Historical League: IHL is broken

sixto · 06-04-2026, 11:13 PM

I'm 10 years into a historical league starting in 1983 and something is wrong with the IHL. I'm playing with the setting where there is no draft, and players are automatically assigned to the clubs they began their careers with IRL.

What is happening is that new players who are unsigned by their parent clubs get signed by IHL clubs for outlandish salaries (like $750,000 to play in San Diego in 1994).

Now if the parent club wants to sign them, the player thinks they should be paid $750,000 a year. So the parent clubs don't sign them, so they end up stuck in the minors for good.

(Here is where you don't see a screen grab of Derek King, age 27, who has played 8 amazing seasons with the Milwaukee Admirals, making $410,000 a year.)

Concrete example: I have a player, Janne Niinimaa, who I did not sign in summer 1993. I want to sign him in summer 1994, but he is demanding $495,000 a year, because the Las Vegas Thunder are currently paying him $450,000.

As long as IHL clubs have the resources to give unsigned players high six figures, this style of historical league is going to be broken.

I'm happy to upload my save, just lmk.

(I have another bug report that kind of died that I'm certain is related. When new players are added to each club in the summer, FHM signs as many as possible to NHL contracts, until the club reaches the 50/50 contract limit. Meaning that clubs can't sign these additional new players unless they release some of the players that they just signed to NHL contracts. So that is likely the original reason players get stuck in the IHL in the first place.)

lawrence97 · 06-05-2026, 08:45 AM

Yeah that contract thing is a pain, you can sign any free agent with no problems usually.

Sebastian Palkowski · 06-05-2026, 10:23 AM

For the main problem (the high contracts in the IHL) we found the bug and fixed it now (the historical money adjustment was not calculated in the IHL, leading to way to high values).

Regarding the second problem: I´m not sure what we can do about it. Teams have a 50 coontract limit, so it is possible that they can´t sign everyone that is created for the new season.

sixto · 06-05-2026, 12:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sebastian Palkowski

For the main problem (the high contracts in the IHL) we found the bug and fixed it now (the historical money adjustment was not calculated in the IHL, leading to way to high values).

Regarding the second problem: I´m not sure what we can do about it. Teams have a 50 coontract limit, so it is possible that they can´t sign everyone that is created for the new season.

Thank you for the fix!

Re: the second problem: NHL teams do not always immediately sign the players they draft. Particularly when they draft players from Europe. Peter Forsberg is a famous example, but he is one of hundreds.

For historical simming, it might be a compromise to add players to their clubs not when they were drafted, but in the season that they actually signed their first contract.

It can be fun to promote a player to the NHL years before he ever actually played in the league — honestly, a fun what-if scenario — but this is coming at a cost.

If teams are loaded up to the contract max of 50, they also can't sign FA...

I admit it sounds challenging to train AI to sometimes sign new players and sometimes let them play in juniors/in Europe. But that's what would have to happen.

06-04-2026, 11:13 PM	#1
sixto Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 2,277	Historical League: IHL is broken I'm 10 years into a historical league starting in 1983 and something is wrong with the IHL. I'm playing with the setting where there is no draft, and players are automatically assigned to the clubs they began their careers with IRL. What is happening is that new players who are unsigned by their parent clubs get signed by IHL clubs for outlandish salaries (like $750,000 to play in San Diego in 1994). Now if the parent club wants to sign them, the player thinks they should be paid $750,000 a year. So the parent clubs don't sign them, so they end up stuck in the minors for good. (Here is where you don't see a screen grab of Derek King, age 27, who has played 8 amazing seasons with the Milwaukee Admirals, making $410,000 a year.) Concrete example: I have a player, Janne Niinimaa, who I did not sign in summer 1993. I want to sign him in summer 1994, but he is demanding $495,000 a year, because the Las Vegas Thunder are currently paying him $450,000. As long as IHL clubs have the resources to give unsigned players high six figures, this style of historical league is going to be broken. I'm happy to upload my save, just lmk. (I have another bug report that kind of died that I'm certain is related. When new players are added to each club in the summer, FHM signs as many as possible to NHL contracts, until the club reaches the 50/50 contract limit. Meaning that clubs can't sign these additional new players unless they release some of the players that they just signed to NHL contracts. So that is likely the original reason players get stuck in the IHL in the first place.) Last edited by sixto; 06-04-2026 at 11:14 PM.

06-05-2026, 10:23 AM	#3
Sebastian Palkowski Developer Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Hamburg, Germany Posts: 5,593	For the main problem (the high contracts in the IHL) we found the bug and fixed it now (the historical money adjustment was not calculated in the IHL, leading to way to high values). Regarding the second problem: I´m not sure what we can do about it. Teams have a 50 coontract limit, so it is possible that they can´t sign everyone that is created for the new season. __________________ Buy Franchise Hockey Manager

06-05-2026, 08:45 AM	#2
lawrence97 All Star Reserve Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: England Posts: 554	Yeah that contract thing is a pain, you can sign any free agent with no problems usually.