Key facts
- Franchise Mode makes you the GM: you handle lines, contracts, trades, scouting, the draft and prospect development across as many seasons as you want.
- NHL 27 adds Connected Franchise, an online league where every team is run by a human player.
- Setup choices like the salary cap, trade difficulty and progression settings matter more than most players realize.
- Most collapses come from long deals for players past their peak and from rushing prospects.
- Cap space you don’t touch until the deadline is worth more than almost any mid-tier free agent in July.
Good NHL Franchise Mode results come from managing your cap and developing your prospects, not from winning a few big trades. You run the whole operation: lines, contracts, scouting, the draft and the farm system. The players who win Cups year after year are the ones who plan two seasons ahead. Here’s how it all fits together, in the order you’ll run into it.
How NHL Franchise Mode works
NHL Franchise Mode puts you in charge as general manager of one or more teams over an open-ended number of seasons. It isn’t new. Franchise has been in the game for years and lets you take control of a team as the GM of a team, in the existing NHL, a custom league, or even a 33-team expansion draft with custom rosters.
The loop never changes much. You set lines, play or sim the regular season, make trades before the deadline, survive the playoffs, then move into the offseason: draft, re-signings, free agency and player progression. Then you do it all again with a roster that has aged a year.
What changed recently
The modern hub dates to NHL 25. EA said Franchise Mode gets a revamp in NHL 25. Starting with the Franchise hub, streamlined navigation gives players access to new, relevant and easy-to-digest information. NHL 26 barely touched the mode. One NHL 26 review flatly said “Franchise mode went untouched”. It did pick up an indirect boost, because NHL 26 features 28 X-Factors at launch, all with three tiers that indicate how effective they can be, and those abilities shape who’s worth paying.
NHL 27’s big addition is online. EA Sports is introducing a new “Connected Franchise” mode to NHL 27, which gives players a chance to connect and compete with other fans in a 32-team online league. The new mode allows players to create, customize and manage the shared league and offers flexible scheduling, comprehensive roster management and commissioner tools.
Offline Franchise vs. Connected Franchise
| Feature | Offline Franchise | Connected Franchise (NHL 27) |
|---|---|---|
| Who runs the other teams | CPU, or you if you take control of more teams | Every team must be human-controlled |
| Pace | Yours, sim whenever you like | Set by the league and the commissioner |
| Trades | Against CPU trade logic | Against real people, with commissioner oversight |
| Free agency | Standard signing phase | Bidding between league members |
| Best for | Solo rebuilds, long dynasties | Friend groups who want real rivals |
The human-only rule is the one that catches groups off guard. EA has confirmed that every team in a Connected Franchise league must be controlled by a human player. If you’ve only got six buddies, you’ll want a smaller custom league, not the full 32.
What you need before you start
You need a copy of the game, a team you’re willing to live with for several seasons, and about 20 minutes to read the settings before you hit Start. That last part sounds dull. It also decides whether your save is still fun in year four.
The basics
- The game itself. NHL 27 is the current release. NHL 26 and NHL 25 still run the same core Franchise loop, so most of these tips carry over to those games too.
- An online subscription for Connected Franchise only. Offline Franchise runs without one. Connected Franchise is online play, so check your platform’s subscription rules on PlayStation or Xbox before you commit to a league.
- An updated roster. Default rosters get updates during the season. EA says commissioners can choose to start from default rosters (which EA says will receive updates throughout the year) or build something entirely custom. Start your save after an update lands if you care about the real lineups.
- A plan for your timeline. Decide before you start whether you’re chasing a Cup now or building toward year three. Every later choice depends on that.
Know your gameplay habits
Franchise rewards honesty about your own play. If you play every game on a hard difficulty, you can win with a thinner roster than the sim engine needs. If you sim most of the schedule, the engine decides your season, and it leans on overall ratings and depth.
That split shapes roster building. Players who play every game can afford a skilled, fast top six and a bargain bottom six. Players who sim need balanced depth, because the sim engine doesn’t carry four lines on the backs of two superstars.
