Scouting/Drafting in Franchise Mode

[sccavs64]

Hi guys,

Decided to start a new thread around this, but feel free to close it down if you feel the need to.

I haven't touched the NHL franchise mode in a long long time. So I could use some advice on how to get the most out of scouting and drafting in NHL 18. I just picked up on Sunday and I'm excited to give it a go.

I'm asking for some advice, because I love re-building bad teams through the draft/free-agency and turning them into contenders. But, from what I've seeing so far out of NHL 18 after a couple of simmed seasons to test it out and get the feel for it, I think this will be a challenge. Which is good!

I have a few specific questions, but for the most part I'd just like to hear from you guys on what do to/what not to do to help re-build my team. I think I'm going to chose the Coyotes as my squad. They have a lot of youth to work with and some solid jerseys, which is a perfect combo for me.

Please also note I'm a casual hockey fan at most. So don't yell at me for dumb questions

My Q's:

1) I notice that in the 2018 amateur draft, the same player (Rasumus Dahlin) gets picked #1 overall. every. single. time. I simmed about 5 seasons just to see how the drafting works, and he is the #1 pick consistently. Does that mean that the first amateur draft (maybe future ones also) are all scripted, and all have the same players? Or are there some randomly generated players sprinkled in?

2) I've read online on other sites that said you never win with your 1st round picks in this game, it's finding studs in rounds 2-7 that really help accelerate the rebuilding process. Is that true, and if so, how do you find these guys? Every time I look at the drafted players in rounds 2-7, they're always between 50-60 overall. I've seen one player rated higher than a 65 that wasn't taken in the first round. Maybe I'm just unlucky?

3) I know there are some rules with drafted players from the Canadian developmental leagues that restrict how early they can play in the NHL. Are players from these Canadian developmental leagues worth drafting if they have to stay in the AHL for 3 years or whatever? I'm not sure how the progression works either, but I imagine they only progress 1 or 2 OVR each year in a developmental league that doesn't really exist in the game


Thanks everyone for your help, much appreciated!

[TylerHowe]

Re: Scouting/Drafting in Franchise Mode

Dahlin is a surefire can't miss prospect in real life so it makes sense he goes first pick

[sccavs64]

Re: Scouting/Drafting in Franchise Mode

So I've heard! I haven't heard of him until today, but I did some research on him and he seems like a cant-miss prospect.

Not disputing he shouldn't be the #1 pick, but was just curious if all of the prospects available for the 2018 draft are all the same for each franchise.

Like for example: I start a franchise today, and then I start another one on March 1st, will all the players drafted from picks 1-32 overall be the exact same as my 1/30 franchise? Trying to see how much time I should put into scouting year 1. Right now, I don't really see the point in scouting year 1 if the prospects don't change.

[SeattleBattleCat]

Scouting/Drafting in Franchise Mode

As far as I know, the 2018 draft is mostly real players that exist in the real world, so there isnt going to be much variation if you already know who you are going to pick.

Its the years 2019 & after when the game generates rookies randomly where the scouting is a little more important.

The only issue after that is, scouting players can be quite the crapshoot. You can scout the same player 11 times (which is randomly done by the CPU anyway) and the scouting report predicts him at being a Medium Elite. Its not uncommon to pick him & then find out that he is a Low Top6F or a Med Top9F (referring to picks outside of the top10).



Also I think read here somewhere that if you 'pin' a player that you are interested in before scouting his region, the game will scout that player more often, which will hopefully give you a better indication of how good/bad he is.



One last point, in my 3rd year of my franchise, about 95% of the top 60 players were all from USA and not one CHL player was even a potential for the 7 rounds of the draft. Apparently that is a common issue in NHL18.

The next year was fine with a good mix of players from all around the world, then the 5th year most of the top 30 rookies were in the WHL.

Makes spending time scouting one area really easy I guess and certainly not game breaking, just not so realistic, just as long as you can look past it.



But please don't take this as meaning the whole game is no good. I actually find the game quite immersive and fun to play, especially when it comes to building a team - but thats just me.

[sccavs64]

Re: Scouting/Drafting in Franchise Mode

As far as I know, the 2018 draft is mostly real players that exist in the real world, so there isnt going to be much variation if you already know who you are going to pick.

Its the years 2019 & after when the game generates rookies randomly where the scouting is a little more important.

