How's your franchise mode going? NHL 18

[SeattleBattleCat]

Quote: Originally Posted by mjavon

That's interesting. The Flames have become really dominant in my franchise as well, although I'm not as far along as you are. They've been to three straight WCF and won one of those, but zero cups. They've been my biggest nemisis through 5 seasons. Sent from my SM-G955U using Operation Sports mobile app

What's even more intriguing with the Flames in my Franchise, they let go of Monahan 3-4 seasons back and are still dominant.
Nugent-Hopkins has been their 1st line Center for a number of years. Tkachuk and Hamilton absolutely dominate.

Vancouver has been the other surprise packet, in fact they just won their 2nd Stanley Cup in 4 years. For some reason I don't mind seeing the Canucks succeed.

Here's how they did it:
R1 Beat Arizona 4-3
R2 Beat Calgary 4-0
WCF Beat Dallas 4-0
SCF Beat Columbus 4-1


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[DarthRambo]

Quote: Originally Posted by IrishSalsa

Game 3 of the best of 7 against the Montreal Canadiens! We came home after a split on the road to open the series but the momentum is with Carey Price and Montreal as they won game 2. First period was pretty dull with no penalties. However, the Candiens scored first with a goal by McCarron (11:33). It was his first of the series. Second period Montreal got on the power play, but it was the Sabres who score on a shorthanded goal by Sheahan (16:27). A deflection in mid air off a rebound shot...his 2nd goal of the series. Nice surprise from the 4th line! In the 3rd period rookie Alexander Nylander scores (19:04) on a slap shot past Price. This was his his third goal of the series! We held on to win it with the final score of 2-1. Candiens had 23 shots on goal. Sabres had 29 shots on goal. Lehner has been great, but so has Price. I still look for the series to go at least 6 games, maybe 7. And I will be playing every one of them. Especially since it's a divisional opponent. Buffalo Sabres lead the series now 2-1 with game 4 coming up in Buffalo. Hope to take a commanding 3-1 lead!

Been a while!! LOL...i've been watching the NHL playoffs on tv, currently watching game 5 of the Penguins/Capitals series and it got me wanting to jump back into my Sabres franchise.

I played games 4 and 5 now. We lost game 4 to a final score of 6-4. Game 5 Lehner responded and saved everything as we won a close one, final score 2-1.

So onto game 6 leading the Candiens 3-2 in the series now. I would love to close out the series at home and avoid a game 7 in Montreal. Will play soon and update

Sent from my SM-G920P using Operation Sports mobile app

[RagingTrav]

There are some great stories going here!

It's been a few years since i picked up a NHL title but with the purchase of a ps4 comes the purchase of NHL 18.
I've toyed with a Hartford expansion to get to grips with the game again and get an idea of how the GM mode runs.
Definitely enjoying what I've played of it so far, especially after tweaking some of the sliders. More often than not I'm playing an epic contest.

I'm planning on replacing Carolina with Hartford like a few others have (i got the idea from here) and starting an Adelaide Thrashers franchise, basing the jerseys and colours around Atlanta. Will play the home fixtures and sim road trips.

Pretty keen to sink my teeth into it and will try to post my progress as i make my way through the game.

[RagingTrav]

Adelaide Thrashers Expansion

Offseason 2018

Big news coming out of the NHL with Carolina returning to Hartford as the Whalers and the rights to the Atlanta Thrashers being bought out and entered as an expansion team.

However, instead of returning to Atlanta, they've been located in the unlikely city of Adelaide.

Backed by the Adelaide Adrenaline who will join the AHL, this is a brave expedition but one that is being supported to be a success in the sport mad city.

As the season gets underway, we'll take a look at how the foundations of the club have been laid in what is expected to be a slow build.

Expansion Draft

While looking to build a fair chunk of the inaugral roster from here, there were a number of players who were exchanged back to the franchise they were taken from for other assets.

