NHL 23 Franchise/Season Discussion Thread

[kinsmen7]

Every year this is my favourite thread on the MLB the Show forum. I get a great kick out of seeing how others are rolling through their franchises, and enjoy reading the experience, decisions and tinkering of other franchise/season players.

This year, I've settled on creating an expansion team, and am bringing the Nordiques back to Quebec City!

It's going to be a bit wonky at the start, mainly because I'll have a flurry of early offseason moves since my intention is to try and load up on future picks, while also trying to remain *reasonably* competitive.

I'm playing on PS4, Superstar w/6 min periods.

A few house rules:
-Can only draft 3 players under 23
-Cannot draft recent UFA signings
-Must be cap compliant by opening night

Looking forward to reading everyones experiences!

[kinsmen7]

Re: NHL 23 Franchise/Season Discussion Thread

Quebec Nordiques Expansion Draft

ANA: Anthony Stolarz
ARI: Connor Timmins
BOS: Matt Grzelyck
BUF: Zemgus Girgensons
CAL: Adam Ruzicka
CAR: Max Paccioretty
CHI: Reese Johnson
COL: Sam Girard
CBJ: Emil Bemstrom
DAL: Thomas Harley (U23)
DET: Jakub Vrana
EDM: Stuart Skinner
FLA: Aleksi Hepponiemi
LAK: Alex Iafallo
MIN: Jonas Brodin
MTL: Cayden Primeau (U23)
NSH: Dante Fabbro
NJD: Jesper Boqvist
NYI: Scott Mayfield
NYR: Vitali Kravtsov
OTT: Alex Formenton
PHI: Ryan Ellis
PIT: Alex Nylander
SJS: Noah Gregor
STL: Joel Hofer (U23)
TBL: Ross Colton
TOR: Justin Holl
VAN: Luke Schenn
VGK: Nick Hague
WSH: Lars Eller
WPG: Axel Jonsson Fjallby

Sitting just under the salary cap floor of $61 mil, meaning this obviously won't be my opening night roster. Went with 2 under-23 goalies to try to build up the future between the pipes a bit, and was pretty surprised that Harley was available in Dallas.

Looking forward, my intention is to shuffle the roster around a bit and take on some cap dumps w/picks. I'd say my number 1 trade target needs to be a center. Going to look into Jonathan Toews, who would fix my cap issues, and if he produces his value should jump significantly at the deadline if I'm out of it (that's the expectation), especially with 50% retention. Will also try to add a goaltender on an expiring contract to hold me over for the year.

[PernellKarl076]

Re: NHL 23 Franchise/Season Discussion Thread

Good thread there kinsmen !

The only thing wrong I see with your team, is that you only have 1 player that was born in Quebec… Not gonna go well with the Nordiques fans, lol 😂

Samuel Girard will have to answer most of the reporters questions 😉

[kinsmen7]

Re: NHL 23 Franchise/Season Discussion Thread

Good thread there kinsmen !

The only thing wrong I see with your team, is that you only have 1 player that was born in Quebec… Not gonna go well with the Nordiques fans, lol 😂

Samuel Girard will have to answer most of the reporters questions 😉

Hahaha, don't worry...I made a couple of deals last night and brought in a couple of Frenchmen. Girard is obviously the Captain PLUS, it'll be funny to have Patches playing against the Habs on a regular basis.

Pretty wild start though, and I'll update the next time I'm around my PS4, but after making a bunch of roster adjustments I've got something along the lines of 6 picks in the first 2 rounds of the 2023 draft (I used my 3rd-7th rounders in the first draft to even out some deals that brought back 2023 picks), and my roster looks a LOT more like a 90/2000's era expansion team, instead of the Vegas (and to a lesser extent, Seattle) formula.

My basic plan is to remain competitive leading up to the deadline and see where I'm at. Hard to build a solid foundation right off the bat, because none of the picks/prospects that I've acquired are NHL ready (though I picked a RD @5OA in the draft that looks like he's got a solid ceiling...going to leave him unsigned until the spring though).

[kinsmen7]

Re: NHL 23 Franchise/Season Discussion Thread

Nordiques announce opening night lineup

Paccioretty-Toews-Puljujarvi
Formenton-Boqvist-Vrana
Beauvillier-Bemstrom-Kravtsov
Colton-Girgensons-Gregor

Girard-Spence
Hague-Ellis
Harley-Fabbro

Stolarz
Quick

Scratches: Timmins, Grimaldi, Jonsson-Fjallby

Quebec City kicks off it's season with a 6 game road trip, starting in Philadelphia on October 11th.

