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You are deflecting again. It is not me who does not understand. We literally had over 100 messages from the community showing they want it like it was in FCL and SCL last year. That is not my personal opinion, that is the majority speaking. If you refuse to understand that, then that is your weakness ------- (your picture) Point by point: Close Quarters goals do not “just happen anyway”. CQ modifies release priority and aim assist inside close radius. Without CQ many of these shots do not trigger the high speed priority release animation. Frame comparison testing shows completely different outcome from the same shot simply because CQ unlocks a different animation branch. “One timers are easy to defend if you play actively” is also incorrect. Certain one timer styles combined with traits bypass normal defensive stick collision validation inside ICE Q. This is the exact reason Golden One Tee was banned in multiple competitive formats. It is not just about positioning. It is animation override. “Goalies make weird saves anyway so traits do not matter” is wrong. Traits modify which animation state the goalie gets access to. Animation state is outcome determinism in NHL. Without that trait the goalie is not given the same animation choices. That is not subjective. “Auto poke is broken no matter what” is only partially true. Auto poke is only unbalanced because certain traits buff recovery acceleration and turn sync after poke. Base poke without those trait modifiers is significantly more fair. Removing trait buff gives real risk reward again. “Truculence simply makes physical play more viable” is incorrect. Truculence automates force and knockdown threshold. You do not need correct angle timing or weight advantage because the trait applies force anyway. This removes skill expression. “Counter attacks score anyway” ignores the problem. Abilities artificially push low probability chances into mid or high probability outcomes by triggering faster and higher priority animation states. That does not strengthen structured defense. It increases chaos.

I've definitely joined the ban them all camp recently. I don't think the abilities are well-designed or balanced at all. They are sort of tacked on top of the core mechanics, which they override and overpower a lot of the time, creating the sort of chaos and unpredictability that a competitive game should minimize. Look at games like Counter-Strike or Rocket League and how pure of a competitive experience they are. By introducing the abilities, the NHL series has moved further from that than ever. And in NHL 26, it's worse than it's ever been.

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Honestly, the more I’ve played the game, the more I’m leaning toward “ban them all.” For skaters and goalies.

You are serving an open net here. I really cannot stay quiet when you come with a weird statement like this again. What exactly made the gameplay worse? Skill issue? I seem to remember that your team claimed it was a skill issue to not be able to defend against Golden Onetee before it got banned. Because when you actually look at the numbers, it was only your team (Parasite) that scored fewer goals per game after you lost Nikkedangles and when Golden Onetee was gone. If Nikkedangles is the best player in the world or if you were simply too dependent on him and Golden Onetee, I will leave that unsaid. But nothing you are arguing here is supported by the statistics, other than the fact that you lost the throne in both FCL and ECL to teams that were simply better. So before we start talking about that a world without abilities ruined the gameplay, are you sure it was not just your team who got worse?

Can someone tell what skaters abilties are overpower and breaking game? Imo biggest issue is goalies abilities but im not goalie and dont know exactly what abilities are making goalies make unreal saves every game multiple times. I think everyone who played last year FCL and other tournaments without abilites realize how bad the gameplay was. Ofc game and abilities are different from last years but it would be same bs if all abilities would be banned. Like I said last year its impossible to find perfect solution for this topic but I feel banning some most op goalies abilities would be best for competitive game.

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I think maybe we ban everything else besides Enforcer builds and then we play like real men

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Can someone give me at least one good reason why you still allow X-factors at this point, when you’ve already banned eleven (?) of them and restricted builds by position? These days I don’t really care what SG does, I just play, but I’m genuinely wondering. Back in the day, I voted to either ban all of them, ban none or ban only a couple of the most overpowered ones. But this current approach of banning around 75% of them and letting the rest stay just doesn’t make sense. Yes, some of them are more useful than others, but the main idea behind all of these traits is the same: they’re basically stupid superpowers breaking the game mechanics. If you ban traits like hit boost, better balance and ones that generate extra pressure from spamming shots, then why on earth do you allow auto-saucers, speed boosts on pass reception, 2x endurance and whatever else is left? Yes, you can probably answer that by saying the community hasn’t complained enough about those perks being overpowered, but now we’ve reached that point and this is exactly what we knew would happen once you started banning traits one by one. You’re basically leaving breadcrumbs on the table. No hate, it just feels like there’s no logic behind it anymore.

