NHL 19 Franchise Mode Thread

[dyzfunctioned]

Anyone have any strategies/tips for scouting? New to the system. Do you generally just send your scout to a region for several months?

 

[dyzfunctioned]

Started an expansion draft with my created team, the Seattle Huskies. Set a few rules for myself:

- Trade only green for red (pieces CPU interested in for pieces on their block)
- Do not trade Captain for a minimum of 3 years
- Must keep players for at least 1 year prior to trading (1 year contracts cannot be traded)
- Only trade during offseason and leading up to trade deadline unless CPU offers a trade

Roster was stacked with D after the draft so shipped out Martinez, Petrovic and Manson for picks leaving me with an uninspiring roster (off top of head so ratings might be a bit off):

McGinn (83) - Nash (81) - Noesen (82)
Upshall (81) - Lowry (80) - Fast (81)
Goodrow (78) - Beagle (81) - Ritchie (81)
Rychel (75) - Dowd (76) - Kuhnhackl (78)

Giordano (86) - Larsson (83)
Ekholm (83) - Dotchin (82)
Oullett (80) - Schenn (79)

Grubauer (83)
Elliott (82)

Once the team was all re-signed, the Huskies were sitting on well over $30M in cap and put it to good use.

John Tavares signed for 7 years, $82M
John Carlson signed for 2 years, $16.5M
James van Riemsdyk signed for 3 years, $21M
Leo Komarov signed for 2 years, $5.4M

These signings made Nash and Schenn expendable so they were also moved for picks.

Roster heading into pre-season:

van Riesmdyk (85) - Tavares (92) - Noesen (82)
McGinn (83) - Lowry (80) - Komarov (82)
Upshall (81) - Beagle (81) - Fast (81)
Kuhnhackl (78) - Dowd (76) - Ritchie (81)

Giordano (86) - Carlson (88)
Ekholm (83) - Larsson (83)
Oullett (80) - Dotchin (82)

Grubauer (83)
Elliott (82)

 

[Kaako Kappo]

Is there a new glitch or something? My little brother complained about how he got fired after his first season in 32 team expansion and i was wondering how that's even possible. Then i started a new 32 team expansion, got a losing record in my first year and lo and behold they fired me. First time ever this happens after the first season.

 

[n00bxQb]

GM firing has always been broken. Going back to even NHL 10, you could have an ultra strong team that consistently won 50+ games and won the cup most years and expectations would get so ludicrously high that you'd get fired if you weren't winning 60+ games or winning the cup every season.

 

[Kaako Kappo]

GM firing has always been broken. Going back to even NHL 10, you could have an ultra strong team that consistently won 50+ games and won the cup most years and expectations would get so ludicrously high that you'd get fired if you weren't winning 60+ games or winning the cup every season.

Yeah but...the first season of an expansion team? Surely it's glitched or something. I've never been fired like that before.

 

[John WhiteVan]

Anyone have issue with players staying on your AHL that aren't in your contracts or tradable players? I have all these draft picks I want to sign and play but spots are getting taken by this other players whose contracts should of expired already.

 

[saska sault]

Can you sub Euro teams into the Be a Gm/franchise mode? Asked earlier in the year and no one had an answer, only speculation. Always enjoyed playing multi year franchise but with euro teams .

 

[umwoz]

Sim engine is still lacking.

Took a team to game 7 of the cup final, brought back the exact same team plus 91 Overall Hampus Lindholm. Players also progressed. Didn’t make playoffs the following year. With a strictly better team.

 

[MarkusKetterer]

Can you sub Euro teams into the Be a Gm/franchise mode? Asked earlier in the year and no one had an answer, only speculation. Always enjoyed playing multi year franchise but with euro teams .

My buddy always does this but in season mode. Not sure if that is the same thing or not tho. Mind you, like me, he also plays an older version of the NHL games.

 

[saska sault]

My buddy always does this but in season mode. Not sure if that is the same thing or not tho. Mind you, like me, he also plays an older version of the NHL games.

Last time I bought the game back in maybe 2014? It was available.. only way I will buy it is with this option so I am trying to find out. Like having alot of players I dont know and making it a 25 year franchise on the big ice.