[kinsmen7]

Re: NHL 23 Franchise/Season Discussion Thread

Nordiques kick off season with win against Flyers

Max Paccioretty scored a hatrick in his Nordiques debut, and Quebec City battled back twice before taking care of the Flyers in their inaugural game.

Nick Deslaurier kicked off the scoring for the Flyers, who also added another goal scored by Joel Farabee.

The Nordiques, who trailed 1-0 and 2-1, responded both times with goals from Paccioretty, who also put them up for good with 18 seconds left in the second period.

Goals from Jesper Boqvist and Vitali Kravtsov in the 3rd sealed the deal as Quebec City starts 1-0-0.

The Nordique controlled the play most of the night, outshooting the Flyers 34-19, handing Anthony Stolarz his first win of the season between the pipes.

Quebec continues their 6 game road trip with a game in Vancouver on Friday.

[kinsmen7]

Re: NHL 23 Franchise/Season Discussion Thread

Canucks blow 3 goal lead, Nordiques jump out to 2-0-0 start

36 year old Nordiques goaltender Jonathan Quick put on a vintage display in Vancouver on Friday night. The 2012 Conn Smythe winner stopped 33 of 36 shots to hold off an upstart Canucks team, helping Quebec City continue their winning ways.

Quick, who won two Stanley Cups with the Kings, was one of the pieces acquired when the Nordiques returned Alex Iafallo to LA.

Vancouver jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first, with goals from Connor Garland and Bo Horvat, as they dominated the period outshooting Quebec 11-4.

Andrei Kuzmenko scored his first career goal early in the 2nd, putting the Canucks up 3-0.

Vitali Kravtsov's goal in the final minute of the period seemed to swing momentum in the Nordiques favour though, as Jonathan Toews scored his first of the year 34 seconds into the 3rd, putting Quebec City right back in the game.

Zemgus Girgensons, who scored 10 goals for the Sabres last year, took over 13 minutes into the final frame, with an incredible wraparound goal.

Quick, who had locked the door throughout the second half of the game, made 3 huge saves to help kill off an ill-timed powerplay in overtime, leading to the first shootout in Nordiques history.

With the game on the line in the shootout, Quick would stand tall again, stopping all 6 shooters that he faced, with Ryan Ellis scoring the lone goal for Quebec City.

The Nordiques continue their 6 game roadtrip on Monday, when they face the new-look Detroit Red Wings and Calder trophy winner Moritz Seider.

[PernellKarl076]

Re: NHL 23 Franchise/Season Discussion Thread

Great stuff !

Are you actually playing the games or simming them ? Also when you do a new team (old) in the Nords case, what’s your jerseys situation ?

[kinsmen7]

Re: NHL 23 Franchise/Season Discussion Thread

Great stuff !

Are you actually playing the games or simming them ? Also when you do a new team (old) in the Nords case, what’s your jerseys situation ?

My intention is to play all 82 games.

Jersey-wise, I wish there was a sharing feature for uni's, because I'm certainly mediocre at best.

I created the team *before* I started up the expansion mode. I've gone with the classic Nordiques logo, but the blue color is a bit lighter than the old ones, and I've adjusted the colors on the logo a bit because if I went 100% original, they'd fade into the home jerseys. Honestly, if I was trying to compare them to anything, I'd say they're reasonably similar to these alternates, minus the weird white stripe on the chest:

[KomicJ]

Re: NHL 23 Franchise/Season Discussion Thread

My intention is to play all 82 games.

Jersey-wise, I wish there was a sharing feature for uni's, because I'm certainly mediocre at best.

I created the team *before* I started up the expansion mode. I've gone with the classic Nordiques logo, but the blue color is a bit lighter than the old ones, and I've adjusted the colors on the logo a bit because if I went 100% original, they'd fade into the home jerseys. Honestly, if I was trying to compare them to anything, I'd say they're reasonably similar to these alternates, minus the weird white stripe on the chest:

As someone who's also running an expansion franchise with a Quebec team (as I keep working on my roster), I'd be very interested to see your jersey. Any way you could share pictures of them ?

Here are mine, for 'Quebec Blizzard' and their AHL Affiliates, the 'Chicoutimi Cyclones' (made in NHL22, but that I will replicate in NHL23 once I'm done tweaking my sliders).

[kinsmen7]

Re: NHL 23 Franchise/Season Discussion Thread

As someone who's also running an expansion franchise with a Quebec team (as I keep working on my roster), I'd be very interested to see your jersey. Any way you could share pictures of them ?

Here are mine, for 'Quebec Blizzard' and their AHL Affiliates, the 'Chicoutimi Cyclones' (made in NHL22, but that I will replicate in NHL23 once I'm done tweaking my sliders).