Spoiler

Ana - Sami Vatanen 83 D 26yo Med Top4
>1st(30) & 3rd(94)
Ari - Shane Doan 78 RW 41yo
Bos - Adam McQuaid 80 D 31yo
>4th(115) & 2018 3rd
Buf - Zach Bogosian 82 D 27yo
Cal - Emile Poirier 73 RW 22yo Med Top9
Chi - Ville Pokka 74 D 23yo Med Top4
Col - Carl Soderberg 79 C 32yo
CBJ - Joonas Korpisalo 79 G 23yo Med Elite
Dal - Curtis McKenzie 75 LW 26yo Med Bottom 6
Det - Jason Abdelkader 81 LW 30yo
Edm - Mark Letestu 79 C 32yo
+Det 3rd(72) > 2nd
Flo - Jason Demers 82 D 29yo
Har - Phil Di Giusseppe 76 LW 24 Med Bottom6
LA - Alec Martinez 84 D 30yo
+Ana 3rd(94) & Bos 4th(115) > 1st(11)
Min - Jonas Brodin 83 D 24yo Low Elite
Mon - Phillip Danault 80 C 24yo Med Top9
>Buf 3rd(71)
NYI - Ryan Pulock 76 D 23yo Low Top4
>Andrew Ladd 81 LW 31yo & 4th(112)
NYR - Matt Puempel 75 LW Med Top6
Nas - Mattias Ekholm 83 D 27yo
NJ - Dalton Prout 78 D 27yo
Ott - Clarke MacArthur 80 LW 32yo
Phi - Scott Laughton 77 LW 23yo Med Top9
Pit - Brian Dumoulin 81 D 26yo Med Top4
+SJ 3rd(84) > 1st(32)
SJ - Brendan Dillon 81 D 26yo Med Top4
>3rd(84) & Det 3rd(72)
StL - Patrik Berglund 81 RW 29yo
TB - Braydon Coburn 81 D 32yo
+NYI 4th(112) > Tor 2nd(50)
Tor - Garret Sparks 73 G 24yo Med Backup
Van - Ryan Miller 83 G 37yo
Was - Justin Williams 82 RW 36yo
Win - Andrew Copp 76 C 23yo High Bottom6

2017 Entry Draft

With a number of picks at their disposal, Adelaide entered the draft with high hopes of grabbing a few prospects to begin building their future around.

Spoiler

3. Elias Pettersson C 67 Med Elite
11. Nick Suzuki C 59 Med Top6
30. Ryan Thomas C 58 Med Top9
32. Timothy Liljegren D 66 Low Elite
35. Matthew Strome LW 60 Low Top6
50. Lukas Elvenes RW 60 Med Bottom6
55. Graham Yzerman G 57 Med Elite
67. Ostap Safin LW 54 Med Top9
71. Josh Brook D 56 Med 7th
99. Chris Hartman D 53 Med 7th
131. Phillip Campbell D 52 Med 7th
163. Dwight Hughes RW 53 Low Top9
195. Petrus Palmu RW 60 Low Top9

Re-signings

Spoiler

Doan - $1.65m 1 year
Yzerman - Entry
Pettersson - Entry
Liljegren - Entry
Suzuki - Entry
Strome - Entry
Miller - $2.75m 1 year
Williams - $4m 1 year
Di Giuseppe - Tendered
Sparks - Tendered
Pokka - $1.090 2 years (RFA Offer matched)
Copp - Tendered
Laughton - Tendered

Free agency

With the drafts behind them, Adelaide entered free agency looking to add some depth and experience to help mentor their prospects, while also adding a bit of top 6 quality on offence.

Spoiler

Aleksi Saarela 55 C 20yo Med Top4 - 2way $925k 3 years
Sebastien Caron 72 G 37yo - 2way $875k 1 year
Sam Gagner 81 C 28yo - $5.025m 1 year
Martin Hanzal 82 C 30yo - $5.8m 1 year
Joe Morrow - $1.025m 1 year (Bos matched)
Mark Streit 79 D 39yo - $2.5m 1 year
Chris Pronger 72 D 43yo - 2way $650k 1 year
Patrick Dwyer 73 RW 34yo - 2way $650k 1 year
Rob Scuderi 76 D 38yo - 2way $650k 1 year
Juha-Pekka Haataja 72 RW 35yo - 2way $650k 1 year
Jason Jaffray 73 LW 36yo - 2way $650k 1 year
Steven Reinprecht 74 C 41yo - 2way $650k 1 year

Opening Night Rosters

And finally it's here, opening night 2017/18 where the two new expansion teams will go head to head as Adelaide host Vegas!
Expectations are low but excitement is high for the inaugral season.