Pro tip: Before your first offseason, sim one test season in a throwaway save. You’ll learn how the engine values your team before any of your real decisions count.
Picking a team
The team you pick decides which problems you’ll be solving. A contender gives you a Cup window and a crowded cap sheet. A bottom-feeder gives you lottery picks and cap room, plus about two seasons of losing while the kids grow up.
As Sabres fans, we’ve had plenty of practice at that last one. A rebuild in Franchise goes a lot faster than one in real life, and it’s a good way to learn how the mode works.
Setup choices that matter at the start
The settings that matter most are the salary cap, trade difficulty, progression, injuries and season length. Each one changes how hard the mode is, and most can’t be changed cleanly after you start. Menu wording shifts slightly from year to year, so treat these as categories to look for in the league settings when you create the save.
| Setting | Recommended choice | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Salary cap | On | Without a cap there’s no management. You just collect stars. |
| Trade difficulty or AI trade logic | The tougher option | Easy logic lets you fleece CPU GMs, and the save gets boring by year two |
| Player progression | Default or realistic | Boosted progression inflates ratings across the league within a few seasons |
| Injuries | On | Depth only matters if injuries can test it |
| Season length | Full 82 games for sim-heavy players, shorter if you play every game | Short seasons make results swingier and progression less predictable |
| Number of controlled teams | One | Running several teams invites accidental lopsided trades |
| Fantasy or expansion draft | Optional | Clears out every bad contract on day one |
Real league, fantasy draft or expansion
There are three ways to start, and they make for very different saves.
- Real league. You inherit real contracts, real cap trouble and real prospects. It’s the most authentic start, and the place to learn the mode.
- Fantasy draft. Every team rebuilds from scratch. It’s fun, but contract values can come out strange.
- Expansion. You add a 33rd franchise and build through an expansion draft. It’s a clean slate with no bad deals, and the most rewarding long build.
Settings for Connected Franchise
Connected Franchise commissioners get the most control at setup. You pick the league size, configure conferences and divisions, and the schedule doesn’t have to be rigid. EA built the mode around the reality that people have jobs, time zones, and lives, so leagues aren’t locked into rigid week-by-week deadlines.
Heads up: Agree on trade rules in your group chat before the league starts. Commissioner tools can step in after a bad trade, but it’s a lot easier to stop one from happening.
The cap setting deserves one more word. Turning the cap off feels freeing for about a season and a half. Then every team you face is a pushover and the mode loses all its tension.
Strategies that win, step by step
You win in Franchise by keeping cap flexibility, building through the draft and only spending big when the roster is one or two pieces away. Here is the order I work in every season.
The season checklist
- Audit the cap sheet on day one. Open the roster and contracts screens and list every deal expiring this year and next. That list is your trade and re-sign agenda.
- Set lines before you play a single game. The default lines are often fine, but check your power play and penalty kill units. NHL 26 made the edit lines screen the new screen moving forward, so making changes is quick.
- Assign scouts early. Send your scouts to the regions where your weakest positions grow up. Scouting during the season sharpens your read on prospects before the draft.
- Identify your sellers by midseason. Look for veterans on expiring deals and teams falling out of the race. Those are your trade targets.
- Decide buyer or seller at the deadline. Pick one and commit. Teams that try to do both end up with neither picks nor a Cup.
- Re-sign in priority order. Core players under 27 come first, depth veterans last.
- Draft for value, not need. Take the best prospect on your board in the first two rounds, and fill positional gaps in later rounds.
- Shop free agency for value, not names. The best free-agent signings are short deals for useful depth players, not long deals for 31-year-olds.
How to read prospects
Prospect potential is shown with a confidence level, and this is where most people go wrong. A label like “Top 6 forward” that comes with low certainty is basically a guess. Draft the higher-certainty prospect unless the ceiling gap is huge.
Development comes from playing time. A prospect playing big minutes in the AHL or juniors usually progresses better than one buried on your fourth line. Don’t call him up until he can hold down a real role.
