Franchise Mode, same problems all over again
- Lack of Meaningful Updates and DephtFranchise Mode feels like it’s been left behind again. Nothing significant has changed, and the mode is still missing the features fans have been begging for, like online franchise, deeper scouting and drafting, or real management tools. It feels like the exact same experience year after year, just with a new menu skin.
- Broken Gameplay - Player Movement and PassingThe gameplay feels broken when it comes to player movement and passing. You try to make a smart pass to where your teammate is skating, but instead of continuing his stride, he suddenly stops, and the puck just slides past him. It kills the flow of the game and makes setting up plays incredibly frustrating. Instead of rewarding anticipation and hockey sense, the game punishes you for trying to play realistically.
- Unrealistic Player Salary DemandsContract negotiations make no sense. Players constantly ask for way more money than they’re worth, even average or aging guys demand superstar level salaries. It completely breaks team building because you’re forced to either massively overpay or lose players you should realistically be able to keep.
- Broken Salary Cap LogicThe salary cap only ever goes up by about $2 million a year, which makes no sense. In real life, the NHL’s cap can rise significantly depending on revenue, but in the game it’s stuck creeping up in tiny increments. It completely ruins long-term roster planning because contract and player demands grow way faster than the cap itself.
- Broken Player Stats TrackingThe stats system is a mess. When a player scores his first career goal, the in-game overlays (Ice-Q stats) often show him with dozens of career goals that he doesn’t actually have. It completely kills the immersion when the game can’t even track basic milestones correctly, like a rookie’s first NHL point or goal. And the total career points and goals in the record book have a lot of incorrect stats