Spoiler

Ladd ... Hanzal ... Williams
Abdelkader ... Gagner ... Berglund
MacArthur ... Soderberg ... Doan
Laughton ... Copp ... McKenzie

Brodin ... Demers
Ekholm ... Bogosian
Streit ... Prout

Miller
Korpisalo

In the System

Pettersson - AHL
Saarela - AHL
Suzuki - Juniors
Thomas - Unsigned
Strome - Juniors
Puempel - AHL
Safin - Unsigned
Di Giuseppe - AHL
Poirier - AHL
Palmu - Unsigned
Hughes - Unsigned
Elvenes - Unsigned
Liljegren - AHL
Pokka - AHL
Brook - Unsigned
Hartman - Unsigned
Campbell - Unsigned
Yzerman - AHL

[jbrylinsabresfan]

**First time poster**

Does anyone else hate that the game only lets you play 25 years, and plays with GM firing off for the purpose of building a team and a history and story for the team?

I am a small youtuber (less than 150 Subs, not here to raise awareness for my channel) and i did a expansion series with the Quebec Nordiques. Team was not successful until 2030 when it went on to win 4 straight cups. Then in a live stream in the final season we made a miracle run to the cup and won our 5th cup to end the series.

Personally, i would have loved to keep it going either for youtube or for myself, but the 25 year limit doesn't allow that. So i remade every single player from the final years team that was signed and had played a game with the NHL team or AHL team. (After it says franchise mode is complete, you cant see your unsigned guys anymore). I recreated my Nordiques, placed every created player on them and the Vegas golden knights, and placed the minor players on the chicago wolves (Vegas AHL squad). Then i sent all the vegas players to FA, and started up the mode replacing vegas with the Nordiques.

It was a lot of work, and the 17/18 season was just a "redo" of the final season of the mode to basically make it so some of my long time stars, including the best goaltender of all time Shane Motzko, nhl games played leader A.J. Agon, and career Nordique D man Olli Helminen could choose whether they wanted to retire or not.

I just wish EA let the story go on for 50-100 years. I keep track of all my stats of my favorite players myself, and i choose to always rebuild by drafting vs with free agents.

Anyone else feel this way about the 25 years?