If anyone could try and let me know I would be forever grateful lol.

 

[MarkusKetterer]

Last time I bought the game back in maybe 2014? It was available.. only way I will buy it is with this option so I am trying to find out. Like having alot of players I dont know and making it a 25 year franchise on the big ice.

If anyone could try and let me know I would be forever grateful lol.

Yea he plays 15 and I play Legacy. So I know that option is available. I never do it tho. I have more fun doing it where it's all computer generated players or for my other one where I can't get fired: made up of players who only played for the Hounds or another junior league team (as much as possible)

 

[saska sault]

Yea he plays 15 and I play Legacy. So I know that option is available. I never do it tho. I have more fun doing it where it's all computer generated players or for my other one where I can't get fired: made up of players who only played for the Hounds or another junior league team (as much as possible)

If you ever get a chance to see if it's still an option in the franchise mode let me know! I can never seem to find an answer.

 

[Zen Arcade]

If you ever get a chance to see if it's still an option in the franchise mode let me know! I can never seem to find an answer.

I've seen a few people ask this so I decided to check. You can substitute a team from any league in season mode, in franchise mode you can only substitute a custom team.

 

[BarDownBobo]

Last time I bought the game back in maybe 2014? It was available.. only way I will buy it is with this option so I am trying to find out. Like having alot of players I dont know and making it a 25 year franchise on the big ice.

If anyone could try and let me know I would be forever grateful lol.

This got taken out a while ago. I used to do the exact same thing, I liked having the prospects playing big roles quickly. Wish they'd let you do it again.

 

[saska sault]

So disappointing ... I like the game to be realistic in some sense. I always feel by year 4 or 5, prospects end up not resigning for no reason... horrible trades happen.. stars leave teams they would never leave for teams they would never go to. If you sub in 32 euro teams and dont know half the players... it feels more realistic to me and is a nice change if pace, especially with the big ice.

 

[shadow1]

I created the Seattle Bears in NHL 19 and decided to try to build a cup contender, rather than rebuilding from scratch.

My logic was to build a strong defense and bottom-6 forward group in the expansion draft, conserve money, and then attack skilled forward hard in free agency.

Expansion Draft Relevant Players

Spoiler

C Mark Letestu (82)
LW Dmitrij Jaskin (82)
LW Alex Killorn (82)
LW Jordan Martinook (82)
LW Patrick Maroon (81)
LW Brendan Gaunce (80)
RW Troy Bouwer (79)
RW Luke Glendening (78)
D Mark Giordano (86)
D Justin Braun (83)
D Matthias Ekholm (83)
D Adam Larsson (83)
D Alex Martinez (83)
D Ian Cole (81)
G Keith Kinkaid (81)

Free Agent Signings

Spoiler

LW Artemi Panarin (88) - Signed $7.0 x 7 years
RW Joe Pavelski (87) - Signed $6.6 x 6 years
RW Jordan Eberle (85) - Signed $6.5 x 5 years
C Derrick Brassard (84) - Signed $5.0 x 6 years
G Mike Smith (85) - Signed $3.0 x 2 years

Starting Roster

Spoiler

Panarin (88) - Pavelski (87) - Maroon (81)
Killorn (82) - Brassard (84) - Eberle (85)
Martinook (82) - Letestu (82) - Jaskin (82)
Gaunce (80) - Glendening (78) - Brouwer (79)

Giordano (86) - Larsson (83)
Ekholm (83) - Martinez (83)
Cole (81) - Braun (83)

Smith (85)
Kinkaid (81)

I had to change some players positions - I found the expansion draft was loaded with LW's, but very thin on C/RW. Pavelski/Glendening, who both have high 80's Face-off attributes, were shifted to center.

 

[Deku]

Anyone have issue with players staying on your AHL that aren't in your contracts or tradable players? I have all these draft picks I want to sign and play but spots are getting taken by this other players whose contracts should of expired already.

Yeah, its annoying. The game keeps around extra players so that you have enough people in case of injuries... even if without them you'd still be fine. The only way to get rid of them is to find the exact player in free agency, sign them to an NHL deal and then trade them away.