Spending on X-Factors
Since NHL 26, X-Factor abilities affect how well a player performs, not only his overall. Reviewers noted that the redesign not only elevates gameplay, but it also indirectly improves team building in modes like Franchise or HUT. A 84 overall with a top-tier X-Factor can be worth more to your team than an 86 without one, especially if you play your games instead of simming.
Pro tip: If you play your games, pay for X-Factors. If you sim, pay for overall rating and depth. The sim engine cares more about the numbers on the roster than what a player does on the ice.
A worked example from start to finish
Here’s a rebuild that shows the whole process. Say you take over the Buffalo Sabres in an offline Franchise on the tougher trade setting. The numbers below are illustrative round figures, not the game’s actual values, so check your own cap screen for the real ones.
Year one: audit and sell
You open the contracts screen and find your core locked in: Rasmus Dahlin on the blue line and Tage Thompson up front, both on long-term deals. That’s your foundation. Everything else is up for review.
Say you’ve got roughly $6 million in cap space and three veterans on expiring deals. You’re sitting just outside the playoff picture at midseason. This is the decision point. You aren’t one piece away, so you sell.
You move two of the expiring veterans before the deadline for a first-round pick and a second-round pick. The third, a steady defenseman, you keep. He mentors nobody (the game doesn’t simulate that), but he keeps your goals-against respectable while your young defenders get sheltered minutes.
Year one offseason: draft and patience
You finish low enough to land a good lottery position. Your scouts spent the season on the regions with the best forwards, so your board shows two high-certainty centers near the top. You take the best one available and, with the extra first, a defenseman.
Both picks go back down to develop. Neither is ready for a top-nine role, and that’s fine. You re-sign your younger restricted free agents on mid-length deals and let the remaining veteran walk.
Year two: the window cracks open
Your existing young players have progressed a few points, and Dahlin and Thompson are still in their prime. You’ve now got cap room because you avoided long free-agent deals last summer. You sign one short-term veteran for depth at center and trade a lesser prospect for a second-pair defenseman.
Year three: buy at the deadline
Now you’re the team one piece away. At the deadline you trade a later first and a mid-level prospect for a rental winger on an expiring contract. His salary comes off the books in July, so the move costs you nothing next year.
| Season | Status | Key move | Cap result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | Seller | Flip expiring veterans for picks | Space opens for summer |
| Year 1 offseason | Rebuilding | Draft two high-certainty prospects | Entry-level deals, cheap |
| Year 2 | Bubble team | One short veteran signing | Flexibility preserved |
| Year 3 | Contender | Rental winger at the deadline | Expires, no long-term hit |
The key point is that the Year 3 rental only works because of what you held back in Year 1. Cap space you didn’t spend early is what you trade with later.
Advanced tactics and edge cases
The advanced tactics are about timing: when to trade, when to re-sign and how to handle situations the mode doesn’t explain well. These are the ones that separate a solid save from a dynasty.
Trade-deadline timing
CPU teams tend to value players on the season’s results. A veteran on a hot streak in November can be worth more than the same player in February. Sell high early if you’re out of the race, and buy late if you’re in it, when sellers have already given up.
The mid-length contract sweet spot
For young core players, mid-length deals are usually the best value. A long deal for a 22-year-old locks in a rising player at a fixed number. A long deal for a 30-year-old pays for decline years. The rule I use is simple: the deal should expire before the player turns 32.
Waivers and roster limits
Players who are no longer exempt from waivers can be claimed when you send them down. That matters when you shuffle a 24-year-old between the NHL and AHL. Check his waiver status before you move him, or you might hand a useful depth player to a rival for nothing.
Connected Franchise specifics
Online leagues change the economics. Free agency in Connected Franchise works through bidding, and the deep dive covers Free Agency Bidding and Commissioner Actions as separate topics. Human GMs bid against each other in ways CPU teams never do. Expect top free agents to cost more than they would offline, and lean even harder on the draft.
