Top-Tier UFAs Signing in KHL for Cheap

Cas · 09-18-2020, 03:49 PM

I'm playing a standard NHL game, starting from the beginning of 19-20 onward.

I have now twice seen top-tier UFA players sign inexpensive (~$4 million) one-year contracts in the KHL, rather than the NHL - specifically MacKinnon and Draisaitl. Both were 5-star players demanding $10-12 million per season, and both signed their KHL contracts on 4 July of their respective UFA years.

I left MacKinnon where he was, but I edited Draisaitl to make him a free agent again. After two weeks he signed with another KHL team for about $4 million, so I'm leaving him there.

I have not increased the salary cap in this game, so my speculation is that the AI sees that no teams have sufficient cap space for these player's demands and decides to send them to Russia (even though they take a massive pay cut).

Paddyjack · 09-22-2020, 03:57 PM

Ha! You should see my custom game right now. I'm in my 9th season, and 5 stars guys get waived all the time, even once it was a guy who was actually in the top 5 scorers of the league after 70 games and he was sent to the minors lol.

My salary cap is now 90 millions and I think that's the reason, these guys have salaries of 6-10 millions. This happened because the first 3-4 seasons, absolute all stars could be found in the draft up to the 4rth round lol. These guys are now in their 24-25 year old and asking a lot of money.

I guess if you were to play without a salary cap these kind of things would not be happening, but where is the fun in that.

PhilHell37 · 09-24-2020, 03:28 AM

In my newest save - playing as the Avs - Braden Holtby has left Washington in the first off-season and signed a two-year-deal with Metallurg Magnitogorsk.

Cas · 10-01-2020, 12:51 PM

When MacKinnon and Draisaitl both hit free agency, I signed them each for $5 million/3 years, each still in their prime. They were only demanding about $3.5 million each, but I decided to massively exceed their demands to guarantee I'd sign them. That's going to be a fun team and I've already won two straight cups (the second with Draisaitl).

I think what might really help would be the AI buying out bad contracts more often, or giving the player the ability to force another team to buyout a contract. Sure, it's easy to abuse, but so is editing a player's team and salary (or attributes), and if I had that power I could start clearing out some bad contracts and opening up cap space around the league without resorting to expedients like editing player salaries (I haven't done this, but I may test this out at some point).

09-18-2020, 03:49 PM	#1
Cas Bat Boy Join Date: Jul 2020 Posts: 10	Top-Tier UFAs Signing in KHL for Cheap I'm playing a standard NHL game, starting from the beginning of 19-20 onward. I have now twice seen top-tier UFA players sign inexpensive (~$4 million) one-year contracts in the KHL, rather than the NHL - specifically MacKinnon and Draisaitl. Both were 5-star players demanding $10-12 million per season, and both signed their KHL contracts on 4 July of their respective UFA years. I left MacKinnon where he was, but I edited Draisaitl to make him a free agent again. After two weeks he signed with another KHL team for about $4 million, so I'm leaving him there. I have not increased the salary cap in this game, so my speculation is that the AI sees that no teams have sufficient cap space for these player's demands and decides to send them to Russia (even though they take a massive pay cut).

09-22-2020, 03:57 PM	#2
Paddyjack Bat Boy Join Date: Sep 2015 Posts: 13	Ha! You should see my custom game right now. I'm in my 9th season, and 5 stars guys get waived all the time, even once it was a guy who was actually in the top 5 scorers of the league after 70 games and he was sent to the minors lol. My salary cap is now 90 millions and I think that's the reason, these guys have salaries of 6-10 millions. This happened because the first 3-4 seasons, absolute all stars could be found in the draft up to the 4rth round lol. These guys are now in their 24-25 year old and asking a lot of money. I guess if you were to play without a salary cap these kind of things would not be happening, but where is the fun in that.

09-24-2020, 03:28 AM	#3
PhilHell37 Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 29	In my newest save - playing as the Avs - Braden Holtby has left Washington in the first off-season and signed a two-year-deal with Metallurg Magnitogorsk.

10-01-2020, 12:51 PM	#4
Cas Bat Boy Join Date: Jul 2020 Posts: 10	When MacKinnon and Draisaitl both hit free agency, I signed them each for $5 million/3 years, each still in their prime. They were only demanding about $3.5 million each, but I decided to massively exceed their demands to guarantee I'd sign them. That's going to be a fun team and I've already won two straight cups (the second with Draisaitl). I think what might really help would be the AI buying out bad contracts more often, or giving the player the ability to force another team to buyout a contract. Sure, it's easy to abuse, but so is editing a player's team and salary (or attributes), and if I had that power I could start clearing out some bad contracts and opening up cap space around the league without resorting to expedients like editing player salaries (I haven't done this, but I may test this out at some point).