The only issue after that is, scouting players can be quite the crapshoot. You can scout the same player 11 times (which is randomly done by the CPU anyway) and the scouting report predicts him at being a Medium Elite. Its not uncommon to pick him & then find out that he is a Low Top6F or a Med Top9F (referring to picks outside of the top10).



Also I think read here somewhere that if you 'pin' a player that you are interested in before scouting his region, the game will scout that player more often, which will hopefully give you a better indication of how good/bad he is.



One last point, in my 3rd year of my franchise, about 95% of the top 60 players were all from USA and not one CHL player was even a potential for the 7 rounds of the draft. Apparently that is a common issue in NHL18.

The next year was fine with a good mix of players from all around the world, then the 5th year most of the top 30 rookies were in the WHL.

Makes spending time scouting one area really easy I guess and certainly not game breaking, just not so realistic, just as long as you can look past it.



But please don't take this as meaning the whole game is no good. I actually find the game quite immersive and fun to play, especially when it comes to building a team - but thats just me.

Thanks for the tips! Seriously, that's super helpful.

Yeah that makes sense regarding the 2018 draft - I checked out your dynasty page and saw you drafted Ciolfitto, that almost 70 OVR guy with elite POT in the 5th round and I was wondering how you found him. All I've done so far is sim from the beginning of a franchise up through the 2018 draft and looked at all the prospects, and I wasn't seeing anything close to a "steal" in the later rounds. Guess I won't see a Ciolfitto until 2019 or later.

So just curious, what's your scouting strategy (if you have one)? Since you say that most of the time, the majority of the best prospects come from one specific area, to me it makes sense to scout every region for a week or two to find what that jackpot area is, and then scout as deeply as I can there. Is that what you do or not really?

[BigBadAss33]

Re: Scouting/Drafting in Franchise Mode

Hi guys,

Decided to start a new thread around this, but feel free to close it down if you feel the need to.

I haven't touched the NHL franchise mode in a long long time. So I could use some advice on how to get the most out of scouting and drafting in NHL 18. I just picked up on Sunday and I'm excited to give it a go.

I'm asking for some advice, because I love re-building bad teams through the draft/free-agency and turning them into contenders. But, from what I've seeing so far out of NHL 18 after a couple of simmed seasons to test it out and get the feel for it, I think this will be a challenge. Which is good!

I have a few specific questions, but for the most part I'd just like to hear from you guys on what do to/what not to do to help re-build my team. I think I'm going to chose the Coyotes as my squad. They have a lot of youth to work with and some solid jerseys, which is a perfect combo for me.

Please also note I'm a casual hockey fan at most. So don't yell at me for dumb questions

My Q's:

1) I notice that in the 2018 amateur draft, the same player (Rasumus Dahlin) gets picked #1 overall. every. single. time. I simmed about 5 seasons just to see how the drafting works, and he is the #1 pick consistently. Does that mean that the first amateur draft (maybe future ones also) are all scripted, and all have the same players? Or are there some randomly generated players sprinkled in?

2) I've read online on other sites that said you never win with your 1st round picks in this game, it's finding studs in rounds 2-7 that really help accelerate the rebuilding process. Is that true, and if so, how do you find these guys? Every time I look at the drafted players in rounds 2-7, they're always between 50-60 overall. I've seen one player rated higher than a 65 that wasn't taken in the first round. Maybe I'm just unlucky?

3) I know there are some rules with drafted players from the Canadian developmental leagues that restrict how early they can play in the NHL. Are players from these Canadian developmental leagues worth drafting if they have to stay in the AHL for 3 years or whatever? I'm not sure how the progression works either, but I imagine they only progress 1 or 2 OVR each year in a developmental league that doesn't really exist in the game


Thanks everyone for your help, much appreciated!

OK... I am strictly a Franchise player and have learned a few tricks that work for me anyway that i will pass along to you.
Scouting:
1. Scout EVERY League at least 1 time at every position except Goalie. The smaller leagues have less players so you will see the more players in less scouting trips.
2. WHL CHL QMJHL and US DON'T always have the best players.
3. DO NOT get blinded by the potential rating. I use the star system - I will explain later about this. It pays off in the later rounds
4. You need to know your team and EVERY player on it(even the AHL)

Here is how I scout to a T.

I can’t say it enough you need to know your team needs and need to check stats every week. Who is scoring, who is not, who is getting scored on the most (+/-) and so on. This all comes into play when scouting. Pay attention to the stats. If you are getting dominated in the faceoff circle time to draft/trade for a Center who had great faceoff skill with high potential.

Back to scouting help.

