Poor draft quality after 2026~

BlueLemming · 12-29-2022, 11:22 PM

The quality of prospects in the NHL draft start to decline significantly around 2026. Attached is a screenshot of what's available to me at 31st overall in 2030.

I brought this up in FHM 8 and it was suggested that making all leagues playable would help, but I've tried many saves with all leagues and with only NHL/AHL, and I've hardly noticed any difference. In this particular save I only have NHL and AHL selected as playable.

Is there anything that can be done about this? Would you ever expose settings for us to tweak how the prospects are generated?

Swedishgamefreak · 12-30-2022, 06:58 AM

Yeah this has been a real problem for a couple years with the game. :/

toque · 12-31-2022, 12:41 AM

I have this issue with my long-term Kraken save, and all playable leagues are on

artlan · 01-04-2023, 01:25 PM

Can confirm that I am experienced/ing the same issue with FHM 8/FHM 9.Level of eligible draftees from 2026 and onwards is horrible.

alko · 01-05-2023, 09:04 AM

In my game it isnt so bad. From time to time there are also players, they can jump right into NHL after draft.

But never ever saw a player, rookie, on the Crosby - Oveckin level. Here should be also a little tweak possible. Max. 3 stars.

Whomario · 01-06-2023, 07:37 AM

I think part of the problem is perception due to the inflated quality of early drafts and young current IRL prospects from the last couple of drafts. For reference just go to Draft Logs and look at how players from pre-game-start drafts stack up. Then sim a few seasons and look at the 24 and 25 drafts (the 15, 16 year olds at the start) especially. Those are incredibly stacked with hardly any players under 2.5* Potential. Compared to the starting Rosters this means pretty much the entire draft has potential to be league average or better.

2018 has only roughly 70 player with 2.5 or higher potential by consensus scouting. Game generated drafts in my test sim generally have about that or more than that with most leagues selected (not selected leagues that don't produce NHLers like Australia, UK etc). I do wish the draft order would be a tad more random, though there are a few late round gems and early round busts (from my sim to 2041, in the 2031 draft the 18th Pick has not yet played a game as a 2* Ability/Potential player while the 187th pick is on 491 as a 3*).

My simmed league in 2040 has rosters that don't look much different than at the start. I mean, look at the starting rosters: Most teams will have half a dozen or more 2 star (or lower) ability players on their roster. Meaning a 2* potential player is potentially an NHL quality player.

12-29-2022, 11:22 PM	#1
BlueLemming Minors (Double A) Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 103	Poor draft quality after 2026~ The quality of prospects in the NHL draft start to decline significantly around 2026. Attached is a screenshot of what's available to me at 31st overall in 2030. I brought this up in FHM 8 and it was suggested that making all leagues playable would help, but I've tried many saves with all leagues and with only NHL/AHL, and I've hardly noticed any difference. In this particular save I only have NHL and AHL selected as playable. Is there anything that can be done about this? Would you ever expose settings for us to tweak how the prospects are generated? Attached Images

01-06-2023, 07:37 AM	#6
Whomario Bat Boy Join Date: Dec 2022 Posts: 7	I think part of the problem is perception due to the inflated quality of early drafts and young current IRL prospects from the last couple of drafts. For reference just go to Draft Logs and look at how players from pre-game-start drafts stack up. Then sim a few seasons and look at the 24 and 25 drafts (the 15, 16 year olds at the start) especially. Those are incredibly stacked with hardly any players under 2.5* Potential. Compared to the starting Rosters this means pretty much the entire draft has potential to be league average or better. 2018 has only roughly 70 player with 2.5 or higher potential by consensus scouting. Game generated drafts in my test sim generally have about that or more than that with most leagues selected (not selected leagues that don't produce NHLers like Australia, UK etc). I do wish the draft order would be a tad more random, though there are a few late round gems and early round busts (from my sim to 2041, in the 2031 draft the 18th Pick has not yet played a game as a 2* Ability/Potential player while the 187th pick is on 491 as a 3). My simmed league in 2040 has rosters that don't look much different than at the start. I mean, look at the starting rosters: Most teams will have half a dozen or more 2 star (or lower) ability players on their roster. Meaning a 2 potential player is potentially an NHL quality player. Last edited by Whomario; 01-06-2023 at 08:20 AM.

12-30-2022, 06:58 AM	#2
Swedishgamefreak Minors (Double A) Join Date: Mar 2013 Posts: 189	Yeah this has been a real problem for a couple years with the game. :/

12-31-2022, 12:41 AM	#3
toque Minors (Double A) Join Date: Jan 2019 Location: Canada Posts: 176	I have this issue with my long-term Kraken save, and all playable leagues are on

01-04-2023, 01:25 PM	#4
artlan Minors (Single A) Join Date: Oct 2015 Posts: 80	Can confirm that I am experienced/ing the same issue with FHM 8/FHM 9.Level of eligible draftees from 2026 and onwards is horrible.

01-05-2023, 09:04 AM	#5
alko Major Leagues Join Date: Aug 2020 Posts: 476	In my game it isnt so bad. From time to time there are also players, they can jump right into NHL after draft. But never ever saw a player, rookie, on the Crosby - Oveckin level. Here should be also a little tweak possible. Max. 3 stars.