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This is something I've been mulling over for quite some time, ever since EA introduced "locked" player classes where you couldn't change attributes. For those of you who've been around for the entirety of NHL 16 EASHL, odds are you've seen the player type "Powerforward" being used in EASHL (and ECL) games. In fact, you might have wondered why 90% of forwards out there use this player type. I know I have. Then you play against the PWF and it becomes quite obvious. They seemingly have the best puck control, the best hitting, the size and strength combined with a curious case of good dangles, passing and shooting. Now, I know the people playing the PWF are usually highly skilled individuals who take the physical attributes of the PWF and combine that with their individual skill so it's not "ALL EA's FAULT" (as some would say ) and I'm not trying to take anything away from the numerous of insanely skilled players who use this class to their advantage. However, my topics for discussion are these; - Is the PWF overpowered in terms of it being the only class you can remain competitive with in the EASHL/ECL-community? - What player type do you use, and why? - When was the last time you saw a Sniper/Playmaker/Dangler at the ECL level? And if you haven't seen any, why do you think that is? - Do you feel the different types are balanced as they are? If not, should EA strive towards improving the classes to create more balance and encourage players to play different types? Maybe my bias is shining through a bit here so as you may have guessed, I feel the PWF is ever so slightly overpowered compared to other classes. I'm curious to hear your thoughts!

It's true. Damn true. I started to play NHL16 daily on March, and since then pretty much every top teams have been Team PWF's. I played some nights during winter and then I saw some other types as well but still, even then the new PWF was most used. Compared to NHL14, the difference between player types is huge! Old PWF was slower atleast and it got tired much faster. Then again there's this new PWF with ultimate package of everything compared to PLY, TWF, GRD or SNP. If I had to choose from all types which to play with, that would be PWF as it's all-around good forward. Then if I had opportunity to choose who to play against, PWF would be last to pick. I guess they wanted to do player you get when you add Lucic, Benn and Voracek all together... Good job, EA. Not players fault so it's not a problem when people use it as the PWF is choosable type just like any other class. Would be cool on NHL17 if PWF wouldnt be good in every zone, so it really would have atleast one weekness. Slow, or not that good with playmaking or something. On other types, yes there are players who are using PLY or TWF for example, but tbh they would not be the most greatest or toughest guys to play against. Some guys want to be faster but with this engine we're playing on this & next game, on top level, all-around ability of type and whole team is the shit. I play with two-way D-man, as it's always solid, was the connection good or bad. Defensive is great build as well but sometimes the DFD seems to be way too slow against faster types. And IMO it's stupid to play with OFD in this game because of size of the build. I dont like it when you cant pick whether to play with big, regular or even small sized DFD/TWD and hate the fact that EA thinks that every OFD is mickey mouse (small, not that good with checking). It would be nice if there were like 2-3 different sizes where to pick from as you cant make your own guy anymore. Now it's all the same.

Well it was pretty much a joke but but.. I've used previously hybrid goalie (besides NHL 12) but in this version I always felt that it's not strong enough, since butterfly goalie tends to feel more agile and faster regarding the reflexes. Butterfly is also the strongest class when it comes to rebounds which tends to be pain in the ass (at least for me). It's just my opinion, but since hybrid is only ''good'' in pretty much every category, butterfly is ''great'' in some categories and pretty weak on some other categories. The point here is that the categories where butterfly is weak are pretty much irrelevant so it's not worth to use hybrid eventhough you will get job done with that class also. For example butterfly lacks vision, which actually is pretty important stat in this game but since I myself play quite aggressively in net, it doesn't matter if my goalie has no vision when I can just push out from the net and close the angle. Some other goalies like to just stand on the goal-line so butterfly might not be for them since without vision deflections and shots behind the screen are pretty hard to save. Standing goalie has always been weakest in my opinion in pretty much every NHL, but it also depends what is your style as a goalie. Standing goalie has always been so weak against low shots no matter if you are standing in the net or in a butterfly. In the other hand butterfly should be weak against high shots, but when played aggressively enough you can close the angle pretty easily. Standing goalies strengths are just crap, so when choosing between hybrid and butterfly, it all comes to how you play in net. For me butterfly is just outstanding (in my opinion NHL 16 butterfly is the best class ever in NHL games). But yeah those are only my thoughts and opinions, everyone might not agree with those but since I have something like 5000 games in goal overall I think I might have a small clue

Main problem with PWF is his shooting ability, it should be closer to DFD for balance sake. Lot of power but also lot of shots ending up in boards. I haven't had that big problems playing against PWFs with 2-Way-D but yeah, they seem a tad OP, or better to say OP compared to other forward classes. Lets see what they come up with NHL17 but I hope that more variety is welcomed. "Tactical" aspect of class selection in offence is pretty dead atm, and defense is either D or 2W. You see some OFD's but usually that is also the side to come into zone ^^

I'm just here for the comments.

I demand a name change to Swedish Lightning (Kenu reminded me this is an international forum - want our Finnish friends to understand too )

Vi får se om Sjukstugan kommer fortsätta men Nordic Lightning är ju i alla fall med. Sen borde det finnas fler lag!

Yeah I've played with OFD as well but against bigger and stronger PWF's, it's not the most suitable build.

Some of us make it work! Haha, all kidding aside - I agree with you in regards to the size building (that we should be able to atleast pick the size of our player even though we can't change skill attributes) but I think EA's explanation was something along the lines of the locked size being one of the factors contributing to the balance between player types... Curious to hear from some PWFs in here! What are your feelings towards the PWF player type?

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Okay good, never doubt that you guys wouldn't have any plans. And on my team; obviously.

I have some plans for future content and if everything goes as planned, there will be more content as soon as later this week. It might not be exactly what you are asking for here, but I think you will still enjoy it At this early stage, I don't want to bite off more than I can chew as I am very focused on quality over quantity. So, priority one is getting consistent, good articles to the site on a regular basis, to give the community something to engage in Good battles yesterday btw, your team will be tough in this tourny

@The_Alpha_Furyan how about next; captain interviews? Ask about draft, like for example what kind of team Captain @Basstian23 wanted to build and how he feels about his team after he have played with it. And to get some content into interview, why not to ask about captain's NHL16 ECL-succees, summer-plans and future-plans with NHL17 and so on. I'm pretty sure you could handle this. Every article, interview etc. would be good, now and in the future! And good job with the review.