Here is what I call the use of the STAR System

Make sure YOU as the GM are sending you scout to the locations- DO NOT let the computer handle this. If assigned by system you will miss out on the better players late in the draft.

After scouting every locations forwards at least once you get a picture of some players in that location. This is where if you have been watching how your team is playing week in and week out you have some idea a what you need to improve.

I always scout the smaller regions 1st. Less players less times to scout all players. The more players in a location the longer you need to scout that region.

Don’t concentrate on that. WHL, CHL, QMJHL and US will 95% of the time have the most players, but remember they don’t always have the best players.

The STAR system is a sure-fire way to win in the late round drafts As you scout each regions players you reveal more and more of the players abilities.

Whatever you do don’t believe a scout telling you a player is HIGH ELITE after 1 visit, most of the time he is not right.

If you see a player that you like but have only seen 1, pin him to your board and scout that region until he is seen at least 4 times. That will give you the best chance at the right decision to either keep scouting to find out 100% or take the chance and draft him.

I settle on my 5 pinned players around the trade deadline. Once there I scout ONLY those regions until the player is all green on the star system and the scout has HIGH confidence rating on each category. If he doesn’t pan out then you pin someone else and repeat.

My best pick ever – Boston Bruins Franchise - Year 3 (2019-2020) – Center – Carl Gerbe – 6th Round – National League (14 total Forwards) High Elite (76 Overall) As a rookie. I am 2 years down the road and he is up to an 86 and my 2nd line Center.

There is no perfect system and a lot of luck is involved but as long as you do the star system for the later rounds your farm team will be loaded with tons of potential NHL players of all caliber.

Also remember some players may rate out low in the upper 50’s to low 60’s but have elite potential. Let them develop in the minors. Some pay off, some don’t and Most can be used as trade bait to get a already developed player. And last but not least there is NO chance at rebuilding a team with only draft picks, You must make trades and sign FREE agents to compete.

I LOVE this game. The best NHL ever!!!

Hope this helps a little

[sccavs64]

Re: Scouting/Drafting in Franchise Mode

OK... I am strictly a Franchise player and have learned a few tricks that work for me anyway that i will pass along to you.
Scouting:
1. Scout EVERY League at least 1 time at every position except Goalie. The smaller leagues have less players so you will see the more players in less scouting trips.
2. WHL CHL QMJHL and US DON'T always have the best players.
3. DO NOT get blinded by the potential rating. I use the star system - I will explain later about this. It pays off in the later rounds
4. You need to know your team and EVERY player on it(even the AHL)

Hope this helps a little

This helps a ton, thank you!!

Just curious though, why not scout goalies? I read (on Reddit I believe) that the goalie prospects on the game were pretty awful. Is that true?

[BigBadAss33]

Re: Scouting/Drafting in Franchise Mode

This helps a ton, thank you!!

Just curious though, why not scout goalies? I read (on Reddit I believe) that the goalie prospects on the game were pretty awful. Is that true?

ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!

I scout Goalies only if i need one. They are easier than forwards because there are less of them. So 2-3 scouts and you know if they are worth it

I drafted 2 goalies in 6 years so far.. I stole an HIGH ELITE goalie in the 2nd Round (63) who i developed in the AHL for 3 years and has grown to 79 in 3 years. Hes my backup now in the NHL and when TUUKKA retires or i trade him hes the man!!

BTW make sure you scout the REST OF WORLD at least once if there are players listed. I also find that LIIGA, SHL and NATIONAL league are the best to finding sleepers I dont know if thats a coincidence or not.

Do me a favor and post a few of your late round GEMS when you find them.

[sccavs64]

Re: Scouting/Drafting in Franchise Mode

ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!

I scout Goalies only if i need one. They are easier than forwards because there are less of them. So 2-3 scouts and you know if they are worth it

I drafted 2 goalies in 6 years so far.. I stole an HIGH ELITE goalie in the 2nd Round (63) who i developed in the AHL for 3 years and has grown to 79 in 3 years. Hes my backup now in the NHL and when TUUKKA retires or i trade him hes the man!!

BTW make sure you scout the REST OF WORLD at least once if there are players listed. I also find that LIIGA, SHL and NATIONAL league are the best to finding sleepers I dont know if thats a coincidence or not.

Do me a favor and post a few of your late round GEMS when you find them.

Ha! Well that's why I come here and ask you guys for help instead of going to reddit

Thanks a ton for your help, I'm gonna get a 'chise going this weekend. I'll let ya know how it goes!

