Why is it so easy to sign free agents?

[HockeyFanactic]

It is not just ehm but any sports game you play you can sign any free agent you want if you offer enough. I wish they would make it more like real life where you cant sign anyone you want.

Also another question I have is since it is too easy to sign free agents what are some rules you guys give yourself for free agency/trading so the game is more realistic?

[visualdarkness]

That is a well-known problem and a super easy way to "win the game". I wish it would be slightly harder than reality to sign them, to make up for the times the AI values something wrong.

[ClassicSwarley]

I must be the only one who can't sign ANYBODY in free agency. I can offer a million more, they will still go to some other team giving them the standard money.

[Satyr]

I must be the only one who can't sign ANYBODY in free agency. I can offer a million more, they will still go to some other team giving them the standard money.

There's two of us

Offered Stamkos $36,000,000 for a four year, he signed for Anaheim, who pay him 6,700,000 the next 4 year. Anaheim finished 13th, my Blues 2nd (+conference final).

[Asher413]

I only get about 10-20% of those I go after, and I always offer more money than they want, and a higher role usually.

[stone169]

I think it depends on your team and how you are as GM. If you have team with a good rep and so do you, then you'll get free agents.

[Tasku]

Also, so I've heard, if you have many key role players, and the other team has none, or less, they might go for the other team in hopes that there they'll actually get the role they were promised.

[madball1982]

Didn't get Stamkos in my current save, only time I've attempted him too.

I find with big-name FA's I can get about 20-30%.

But I prefer to go crazy with offer sheets and sign the younger RFA's. It's not normally too successful and I tend to not go for the stupidly expensive one's, but I'm sure I piddle off the AI (or so I like to think, haha)

[Satyr]

I signed Stamkos with the Oilers, for $6,700,000 per season. He obviously was wanted by a lot other teams and he refused my bid, but he never came to an agreement and on July 18th I was the only team with interest in him. Then he did sign the contract.

[riazorblues86]

I manage to get Jamie Benn as free agent on 2016 and signed 5 years with annual salary 8.25mil per season, and that year he help my team won the cup.

Then, next season free agents window, i manage to signed Jakub Voracek on 4 years deal with 4.5mil per season.

Never in my career life in EHM manage to get signed superstars..but i'm glad enough to get taste this feeling..

[deknegt]

Funny thing about Jake in my save...

Since his new deal isn't yet in the season TBL update, his contract ran out and he became an RFA at the end of the first season... Philly for some reason couldn't manage to offer him a good enough deal, so I (Colorado) jumped in and traded a few picks and Nick Holden for him... Lo and behold, I also wasn't able to offer him a proper deal (>_>)! Either I was vetoed by the board, or it was simply too low for Jake...

So just before the season started I gave up and traded him to the Rangers, again for picks and Kevin Hayes.
Lo and behold, Rangers are unable to sign him too! For a few kicks I decided to offer-sheet him, and I saw that his contract demands had dropped as low as 2.5M a year! So cheeky me decides to offer him a 2y/2.5M deal so that I could have yet another deadly scorer to add to the mix.

This time around NYR matches the sheet and they manage to (re-)sign Jake for 2.5M over 2 years... Mind you, 40 games had gone by already, that didn't stop Jake scoring them into the playoffs at the lost moment though.

Some RFA's are just crazy in EHM, I really was shocked that a Russian team didn't try to snap him up in that 6 month period.