 

[danielpalfredsson]

The biggest issue with franchise mode is the lack of immersion.

Some background, I started my Sens franchise mode after they released the new tuner that was supposed to fix some issues with GM mode. I usually do full sim for every game, play the third period only. Or I'll play the first period, and quit in order to let it sim. This way, I can actually get through a few seasons over the course of the games lifetime depending on if it keeps my interest.

I think the biggest issue with franchise mode is the lack of immersion. One thing EA needs to understand is that most people sim huge chunks of franchise mode at a time. I think in terms of playing (some part) of 82 games, I am in the extreme minority. Most people play franchise mode looking for a "fantasy" NHL mode. EA drops the ball huge in this regard.

I say this because it's impossible to sim big chunks and have ANY idea what is going on around the league. To even follow trades, you have to sim a small portion, look at the trade/waiver tracker, repeat. This is because player transactions disappear completely from the trade tracker after a certain period of time. This is way too tedious for most people, so blockbuster trades tend to happen without even being noticed.

There should be a tracker that takes up the side of the screen when you're at the main menu, and/or calendar mode, it should update with "Tweets" pushing rumours about who has offered what trades, what draft eligible players are rising/falling, any significant injuries, teams over or under performing, etc. Basically, anything that would be an interesting narrative.

If I recall, they've tried this in past games, but it was all really limited and generic stuff.

At the absolute simplest, there should be an option to allow players to get notifications anytime there is a player transaction (Trade, Waiver Claim). Furthermore, there should be an ability to be notified whenever a certain type of player is added to a team's trade block. Just make it the same as the trade block function, but allow the user to tweak it. So I could say notify me if a 1st line forward is added, and then I should get a message on my screen "CBJ has added A.Panarin to the trade block".

EA needs to look at GM mode as an exercise in world building. I think that's what most players want out of it. It completely falls short in that regard.

 

[MarkusKetterer]

The biggest issue with franchise mode is the lack of immersion.

Some background, I started my Sens franchise mode after they released the new tuner that was supposed to fix some issues with GM mode. I usually do full sim for every game, play the third period only. Or I'll play the first period, and quit in order to let it sim. This way, I can actually get through a few seasons over the course of the games lifetime depending on if it keeps my interest.

I think the biggest issue with franchise mode is the lack of immersion. One thing EA needs to understand is that most people sim huge chunks of franchise mode at a time. I think in terms of playing (some part) of 82 games, I am in the extreme minority. Most people play franchise mode looking for a "fantasy" NHL mode. EA drops the ball huge in this regard.

I say this because it's impossible to sim big chunks and have ANY idea what is going on around the league. To even follow trades, you have to sim a small portion, look at the trade/waiver tracker, repeat. This is because player transactions disappear completely from the trade tracker after a certain period of time. This is way too tedious for most people, so blockbuster trades tend to happen without even being noticed.

There should be a tracker that takes up the side of the screen when you're at the main menu, and/or calendar mode, it should update with "Tweets" pushing rumours about who has offered what trades, what draft eligible players are rising/falling, any significant injuries, teams over or under performing, etc. Basically, anything that would be an interesting narrative.

If I recall, they've tried this in past games, but it was all really limited and generic stuff.

At the absolute simplest, there should be an option to allow players to get notifications anytime there is a player transaction (Trade, Waiver Claim). Furthermore, there should be an ability to be notified whenever a certain type of player is added to a team's trade block. Just make it the same as the trade block function, but allow the user to tweak it. So I could say notify me if a 1st line forward is added, and then I should get a message on my screen "CBJ has added A.Panarin to the trade block".

EA needs to look at GM mode as an exercise in world building. I think that's what most players want out of it. It completely falls short in that regard.

One time my buddy got a notice about someone going on waivers (a computer generated guy that was 36 at the time making 4.8m and was a 78 rating). I checked out the stats and saw he was terrible at faceoffs and defensive awareness, but fantastic at stick checking (98 rating). I meant to decline it, but in my drunken state I claimed him instead. That guy ends up getting 17 points in 20 games, and then the next year scored 57 goals to go with 9 assists. It was the oddest thing.