I can certainly try! I have no idea how to upload a pic from my PS4 to here though...

[PernellKarl076]

Re: NHL 23 Franchise/Season Discussion Thread

Very nice looking jerseys boys ! 😀👍

[Travolterjohn]

Re: NHL 23 Franchise/Season Discussion Thread

Quebec Nordiques Expansion Draft

ANA: Anthony Stolarz
ARI: Connor Timmins
BOS: Matt Grzelyck
BUF: Zemgus Girgensons
CAL: Adam Ruzicka
CAR: Max Paccioretty
CHI: Reese Johnson
COL: Sam Girard
CBJ: Emil Bemstrom
DAL: Thomas Harley (U23)
DET: Jakub Vrana
EDM: Stuart Skinner
FLA: Aleksi Hepponiemi
LAK: Alex Iafallo
MIN: Jonas Brodin
MTL: Cayden Primeau (U23)
NSH: Dante Fabbro
NJD: Jesper Boqvist
NYI: Scott Mayfield
NYR: Vitali Kravtsov
OTT: Alex Formenton
PHI: Ryan Ellis
PIT: Alex Nylander
SJS: Noah Gregor
STL: Joel Hofer (U23)
TBL: Ross Colton
TOR: Justin Holl
VAN: Luke Schenn
VGK: Nick Hague
WSH: Lars Eller
WPG: Axel Jonsson Fjallby

Sitting just under the salary cap floor of $61 mil, meaning this obviously won't be my opening night roster. Went with 2 under-23 goalies to try to build up the future between the pipes a bit, and was pretty surprised that Harley was available in Dallas.

Looking forward, my intention is to shuffle the roster around a bit and take on some cap dumps w/picks. I'd say my number 1 trade target needs to be a center. Going to look into Jonathan Toews, who would fix my cap issues, and if he produces his value should jump significantly at the deadline if I'm out of it (that's the expectation), especially with 50% retention. Will also try to add a goaltender on an expiring contract to hold me over for the year.

Nice Team, but in reality you never will get such a good expansion team. The expansion draft, trades, FA signings are too easy even when the settings are on hard.
I use the 33rd Franchise Team mode for every starting Franchise at NHL 22. Its my favorite mode. I choose on purpose the worsest players in the expansion draft. Seconds rule is not to sign a superstar from the FA pool. I love to create a team from zero even If it takes me many years of developing. By the way I play all my season games including playoffs with 4 or 5 mins each period. When I am quick and spend much time a season is done in three weeks.

Enjoy your Franchise mate ! I like your Quebec Team

[MizzouRah]

Re: NHL 23 Franchise/Season Discussion Thread

St. Louis Blues 2022-23 Season (play 1 game, sim 1 game)

St. Louis acquire rights to LW Alex Formenton from Ottawa
Ottawa acquires D Brady Lyle, C Logan Brown and a 2024 3rd round pick from St. Louis

The Blues sign LW Alex Formenton to a contract and is expected to play on the 3rd line.

Game 1 (0-0-0)
CBJ 5 - STL 2

Game 2 (0-1-0)
STL 2 - SEA 6

Game 3 (0-2-0)
at EDM

[kinsmen7]

Re: NHL 23 Franchise/Season Discussion Thread

Nice Team, but in reality you never will get such a good expansion team. The expansion draft, trades, FA signings are too easy even when the settings are on hard.
I use the 33rd Franchise Team mode for every starting Franchise at NHL 22. Its my favorite mode. I choose on purpose the worsest players in the expansion draft. Seconds rule is not to sign a superstar from the FA pool. I love to create a team from zero even If it takes me many years of developing. By the way I play all my season games including playoffs with 4 or 5 mins each period. When I am quick and spend much time a season is done in three weeks.

Enjoy your Franchise mate ! I like your Quebec Team

Thanks man!

Yeah, I have a few in-house rules that keep it reasonably honest...There were certainly better players available, but I knew in reality that they wouldn't actually have been available. Sam Girard was a "Must take-must keep" guy, because he immediately becomes captain and is here long term.

I feel like I went with a simple middle ground when it comes to what Seattle and Vegas did...main thing was getting assets to move so that I could get picks to build forward. The team isn't *bad*, but we're certainly not good, and will continue to build going forward...I almost feel like I built a 1 level house but didn't start with a foundation/slab...basically built a house on sand! I'm *thinking* that I can probably remain reasonably competitive throughout the season, and given that I've got the Jets and Isles 1st round picks in 2023, plus mine, my thought is that targetting prospects between 15OA-25OA is the wise bet. Getting Bedard or Fantilli would be huge, but I don't think I'm bad enough to get there!