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 manoeuvre 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. Just search for the roster named “Data Cap Compliant” from Data782. For more on this, check out my video that explains all of these changes: https://youtu.be/0670KZCvEUI

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 OCTOBER 15, 2024
ANAHEIM DUCKS: No changes necessary.
BOSTON BRUINS: No changes necessary.
BUFFALO SABRES: No changes necessary.
CALGARY FLAMES: No changes necessary.
CAROLINA HURRICANES: No changes necessary.
CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS: No changes necessary.
COLORADO AVALANCHE: Reduce MIKKO RANTANEN $9.25M to $6M.
COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS: INCREASE any one or more expiring UFA by a total of
~$1.75M (ex. SEAN KURALY $2.5M to $4.25M).
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: Reduce RYAN LINDGREN $4.5M to $4.25M.
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: No changes necessary.
ST. LOUIS BLUES: No changes necessary.
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 ANDREW MANGIAPANE $5.8M 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