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I heard somewhere that long posts are good regardless of the arguments, so I'm back. Also I'm unfortunately still a defender so don't try to think I'm a goal hungry forward. Sounds pretty fucking OP to me. Would even perfectly explain the ridiculousness of the saves goalies have been making in NHL 26. Right now there is a huge problem of goal scoring opportunities being really inconsistent or even consistent in being saved by goalies regardless how they're playing the situations. For example, you have a two on one attack, pass for a one timer in the slot, thats going in maybe 20% time even if the goalie is sucking his own thumb in the net. Personally I think that if there is plenty of open net it should be a goal almost every time. So even Finsere said it, increasing skill ceiling is what an aspiring competitive game should do. In regard of attributes, in HUT in a similar situation, you can green time that one timer with blue 1T trait with 90 shooting abilities and goalies without traits make that save more than they should. So it definitely is possible in CHEL if you actually make the save. Also personally I think if goalies are able to save everything if positioned well, thats game breaking. So you should be able to straight up challenge the goalie from a good scoring positions with pretty high percentages. Especially you should be able to score almost everytime when the goalie is out of position. Means that bad defending is punished more -> it is rewarding to try and build good chances. Right now it really isn't rewarding at all to make 5 instant passes leading to an open net chance just to be saved by a goalie looking at someone beautiful in the crowd. -> Just shoot or just force passes and let luck take the wheel bingbangboom 1-0 letsgo fun game. Also because Sere threw out some numbers without any thought, red sponge gives you +75% controlled save ability. And if three traits active at the same time you could get more than +50% reaction time, +25% save accuracy, +25% save ability. And these numbers are actually available now, not like his 50% reaction reduction which nobody uses because it still isn't in the game in CHEL. Everybody is now using 15% reduction. And he is using elite sponge instead of using elite post to post, what I guess he has by the level of his CHEL dude and his words in the other post. This one might the furthest reach I have seen in a while. So just because on average there are more goals per game -> there are less undeserved saves. I'm not saying you are wrong, I didnt play at the start of NHL 24 and was still trying to open up my monitor during spring 24. But this argument just makes no sense. For example, more goals could mean that defenses are playing worse -> more chances -> more undeserved saves. Or did you look at the shot totals, shooting percentages. From what I have been talking, 100% of people have agreed with me that in 26 there are more bullshit saves than in 25. Maybe its just me and lack #luck. I like these bans and like the fact that you are making decisions on your own without trying to please everyone. Personally I don't have anything against the demographic way on these but also think that's not going to lead to the best results. My only question is after all these bans, what is the reason to not ban everything. What do the remaining traits give that makes them good for the game. There aren't that many of them so we can go one by one. Second wind: wtf even is this, nobody has ever even entertained such an absurd idea. "So okay what if we make it that when you have no stamina you actually have stamina even full stamina"... I want what that guy is having. Is next a teleport for defenders so if a forward gets a breakaway you can teleport to save the situation. Warrior: Probably going to be on many builds. Makes you harder to hit in a game where it is really easy dodge hits and bumps already if you are playing with your thumbs and not your feet. You stand up after a hit really fast, dont lose any energy. Quick pick: Helps once in while if you are positioning yourself like a blind donkey, if you are actually playing where you should be, activates once every other night so just useless and really random. Stick em up: Everybody and their mothers are crying about pokes with or without it, usually because they are too good but now because they are too bad. My personal free advice to this is L2P. (just a joke, even if I'm the most arrogant guy around.) But seriously its the same as last year, it helps a bit but you can just play without it and you'll be completely fine. Born leader: … Just a cool idea but actually absolutely nothing in real competitive gameplay where there aren't shots and hits flying everywhere. Shooting traits: Personally I like these just keep these (but only golden, more belove), more ways to punish actual bad defending and not just score by throwing the puck on the net, towards the net, in front of the net, play some pinball, bingbongbang and LETSGO 1-0(just repeat the same joke until it's funny). I understand this is never going to happen because the level of defending in this scene already causes 10 goals a game but if you wanted a competitive game, this is the way. Maybe the level of defending would even go up cause mistakes would actually be punished. just trust me bro Ankle breaker: Touch right stick, defender maybe falls. I think this sounds good. Said nobody ever. Passing traits: There are so many automatic saucers that if you want to pass the puck, there's no way you are going to use these. Just adds randomness without any reasonable benefits. Goalie traits: Already went through this in the first paragraphs. So maybe it's time for #banthemall, I would say at least ban all elite(red) traits and maybe even the blue(all-star) ones. For example red beauty backhand gives you 100% power and accuracy which is just hilariously OP. For me just allowing golden shooting traits (or even blue ones)would lead to most competitive and rewarding game. You couldnt score any ridiculous goals with just them but if the defense is breaking you can actually punish it without goalie traits saving everything. You could say this is bullshit for goalies but it's even more bullshit for goalies to work your ass off to make great saves and keep up with the play and position well, just to see opponents goalie listening to payphone playing with a blindfold saving everything. As for gamer, I think you guys should try to be more active about messaging elite teams to try and test out different ways of doing things. Like this week #banthemall, next week just golden traits or without the red ones. So we would actually have some real info of how the game feels with different "settings". We could do it ourselves but I might not be the most liked guy around for good reasons so I just can't bother because I think elite teams are too lazy to test stuff out by themselves.

Just want to highlight that I ran @FINSeRe's post through AI to give it an English translation. A great post about the goalie perks and how the perks might be given false credit for saves. Check it out if you previously skipped it due to the language barrier.

