NHL News
NHL25: How to make Franchise Mode accurate due to LTIR
Written by Data782, NHL25 Expert. Check out YouTube Channel
Welcome to the 4th annual cheat sheet to making your rosters salary cap-compliant on NHL 25!
As you may know, within Franchise Mode in the NHL-series games, the absence of LTIR (long-
term injured reserve) can make things a bit frustrating. For example, due to the Colorado
Avalanche’s current cap situation, each player on NHL 25 would be reduced in their AAV by
~$0.500M to account for the LTIR being used (ex. Nathan MacKinnon’s AAV of $12.600M
would be changed to $12.070M). This makes it easier for a team like COL to maneuver the
salary cap. To alleviate this problem, you can follow my guide for what salaries you should alter
BEFORE you start your Franchise Mode to keep the AI from changing up the salaries of players
throughout the league. The realism will never be perfect, but I prefer to change the salary of just
one or two players per team for one season instead of having an entire team be altered for
multiple years. By making these changes, we can get a real challenge as the GM of these teams
or see how the AI GM deals with the team’s contract situation in future years.
If you’re playing on the PS5 version of NHL 25, you can download this roster from “Roster
Sharing” instead of having to make these changes yourself. For more on this and the rest of the
changes I’ve made in my roster, check out my video that explains all of these changes:
October 2024 (“Data Cap Compliant): https://youtu.be/0670KZCvEUI
December 2024 (“Data Franchise V2”): https://youtu.be/UJv56WcVwhE
Note: Some players who are not coming back to the NHL but still cost against the salary such as
Carey Price or Shea Weber are listed as 70 OVR players making league minimum. These players
can stay on the team, be dropped to free agency (where they will not be signed at this overall), or
be removed from the game completely by transferring them to an international team in “player
movement.” Furthermore, when I give suggestions on whose salary to adjust, keep in mind that
there could theoretically be multiple options to make a team cap compliant and that I am just
showcasing the one that I think is easiest/has the smallest impact on the team.
AS OF EA ONLINE ROSTER DATED DECEMBER 17, 2024
ANAHEIM DUCKS: No changes necessary.
BOSTON BRUINS: No changes necessary.
BUFFALO SABRES: No changes necessary.
CALGARY FLAMES: No changes necessary.
CAROLINA HURRICANES: Reduce JESPER FAST from $2.40M to $2.25M.
CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS: No changes necessary.
COLORADO AVALANCHE: Reduce MIKKO RANTANEN from $9.25M to $6.50M.
COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS: INCREASE any one or more expiring UFA by a total of
~$750k (ex. IVAN PROVOROV from $4.725M to $5.50M).
DALLAS STARS: No changes necessary.
DETROIT RED WINGS: No changes necessary.
EDMONTON OILERS: No changes necessary.
FLORIDA PANTHERS: No changes necessary.
LOS ANGELES KINGS: No changes necessary.
MINNESOTA WILD: No changes necessary.
MONTREAL CANADIENS: No changes necessary. Optional: drop CAREY PRICE to free
agency/transfer to any international team to remove completely.
NASHVILLE PREDATORS: No changes necessary.
NEW JERSEY DEVILS: No changes necessary.
NEW YORK ISLANDERS: No changes necessary.
NEW YORK RANGERS: No changes necessary.
OTTAWA SENATORS: No changes necessary.
PHILADELPHIA FLYERS: No changes necessary. Optional: drop RYAN ELLIS to free
agency/transfer to any international team to remove completely.
PITTSBURGH PENGUINS: No changes necessary.
SAN JOSE SHARKS: No changes necessary.
SEATTLE KRAKEN: Reduce ADAM LARSSON (contract, not extension) from $4.00M to
$3.00M.
ST. LOUIS BLUES: No changes necessary. Optional: if playing on my roster or making your
own updates, i.e. moving PO Joseph to PIT, you must reduce PAVEL BUCHNEVICH from
$5.80M to $4.50M.
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING: No changes necessary.
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS: No changes necessary.
UTAH HOCKEY CLUB: No changes necessary. Optional: drop SHEA WEBER to free
agency/transfer to any international team to remove completely.
VANCOUVER CANUCKS: No changes necessary.
VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS: No changes necessary. Optional: drop ROBIN LEHNER to free
agency/transfer to any international team to remove completely.
WASHINGTON CAPITALS: Reduce TJ OSHIE from 5.75M to $4.25M.
Optional: drop NICKLAS BACKSTROM to free agency/transfer to any international team to
remove completely.
WINNIPEG JETS: No changes necessary.
FREE AGENTS: Optional: transfer CARTER HART to any international team to remove
completely.
When starting up your franchise mode after making these changes, the game will give you a
“SALARY CAP WARNING” that asks if you want to keep the salary cap on because the system
will fix team that are not compliant. Ignore this and keep the salary cap on.
There you have it! Remember that, if you are playing on the PS5 version of NHL 25, you may
download these rosters right away. For more guides on NHL 25 as well as Franchise Mode series
and career simulations, check out my YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/data782), or drop into our Discord server where we’re always talking Franchise Mode, hockey, and more
(https://discord.gg/rRDYpTx).
Data782