EXXEO

Yea, it happens...there are hidden factors in the game that dictate a players potential. Hey may grow at an alarming rate but there's always that chance that a player's ceiling could be quite low and it sounds like he may be one of those players. I do find it odd that young players don't just stay level in skill but rather decrease in skill. Maybe there is a hidden "life challenge" aspect to the game where your young player has suddenly got himself hooked on an illicit drug or just likes spending all of his time in the red light district and contracted a lovely infection of some sort thus making him susceptible to skill loss???

Ha - I suppose the height makes sense! I never knew they gained weight - that's awesome!

From what I've seen, their roles do increase based off of training but as Tutankhamen was pointing out, the line tactic they play in, the overall tactic, and their performance within effects their growth (at least that's what I've seen from my players). I had a player whom I picked up in Free agency who was 18 and had potential but just like your player, had no desirable profiles at the time. I chose his strongest "ok" player role, which happened to be Powerforward, and began running him on my 4th line checking line. From there other traits have developed a bit more quickly due to my overall tactic and while he is now a "Good" Powerforward (which he developed into the quickest), after adjusting his line play tactics and playing time he is a quite well rounded player.
 
Long story short - a lot of things factor into role development and player growth. Most are hidden and need to be discovered or simply asked about here - is forum is a great place to learn from. I've gleaned a lot of what I know from asking a lot of questions and getting a lot of good feedback from many more experienced GMs - keep it up!

I think what you are asking is "Can I use my next Season Salary Cap to sign players in the current season before they become Free Agents?"  
 
If so, then no.  It's a tricky angle for promotion teams.  What I did was let players linger at less than happy during my final weeks before the potential promotion knowing I would hopefully have a bit of extra pocket money to give them when the Season clock changed, but that only works for multi-year contracts.  
 
For those with expiring contracts, sometimes the best strategy (although it is quite risky) is to let them go and go back to them as Free Agents when you have the cash.  I've tried this and have sometimes been able to get them at a proportionally better salary and other times, they were drawn away by other teams. 
 
Another option is to start cutting/trading those players you know you won't need in the next tier to free up lower level cash and resign them with the extra proceeds before the end of the season.  Just don't wait too long; I had one guy take more than 5 days to decide and by then, the clock reset and he became a FA before he made a decision.  Also, this strategy requires a multi-season plan to have your contracts lined up correctly and your players aren't always that cooperative, haha!  

Players taking faceoffs during games will develop their faceoff skill. Centers will also improve during training. But it improves slower than most other skills.
 
In a release not far from now (I hope) I'm going to add the possibility to train a specific skill of the managers choice for each player.

Yes, experience is very much an important factor in he game. It's an hidden value but it's easy to figure out. Just look at the stats, reputation and age. Experience is used when handling pressure, adopting to new tactics and influence other players, among other things. So don't rule out the old farts :-)

Ha, ya know ncik answered that too, I'm just a little slow on picking it up with my brain running sluggish under sickness. Thanks guys!

Just prioritize your third round selections and they will be drafted in order of what is available. So in your list you aren't going to have a 2nd round preference, just players you'd prioritise with your first pick and those you want with your two thirds. 
On a separate question, has anyone had experience using selections from a higher league? Is it the same, you just prioritise players with say the 2nd round if you had a SHL second round and were in the BHL, even though those second round SHL players are ranked higher than your BHL first round prioritised prospects?

ncik

It will use up your round selections in order of your preferences. So for example I have few 1st rounders, it will try to draft according to my selections in 1st round so I need to make sure I have enough people in my shortlist.

Would it be possible to add a shootout lineup option into the mix?

This post is not about the terrible treatment Biscuits receive but rather about what the line of cheating and competitive trading is. For a good example let's take a look at a team in the SHL. The first oddity I want to discuss is how someone in the SHL manages to get 3 GHL 1st round picks - how you ask -trading Terd Ferguson and all five of his cousins to the other team for 3 McDavids. I'm not saying the individual is cheating but I'm not comfortable with what is going on...do you really think this is a fair tactic?

Yeah, I brought it up under suggestions: http://forums.gmgames.org/topic/5143-death-bed-heroics/?p=21439

Kind of taking an idea from another game that I played. Team press releases are always a fun thing to add to experience of owning and managing a team. In the other game during the season me and a couple of the other managers that had become familiar over the game would write weekly press releases about the our team, take friendly digs at the others teams. I feel it could add to the community aspect and add another level of realism.
ncik

We used have something like that in Hockey Dynasty. You'd have 3 spaces(don't remember # of characters for each...maybe 100 or 150) on your team home page to write whatever you want. Other people could also come to your page and leave a message as well. Its a bit different with team pages in this game, so it'd prob be implemented a bit differently.
 
Maybe have it as a type of message that gets sent to everyone in the League or something....and have reminders at certain points of the season sent to every manager to remind them that they should send out their regular press release. Could have some sort of minor impact on the players' morale or something as well.....or maybe fans, if we add Fan Support and stuff into the game.
 
Got a bit carried away, just some thoughts

Would it be possible to add a shootout lineup option into the mix?

Would it be possible to add a shootout lineup option into the mix?