GM Mode/Challenges

GM Challenges

Three new front-office puzzles every week. Follow the rules, run the sim, climb the board.

How GM Challenges work

Each week (Monday to Sunday, UTC) three challenges go live: one easy, one medium and one hard. Every challenge hands you a team and a set of front-office rules, like a cap ceiling, a player you can't move, or no trading first-round picks. Hit Play to open GM Mode with a challenge banner that checks each rule live as you trade, sign and shuffle lines.

When every rule shows a ✓, run a season sim (1,000 seasons or more) and submit. Your score is the challenge's goal metric: playoff odds, Stanley Cup odds or projected points. You can submit as often as you like; only your best result of the week counts. Submitting needs a free account, and sims count toward the usual free daily sims.

Friends shows you and the people you follow. Leaderboards show usernames, avatars and badges only. Every entry stores the full scenario, so results can be re-simulated and checked.

This season's challenge pool

Bedard's First Push · CHI · easy: Maximize playoff odds. Keep Connor Bedard in the lineup. Cap hit at or under $104.00M (every contract counts; AHL burial saves at most $1.15M).
Celebrini Rising · SJS · easy: Maximize projected points. Keep Macklin Celebrini in the lineup. Cap hit at or under $104.00M (every contract counts; AHL burial saves at most $1.15M).
End the Drought · DET · easy: Maximize playoff odds. Keep Alex DeBrincat in the lineup. Cap hit at or under $104.00M (every contract counts; AHL burial saves at most $1.15M).
Quick Reset · VAN · easy: Maximize playoff odds. At most 2 trade partners. Cap hit at or under $104.00M (every contract counts; AHL burial saves at most $1.15M).
Keep the Futures · MTL · medium: Maximize playoff odds. No first-round picks traded. Keep Lane Hutson in the lineup. Cap hit at or under $104.00M (every contract counts; AHL burial saves at most $1.15M).
Homegrown Sabres · BUF · medium: Maximize playoff odds. No outside free-agent signings (incl. offer sheets). Keep Rasmus Dahlin in the lineup. Cap hit at or under $104.00M (every contract counts; AHL burial saves at most $1.15M).
Sid's Last Dance · PIT · medium: Maximize Stanley Cup odds. Keep Sidney Crosby in the lineup. No first-round picks traded. Cap hit at or under $104.00M (every contract counts; AHL burial saves at most $1.15M).
Budget Flames · CGY · medium: Maximize playoff odds. Cap hit at or under $86.00M (every contract counts; AHL burial saves at most $1.15M).
Leafs Under $100M · TOR · hard: Maximize Stanley Cup odds. Cap hit at or under $100.00M (every contract counts; AHL burial saves at most $1.15M). Keep William Nylander in the lineup.
Panthers Cap Crunch · FLA · hard: Maximize Stanley Cup odds. Cap hit at or under $104.00M (every contract counts; AHL burial saves at most $1.15M). No outside free-agent signings (incl. offer sheets).
McDavid's Window · EDM · hard: Maximize Stanley Cup odds. Keep Connor McDavid in the lineup. Keep Leon Draisaitl in the lineup. No draft picks traded. Cap hit at or under $104.00M (every contract counts; AHL burial saves at most $1.15M).
Rangers Retool · NYR · hard: Maximize projected points. Cap hit at or under $98.00M (every contract counts; AHL burial saves at most $1.15M). No outside free-agent signings (incl. offer sheets). At most 2 trade partners.