It’s been this way for years but when players get hurt, instead of calling up players from the AHL they just put players in positions they don’t play. For example on my team, in Be a Pro, I have 2 forwards and 1 defenseman scratched. When two defenseman get hurt instead of calling up a defenseman from the AHL they just put one of the forwards at D. They should call up a defender instead of playing them out of position. Any reason they don’t have this logic?
In fact, NHL teams sometimes play with just five defensemen, or even as many as seven. This is normal when a team cannot call up a player from the AHL—specifically, a player on a "one-way" contract who cannot be sent back down without clearing waivers—or when a player is sidelined by only a short-term injury. What you’re saying is absolutely true; the AI doesn't necessarily keep backup players for every specific position on the roster. Instead, the "scratch" group might consist of three forwards, meaning that if a defenseman gets injured, a forward has to fill in (whereas in real life, the team would shift to using two defensive pairings, with one player rotating in on the fly).
