General Tips
1. When your team?s name appears orange on the scoreboard, your team is more likely to start a fight.
2. The last minute of play is in real time. If you are down by a goal, you now have time to pull your goalie and try to even up the score.
3. If the opposing team pulls their goalie, try scoring a goal with your goalie. Give him the puck and shoot it down the ice. It?s dangerous, but if it goes on net, it?s a goal you will always remember.
4. During a game, look for the color of a player's name. If it is blue then he is on a cold streak. If the players name is red then he is on a hot streak.
   
   Offense
5. When your player has the puck in the offensive zone near the blue line, shoot the puck while holding down the ?Deflection/Shot Block? button to make one of your players skate to the front of the net and deflect the puck on goal.
6. Using the Behind The Net Strategy, take the puck behind the net in the offensive zone and look for your defensemen breaking towards the goal to give him a pass for a good one-timer opportunity.
7. One-timers are a really good way to try and score. Make a quick pass and then press the shoot button before the puck reaches the next player.
8. Remember the strategies your lines are using so you can take full advantage of the opposing team in the offensive zone. Watch the Marc Crawford videos to learn more about each strategy.
9. Use manual shot aim to be more accurate in your shots.
10. Use the auto deke and manual deke to get around players for a perfect scoring opportunity. Manual dekes are great to fool the goalie and get him to commit the wrong way.
11. Use the Game Breaker moments for the best opportunity to score. Build up your Game Breaker meter by deking and scoring. Breakaways or going 1-on-1 with a defenseman are the best times to use the Game Breaker.
12. Shoot for rebounds. Don't always shoot for the top corners. Low shots force goalies to give out rebounds.
13. Release your slap shots just before the shot meter reaches red. Once in the red, you will lose some accuracy.
14. On breakaways, make the goalie bite by faking one way, and then deking to the other side of the net.
15. You can now use one-timers on loose pucks. Press the 'Shoot' button just before reaching a loose puck.
    
    Defense
16. Use big tough defensemen to clear out the front of the net. If your goalie can see the shot, he has a good chance of stopping the puck.
17. Try not to use the big hit button too often; you may end up in the penalty box. Sometimes you are better off poke-checking the puck away from an opponent.
18. Try to force opponents to take shots from the outside. Longer shots are easier for your goalie to save.
19. When an opposing player has a breakaway and your player is close behind, try and break up the play by diving at the puck carrier to knock the puck loose.
20. When playing defense, don?t always go after the puck carrier. It might be more beneficial to knock down a forward that is about to receive a pass for a one-timer.
21. Choose your defensive pairings carefully. You might want to have an offensive defenseman paired up with a strong defensive defenseman for 5 on 5 situations. When penalty killing you might want 2 big, strong guys to clear the front of your net.
    
    NHL Cards
22. Collect NHL cards to receive boosts and cheats in your game. Some of these cards can give you cool Easter eggs like big heads and sumo players.
23. To collect cards faster, use the beginner mode to complete the easiest tasks first.
    
    Franchise Mode
24. When drafting players, look towards the future. A rookie?s potential rating will tell you how good this player will be in a few years. However, he will not get better by sitting in the stands or on the bench. You must give him some playing time so he can reach his maximum potential.
25. Sometimes you can?t draft the players that you wanted. Look at the round summaries and see which teams picked the players that you wanted, and then try and trade for them during the next season.
26. Goalies get tired during the course of a season. Make sure that you have a solid back up that can steal some games for you.
27. Pick up players in the off-season that compliment your coaching style. If you like to crash the net a lot, then you want big, aggressive forwards. If you like to use the overload strategy, then sign skilled speedy forwards.
28. When drafting rookies, look for development team members. You can find them in the credits. They all have good potential ratings, so you might want to draft them and watch them improve and help your team.

HIDDEN PLAYERS

LAST NAME, FIRST NAME

Treble Charger
Bobby C, Mr
Nori, Greg
Martin, Ron
Guy, Mr
Priddle, Bill
MacGregor,Trevor

Papa Roach
Buckner, Dave
Esperance, Tobin
Horton, Jerry
Shaddix, Jacoby

GOB
Wolfman, Pat
Would, Craig
Whacker, Tom
Gobzinakis, Theo
Stomper, Gob
Metal, Gabe

Default
Craig, Danny
Benedict, Dave
Coleman, Bryan
Freni, Joshua
Giroux, Russ
Smith, Dallas
Hora, Jeremy