Great there's a roster update today. I don't expect 2020 drafted players to be assigned to nhl teams with signed contracts because of legal reasons and many have not signed ELC's yet. I do expect that their rights will be assigned to their respective NHL teams though (eg. Marco Rossi on the Ottawa 67's, unsigned to a deal, but with Minnesota Wild owning his rights in the game; so that when people open franchise mode he will be owned by Minnesota but unsigned). What I've said here is not a legal issue, there are several prospects from various leagues (CHL, SHL, Liiga...) from previous drafts on every NHL team that have never played a shift in the NHL, some unsigned, but their rights are with the team; so they would show up in Franchise Mode like how I explained with Marco Rossi above...
If anyone is wondering how to have a prospect show up on an NHL roster (putting their rights with the team that drafted them), go to edit rosters or player movement whatever its called, trade them to that team (eg. trade Marco Rossi from Ottawa 67's to Minnesota Wild) and then trade them back (Marco Rossi from Minnesota Wild back to Ottawa 67s). If you wanna put a guarenteed NHL player like Lafreniere on NYR, trade him there, go to edit players and create his 0.925m x3year contract, that way when you start Franchise mode you don't have to sign him to a RFA deal if he's on NYR or an ELC (max 0.925m for automatic 3 years) if still on Rimouski.
Also some glitches I noticed:
player overall shown when editing players is miscalculated, as it does not parallel to the their listed overall in the roster; whatever formula system is used when editing & creating players is off. This is an easy fix. What happens sometimes is say you go to edit an 80 overall player, he shows up initially when editing as 78 overall, you adjust his attributes say that his overall says 84 now, you save the player, and he might then show up in the roster as an 81 overall, 85 overall, 84 overall. Whatever overall he shows up as in the roster is correct and the attribute adjustments you made are there, but when you are editing the player the correct overall does not show up (miscalculated).
Last things haha (but there's so much more)
1. Let us edit a players height and weight, a bunch of them are outdated and it's annoying we can't edit them. let us. it's not say bad in the NHL but almost all the prospects have heights and more importantly weights from when they were smaller and younger like in 2017. you draft guys they're all lanky and they might grow a few pounds in the game but they're actually bigger in real life and will probably gain weight.
2. 1st and 2nd round draft pick trade value needs to drop
I know this probably won't happen but certain adjustments to trade value would be nice. I read that a change was made so that teams weren't so willing to trade away draft picks (I can find the link for this if you need it, it was from EA) (so it's not so easy to rack up a bunch of 1st round picks from the overabundance of teams that listed them on their trading blocks). Problem is though 1st and 2nd round picks trade value are EXTREMLY HIGH, especially the 2nd round picks. It's so easy to trade away these 2 picks for very very good players that you shouldn't realistically be able to acquire so easily. The value has to drop, little bit for the 1st, more for the 2nd round picks like even Tampa Bays picks are very high in value. I also simmed a franchise mode year and now almost every team has their 1st round picks on their trade block... hmmm
3. Elite low trade value needs to raise some
I know this probably wont happen too but, Elite low potential players trade value needs to raise, been too low for years. should be I would think at least equivalent to top 6f med or top 4d med in terms of value, pretty sure its worth less than or equal to a top 9F high or top 6d high. this isn't a problem for franchise low potential it seems, the difference in trade value between elite low and franchise low is extreme, you could have half a team or so of elite low for the value of 1 franchise low.
4. I really like the new secondary positions added to players. lets see NOT EVERY SINGLE defenseman in the game listed as LD/RD or RD/LD. TJ brodie (left shot but prefers right side I believe) RD/LD, Morgan Rielly LD. And also have it actually affect line chemistry because it does not, a RD or LD can be on the wrong side right now and in the last game it has made no difference on line chemistry. Same goes for wingers vs centers. a wing at center and a center at wing makes no difference right now in line chemistry. change this.
5. CHL prospects (and somewhat prospects in europian leagues and AHL) all have insane certain attributes like speed, shot power and when they develop they all end up fast as hell like a league of Mcdavids with Zdeno Chara slapshots I'm talking like a bunch of 80 overall guys with 99 overall shot power and skating, its nuts.
less important:
6. adjust the age at which player potential becomes "exact", forwards for sure if not defenseman should be before the age of 27. I know they can still improve after that and what not but it would make franchise mode more realistic. goalies though, they tend to develop later, keep them at 27, makes sense; there should be a difference.
7. love the new adjustments that can be made for sim engine scoring, shot frequency, draft quality... would be nice to have some of the editing features that are in 2k NBA games like customizing trade value, how teams trade, sign, how players sign, develop in overall, their personalites (for contracts: financial importance, loyality) . maybe adding more of a dynamics to free agency for players more heavily looking for a contender, rebuilder, making an approach to a player as to why you want them like a depth role, goalie tandem, top 6 role, play with Jack Eichel (Taylor Hall signing), bounce back 1 year contracts...
I hope you read this man