NHL 26 Franchise Mode Wishlist

My NHL 26 wishlist. This is mostly a repost of last years list. Almost All of these are for Franchise mode as I mostly play offline, I don't expect all of these to happen, but I think some are must-haves for this game to work:

• First and foremost, is to add editing of players in franchise mode. This one is always asked for so It's pretty self-explanatory.
• Second would be my number one want: 32 team control. Madden, The Show and NBA2K all allow you to play as many teams as you want and in the case of NBA2K, also let you pick how much control you have over each team (ex. having full control of trades, signings, etc. of one team while allowing the CPU to make trades and draft for another) or having full control over all 32. I prefer realism so seeing the Ducks or Blackhawks be good and buy at the deadline and make the playoffs because of that can be a bit frustrating; which brings me to my next point.
• Fixing the sim engine: I recently did a Franchise sim in NHL 24 where my goal was to rebuild the Sharks. I made the playoffs in year 1... After selling at the deadline... That shouldn't happen, but I don't know how it can be fixed as sometimes teams that should be good are bad and teams that should be bad are good. To be fair this is an issue in most sports games, but the number of sims I've done where one of the Blackhawks, Sharks or Ducks make the playoffs in the first year of the sim, while a team like the Canes, Stars, Knights or Kings miss with minimal changes is absurd. 
• Changing the Activity feed: This is a simple one but it bugs me. There is no reason to ever look at this screen, as it never provides anything of value. The only things that can be found there are team news (X team is on a 6-game win streak or X player scored a hat trick) or everyone's favourite "Hockey Analyst" a nameless faceless person who might as well be ChatGPT for all I know. It doesn't provide anything, it has no character or charm and often doesn't make sense. ex. In a cup final matchup this Analyst said that "this series should end quickly the way they are playing" about both teams in the final. what? for as many issues as I have with Madden and NBA2k social media feeds, they at least have some personality and reason to glance at it from time to time, so please just make it have some personality or at least give me a reason to want to look at it, otherwise just remove it entirely. 
• Allow us to change Coach strategies: This one is even weirder that it hasn't been changed. It's a very simple change and the reason I've heard as to why it hasn't been implanted is because you play as the GM and not the coach. My counter to that would be: why am I allowed to play the games as the players then? Also, why does every other sports game allow you to change every coaching strategy you want while also making roster moves? The logic of not allowing this is just really odd and I don't think it should be locked.
• Add more to the Broadcast: looking back at NHL 18, or 19 and seeing these intros with Doc and Eddie were fun, They were pretty bare bones but they got the job done in explaining the general info about the game (Who's starting in net for both teams and a brief talk about how the home team has played of late). I don't know what would go into this but just make it more immersive to a real broadcast by making it longer and more detailed, and if we want to switch off the long intro then that setting can be added.  (Update! after having played the trial for Fifa 25 I noticed that it does exactly what I'm asking for in that game. Before matches it allows you to toggle the long intro on or off by pressing a button. I would like to see this added into NHL 26 as well).
• Allow us to watch the cup being awarded even if we are not the team involved: I really like the new Cup Champ screen when you win the cup but I would like it even more if you could see it even when I don't win the cup. Maybe making it a video in the activity feed after the final, I don't know exactly but I would prefer to have the option. 

Those are all the big changes I would like, here are a few smaller changes and fixes I'd like as well:

• Not auto-changing slider settings after opening the game or playing a match
• Allowing the CPUs to take penalties on lower difficulties. I tend to play on Pro because I'm bad lol, but I've noticed that CPU's never seem to take penalties on the bottom 3 settings (Rookie, Semi-Pro and Pro) even when I have the penalty sliders up all the way. This is bad not only for someone like me who has played a lot but isn't very good, but it's much worse for someone who's learning how to play the game on a lower difficulty. It makes it hard for new players to learn how a powerplay works or how to draw penalties if the CPU's never do so.   
• adjusting goalie contracts in free agency: 79-80 Ova goalies asking for 1.5m+ is far too prevalent for my liking. *(Just adjusting contracts in general, about 2 years into a sim 85ovr players start asking for 7-9m which is nuts)

Finally, two features I'd like added but are not needed are:

• Media Interviews: I'd like to have 3 GM interviews with the media (one in preseason, one after the trade deadline and one after the end of the season)  I don't know what the content of these would be but I'd like them as an addition either way. 
• Lastly, I would like the Record book to have just a bit more added. I'm not a fan of the way the records are done right now. In NBA2k they have a section for each stat (Points, rebounds, assists) and allow you to see the top 10 players in those stats for both team records and league records. I would prefer a better menu for records and the top 10-15 players for goals, assists, goalie records etc. for both teams and league-wide. It just feels a bit lackluster right now. Also why is there a games played record for each team? I don't know what the point of this stat is and  it just feels like filler. 
• Player wants in contract negotiations: This was included in Madden relatively recently, but making players ask for more money depending on the team is a fun idea. One player may only want to play for a cup contender while another is happy to go to a bad team just to make more money.  So player A is willing to take less to win but more to lose, while Player B costs the same no matter what team is calling. *(This was sorta added with the NTC in 25 but I haven't really seen it much in free agency) 

That is my main wishlist for franchise mode, I have quite a few wants for BeAPro and general gameplay tweaks and changes but since I mostly play FM it's improvement is more important to me. I'm hoping the Devs listen and make some much-needed changes to the single-player modes, and based on the communication we've seen over the last year from them I am a bit hopeful, that at least some of this list will be recognized and added to the game.