NHL 18 Franchise Mode :Expansion Edition

[ToppsSmith]

Sounds like what happened to me this year with Malcom Subban. He jumped to an 89. I had two young elite goalies who were in the 85 range so I traded him to Dallas at the deadline for 2 firsts and a 2nd. All three drafted players ended up being elite forwards, and Subban dropped to a 81 in the off season.

 

[CBJx614]

Overalls and potentials are a lot more flexible this year.

One year my starter got hurt for a while, so I acquired Reimer from Florida. Reimer went on a tear, got boosted from an 82 or something to a 89 overall.

I traded him that off-season for a boatload (because his trade value was super high) and by the next deadline he was back down to an 83

That's what I'm hoping happens to me. I just traded Howard for a boatload because he was an 89 overall and I have Reimer and a couple u25 goalies at 77 and 78 overall needing time. Gonna see what happens to Reimer with a even better D in front of him.

 

[RandyBobandi]

Yeah same thing happened to me with Jonathon Bernier he went up to 88 and his trade value was super high. Not sure why because I was Vegas and more or less just tanking to get a top draft pick but I guess he was playing good enough that his rating went up so I ended up trading him for a couple 1st rounders

 

[Shesty31]

Does anyone know how many years franchise mode can go until?

Also just wanted to share that I drafted a 52 med elite winger out of Finland in the 2nd round. Played him in the ahl the following year and a half or so and he jumped all the way to an 81!! And now after his 1st full NHL season he is a 87.. so don't just assume that all sub 60 medium elites won't grow into anything. I have noticed though that those low overall med elites that have to stay in the CHL until age 20 never seem to quite grow as well.

 

[ToppsSmith]

Franchise goes up to 25 years. It can go less too though. It is in the options when you start the Franchise mode how long it will go.

 

[Mallard]

Do you have to sign draft picks right away to ELCs in the game? Or if you leave them as "Unsigned Rookies" can you sign them next season/later?

Seems like a dumb question but something irks me leaving them unsigned haha

 

[ToppsSmith]

You can leave them unsigned for 2 years. You must sign them the third year or they go to UFA’s

 

[Tak7]

Do you have to sign draft picks right away to ELCs in the game? Or if you leave them as "Unsigned Rookies" can you sign them next season/later?

Seems like a dumb question but something irks me leaving them unsigned haha

In previous games, you could leave them unsigned for 2 years post-draft year.

In NHL 18 though, and I can't confirm this so may need some of your guys help, but it appears to me that prospects don't develop until they are signed to contracts.

Therefore, in the past, "unsigned rookies" was a smart idea because it didn't take up a roster spot and they still developed (especially the Canadian Junior prospects), doesn't appear to work in this game.

I'll have to do some more testing but I'm not 100% sure right now.

 

[Greaves]

Do you have to sign draft picks right away to ELCs in the game? Or if you leave them as "Unsigned Rookies" can you sign them next season/later?

Seems like a dumb question but something irks me leaving them unsigned haha

I think it depends on if you are playing the games or not. If your playing the games and not simming, sign them and play them. Most likely you will out perform then just having a cpu play. They will grow faster. I drafted a medium elite 56 overall dman. He sucks but in 70 games he’s now 61 overall.

If you are simming, then I’d wait and extend the window that you have them as an RFA.

 

[Greaves]

Hey everyone,

So I traded for Anthony Mantha (Elite, Low) near the trade deadline from the Red Wings in year 1. He was 81 or 82 overall and had just signed a 1 year extension with the Wings. So on January 1, 2019 (year 2), he indicated he was willing to sign an extension with VGK (my team). Originally he wanted a 2 year deal worth $6.2M (way too high for a current 85 overall IMO). A 4 year deal was $6.9M per year. If I wanted an 8 year deal, he wanted over $8.625M. So crazy money. My team chemistry at this point was 77 or 78 and his morale was dark green smiley face (so high morale). I won a couple more games (I play every game by the way) and team chemistry jumped to 79. I checked Mantha’s contract demands and he now wanted 3 years at $6.2M. For an 8 year deal he wanted $7.3M or so. So when team chemistry went up, his contract demands dropped. Has anyone else noticed this?

Also seems the longer you hold out, the cheaper it is to sign guys. I signed Zucker (medium top 6 winger, an unsigned RFA in the offseason) to a one year deal worth 1.5M and he now wants $4.5M for an extension. Needless to say I traded him as he’s not worth $4.5M.

Any feedback on contract extensions and team chemistry would be greatly appreciated.

So for those few following my ongoing saga of re-signing Anthony Mantha, the journey has now ended. Mantha performed strongly through the playoffs and his demands went back down to $6.2M per year for 3 years. After negotiations we settled at $6.075M per year on a 6 year deal ending when he hits 30. After signing, he jumped from 85 overall to 86. His potential changed too! He went from Low Elite to Medium Elite!

So this year I’ve had some potential changes, William Karlsson went from High Top 9 to High Top 6 & Mantha to Medium Elite. This never happened in older versions of the game for me.

 

[IHaveNoCreativity]

Salary cap goes up so fast... 75 to 81 at the end of year one.

 

[King Weber]

got this today and started franchise as the 3nd franchise Houston Comets.

what's up with the player salaries going up all of a sudden? For example I signed Hanzal to 3 years at 5,5 mil but now it says 5,8. Happened to all of my players.