Quote: Originally Posted by RagingTrav

Adeliade Thrashers Expansion Offseason 2018 Big news coming out of the NHL with Carolina returning to Hartford as the Whalers and the rights to the Atlanta Thrashers being bought out and entered as an expansion team. However, instead of returning to Atlanta, they've been located in the unlikely city of Adelaide. Backed by the Adelaide Adrenaline who will join the AHL, this is a brave expedition but one that is being supported to be a success in the sport mad city. As the season gets underway, we'll take a look at how the foundations of the club have been laid in what is expected to be a slow build. Expansion Draft While looking to build a fair chunk of the inaugral roster from here, there were a number of players who were exchanged back to the franchise they were taken from for other assets. Spoiler Ana - Sami Vatanen 83 D 26yo Med Top4 >1st(30) & 3rd(94) Ari - Shane Doan 78 RW 41yo Bos - Adam McQuaid 80 D 31yo >4th(115) & 2018 3rd Buf - Zach Bogosian 82 D 27yo Cal - Emile Poirier 73 RW 22yo Med Top9 Chi - Ville Pokka 74 D 23yo Med Top4 Col - Carl Soderberg 79 C 32yo CBJ - Joonas Korpisalo 79 G 23yo Med Elite Dal - Curtis McKenzie 75 LW 26yo Med Bottom 6 Det - Jason Abdelkader 81 LW 30yo Edm - Mark Letestu 79 C 32yo +Det 3rd(72) > 2nd Flo - Jason Demers 82 D 29yo Har - Phil Di Giusseppe 76 LW 24 Med Bottom6 LA - Alec Martinez 84 D 30yo +Ana 3rd(94) & Bos 4th(115) > 1st(11) Min - Jonas Brodin 83 D 24yo Low Elite Mon - Phillip Danault 80 C 24yo Med Top9 >Buf 3rd(71) NYI - Ryan Pulock 76 D 23yo Low Top4 >Andrew Ladd 81 LW 31yo & 4th(112) NYR - Matt Puempel 75 LW Med Top6 Nas - Mattias Ekholm 83 D 27yo NJ - Dalton Prout 78 D 27yo Ott - Clarke MacArthur 80 LW 32yo Phi - Scott Laughton 77 LW 23yo Med Top9 Pit - Brian Dumoulin 81 D 26yo Med Top4 +SJ 3rd(84) > 1st(32) SJ - Brendan Dillon 81 D 26yo Med Top4 >3rd(84) & Det 3rd(72) StL - Patrik Berglund 81 RW 29yo TB - Braydon Coburn 81 D 32yo +NYI 4th(112) > Tor 2nd(50) Tor - Garret Sparks 73 G 24yo Med Backup Van - Ryan Miller 83 G 37yo Was - Justin Williams 82 RW 36yo Win - Andrew Copp 76 C 23yo High Bottom6 2017 Entry Draft With a number of picks at their disposal, Adelaide entered the draft with high hopes of grabbing a few prospects to begin building their future around. Spoiler 3. Elias Pettersson C 67 Med Elite 11. Nick Suzuki C 59 Med Top6 30. Ryan Thomas C 58 Med Top9 32. Timothy Liljegren D 66 Low Elite 35. Matthew Strome LW 60 Low Top6 50. Lukas Elvenes RW 60 Med Bottom6 55. Graham Yzerman G 57 Med Elite 67. Ostap Safin LW 54 Med Top9 71. Josh Brook D 56 Med 7th 99. Chris Hartman D 53 Med 7th 131. Phillip Campbell D 52 Med 7th 163. Dwight Hughes RW 53 Low Top9 195. Petrus Palmu RW 60 Low Top9 Re-signings Spoiler Doan - $1.65m 1 year Yzerman - Entry Pettersson - Entry Liljegren - Entry Suzuki - Entry Strome - Entry Miller - $2.75m 1 year Williams - $4m 1 year Di Giuseppe - Tendered Sparks - Tendered Pokka - $1.090 2 years (RFA Offer matched) Copp - Tendered Laughton - Tendered Free agency With the drafts behind them, Adelaide entered free agency looking to add some depth and experience to help mentor their prospects, while also adding a bit of top 6 quality on offence. Spoiler Aleksi Saarela 55 C 20yo Med Top4 - 2way $925k 3 years Sebastien Caron 72 G 37yo - 2way $875k 1 year Sam Gagner 81 C 28yo - $5.025m 1 year Martin Hanzal 82 C 30yo - $5.8m 1 year Joe Morrow - $1.025m 1 year (Bos matched) Mark Streit 79 D 39yo - $2.5m 1 year Chris Pronger 72 D 43yo - 2way $650k 1 year Patrick Dwyer 73 RW 34yo - 2way $650k 1 year Rob Scuderi 76 D 38yo - 2way $650k 1 year Juha-Pekka Haataja 72 RW 35yo - 2way $650k 1 year Jason Jaffray 73 LW 36yo - 2way $650k 1 year Steven Reinprecht 74 C 41yo - 2way $650k 1 year Opening Night Rosters And finally it's here, opening night 2017/18 where the two new expansion teams will go head to head as Adelaide host Vegas! Expectations are low but excitement is high for the inaugral season. Spoiler Ladd ... Hanzal ... Williams Abdelkader ... Gagner ... Berglund MacArthur ... Soderberg ... Doan Laughton ... Copp ... McKenzie Brodin ... Demers Ekholm ... Bogosian Streit ... Prout Miller Korpisalo In the System Pettersson - AHL Saarela - AHL Suzuki - Juniors Thomas - Unsigned Strome - Juniors Puempel - AHL Safin - Unsigned Di Giuseppe - AHL Poirier - AHL Palmu - Unsigned Hughes - Unsigned Elvenes - Unsigned Liljegren - AHL Pokka - AHL Brook - Unsigned Hartman - Unsigned Campbell - Unsigned Yzerman - AHL

