was the same story against the Coyotes who to be fair had MacKinnon and another 88 overall center, but the team was terrible and an 83 overall goalie, but they won the William Jennings for least goals against 2 years in a row and my team could not solve them.

My team was:
Rantanen (89) - Hischier (88) - Mantha (87)
Pihlstrom (85) - Johansen (87) - Marchessault (84)
Farrell (84) - Weekes (84) - Debrincat (83)
Dahlen (81) - Howden (80) - Brown (80)

Brodin (85) - Faulk (89)
Ekholm (83) - Myers (83)
Rowe (80) - Liljegren (80)

Subban (88)
Jarry (82)

here's a tip on which i believe you can win cups, try to get your offense to at 98 by trading your defensemen for good forwards for your depth and sign less money on defense, go after power forwards

 

[Pucker77]

here's a tip on which i believe you can win cups, try to get your offense to at 98 by trading your defensemen for good forwards for your depth and sign less money on defense, go after power forwards

I eventually won back-to-back cups. I had stronger forward units some years that didnt work, some better defensive ones that struggled, but I eventually found the right combo. I had a younger defense (2 2nd years and 2 rookies in my bottom 4) when I won.

Came back from down 3-1 in round 1, won in 6 in round 2, came back from 3-0 in round 3, and won every odd number game in the Final (1,3,5,7) to win the Cup. Not that it matters, but in real life that would have been the NHL record for most games played in the playoffs. 27 out of a possible 28.

The 2nd year was a much easier win. In 5, in 6, in 4, in 5.

Over the last few years in NHL games I have felt that overall is not very important though. It is the lesser attributes that contribute to that overall (Off. awareness, passing, shooting power/accuracy, etc.) That Pihlstrom guy was an 85 overall, but could never top 30 points, every year it was 4-5 goals and 20-25 assists. No matter where I put him.