There's plenty of debate on how much franchise mode has actually improved over the years, but I am 100% in the camp that NHL 22's franchise mode is one of the best so far.
Things I love:
Trading:
-Trade values fluctuate throughout the season based on play.
-Trade deadline actually adds a bit of excitement, especially given that we're back to a timed scenario. Seems to be some crazy overpayments and stuff like that from the CPU, but I found myself in a bit of a scramble to fill out my attempt at a contending lineup, while also trying to juggle the cap/trying not to blow all of my prospect/draft capital.
-"Fog of war" has been in the past couple of NHL games, but it' certainly adds different dimension to knowing that you risk overpaying for certain players if you don't scout well enough.
Roster Sharing:
-Great feature that many of us had been banging the drum trying to get for years. Adds a great element for folks that love deep rosters. I know some folks don't like the lack of player models for creation, as well as the lack of player profile photos, but it's not a big deal for me...to each their own though! I've personally found that due to the deeper prospect pools/rosters, that I spend more time focusing on how my actual prospects are doing during the season than anything else, because they all develop differently.
-Just to add to that-there's finally some great historic rosters...somebody has a '97 roster and I got a great kick out of reuniting the Kariya/Selanne/Rucchin lineup (big Ducks fan!). Check out the rosters forum on here to see what some of the folks have put together.
Gameplay:
-Here's where there's bound to be some major disagreements on this forum. There's certainly some AI issues (every sports game gives you the ability to make the CPU look stupid in some facet or another), but I've personally found that, as long as you've got a solid slider set, it's actually a blast to play. The main thing for me is player seperation-I want McDavid or Matthews to be the best player on the ice-With a solid slider set, I've managed to get this pretty close to reality.
End of the day, is it a perfect game? Heck no. Lots of small legacy issues that should have been fixed over the years. Is it fun? I'm still having a good time with it.