Strange free agency and transfer offers pattern concerning euro clubs on september 1st

Félicette · 06-20-2023, 06:55 PM

Hi !

So I'm currently continuing my journeyman save with the hope to land a NHL gig after the grind, and I already coached in 4 different leagues in this save.

I noticed a strange pattern in free agency that seems to always start on the September 1st each season, and so far it happened every time whatever the league I played in :

Each season, from July 1st to August 31st, I have no problem to sign various free agents from anywhere, or to send transfer offers to other euro clubs and sign their players.

Obviously the top NHL players are directly not interested to come to play over here, or lesser NHL talents are asking for wages I definitely can't afford, but I still manage to land some great players, sometimes really great players, or at least manage to negociate something with them.

But I noticed that every season, on the september 1st, every free agent behaviour change immediately and when I want to propose them a contract they are all saying that they are not interested in negociating (the "I'm not interested in further negociations" line), even if we actually talk for the first time.

Well, not exactly every free agent, but the thing is there seem to be a threshold that kicks in on september 1st, and that blocks me to sign any players that have more than 2 stars ability.

This year I'm playing my second season with Frölunda in the SHL, I signed free agents in july and august, and in september some of my players left to sign an NHL contract. It gave me some financial flexibility and since there were still pretty good talents available in free agency, I thought I would be able to replace the guys that left overseas.

The problem is that those good talents who are not interested to talk to me, finally sign with some swedish 3rd division clubs for example, for a ridiculous wage compared to what I would be able to offer them if only they wanted to talk to my team, one of the best in the country.

They play a few games in lower divisions, and then sign with another club in the SHL or another top league, without letting me the chance to even negociate with them.

The same thing happens with transfer offers. I tried several time to land 2.5, 3, and 3.5 stars ability players that play in lower divisions, or in far lesser leagues than the SHL, and even if if their club accept my offer, the moment I try to negociate with them they tell me the same thing, "I'm not interested in further negociations", only to find them signing elsewhere a few weeks later sometimes. Same pattern here, I have no problem whatsoever to do that in july and august, but they all shun me down when september 1st come, no matter the situation. They can, however, sign with other clubs if they wish.

I tried this in 4 different leagues and every time the same pattern happened, from the 1st of September I can't access any players that have more than 2 stars ability for my league, even though I can manage to land 4 or 4.5 stars players on august 31st. The pattern resets on the 1st of july, and comes back every season so far in September.

I missed a lot of interesting players getting bought out of their NHL contracts, not being able to even negociate with them, to finally see them sign in lower leagues or with my rivals :-/

I tried with dozens of different players, playing in 4 different leagues, and experienced the same strange September 1st threshold, so I thought I should bring this up as something might not work as intended.

Thanks for reading !

JeffR · 06-21-2023, 01:58 PM

Odd, the check to limit player interest in a league by talent level shouldn't be restricted by date. I'll have to do some experimenting to see if I can figure out exactly what's going on there.

Félicette · 06-21-2023, 02:33 PM

Awesome, thanks for looking into it

matt#5 · 06-22-2023, 04:41 AM

I have noticed the same behavior in my savegame.
I lost two players to the NHL on the 1st of September and now I can't sign another player from NA because good players are not interested. Have been able to reproduce this with Allsvenskan and DEL teams.

can also confirm that sometime after 1st September good players (eg Nico Sturm) sign in lower league teams, but then usually (a short time later) move by transfer to top teams in eg DEL.

@Jeff
I can upload you the two Save Games if you want.
One savegame would be in September 2025 or September 2026 (not quite sure) and be in the DEL, the other is in September 2025 and show the example of Nico Sturm.

Félicette · 06-22-2023, 09:02 AM

Yup same thing here, I'm into my next season and can confirm it's still happening.

