NHL25 Wishlist (hopefully some in NHL24)

I'd like to share my perspective coming from someone who used to love EA NHL games growing up but now that I'm older I have lost all interest. For some context, NHL13 was probably the peak of the franchise for me, the last game I remember playing much at all was NHL19.

I understand that having not played any NHL games much in the past 5 years I really can't offer any feedback on the details of recent games, however I can at least offer feedback on what it was that made me give up on the franchise.

So firstly, let's start with the reality. I grew up. When you're young you don't really put much thought into game design, you simply play the game and enjoy it (or you don't). As I got older and more knowledgeable when it came to the actual NHL, the inaccuracies of NHL games started to bother me more and more to the point where I could no longer overlook things.

I primarily played Franchise or Be A GM mode. It's honestly the only thing that really interested me as a player. I can play hockey in real life, but I can't manage a hockey franchise in real life so this video game was the closest thing that I could ever experience like that. When you start to realize that little to no effort is put into actually improving the franchise mode it gets pretty hard to justify purchasing a full priced game every year. I have no interest in playing "World of Chel" or "HUT", I respect these modes for what they are but it's all I ever hear about when it comes to a new NHL game. It's not improving the experience I want from an NHL game which is a reasonably realistic Franchise Simulator. For that I need to see improvements in:

- Simulation: Sims should produce realistic statistics. If I look at a player's real statistics (shots, hits, pims, pts etc) I would expect them to be in the same ball park for the simulation. Better yet, add in advanced stats.

- Ratings: They're unrealistic and in my opinion very arbitrary. What does 82 passing even mean? Unpopular opinion likely but I'd change to a 5 star rating system. 3 star passing means you are "NHL average". 3.5 would be above average, 4 would be high end, 4.5 would be Elite and 5 would be exceptional. I think this would help rating consistency, asking scouts to rank players on a scale to 99 is going to lead to a lot more discrepancies than a 5 star system. Each league would have there own toggable scale (example AHL could have their own 5 star system, and junior would have another 5 star system that differs from the NHL). 

- Attributes: As far as I know, there hasn't been a change to attributes in over 10 years. I think it's time to make some changes. The biggest change I would like to see is a "Character" category with attributes like Charisma, Discipline, Intensity, Leadership, and Poise which have an on ice as well as off ice impact when it comes to franchise mode. For example, Charismatic players have star power and prefer big markets, Intense players work harder to stay consistent and will value contenders, Disciplined players avoid penalties and off ice altercations, players with Leadership will mentor young players, players with Poise are less likely to crack under pressure (playoffs, rivalries, etc) and are easier to manage morale. Stuff like that. It was interesting that they added morale, but the system itself seems arbitrary. How do you manage morale of virtual players that have no apparent characteristics?

- Realistic contracts, IR, and waivers system: Negotiations are pretty flawed in game, for example a prospect that's a fringe NHL player might spend the whole season in the AHL and if his contract is up and he develops into a 2nd liner over the offseason as per the games definition he is asking for 4 to 5 million all of a sudden. He has no NHL experience, makes no sense. There is no IR system. Waivers isn't a thing because you start the season before a waiver date is set which isn't realistic, there should a be a teaining camp (used to evaluate players after an offseason and cuts need to be made). Every player will accept the same calculated off (used to be 85% of whatever they asked back in the day). Have different Agents negotiating differently so you actually have to put thought into contract talks. Better yet, simulate talks with an agent. Basically, more realism is required when it comes to managing a franchise.

- Results based Player EXP: Potential should make it easier for players to gain EXP and increase attributes as it is an important factor however nothing should be guaranteed. Sometimes you get a journeyman player that breaks out later after having a successful season. Sometimes player development gets botched. Development should be a key feature in any franchise mode, it's arguably the most important aspect in team building.

- Dual Positions and Player Types: This is long overdue, nothing worse regarding realism than the game dressing a player as a C when they can't player C. It totally botches line combinations by the AI. Additionally why are we still stereotyping players into one play style. For example Ryan Getzlaf was more than a Playmaker, he was a power forward too. Patrick Kane is more than a Playmaker, he was a notorious Dangler (not even a thing anymore). Basically, expanding on player type will help the game understand player development better.

- Expansion and Relocation: So they've added Relocation which is cool but not really practical. What about expansion? It's an on going topic, I think it would be interesting if 5 to 10 years into a Franchise mode the league presents the option of an expansion draft and adds a random team / city (you could potentially remake designs for in custom teams). That's a nice to have.

Anyways, a longer post than I initially intended, but to summarize I feel ea NHL has abandoned franchise mode and that essentially alienated me from the franchise. I'm not interested in the other modes they offer, I just want somewhere I can get my fix of being an Armchair GM.