Ban them all, make a shitty game even a little bit better. - Variety on making builds (or at least they wont look the same as they have for the past 4 years). --> cant rock with 70ish wrist shot and quick release if you want to score - Eliminates some of the most ridiculous types of animations that help you retrieve the puck or get in a better position caused by traits, which cant be expected by the opposition --> game becomes less "rng" (more competitive), more realistic - there aint 6 superhumans running around the ice playing their own game --> team game, playing together matters, again more realistic For sure, this will result in a few "ea goals" as you have to find new ways to score instead of trusting the old traits which names have just been changed. Well they are bound to happen each year, as so many things before even getting to a scoring opportunity are caused by some random code (puck pickups, pass receptions...). One would most likely state that banning all traits will cause all teams to collapse in front of the net, well what changes? Teams are already doing that. As much of I hope ban them all which actually made those domestic leagues the most enjoyable part of the year, at least ban the warrior trait. Game loses all meaning when you hit skater having it, and they actually recover from the ground faster than you do from that animation -> breaks the game

Moderator note: The below has been translated with ChatGPT to make it available to more readers. You can find the original text in Finnish in the Spoiler section below. It’s too complicated to explain properly in English, so I’ll just explain it in Finnish terms. But here’s how I’ve understood goalie perks, and what’s been tested in the “Between the Pipes” server (the world’s largest goalie server with about 2,250 members): there are 3 out of 5 perks that activate on every save — Sponge, Dialed In, and Recharge. Since only one perk can visually appear on the screen at a time, what you see is the goalie’s highest currently active perk. In practice, that’s usually either the red Sponge or Dialed In, since most goalies have one of those unlocked. If a goalie has both active, Sponge has priority to be displayed on screen, but Dialed In also activates in the background. The same goes for blue and gold goalie perks — they activate in the background even if they don’t show on screen, especially Recharge. Because there are so few red perks available for goalies, practically every goalie uses either red Dialed In or Sponge. But that’s just because there aren’t many options — not because those perks are necessarily overpowered. Most players haven’t grinded the season pass far enough to unlock red Post to Post, which is considered meta in North America and gives a significant boost to lateral saves. So even though those perks activate on every save, it doesn’t mean the save happened because of that perk. When Sponge activates, it just indicates that the save was a “controlled” one — meaning the goalie covered the puck quickly or handled the rebound well. When Dialed In activates, it simply means the game has temporarily boosted the goalie’s save ability by 6%. The same logic applies to skaters: even if you score with a wrist shot and Quick Release activates, that doesn’t mean the perk caused the goal — it just means it triggered. You could shoot into an empty net and Quick Release would still activate, but the goal obviously wasn’t because of it. In other words, banning Sponge alone wouldn’t eliminate those “undeserved” saves — it would just lead to more of EA’s nonsense goals. Sponge isn’t even close to the best goalie perk in HUT, in my opinion. The current Sponge is the same as in NHL 24 and 25, just slightly stronger. And as I calculated earlier, NHL 26 is nothing compared to NHL 24, where goalies were making completely undeserved saves left and right — which is clearly reflected in the goals-per-game average. Even though there were fewer of those undeserved saves in NHL 25, they still happened all the time, and it’s never been about perks — it’s the game engine. If there really were a magic fix for it, believe me, I’d be all in. But I think people will be disappointed if they expect that banning red Sponge will suddenly stop those undeserved saves.

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I can say you that goalies abilities even not near power of skater abilities. it doesnt matter what you take its not countering nothing. About goalies making unbelievable saves, its just because you cant aim, and make goalies move out of position, or not quick enough on decision making or passing around puck, so goalie have all time in the world to square up. But its how it should be. if you are on the puck you save it thats how goalies work. When you put quick releases, onetimer perks, some kinda golden rockets and who knows what else, its gives superpower to skater abiltiies, boosting their abilities and making goalie get errors in save and late saves. its what breaks game and its not interesting when 2 pro teams plays together, and its like 5:5 goals in one game. too many, and why? because goalies getting to many errors, doesnt matter your position. But when you play like core teams and lites, you can stop 20 shots, and be even shutout, why? because guys are less effective on glitch using and their decision making is slower. Why i want quick release be banned, because its makes our goalies not save puck, because this shot is comming so fast that even if you trigger save its to late. and its not normal, if you are in front of me , i should save that, not always making my glove go late on save. Also you need to understand that, you as skater decide when shoot and where to shoot, we as goalie just wait for animation trigger, we dont have button - i want save now glove shot high or low or fivehole or what, and i will trigger it in time when he shoots. We need to wait for animation to trigger on the shot, and all this abilities onetimer, quick release, rockets and all other kinda shooting abilties, are making our animation trigger delay or getting less effective, so is it fair to make our animation delay so you should score, not because you beated goalie, but because you use cheats to make us go blind or stucked, or just late. Thats why i think it will be fair just to ban all ablities, and use game as it is and then skill will decide not abilities.