How's your Franchise Mode Going?

[MizzouRah]

Re: How's your Franchise Mode Going?

I'm 0-2 in preseason so far, losing 3-2 and 4-1. Getting out shot so far, which is a change from previous versions.

[MizzouRah]

Re: How's your Franchise Mode Going?

Won our 3rd preseason game vs Chicago, 4-1. I really do love all the collision detection in the game. Had a great deflection of the puck with Tarasenko, then got just enough of the puck when Seabrook went to shoot and was off on a breakaway.. roofed it top shelf and it just felt so fluid.

Even had a SH goal where their goalie came out to play a puck and tried to get up the ice and Upshall stuck out his stick, grabbed the puck and I put it in the net.

I'm still getting clobbered in shots - which again, I think is great. Tweaking here and there as I go through the preseason. Game does feel fresh.. which I feared after playing 4 full seasons of NHL 16.

[pauliev]

Re: How's your Franchise Mode Going?

Well, I had a pretty good franchise going but when the most recent roster update came out I decided I would scrap my current franchise and start over. After learning a few things from the previous attempt I feel that I can be a better GM this time around.

As before I started with the Bruins and my first move was to ship Chara to Edmonton before the first pre-season game for their 2nd round draft pick. $7M of cap space and decent value for a player that is likely to retire anyway.

Since I enjoy dealing with EDM so much I also sent Tory Krug to them in a one-for-one trade for Darnell Nurse (I was shocked!) but before the games start Nurse's trade value is disproportionately low compared to Krug

Also, one of my other favorite trades to make is David Krejci straight up for Dylan Larkin. I also pulled the trigger on this before preseason games to get the team set and not have player movement impact player morale as much

I was pretty much .500 in the preseason but once the regular season started my team took off! After about 15 games I acquired Jimmy Vesey from the Rangers since I think he should have signed with Boston to begin with and I have an eye on stocking my team early with young talent and a "local to the Boston area" flavor.

I can't seem to pry Noah Hanifin from Carolina without giving up too much, and like my previous franchise I am going to try to acquire the 1st overall pick in the draft so I can get Nolan Patrick.

As it stand now my Bruins have a 27-16-3 record in mid-January, are 3rd in the East and 4th overall in the NHL and classified as a "rebuilder" so my owner expectations this season are pretty low.

[onlybygrace]

Re: How's your Franchise Mode Going?

http://www.operationsports.com/forum...al-thread.html

There is my Dynasty Thread here on the boards...highlight reels for each game included. Game stats are at the end of each clip. The clips don't start getting good till about game 16 or 17 when I figure out what I'm doing. lol

Enjoy.

[MizzouRah]

Re: How's your Franchise Mode Going?

We lose Game 4 of preseason and win 5-3 in Game 5. Last game of the preseason against Dallas.

We are pretty much set for the start of the season. We will carry one extra forward and one extra defenseman into the 2016-17 campaign.

[pauliev]

Re: How's your Franchise Mode Going?

Well - come the end of the 2016-17 season, with a bit of "divine intervention" (basically playing the 3rd period and overtime in tight games) the 6th seed Boston Bruins managed to win the Stanley Cup!!

On to my first off-season as GM and I cannot, without selling the farm, obtain the first overall in the draft. I even offered up 4 future 1st round picks and a prospect player with good trade value. My hope for adding Nolan Patrick to my solid core of upcoming young players looked pretty grim.

I did manage to obtain 3 additional picks in the first round though (at a pretty high cost) and with a bit of wheeling & dealing was able to trade for Nolan Patrick after he was picked, not to mention getting Timothy Liljegren and Simon Stransky (my other two coveted players).

I did have to give up quite a bit of the future to make these deals and was left with only one first round pick for the next 4 years. Not to mention losing some additional prospects.

The hockey gods take and also give though as throughout the year I was able to re-stock some picks and get back two of the 3 good prospects I gave up during the draft. Using waiver claims then trading them away for low-round picks then bundling those picks with lower trade value guys that matched the target teams trade block seemed to be a pretty good strategy. It's a little shady when you re-acquire the same guy on waivers them immediately trade him again but it worked and I feel my team is set for the foreseeable future.

I have 15 games left in the 2017-18 season now and am in good shape for another long play-off run. I'll have some key guys to sign and possibly some tough lineup decisions to make for 2018-19 as several of my prospects are progressing well. But I also have $10M in cap space and can probably shed some older veterans to make room for the kids.

[pauliev]

Re: How's your Franchise Mode Going?