[DarthRambo]

Quote: Originally Posted by IrishSalsa

Been a while!! LOL...i've been watching the NHL playoffs on tv, currently watching game 5 of the Penguins/Capitals series and it got me wanting to jump back into my Sabres franchise. I played games 4 and 5 now. We lost game 4 to a final score of 6-4. Game 5 Lehner responded and saved everything as we won a close one, final score 2-1. So onto game 6 leading the Candiens 3-2 in the series now. I would love to close out the series at home and avoid a game 7 in Montreal. Will play soon and update Sent from my SM-G920P using Operation Sports mobile app

Wow what a game 6 it was! Trying to close out the series and send Montreal home fishing for the summer.

Both goalies, Price and Lehner have been pretty darn good all series. Shae Weber only playing a little in game 1 before his injury had him out four games. He now returns finally for game 6.

After one period the Candiens led 1-0 after a goal by guess who? Shae Weber lol.

In the 2nd period Scandella ripped two goals past Price and we led 2-1 after two. The Candiens failed on so many power play opportunities and Lehner was terrific!

3rd period not much going on. I led 2-1 still with 1min remaining and Montreal pulls Price. With 41 seconds remaining Druin knocks in the game tying goal! Buffalo was 41 seconds away from heading to the Semifinals and blew it.

We went in to overtime, where fairly early on right after another Montreal power play, Druin again scores and win the game 3-2 in overtime. The crowd was in disbelief and Montreal ties the series 3-3 with all the momentum at home for game 7.

Sent from my SM-G920P using Operation Sports mobile app

[SuperGoalies]

so... am working on 8 (Minutes) All-Star and Superstar / Franchise settings; I've got the all-star ones done; just need to play few games to make sure; then am gonna work on 8 minutes superstar ones also; very soon.

[SeattleBattleCat]

Quote: Originally Posted by jbrylinsabresfan

**First time poster** Does anyone else hate that the game only lets you play 25 years, and plays with GM firing off for the purpose of building a team and a history and story for the team? I am a small youtuber (less than 150 Subs, not here to raise awareness for my channel) and i did a expansion series with the Quebec Nordiques. Team was not successful until 2030 when it went on to win 4 straight cups. Then in a live stream in the final season we made a miracle run to the cup and won our 5th cup to end the series. Personally, i would have loved to keep it going either for youtube or for myself, but the 25 year limit doesn't allow that. So i remade every single player from the final years team that was signed and had played a game with the NHL team or AHL team. (After it says franchise mode is complete, you cant see your unsigned guys anymore). I recreated my Nordiques, placed every created player on them and the Vegas golden knights, and placed the minor players on the chicago wolves (Vegas AHL squad). Then i sent all the vegas players to FA, and started up the mode replacing vegas with the Nordiques. It was a lot of work, and the 17/18 season was just a "redo" of the final season of the mode to basically make it so some of my long time stars, including the best goaltender of all time Shane Motzko, nhl games played leader A.J. Agon, and career Nordique D man Olli Helminen could choose whether they wanted to retire or not. I just wish EA let the story go on for 50-100 years. I keep track of all my stats of my favorite players myself, and i choose to always rebuild by drafting vs with free agents. Anyone else feel this way about the 25 years?

That would be great if the game did let you go that far into the future, honestly there shouldn't be any reason why it can't just let you keep going. The EA NHL series doesn't appear to store too much information regarding player histories or team season histories or anything to that effect, so it doesnt need copious amounts of memory?
Perhaps the only limitation is the life span of the average human being and 25 years at the helm of a hockey club is possibly a very good career span too.