The anti-fun crowd here is going to skip over the fact that it's a video game...

Without really worrying about those trades, question: Who do you think the toughest team to build in 22 is, while trying to keep it as reasonably realistic as possible?

I've been trying to settle on a mid-tier team that has cap issues, a bad prospect pool, and a lack of draft capital. I'm almost settled on Vancouver, or even Philly, but I can't decide. Willing to listen to other suggestions as well

god that pitt trade is garbage
nhl 22 is always a sight to behold with its trades

Philly and Van are easy as they have easy assets to move for picks id say the sharks and you cant trade Burns, karlson, MEV, etc makes them the hardest cause you can move them for 1st but its not realistic so i dont do it

The likelihood of Marino getting moved AFTER the season is very low, not impossible, but very low. There's unfortunately a higher chance than people thought that Letang may leave, so if he does, moving Marino would absolutely destroy our defense.

In a bubble, a video game trade world, where the Pens were able to keep Letang and have a way to properly replace Marino? Sure and I know that was your intent with moving Bortuzzo, but he's obviously a major step down from Marino you'd be keeping Bortuzzo. But that said, if the Pens wanted to make a move like this because they had a replacement in place? I think this is a fair deal.

Yeah, my thoughts on Vancouver, just from a potential "realism" (as in house rules...EA's trade engine is obviously garbage) is mainly from a "We're not looking to rebuild, but at the same time we sort of are" if that makes sense. From that perspective, JT Miller would be the one true trade chip (Some minor ones here and there), but guys like Pettersson/Hughes/Demko/Boeser (To a lesser degree) wouldn't be moved, because obviously you could just tear it apart which is pretty easy in a video game.

Then, from a D-perspective, you're stuck with Myers/OEL/Poolman, which means that you're looking at around $15 mil in the offseason (Did a test last night) to re-sign Boeser and fill any holes. Basically, the top tiered UFA's would f*ck you capwise.

I like the idea of SJ, but I'm a Ducks fan so it might hurt my soul

Habs are hard to make a Franchise mode with tbh, as they have Weber + Price so they are over the cap.

Yeah, I downloaded a roster from the roster sharing function (Finally, after all these years of EA garbage!) that doesn't include Weber on the Habs, so as to make them cap compliant (And based on the assumption that he likely won't play again). But yeah, could be a tougher one. Will it let me get a 1st+Top prospect for Chiarot at the deadline though? Kidding.

I'd just be worried that if I used the Habs, I'd get suckered into joining your fan base...I'd imagine that I'd be disowned by @salzy @oldnyifan and @tz11 if I did it

Yeah I was into shared rosters at first as well, but I had a hard time finding one that I like. I had a cool one with missing prospects and great player ratings, but guys like Jagr, Grigorenko & Shipachyov were all UFAs after the first season and it's super annoying. Then I tried JFresh's roster, and guys like Johansen and Monahan go from 79 overall to 74 overall after one season and you're stuck with high salaries in your minors.

I wish roster sharing was cross-platform, tbh. I'm still on PS4, but there's a great one called "true depth roster" that absolutely knocks it out of the park when it comes to prospects, and the player ratings are pretty solid as well. I do a few edits of my own here and there, but even the draft class for 22 and 23 are pretty much spot on compared to mocks (Though I keep stealing Gauncher in the 3rd round...obviously need to edit him a bit )

Columbus is always fun not super difficult but a lot of there prospect don’t grow crazy a lot so they are realistic and you don’t have like 4 80 overalls after year 1 in the minors

Did a little test one a while back with them, and it was pretty fun. Boqvist was a f*ckin' beast...was almost like playing with a cheap Makar

Kinda wish they'd fix contract demands a bit...like, the mid-tier guys seem fine, but I simmed to free agency with Vancouver the other day, just to get a feel, and there were 8 guys who ended up signing for $10 mil+.

Boeser was asking for 7 x $10.3, and ended up accepting his QO 3 weeks into the offseason.

Yea it’s the worst no way Rakell or olfsson get 10+ it’s crazy

100%. I mean, I like that the contract engine is created to try to be a little more "Stats" based when it comes to contracts, as opposed to being 100% about attributes, regardless of whether you get 100 pts, or 5 pts, but there's absolutely no planet that some of these guys all of the sudden get paid like a top 5 player in the league.

It is weird, because I look at some of them and I'm like "Oh wow, that's pretty reasonable/probably realistic", and then I see Bryan Rust getting $10.5 mil for 7 years. Like, don't get me wrong, I like Rust, but dear lord

Or then you sign 115 point player at 20 years old to and 8x8 lmao

That’s a terrible move for the jackets.

Hahaha, exactly. I was laughed a lot when Boeser went from 7 x $10.3, to 7 x $9 (I do like that they'll adjust demands a bit...), to accepting the $5.75ish mil qualifying offer within 3 weeks. Kind of assumed I'd end up getting him for 5 x $7.5 or something, then all of the sudden "Poof", qualifying offer accepted

Dude, you cannot be serious. That package does not get you close enough just to sniff Kyrou's gloves, let alone to grab him AND a 1st.

I meant fair for the Pens

Heh. Yeah, suuuper fair for them .