33rd Franchise schedule

Question

Product: NHL 22Platform:PlayStation 5How often does the bug occur? Often (50% - 99%)Steps: How can we find the bug ourselves? Start a franchise with 33 teams and simulate the first season What happens when the bug occurs? The schedule for the first season is a proper NHL schedule with you playing your division and conference opponents more often than the teams in the other conferences. From the second season on the schedule just has you run through the 32 other teams in the same order 2.66 times. What do you expect to see? Every season should have a schedule like the first season Was the issue in online or offline mode? OfflineInsert Game Mode or Feature here Franchise mode, 33rd team expansion draftWhat time did you see the bug? (HH:MM AM/PM) What is your time zone? PST - GMT - 8:00What is your gamertag/PSN ID? PS4 Crash Reporting: Please copy the text you put in the crash report here. EASHL issues? Please insert your Club Region. What is your game language? English‌When I started a franchise with a 33rd team I was really excited to see the first season’s schedule was similar to what an actual NHL schedule would look.&nbsp;the second season, however, the schedule reverted back to how it was done in previous years.&nbsp;this is an issue because you get unrealistic standings. I was in a strong division and the last place team from my division had more points than most of the playoff teams in other divisions.&nbsp;

kyl_35 · Answer

@EA_Blueberry Actually this reminds me! It’s not really a bug, but a suggestion that fits in with the schedule.

When you start a 33rd team expansion draft it takes a year off everyone’s contract. Presumably this is because the expansion is supposed to take place just before the 2022 entry draft, but it still starts you just before the 2021 entry draft. You have the option to “add a contract year” to everyone if you don’t want to be drafting free agents in expansion.

I think instead you should be picking a starting point for the expansion draft, where you either pick 2021 or 2022. If you pick 2021 everything operates the same as it currently does when you “add a contract year.”

If you pick 2022, at the very least the game should quickly simulate a season and add stats/awards to all teams and players. In an ideal world that first season would involve you hiring coaches and scouts then scouting all the players in the league for the upcoming expansion draft.

I highly doubt anything can be done about this in a patch, but it would really improve the mode of it could be added to 2023.

And now my thought process has snowballed in to me thinking you should be able to vote on adding franchises at any time in even a 32 team franchise mode. Maybe you can get a contract offer to be the new GM of a new franchise that will be coming up in 2027 or something… sorry, I should’ve just put this post in a new suggestions thread. The top part is semi-related, though!

kyl_35 · Answer

@EA_Blueberry I’m not sure. I quit the franchise and started a 32 team one as soon as I noticed. If it’s anything like 20 or 21 the years after year 2 would be variations of the year 2 schedule.

It wouldn’t be ideal, but it would be better if every year was the exact same as year 1.

heavydutyrammer · Answer

@kyl_35I always wondered why the division standings were always so weird… never thought about the schedule before.. good catch. Bumping this because since it’s a Franchise Mode thread it will be ignored lol..

kyl_35 · Answer

@heavydutyrammer Blueberry gave it XP, so I believe the feedback has been passed on.

ea_blueberry · Answer

@kyl_35&nbsp;Curious, does it repeat the same schedule in the 3rd/4th season and so on?&nbsp;

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33rd Franchise schedule

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