[capnlarge]

Re: Scouting/Drafting in Franchise Mode

Scouting/drafting is a crap shoot and it's like playing a slot machine. My suggestion is to load up on picks.

[SeattleBattleCat]

Re: Scouting/Drafting in Franchise Mode

Thanks for the tips! Seriously, that's super helpful.

Yeah that makes sense regarding the 2018 draft - I checked out your dynasty page and saw you drafted Ciolfitto, that almost 70 OVR guy with elite POT in the 5th round and I was wondering how you found him. All I've done so far is sim from the beginning of a franchise up through the 2018 draft and looked at all the prospects, and I wasn't seeing anything close to a "steal" in the later rounds. Guess I won't see a Ciolfitto until 2019 or later.

So just curious, what's your scouting strategy (if you have one)? Since you say that most of the time, the majority of the best prospects come from one specific area, to me it makes sense to scout every region for a week or two to find what that jackpot area is, and then scout as deeply as I can there. Is that what you do or not really?

OK... I am strictly a Franchise player and have learned a few tricks that work for me anyway that i will pass along to you.
Scouting:
1. Scout EVERY League at least 1 time at every position except Goalie. The smaller leagues have less players so you will see the more players in less scouting trips.
2. WHL CHL QMJHL and US DON'T always have the best players.
3. DO NOT get blinded by the potential rating. I use the star system - I will explain later about this. It pays off in the later rounds
4. You need to know your team and EVERY player on it(even the AHL)

Here is how I scout to a T.

I can’t say it enough you need to know your team needs and need to check stats every week. Who is scoring, who is not, who is getting scored on the most (+/-) and so on. This all comes into play when scouting. Pay attention to the stats. If you are getting dominated in the faceoff circle time to draft/trade for a Center who had great faceoff skill with high potential.

Back to scouting help.

Here is what I call the use of the STAR System

Make sure YOU as the GM are sending you scout to the locations- DO NOT let the computer handle this. If assigned by system you will miss out on the better players late in the draft.

After scouting every locations forwards at least once you get a picture of some players in that location. This is where if you have been watching how your team is playing week in and week out you have some idea a what you need to improve.

I always scout the smaller regions 1st. Less players less times to scout all players. The more players in a location the longer you need to scout that region.

Don’t concentrate on that. WHL, CHL, QMJHL and US will 95% of the time have the most players, but remember they don’t always have the best players.

The STAR system is a sure-fire way to win in the late round drafts As you scout each regions players you reveal more and more of the players abilities.

Whatever you do don’t believe a scout telling you a player is HIGH ELITE after 1 visit, most of the time he is not right.

If you see a player that you like but have only seen 1, pin him to your board and scout that region until he is seen at least 4 times. That will give you the best chance at the right decision to either keep scouting to find out 100% or take the chance and draft him.

I settle on my 5 pinned players around the trade deadline. Once there I scout ONLY those regions until the player is all green on the star system and the scout has HIGH confidence rating on each category. If he doesn’t pan out then you pin someone else and repeat.

My best pick ever – Boston Bruins Franchise - Year 3 (2019-2020) – Center – Carl Gerbe – 6th Round – National League (14 total Forwards) High Elite (76 Overall) As a rookie. I am 2 years down the road and he is up to an 86 and my 2nd line Center.

There is no perfect system and a lot of luck is involved but as long as you do the star system for the later rounds your farm team will be loaded with tons of potential NHL players of all caliber.

Also remember some players may rate out low in the upper 50’s to low 60’s but have elite potential. Let them develop in the minors. Some pay off, some don’t and Most can be used as trade bait to get a already developed player. And last but not least there is NO chance at rebuilding a team with only draft picks, You must make trades and sign FREE agents to compete.

I LOVE this game. The best NHL ever!!!

Hope this helps a little

ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!

I scout Goalies only if i need one. They are easier than forwards because there are less of them. So 2-3 scouts and you know if they are worth it

I drafted 2 goalies in 6 years so far.. I stole an HIGH ELITE goalie in the 2nd Round (63) who i developed in the AHL for 3 years and has grown to 79 in 3 years. Hes my backup now in the NHL and when TUUKKA retires or i trade him hes the man!!

BTW make sure you scout the REST OF WORLD at least once if there are players listed. I also find that LIIGA, SHL and NATIONAL league are the best to finding sleepers I dont know if thats a coincidence or not.

Do me a favor and post a few of your late round GEMS when you find them.