Good call for the upload, if it's of any help the save I recently uploaded for an unrelated bug (""kahun_injury.lg.zip", player not being treated for several seasons after a delayed injury) is the same save I'm still playing and where I noticed that pattern

06-20-2023, 06:55 PM	#1
Félicette Minors (Double A) Join Date: Apr 2022 Location: France Posts: 166	Strange free agency and transfer offers pattern concerning euro clubs on september 1st Hi ! So I'm currently continuing my journeyman save with the hope to land a NHL gig after the grind, and I already coached in 4 different leagues in this save. I noticed a strange pattern in free agency that seems to always start on the September 1st each season, and so far it happened every time whatever the league I played in : Each season, from July 1st to August 31st, I have no problem to sign various free agents from anywhere, or to send transfer offers to other euro clubs and sign their players. Obviously the top NHL players are directly not interested to come to play over here, or lesser NHL talents are asking for wages I definitely can't afford, but I still manage to land some great players, sometimes really great players, or at least manage to negociate something with them. But I noticed that every season, on the september 1st, every free agent behaviour change immediately and when I want to propose them a contract they are all saying that they are not interested in negociating (the "I'm not interested in further negociations" line), even if we actually talk for the first time. Well, not exactly every free agent, but the thing is there seem to be a threshold that kicks in on september 1st, and that blocks me to sign any players that have more than 2 stars ability. This year I'm playing my second season with Frölunda in the SHL, I signed free agents in july and august, and in september some of my players left to sign an NHL contract. It gave me some financial flexibility and since there were still pretty good talents available in free agency, I thought I would be able to replace the guys that left overseas. The problem is that those good talents who are not interested to talk to me, finally sign with some swedish 3rd division clubs for example, for a ridiculous wage compared to what I would be able to offer them if only they wanted to talk to my team, one of the best in the country. They play a few games in lower divisions, and then sign with another club in the SHL or another top league, without letting me the chance to even negociate with them. The same thing happens with transfer offers. I tried several time to land 2.5, 3, and 3.5 stars ability players that play in lower divisions, or in far lesser leagues than the SHL, and even if if their club accept my offer, the moment I try to negociate with them they tell me the same thing, "I'm not interested in further negociations", only to find them signing elsewhere a few weeks later sometimes. Same pattern here, I have no problem whatsoever to do that in july and august, but they all shun me down when september 1st come, no matter the situation. They can, however, sign with other clubs if they wish. I tried this in 4 different leagues and every time the same pattern happened, from the 1st of September I can't access any players that have more than 2 stars ability for my league, even though I can manage to land 4 or 4.5 stars players on august 31st. The pattern resets on the 1st of july, and comes back every season so far in September. I missed a lot of interesting players getting bought out of their NHL contracts, not being able to even negociate with them, to finally see them sign in lower leagues or with my rivals :-/ I tried with dozens of different players, playing in 4 different leagues, and experienced the same strange September 1st threshold, so I thought I should bring this up as something might not work as intended. Thanks for reading ! Last edited by Félicette; 06-20-2023 at 06:59 PM.

06-22-2023, 04:41 AM	#4
matt#5 Major Leagues Join Date: Dec 2017 Location: Straubing, Germany Posts: 434	I have noticed the same behavior in my savegame. I lost two players to the NHL on the 1st of September and now I can't sign another player from NA because good players are not interested. Have been able to reproduce this with Allsvenskan and DEL teams. can also confirm that sometime after 1st September good players (eg Nico Sturm) sign in lower league teams, but then usually (a short time later) move by transfer to top teams in eg DEL. @Jeff I can upload you the two Save Games if you want. One savegame would be in September 2025 or September 2026 (not quite sure) and be in the DEL, the other is in September 2025 and show the example of Nico Sturm. Last edited by matt#5; 06-22-2023 at 10:40 AM.

06-21-2023, 01:58 PM	#2
JeffR FHM Producer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Kelowna, BC Posts: 17,425	Odd, the check to limit player interest in a league by talent level shouldn't be restricted by date. I'll have to do some experimenting to see if I can figure out exactly what's going on there.

06-21-2023, 02:33 PM	#3
Félicette Minors (Double A) Join Date: Apr 2022 Location: France Posts: 166	Awesome, thanks for looking into it

06-22-2023, 09:02 AM	#5
Félicette Minors (Double A) Join Date: Apr 2022 Location: France Posts: 166	Yup same thing here, I'm into my next season and can confirm it's still happening. Good call for the upload, if it's of any help the save I recently uploaded for an unrelated bug (""kahun_injury.lg.zip", player not being treated for several seasons after a delayed injury) is the same save I'm still playing and where I noticed that pattern