I think the best solution would be for them to totally overhaul their GM Mode. I'm not sure how possible it would be to simulate the seasons in the background (I feel like the processing power should be there with the system) and have the players actually accrue stats and points based on their rankings (which is yet another thing that would need to be overhauled) and have the players actually have up and down seasons that affect how they get drafted.
It would be great to keep up on an active season, have your scouts send reports back "Still watching Tyler Barnes, he's currently 3rd in the league in scoring" or have your guys tell you when someone is playing above their expected level. It would be great to track players as they rise and fall in the draft order, while you take a gamble and draft a guy who was ranked 3rd but dropped to 30th.
I think if EA works to make the gameplay in general more dynamic, it could really be a lot of fun. Having rookies come up and dominate, giving them a temporary boost (maybe have that be randomized to represent real life. You might get lucky and have a rookie that's projected to be a "7th D, High" who after the first half of the season gets upgraded to "Top 4, High". It would be based on luck, but, that's NHL scouting, isn't it?
Players being able to have their value rise and fall with their performance (maybe have something to where their points are tied to their expected potential. A player ranked as a "Bottom 6, Med" player on the last year of their contract could demand more money in the off season based on their numbers, forcing players to decide if they want to gamble based on one season, but a player like Crosby (as much as reading the online forums might seem otherwise) wouldn't lose my value just because of one down season.
The main issue (at least to me, outside of gameplay itself) has always been that the Be a GM mode just felt stale. I existed in a vacuum, and nothing mattered. I don't have pro-scouts to send out and look at teams, my trading block doesn't matter (I've got Shattenkirk and Backes on the block, and I'm getting 3 low round picks for Scottie Upshall...come on). The trade deadline is just another day...nothing that's exciting about NHL hockey is exciting in the game. I don't hear about playoff pushes, I don't hear about rookies that have been dominating. Players don't really have hot and cold streaks, it just seems to be a matter of how often you force it (Brodziak is currently dominating with 5 short handed goals). I just want EA to force me to be interested. I was happy about the idea of the morale, but it doesn't really seem to matter. Sure, players get bummed when I trade the team captain...but who cares? They don't play noticeably worse. Can't fire my coach. Pulling the goalie doesn't matter. I'm stuck "pretending" so many factors about the game just to make up for what EA hasn't brought to the series. It would be awesome if games against rivals were more chippy and hard hitting. Maybe have rivalries brew with repeated post season fights against each other.