 

[Jadenb]

got this today and started franchise as the 3nd franchise Houston Comets.

what's up with the player salaries going up all of a sudden? For example I signed Hanzal to 3 years at 5,5 mil but now it says 5,8. Happened to all of my players.

No way my first expansion team was the Houston Comets!

 

[King Weber]

No way my first expansion team was the Houston Comets!

that's awesome. figured it'd fit pretty well with the space theme that the rest of the cities major franchises have, and it was the next best thing since Aeros isn't in there. guess I wasn't alone in thinking that.

Also made an AHL team for them; Fort Worth Buffalos.

 

[King Weber]

It's amazing how they STILL haven't fixed the f***ing menu freezing bug. 3 times I've lost progress because of this already.

 

[DXStriker]

It's amazing how they STILL haven't fixed the ****ing menu freezing bug. 3 times I've lost progress because of this already.

Yeah it has happened to me a few times too . The auto Save helped a few times and i try to save more often bdut it is annoying

 

[Jadenb]

I usually stay away from doing the same team twice in one NHL game, but I might try an expansion again with Seattle based on the present circumstances of the negations in real life.

 

[Vancouver Canucks]

No way my first expansion team was the Houston Comets!

My first franchise is with Houston, too!

 

[elias026]

got this today and started franchise as the 3nd franchise Houston Comets.

what's up with the player salaries going up all of a sudden? For example I signed Hanzal to 3 years at 5,5 mil but now it says 5,8. Happened to all of my players.

Was your team below the salary cap floor at the start of the season? I find in NHL games if youre under the cap floor by the start of the season the game raises all your players salary so you get over the floor

 

[King Weber]

Was your team below the salary cap floor at the start of the season? I find in NHL games if youre under the cap floor by the start of the season the game raises all your players salary so you get over the floor

Now that you mention it, that was probably the case. Sadly that game ended prematurely as I got fired just before the 2020 draft.

 

[CBJx614]

After much deliberation between NHL GMs, we have decided it is the perfect time to bring back the Hartford Whalers.


Anaheim - Vatanen
Arizona - Burmistrov
Boston - Hayes
Buffalo - Bogosian
Calgary - Stone
Carolina - Guseppe
Chicago - Jurco
Colorado - Nieto
Columbus - Anderson
Dallas - Johns
Detroit - Howard
Edmonton - Brossoit
Florida - Reimer
LA- Martinez
Minnesota - Brodin
Montreal - Danault
NSH- Ekholm
NJ- Smith-pelly
NYI - pulock
Nyr - grabner
Ottawa - Dzingel
Philly- Laughton
Pitt- dumolin
SJ- Tierney
Stl- jaskin
Tb- dotchin
Toronto - brown
Vancouver - Gaunce
Washington - Shattenkirk
Winnipeg - Myers

Went pretty heavy on the Dmen in the expansion draft with the expectation of trading a good chunk of them away for picks and build from the draft.


Now its time to turn those dmen into assets.



Edit 1 simmed to far so I can't get the exacts, but I traded ekholm, Myers and Bogosian in separate deals for picks and RNH.



Picked Patrick Nolan 2nd overall and I now have 4 2018 1st round picks next season and 3 2nd round picks.

After mostly simming most of the way and making some major moves I'm starting the 19/20 season with the following rosters

Keller(83/med elite) Patrick(85/med elite) Silfverberg(82/exact top 6)

Grabner(80/exact top 6) RNH(84/ med top 6) henrique(83/exact top 6)

Jaskin(80/ high top 9) Danault(80/ med top 9) Milano(80/ low top 6)

Gaunce(76/ high bottom 6) Tierney(79/ med top 9) Anderson(78/ medium top 9)

Fowler(86/ exact top 4) Doughty(92/ exact elite)
Brodin(84/ low top 4) Dumoulin(81/ exact top 4)
Johns(79/ exact top 6) Stone(81/ exact top 4)

Hart(21yo, 81/ low elite)
Merzalkins(79/ fringe starter)

 

[MillanDynasty]

^ I think the best guy to pick up in the entire expansion draft is Korpisalo from Columbus. Three consecutive times now has he become an elite goaltender at arond 89-90 overall after only 1 season.

 

[Jadenb]

^ I think the best guy to pick up in the entire expansion draft is Korpisalo from Columbus. Three consecutive times now has he become an elite goaltender at arond 89-90 overall after only 1 season.

Another reliable guy that I find is passed up a lot is Derrick Pouliot of Pittsburgh, solid for me at a 79 in his second season and showing no signs of slowing down.

 

[Crosscrease14]

Started a Moscow expansion and created Kovalchuck, Datsyuk, Voynov to sign as free agents. Tried to distribute stats fairly, Kovy 86 Datsyuk 84 Voynov 83. Was solid to build a team around with the expansion became a contender pretty quickly.

 

[SmokeyDuck]

The buzz is that the NHL is looking to expand furthermore into the west with a Seattle expansion franchise. Shocking news today as the league announced that they would expand to Long Beach, California instead. The Long Beach Ice Dogs look to hit the ice in 2017-2018. Their AHL squad will be the Santa Ana Blazers.

I started a youtube series for the process if anyone is interested. The first video is purely jersey and arena design. Unfortunately due to copyright claims, the audio of the first episode mutes randomly (its still up on the youtube if you want to watch it). I'm going to link the second ep,which is the expansion draft, amateur draft, and free agency. Let me know if anyone has roster suggestions