Historical Draft - Can't sign Players

[Chomps]

I have been following the YouTube Series on the Historical Winnipeg Jets and have been playing along in FHM2. Thank you for creating these videos, as I know nothing about Hockey.

I just completed the Draft 79/80', and picked some of the same players as in the YouTube video, but also picked some of my own.

After the Draft completed I tried to sign my draftees, however, I am unable to sign quite a few of them and get the following error message:

"This player is unable to sign with a Foreign team"

One of the players I chose was Alexi Kasatonov, which I can't sign.

What is the deal here?

[brewdog]

At one point in one of the videos, Jeff mentions a bug. He doesn't go into detail about it, but does say that he is deliberately staying away from the Russian players due to that.

[Adam B]

Originally Posted by brewdog

At one point in one of the videos, Jeff mentions a bug. He doesn't go into detail about it, but does say that he is deliberately staying away from the Russian players due to that.

Well yes and no.

Being that you're just learning the game of hockey, this is something the game doesn't do a great job of informing you on, and more it's something you're expected to know: Eastern Block Countries (more specifically, Russian players) are not allowed into the NHL until the late 80s, early 90s.

This really happened. The USSR was very protective of its players and way of life, and did not want their Superstars leaving. It wasn't until pretty much the fall of the Soviet Union that this changed. So while you can draft the players to gain his rights, you can't sign them. That's why it's best to stay away from Eastern Block countries in the draft.

The 'bug' Jeff mentions is that some players did come over earlier than they currently can in the game. But overall the game acts as it really was in real life.

[Chomps]

Originally Posted by Adam B

Well yes and no.

Being that you're just learning the game, of hockey, this is something the game doesn't do a great job of informing you on, and more it's something you're expected to know: Eastern Block Countries (more specifically, Russian players) are not allowed into the NHL until the late 80s, early 90s.

This really happened. The USSR was very protective of its players and way of life, and did not want their Superstars leaving. It wasn't until pretty much the fall of the Soviet Union that this changed. So while you can draft the players to gain his rights, you can't sign them. That's why it's best to stay away from Eastern Block countries in the draft.

The 'bug' Jeff mentions is that some players did come over earlier than they currently can in the game. But overall the game acts as it really was in real life.

Great, now my game is f'd up due to this. It would have been helpful if you would have mentioned this in your video before the Draft! What is the point of having these dudes in the Draft if you can't sign them???

[Adam B]

Originally Posted by Chomps

Great, now my game is f'd up due to this. It would have been helpful if you would have mentioned this in your video before the Draft! What is the point of having these dudes in the Draft if you can't sign them???

I thought we had. Apologies. The players rights won't expire and you could have them join you in the future, so it doesn't break your game. It could make it a tougher, longer season again, but I'm 99.9% sure you could still field a team, just not the one you were hoping for.

If you really want, should be able to do a workaround by Editing the player in Commissioner Mode and switching their nationality to Canadian and/or American, thus allowing them to sign with you.

[Chomps]

Thank you, I did set the Russians up with dual Nationality so I could sign them.