Team preference Each player deep down inside has a preference where he plays. Players have favorite teams. Imagine 4 tiers of teams for each created player. 8 teams I'd love to play on. 8 teams I'd like to play on. 8 teams that are neutral or meh, 8 teams I'd rather not play on. This cool feature would have a major impact on the NHL Draft and Free Agency. A players morale will be effected by this depending on which team he is drafted by. If he's drafted by one of the teams in his bottom 8 he might not sign an ELC with them and want to be traded. In free agency there's little chance he'd sign with one of these 8 teams. For my own player my top 8 would likely be Vancouver, New York, Montreal plus 3 others. I would most want to be drafted by my top 8 teams especially these 3 that I like most. Or when I become a free agent I would probably only be interested in signing with one of these 8 teams.
Alternate numbers for created players. Perhaps choose 5 jersey numbers. For example 17, 79, 7, 28, 33.
Origin. After we choose country we should be able to choose a city from a list of cities in that country.
Better jersey # AI. While in franchise when I see a goalie wearing, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, etc that drives me nuts. Plante's #1 is retired in Montreal. Price got #31, not #6 or #8 or #11. Users should have control over player numbers on other teams in franchise mode to fix this when this happens.
Legends & Alumni players instantly available as Coaches in Franchise
Create a Coach
BE A PRO (Head Coach should be an option
IIHF WOMEN should be available as free agents
EA SPORTS AI GENERATED PROSPECTS should have a photo so we can see them before drafting them
IIHF TOURNAMENTS included in FRANCHISE & BE A PRO
AUTOMATIC SCREENSHOTS saved in album. It would be great if the Stanley Cup celebration wouldn't stop when we want to take a screenshot
SCOUTING we should actually go on a trip to scouts games and either watch/play/sim them and see the players in action
UNSIGNED INTERNATIONAL PLAYERS it would be really neat to have a draft of all players overseas who aren't in the NHL Entry draft. The AHL & ECHL have tons of players on them who aren't signed so by having a draft of all these players it would improve the depth of each NHL organization.
BE A PRO we should be able to choose any player on any roster and use that player in a BE A PRO mode. If the guy is40 years old we continue at that stage of his career and likely become a coach moving forward. If he's a teenager in the CHL we start from there.
PRACTICES we should have to complete practices within franchise & be a pro to work on certain things that we had trouble with in recent games based on game reports.