 

[TheYardMachine]

Is there a way to increase scoring in franchise mode?

I have played a lot and tried many things but it doesnt make a difference

 

[Romkey]

Is there a way to increase scoring in franchise mode?

I have played a lot and tried many things but it doesnt make a difference

I've noticed if you have a PLY and SNP on a line together, put someone who isn't as good with them. I had JT and Marner on a line with some plug (82ish overall PWF) who I can't even remember and both put up 100+ points.

 

[sandviper]

Is there a way to increase scoring in franchise mode?

I have played a lot and tried many things but it doesnt make a difference

As weird as it sounds, don’t stack your team with high offensive awareness players and playing people in the right roles; first line on first, second on second, etc.

Basically, put your studs on your top-6. I like to put a top-end PLY and SNP on the first couple lines, with a low 80-ish third wheel. My third and fourth lines are grinder and defensive types.

This keeps most of my offense top-heavy and I can usually get a couple guys scoring about 80pts+ depending how much I sim.

 

[RememberTheRoar]

I've noticed if you have a PLY and SNP on a line together, put someone who isn't as good with them. I had JT and Marner on a line with some plug (82ish overall PWF) who I can't even remember and both put up 100+ points.

As weird as it sounds, don’t stack your team with high offensive awareness players and playing people in the right roles; first line on first, second on second, etc.

Basically, put your studs on your top-6. I like to put a top-end PLY and SNP on the first couple lines, with a low 80-ish third wheel. My third and fourth lines are grinder and defensive types.

This keeps most of my offense top-heavy and I can usually get a couple guys scoring about 80pts+ depending how much I sim.

So both of you have found that it’s best not to stack your three best players on your top line?

Is the ideal line formula two studs and a dud? The dud being a guy 85 offensive awareness or less, but with higher than average strength.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

Is there a way to increase scoring in franchise mode?

I have played a lot and tried many things but it doesnt make a difference

in the old gen games when I used to play I would turn penalties all the way up and a couple other offensive sliders.

all of a sudden my GM modes would go from maybe a few 80-85 point scorers to a ton of 90+ point scorers.

 

[sandviper]

So both of you have found that it’s best not to stack your three best players on your top line?

Is the ideal line formula two studs and a dud? The dud being a guy 85 offensive awareness or less, but with higher than average strength.

Well, it isn’t scientific but I did the following...

Playing as the Habs, 2022-2023 season. I set my roster and simmed the season without interfering and trades. Set my lines as follows:

Lafreniere (92) - Kotkaniemi (90) - Lehkonen (82)
Krebs (88) - Hillis (84) - Suzuki (87)
Hudon (80) - Olofsson (82) - Scherbak (83)
Fonstad (78) - McShane (80) - Ylonen (79)

Simmed the season, and Lafreniere finished with 96pts, Kotkaniemi 89pts, Lehkonen 55pts.

Krebs had 45, Hillis 58 and Suzuki 53.

Hudon 27, Olofsson 35, Scherbak 12(!!!)

Fonstad 14, McShane 12 and Ylonen 9.

Most of the guys were healthy. I didn’t check each one, but I think they were all almost at 75 games+.

I reset to prior save of start of the season and made some roster moves (traded 3 years of first rounders to get Byfield and a first rounder and Hillis to get Hall) and changed my top 6 to:

Lafreniere - Kotkaniemi - Krebs
Hall (89) - Byfield (89) - Suzuki

Bottom-6 was unchanged. Simmer the season and got:

Lafreniere 63, Kotkaniemi 45 and Krebs 62pts.

Hall got 45, Byfield 60 and Suzuki 57.

Hudon 13, Olofsson 22 and Scherbak got 24pts.

Fonstad 3 (I noticed he only played 60 games), McShane 15 and Ylonen got 13pts.

Kotkaniemi played only 70 games in my second run.

So, in my first run with 2 studs on each top-6 line, I saw my top guys score more. I didn’t mention it but my defence didn’t seem to have a lot of points. Juulsen was my top guy with 35. We finished 13th overall.

Second run the scoring was spread out but Juulsen and Brooks both cracked 30pts. We also finished 8th overall and second in the division.