NHL 27 MEGA WISH LIST (be nice)

DISCLAIMER: THIS WILL NOT  INCLUDE THE USUAL FAN WISHES OF GM CONNECTED. EA HAS HEARD US PLENTY ON THIS ONE

FRANCHISE MODE: 

Coaching:

• Allow for coaching to be turned on/off, giving the user the option to play without coaching. 
• Coaching salary is broken with owner mode off, can give a coach any amount of money and they’ll accept. With owner mode off, the coaching budget has no real effect on your team. 
• Coaching hinders custom Franchise leagues. I am unable to create my own league and play real-time games with a team I created because coaching automatically sets my strategies.  

All-Star game and Olympics:

• Add Olympics / all-star game to the mode. CPU can randomly generate the best players from each nationality and include them in a mini-style Olympics / all-star tournament (can be turned on or off in settings). 
• Give GM’s the option to send or hold onto players in case of injuries. 

Trade Negotiations:

• Give the option to actually communicate with other GM’s.
• Bring back team relationship meter, but this time it will be re-worked due to negotiations 
• 3-way trading. 
• “Future considerations” option that can be used in trade negotiations at later dates (i can choose “future considerations” when trading with a team I helped in the past. For example, I took a salary dump from a team, now “future considerations” is unlocked when making a future trade with said team)
• Fixed trade values and higher requirements to dump bad contracts (low elite players should have slightly more value)
• Teams actually communicate what they are looking for, beyond being buyers or sellers. For example, it can be known a contending team is looking to add a top 6 center, and it may be harder to pry top 6 players away from them based on their current status.
• “Find trade” tab reworked. If my Med-elite 22 year old is selected “No trades found” shouldn’t be something I see. 
• Fluid, year to year trade markets. One year, it can be noted that contending teams are desperate for top 6 centers, and that year, teams may overpay for them. The next year, teams may be looking for top 4 LHD. Etc etc.

Player Editing:

• More editing options with players while in franchise mode (overall, position, height, weight, play-style, etc). [please with this one, It sucks not being able to edit your players mid-franchise]
• Ability to full edit/customize players in rosters. Other sports games do it, find a way. 
• Ability to cycle through player profiles and see recent trades involving them. If Buffalo lands Auston Matthews, I want to see, on his profile, the trade that landed him. As well as what those potential draft picks turned into.
• Ability to set an age/season when players retire. If I want Ovechkin to retire at the end of a certain season, I can set that instead of him playing until he’s 47.

Free Agency/Extensions:

• Ability to interview players in free agency (REWORK). I can be a regular playoff team, but players still won’t come here because they want to play for a playoff team?
• Salary needs a re-work. Players care too much about money. (One good season doesn’t warrant teams signing a 3rd liner to an 8m+ deal. Free agency is always over-bloated)
• Career long players willing to take pay cuts to teams they WANT to play in. Patrick Kane makes 3 million per, then asks for 7-8 million during the re-sign phase. Crosby regularly takes pay cuts in real life, but then wants north of 10 million in the re-sign phase. 

Draft Class:

• Ability to directly edit the draft class in the menus per year, before loading into a franchise mode
• Ability to select where players go in the draft. For example, I can choose that Gavin McKenna will go pick 5, or around pick 5.
• No-Movement and No-Trade Clauses: 
• Dynamic player clauses based on year to year simulation results. In real life, players submit trade clauses to their respective management yearly. This should be something that changes. If X player prefers contenders, his M-NTC will change the next year in the sim based on last year's playoff results.
• Players straight up telling you where they want to play. If X player waives his clause for 1-3 teams, it should not be random. "I, X player, will only waive for Buffalo". Etc.

AI GM’s/Coaching:

• AI coding seems off, too many GM’s trading for players they don’t need. Teams will trade for/sign useless vets and leave young players with actual potential scratched the whole season. 
• Basically, better player utilization
• AI controlled teams actually drafting based on positional need at times. If X team is stacked with elite defenseman, they likely shouldn’t be drafting ANOTHER elite defenseman when there are other elite forwards still on the draft board.

Roster and team/player editing + GENERAL GAMEPLAY

Player editing/Team Editing: 

• More editing presets (Unique/signature NHL player tape jobs, jersey sleeve roll-up, hairstyles, facial features, etc).
• Allow users to edit already existing NHL teams. 
• More arena presets + more in-depth arena edits (fun activities, vendors, customizable signs, etc).
• More customization options!!!! (the same 20 hairstyles have been in the game since NHL 14)
• Merge custom roster sharing to both platforms. Xbox and Playstation players should be able to share rosters with one another

Crowds: 

• New crowd sounds/atmosphere noises. Current crowd sounds have gone stale. 
• Literally just walk into an NHL arena and record the audio
• Sometimes, in a franchise mode/season sim, you can be game 7 of the SCF and fans will be in their seats, and crowd audio will be stale. Nothing realistic about it.

Outdoor Games and Winter Classic:

• For normal quick play and modes like franchise mode or season mode. 

BE A PRO 

Story: 

• Include a basic story for my player, including his upbringing, hockey career, etc. The story needs to feel more life-like. 
• Ability to select, much like College Football, the type of career you will have. Examples being:
• Star Player: top 1-10 selected in the draft, likely to start in the NHL right away
• Top 6 upside: drafted in the mid first to mid second round, will likely still play in the system for a year or two
• Hidden gem: drafted in the later rounds of the draft, will have to carve your way through the system to prove yourself
• Undrafted: Become an undrafted player out of Juniors/Europe and have to carve your way to an NHL career.
• Goalie pros need a rework. I should not be fighting for the starter position, at 18, over Igor Shesterkin.
• Make it harder to make the NHL roster out of pre-season if you are a later pick.

Olympics and All-Star:

• Same concept with franchise mode.
• Could include conflict with the coach on the decision to participate. 

AI GM’s and Trading:

• AI GM’s trade way too much during be a pro, and by year 2 teams will usually be lopsided with random players. Isn’t very realistic. 

Leagues and Drafting:

• Allow players to be drafted from more leagues 
• Russia, America, ECHL, etc. 
• Teams drafting your pro should make the decision based on their depth chart. A team stacked down the left defensive side with prospects shouldn’t take your pro simply because they are the best available player. NHL teams take swings on players all the time.

Extras:

• Allow for users to participate in warm-ups. Maybe your player could throw a puck over the glass to a fan to boost fan likeness. 
• More options for retirement; becoming a coach, retirement ceremony, inducted into hockey hall of fame, jersey retirement, etc.