Ha! Well that's why I come here and ask you guys for help instead of going to reddit

Thanks a ton for your help, I'm gonna get a 'chise going this weekend. I'll let ya know how it goes!

BigBadAss33 hit the nail on the head of how to scout and also the importance of knowing your teams (NHL & AHL) from game to game, week to week. I scout rather similarly (including goalies, I only ever scout if I really need one) however I think his system is a little better than what I do and he has given me some food for thought on how to tweak and improve, so thanks mate!

[c2colton]

Re: Scouting/Drafting in Franchise Mode

I would also check the free agent pool after the draft for rookies that have high potential. I've picked up a few Mid Elites that way and after a couple years they are almost ready for 3/4 line in the NHL. if they don't look like they will pan out I dump them for picks (something for nothing)

but be careful, sometimes those elites will drop their trade value fast from one year to the next.

[sccavs64]

Re: Scouting/Drafting in Franchise Mode

Thanks for the tips! I think I got most of it down, just trying to figure out how to budget my scouting time is the hardest but I'm still playing around with it.

Quick tip I've noticed to find late round gems - Speed and Acceleration

Any prospect I've drafted so far with 80+ speed or acceleration fully scouted, regardless of the round, has been a steal. This means they're closer to NHL ready than other prospects. But, it's hard to scout these attributes fully with limited time available for tons of players, obviously.

[effingee]

Re: Scouting/Drafting in Franchise Mode

My overall scouting and drafting strategy:

1. Don't screw up my first round pick(s).
2. Trade down for "exact" players projected to go lower than my pick.
3. Scout for organizational needs by position.
4. Take chances in the later rounds.
5. Draft one goalie every year. Sign the ones that pan out.

The first place I go at the start of a new season is the "view draft class" panel, and I try to get an idea of where prospects are concentrated at each position by sorting the draft by "projected round." In the procedurally generated drafts after the first year, I usually find that one league (like the WHL) will have the majority of prospects initially projected to go in the first round. I'll send a scout to that league for at least month on forwards and defensemen, which will give me a pretty accurate picture of how to approach the first round regardless of where I end up picking (nothing worse than winning the lottery having not scouted any of the top-5 picks). In the first round, I'll usually take the player that I'm most certain is going to be good—regardless of position. If possible, I'll trade down to where they're projected to be drafted rather than take a risk on a player who's projected to go higher but who I haven't scouted fully.

The rest of my scouting will depend on my organizational needs and the way the prospects happen to be sorted that year. I try to alternate my draft emphasis between forwards and defensemen each year so I don't end up in a situation where all of my best forward prospects are ready but my defensemen are still 2 or 3 years away from the NHL. If I'm looking for defensemen this year, I'll send my scouts to leagues that have a lot of them projected to go in the early and middle rounds, where I'm more likely to find defensemen with elite and top-4 potential.

Usually my heavy scouting of a few leagues will identify an "exact" elite player or two who is projected to go outside of the first round. These are the players I make sure to draft, and I'll definitely reach for them. I'm pretty happy if I can come away from a draft with 2 or 3 players with low/medium elite/top-4 defensemen/top-6 forward.

My strategy is to take a flier every year on a goalie in the late rounds. If I really need one, I'll scout them a little bit but mostly it's a shotgun approach.

[BigBadAss33]

Re: Scouting/Drafting in Franchise Mode

BigBadAss33 hit the nail on the head of how to scout and also the importance of knowing your teams (NHL & AHL) from game to game, week to week. I scout rather similarly (including goalies, I only ever scout if I really need one) however I think his system is a little better than what I do and he has given me some food for thought on how to tweak and improve, so thanks mate!

Thanks for the compliment.. I hate to read all the negative posts.. Those people that say the game is broken think they are playing in the real NHL. just drives me nuts.

My scouting system works for me and i hope it works out for you.. Trust me I find a GEM EVERY draft.

I just went finished 2022-2023 and my draft went like this

6 TOTAL PICKS

RD 1 #23 - LW - High Top 6 - 73 overall
RD 3 - #75 D - High Top 4 - 65 overal
RD 4 - # 103 - RW - High Top 9 - 64 overall
RD 4 - # 107 - C - Medium Elite - 65 overall (Faceoff Skill 70 - Speed 93) ***GEM***
RD 5 - # 128 - D - High Top 6 - 61 Overall
RD 7 - #200 - RW - High Top 6 - 60 Overall

I think thats an A+++ draft.. Everyone of those players will make the NHL someday!!!