Well I am trying something new to me, inspired by a post I read on these forums. I am creating a six-team league, set in modern day, where each team has as its theme a particular decade: the Toronto 60s, Seattle 70s, Los Angeles 80s, Ottawa 90s, New York 2000s (nicknamed the "Aughts"), and the London 10s (because why not involve the UK?). I have created the following loose "rules":
1. The teams will play a 60-game regular season against each other, meaning they play each other 12 times. I just didn't want career totals to seem too small. This is followed by a four-team playoff of two best-of-five series for the championship.
2. In order to be selected for a team, that player had to have played at least three seasons in a particular decade. This created some tough decisions (e.g., should Mario Lemieux play for the 80s or the 90s, where he can be with Jagr. And where should Jagr go?!).
3. The player could only be selected once, so no Gretzky on the 80s and the 90s.
4. Regardless of which decade the player was whatever age in, skaters were/are being imported at ages 20-22 (with notable exceptions: I want some like Gretzky to be around an extra year, so they're 19). Goalies are imported at ages 27, 24, and 19-20.
5. Each team is composed of 15 forwards, 8 defensemen, and 3 goalies. 23 active players are allowed, so 3 players must go to a six-team minor league.
6. I am running the Ottawa 90s. I am designing the uniforms and logos myself, so if these strike you as terrible, it's OK.
7. I am allowing the AI to setup organization once I contract the 26 players. So while I am responsible for selecting the initial contracted roster, I am not responsible for line construction or Gretzky inexplicably being a shadow. The exception to this is the 90s team, which I am selecting lines and pairings and all that jazz.
8. Trading has been reduced to 1. I have made it a fictional league, meaning that new players to the draft will be fictional. I do plan on importing some players that I just had to skip over (it's getting more agonizing as I go and am more familiar with the players).
Below I shall post screenshots of each team I have built so far (contract page, the player profile of the captain, and lines page). I don't move very quickly, so I'm not done yet.
PS-I know that with the new players and all, eventually players are going to be on teams they have no business being on. I can live with that. I just like the fun of this initial construction!