NHL26: How to make Franchise Mode accurate due to LTIR

Written by Data782, NHL26 Expert. Check out YouTube Channel

It’s that time of year again: here is the 5th annual guide to making your rosters salary cap-compliant on EA NHL!

Due to the absence of LTIR (long-term injured reserve) in the EA NHL series, rosters in Franchise Mode can become quite a mess. For example, due to the Florida’s current cap situation, multiple Panthers players on NHL 26 would have their AAV reduced by up to ~$300-400k each (ex. Barkov’s AAV of $10M would be changed to $9.615M). This makes it easier for a team like Florida 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 which will keep the game from playing with player salaries throughout the league. The realism will never be perfect, but I prefer to change the salary of just one or two on a team for one season instead of having an entire roster 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 actual contract situation in future years.

If you’re playing on the PS5 version of NHL 26, 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 this video: (different periods throughout the season will be added as updates happen):

October 2025 (“Data Franchise V3”) - https://youtu.be/oE-mWrevaMQ

Note: Some players who will likely never play in the NHL again but still cost against the salary such as Carey Price or Alex Pietrangelo are included as 70 OVR players who are 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 20, 2025

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. Note: For some reason, EA’s extension for Jaccob Slavin is 8x$6.460m and not the actual 8x$6.395m.

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS: Increase the contract (not the extension) of SPENCER KNIGHT $4.5M to $8M. Optional: drop SHEA WEBER to free agency/transfer to any international team to remove completely.

COLORADO AVALANCHE: No changes necessary.

COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS: No changes necessary.

DALLAS STARS: No changes necessary.

DETROIT RED WINGS: No changes necessary.

EDMONTON OILERS: No changes necessary.

FLORIDA PANTHERS: Reduce the contract of ALEKSANDER BARKOV 5x$10M to 1x$0.775M, followed by adding an extension of 4x$10M. This alleviates the problem in 2025-26 but keeps his AAV from being altered long-term.

LOS ANGELES KINGS: No changes necessary.

MINNESOTA WILD: No changes necessary.

MONTREAL CANADIENS: No changes necessary.

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.

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS: No changes necessary.

SAN JOSE SHARKS: Increase the contract (not the extension) of WILLIAM EKLUND $865k to $5M, followed by increasing his 1x$5.6M extension to 3x$5.6M. Optional: drop LOGAN COUTURE, RYAN ELLIS, & CAREY PRICE to free agency/transfer to any international team to remove completely.

SEATTLE KRAKEN: No changes necessary.

ST. LOUIS BLUES: No changes necessary. Optional: drop TOREY KRUG to free agency/transfer to any international team to remove completely.

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING: No changes necessary.

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS: No changes necessary.

UTAH HOCKEY CLUB: No changes necessary.

VANCOUVER CANUCKS: No changes necessary.

VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS: No changes necessary in 25-26 but over the cap in 26-27. Change the contract of WILLIAM KARLSSON from 2x$5.9M to 1x$5.9M with an extension of 1x$4M. Optional: drop ALEX PIETRANGELO to free agency/transfer to any international team to remove completely.

WASHINGTON CAPITALS: No changes necessary.

WINNIPEG JETS: No changes necessary.

FREE AGENTS: No changes necessary.

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.

I hope that this will be useful for you! For more guides on NHL 26 as well as Franchise Mode series & 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