NHL 27’s Connected Franchise mode lets players build custom online leagues with crossplay roster sharing, flexible scheduling, and unlimited seasons. That makes it possible to run a mixed league of PS5 and Xbox Series X and S players. Before you build the league, check that everyone has crossplay turned on in their settings.
| Situation | Offline approach | Connected approach |
|---|---|---|
| Top free agent available | Can be a bargain | Expect a bidding war |
| Lopsided trade offer | CPU logic usually blocks it | Commissioner may need to review |
| Sim pace | Whenever you like | Agreed with the league |
| Long rebuild | Easy to stick with | Harder, rivals keep getting better |
Heads up: In online leagues, your rivals see the same young talent you do. Trade for prospects before they break out, because once their ratings jump, every GM in the league wants them.
Goalies are their own case
Goaltending decides playoff series, in Franchise just like in real life. Developing a goalie takes longer than a skater, so draft one every year or two in the middle rounds. It’s a cheap way to make sure you’re never stuck paying big for a veteran goalie in free agency.
Common mistakes to avoid
The most common mistakes in Franchise are paying for past performance, rushing prospects and ignoring next year’s cap. We’ve all made at least one of these. Some of us have made all of them in the same save.
The big ones
- Long contracts for players over 30. You’re paying for the decline years. Keep veteran deals to three years or fewer whenever you can.
- Calling up prospects too soon. A 19-year-old on your fourth line gets limited minutes. Leave him where he plays big minutes.
- Filling every cap dollar in July. Space you don’t use until the deadline buys the rental that wins a round.
- Trusting low-certainty potential. A bright potential label means little when the certainty is low. Keep scouting before you bet a first-round pick on it.
- Ignoring the power play. Default units don’t always put your best shooters in the right spots. Check the special teams lines every few weeks.
- Being a buyer and a seller in the same season. Pick a lane at the deadline.
- Turning the cap off “just for this season.” It’s never just one season, and the save never recovers.
- Running several teams in one save. It’s very easy to make unbalanced trades between teams you control, even without meaning to.
The sim trap
A quieter mistake is building a team for how you play and then simming the playoffs. If your roster is a speedy top six with thin depth, it might dominate when you’re holding the controller and get bounced when the engine takes over. Either play your playoff games or build with sim depth in mind.
Pro tip: Save before every trade deadline and every free agency period. If a deal goes wrong, you can reload, and you’ll learn how the CPU values players at the same time.
The patience problem
The last mistake is the most human one: quitting a rebuild in year two. A rebuild looks worst right before it turns, when the prospects aren’t ready yet and the veterans are gone. Stick with the plan you made at the start. We’ve waited a long time for good hockey in Buffalo, so another season in a video game won’t hurt.
FAQ
Is Franchise Mode different in NHL 27 than in NHL 26?
The headline change in NHL 27 is Connected Franchise, an online league mode where friends each run a team. Offline Franchise works the way longtime players expect, and NHL 26 shipped with very few Franchise changes.
Can I play Connected Franchise against CPU teams?
No. EA has said every team in a Connected Franchise league must be controlled by a human player, so your group has to fill every slot in the league.
What trade difficulty should I use in NHL Franchise Mode?
Use the tougher trade setting if you want a rebuild that feels earned. Easy trade logic lets you fleece CPU teams, and the save gets boring by season two.
How long should prospects stay in the AHL or juniors?
Leave them down until they can play a regular top-nine forward or top-four defense role. A prospect stuck on the fourth line or the third pair gets little ice time and develops slower than he would playing big minutes in the minors.
Should I sim games or play them in Franchise Mode?
Play the games you care about and sim the rest. Simming a whole 82-game season is fine for progression, but playing key games lets you control results in tight playoff races.
Can I create an expansion team in NHL Franchise Mode?
Yes. Franchise Mode supports an expansion draft that adds a 33rd team with a custom identity, which is a great way to build from scratch without inheriting bad contracts.
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