My second season ended in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals (OT Loss to New Jersey) Edmonton went on to win the Cup

Patrice Bergeron won the Art Ross Trophy and that was it for awards.

At the draft I used some of my waiver pickups and my own draft picks to move up to the 3rd overall and draft Joseph Veleno. Afterwards I was left with mid and late round picks but managed to pull off a trade with Colorada to get David Levin. I have not worked the right deal with Ottawa for Filip Zadina but I think I can manage something...maybe at the deadline.

At this point my AHL team is stocked with some pretty good prospects but I seem to have a morale issue. I've got 2 players that appear on my roster (Frankie Simonelli and Peter Mueller) that don't show in Contracts so I can't buy them out or release them and they cannot be traded either. They are both low morale guys and I think it's adversely affecting the locker room.

My Owner goals seem pretty achievable and as this is my third year I suspect I'll be up for contract renewal at the end of the season. I'd like to win another Stanley Cup or at the very least make it to the finals

[Catch22er]

Re: How's your Franchise Mode Going?

Is CPU vs. CPU in Franchise mode this year? This was a deal-breaker for me the last time I bought NHL.

[MizzouRah]

Re: How's your Franchise Mode Going?

Off to a 2-0 start to the season, beating Chicago 3-2 and Minnesota 2-1!

[MizzouRah]

Re: How's your Franchise Mode Going?

Took 8 penalties against the Rangers and was crushed, 7-2. Next game Vancouver beat us, 5-2 and we are now at 2-2-0.

I'm near the top in PP chances and PK's.. much different than 16. All previous NHL games, I'm always at the bottom in both, so I'm really happy penalties appear to have finally been fixed once and for all.

[MizzouRah]

Re: How's your Franchise Mode Going?

Just lost to Calgary, 4-1 at home after beating them 5-2 on the road. What a freaking game though!

12 total penalties, 2 fights, 3 injuries and a ton of hard hits. I even took a double minor for slashing.

[slickdtc]

Re: How's your Franchise Mode Going?

Started my Flyers season 5-0-0. Mostly one goal games, a shootout win in Chicago and an OT win against Anaheim included.

I was on top of the world. En route to league domination. Hang the banner from the rafters folks!

Nope. Montreal found a chink in my armor. Then Buffalo. Then it was Arizona. Finally, matched up with the cross state rival Penguins... and got blown out to drop to 5-4-0.

Not so mighty now.

I'm scoring goals at an alarming rate, which is nice. Brayden Schenn leads the league in points, but he's the one major standout for me having doubled the output of the 2nd leading scorer. Unfortunately, the Mason/Neuvirth combo is a sieve which I expect to be the case all year so I'll probably have to score my way to wins.

It'll be tough. Been crushed with injury to top players. Giroux and Matt Read went down - a few games each. Read actually just came back the last two games and scored in both, had to thrust him in on the top line because right on cue, Wayne Simmonds suffered a concussion and is out until January at some point.

Having a blast! Haven't tinkered with the sliders a bit (default traditional style on Pro difficulty -- only pre-season adjustment was to lower pass aim assist) just want to ride this wave and see what happens. The games are really fun. Stats are slightly off -- I'd love to see more CPU shots for the same amount of goals as my goalie SV% is atrocious but honestly it's whatever. I'm getting challenged, the games feels fun and a perfect blend of forgiving and arcadey while delivering enough realism that I'm satisfied.

[MizzouRah]

Re: How's your Franchise Mode Going?

I beat the Kings who had won 3 in a row, then beat the 8-1-0 Rangers and was feeling great. Then we go to Dallas and get shutout, 3-0.

Really enjoying this game! Goals feel earned and not cheap like previous versions. Steen scored his 200th and had a nice cut scene.

[GeneralMike]

Re: How's your Franchise Mode Going?

Just started year 2 of my Flyers franchise. Season opener went to OT, but lost on a goal with 30 seconds left after Giroux got hurt. I don't know if it's that the team still sucks, or that I'm just bad at the game, but at least I don't have to look at Neuvirth anymore.

[mjavon]

Re: How's your Franchise Mode Going?

Started out 4-2-0 with the Hartford Whalers (Carolina Hurricanes' roster) heading into the home opener against division foe NY Rangers. It was a pretty even matched game, but I just couldn't get anything past Henrik Lunqvist and wound up losing 3-0.

Silver lining in that my t shirt promotion combined with acquisition pricing model resulted in a sellout in our first home game.