How to Maximize Prospects' Contracts

[Ferretferret]

Hey! I've been looking everywhere on guides for this sort of thing, but, couldn't find exactly what I was looking for, and joined this forum for assistance.

So, I finally downloaded the editor for EHM 1, and... Well, apparently, in the past two years, I've drafted 3 players with a PA of 190+ in rounds 5 through 7, and another 2 between 180 and 189, including my 6th-round draft pick this year, who has a PA of 199 (and a CA of 11, bizarrely enough)

The game seems to be feigning ignorance of their abilities... So... How do I quickly lock them into 10 year contracts while expending the least money? My current theory is:

Sign the prospects immediately
Send them back to juniors, or keep them in the AHL 2 team
Delay their development at all costs
Then... Can I sign them to 10-year contracts? I don't have much knowledge pertaining to the NHL; I'm coming here from the perspective of someone familiar with the NFL, and football (U.S.) simulators. Usually, I can just sign any draft pick to a 7+-year contract. Here, these rules seem to be quite tightly regulated, and I don't fully understand.

I just want to keep my PA 199 guy forever, while paying him his sub-AHL pay rate. XD

Thank you for your time!

Edit: Additional notes
Team: Penguins
Rosters: name-randomized
Scouts: god-like, apparently

Edit 2: Apparently, the 1.1 patch caused a fecundity of players with PA values 170+, which may be part of how this occurred. Still, anyone with a PA of 199 will be staying on my team, darnit!

[Northbound]

I haven't tried this in-game, but hopefully this will help clear up any confusion on how contracts work. From capfriendly.com

Players younger than 25 years of age as of September 15 during the year of their first NHL contract must sign an entry-level contract which have set limitations - all entry-level contracts are two-way contracts and the maximum allowable salary for players drafted until 2022 is $925,000.

The length of the entry-level contract is also dependent on the player’s age:

18-21 years of age: 3 years
22-23 years of age: 2 years
24 years of age: 1 year


Entry-level contracts can still include signing and performance bonuses. Signing bonuses may not exceed 10 percent of the contract’s total compensation, and is paid to players annually. Performance bonuses for entry-level contracts, that are paid by the team and count against the salary cap cannot exceed a maximum of $2,850,000. Performance Bonuses are broken into 2 categories: Schedule A and Schedule B. Schedule A Bonuses may not exceed $212,500 per individual bonus, and $850,000 in total. There are two types of Schedule B Bonuses. League-wide award/trophy bonuses that are paid by the league and are not captured within the actual entry-level contract signed by the player, and player & club agreed upon bonuses, of which the maximum is $2million per season.

From wikipedia.

Players can only sign a contract for up to seven years. If they re-sign with their current team, the maximum length is eight years which can result in possible sign-and-trade deals.

[Northbound]

Or rather, I haven't ever tried signing anyone for more then 5 years at a time. Anyway I hope that helps!

[RomaGoth]

Hey! I've been looking everywhere on guides for this sort of thing, but, couldn't find exactly what I was looking for, and joined this forum for assistance.

So, I finally downloaded the editor for EHM 1, and... Well, apparently, in the past two years, I've drafted 3 players with a PA of 190+ in rounds 5 through 7, and another 2 between 180 and 189, including my 6th-round draft pick this year, who has a PA of 199 (and a CA of 11, bizarrely enough)

The game seems to be feigning ignorance of their abilities... So... How do I quickly lock them into 10 year contracts while expending the least money? My current theory is:

Sign the prospects immediately
Send them back to juniors, or keep them in the AHL 2 team
Delay their development at all costs
Then... Can I sign them to 10-year contracts? I don't have much knowledge pertaining to the NHL; I'm coming here from the perspective of someone familiar with the NFL, and football (U.S.) simulators. Usually, I can just sign any draft pick to a 7+-year contract. Here, these rules seem to be quite tightly regulated, and I don't fully understand.

I just want to keep my PA 199 guy forever, while paying him his sub-AHL pay rate. XD

Thank you for your time!

Edit: Additional notes
Team: Penguins
Rosters: name-randomized
Scouts: god-like, apparently

Edit 2: Apparently, the 1.1 patch caused a fecundity of players with PA values 170+, which may be part of how this occurred. Still, anyone with a PA of 199 will be staying on my team, darnit!

You can no longer sign players to 10 year contracts per the latest NHL CBA. The maximum length of a contract is 8 years. When you attempt to sign a player to a contract in EHM, there is a button on the top of the contract page called "rules". Clicking on it will tell you the contract rules for that player/league/etc; also, newly drafted players or players signing their first NHL contract are limited to an ELC (entry level contract) of 2 or 3 years depending upon where they are coming from (Europe/Russia/ect. signs a 1 or 2 year ELC while most college and canadian junior players will sign a standard 3 year ELC).

Hope this helps. Also, you can look at the above post in regards to capfriendly.com and there is also info at generalfanager.com.