Been over to a friend that have the season pass early access and tried out the GM Mode. It takes approx 2½ minutes to sim through a month. But it varies but not by much that you could call it slow. Im really happy about the GM Mode this year. Overall the whole interaction in the mode is very quick. No more sluggish controls while in Scouting Assignment because of many draftees etc. Stats loads very fast. Trading is hard but realistic. I think there have been some changes to the scouting as well.
My scouts saw S. Reinhart as No. 1 pick but he fell to fourth (My pick) and he was clearly the best of the draft when I checked potentials etc. I had jacked up my scouting in Staff Upgrades so I had some very good scouting I guess. As opposed to last year when the player projected to go No. 1 always went No.1
I can't really confirm this since I have insufficient playing time as of now but as more people begin to play the game next week it will maybe shed some light over it. But if its true its a really good change.
Other than that the immersion is better. There are tweets and GDT in a new feature called "Messages". Fine addition since it breathes some life into the mode.
I had one say about Florida Panthers win over Detroit with 7-2
Along the lines of:
"Yes Marcel Goc did score 4 goals tonight." Thought it was kind of funny.
Edit:
Seems like contracts are overhauled as well. Players dont ask for very high contracts anymore. And you can negotiate much more than previous installations.