Which hockey game has the best franchise mode?

[manofpeace20]

I played ESPN NHL 2K5 and the franchise was glitchy.....NHL 2005 has a good one but the gameplay is irritating (can't set up a play with all the body checks). So I'm looking at 2004's games now. Which one is best?

ESPN 2K4
NHL 2004
NHL Rivals 2004

[repetske]

Same as this year except ESPN has even more glitches and EA's game play is even worse. I'm not trying to be funny. I would just suffer with ESPN 2k5's Franchise and hope they fix it unless you can learn to tolerate the gameplay of NHL 2005.

[Nematode]

Its amazing how the two games can just not get the whole game together. I find EA has the best franchise mode but they need a gameplay make-over. Depends which you are willing to suffer with.

[CheapyD]

If you can hold out, new 2k6 hockey comes out 9/1 according to EB/GS and NHL 2006 has a mid august release