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100% agree. We were finding smaller teams and North American teams like 10x in a row last night. I have given EA this feedback as has many of the other Game Changers. That being said, the power is in the numbers, so if you agree with a feedback that has already been sent, feel free to like or post a comment to show your support to a certain opinion!

If Leksand deserves the spot in Elite, they'll win the qualifiers, surely.

+1. This has been going on for a while now - I honestly can't remember the last time SG actually followed their own rules. Imagine giving teams just three days to secure the super early bird price, while those same teams have been waiting nine months to receive their prize money instead of the promised 90 days. At this point, it's pretty obvious that SG is using new entry fees to cover overdue prize money from previous seasons. We've been pretty lenient about this, but yeah... the "give & go" cycle with licenses and prize money is crystal clear. That said, I'm happy to stand corrected if there's any factual explanation that proves otherwise - this is just my take based on my own experience. We've consistently been a top 4 team (prize placement) and the same thing keeps happening over and over again. Of course, I've had some private discussions with SG and have some understanding of the situation. But what really interests me is how you plan to improve this process moving forward so this doesn't keep happening? Wouldn't it make sense to either revise or remove the 90-day payout rule if it's not something you can realistically commit to? And for clarify, This isn't a hate message or an attack - I’m just a tired, disappointed and concerned customer. Looking forward to an answer. SINCERELY Tuukka

Thanks, great compromise that should somewhat satisfy everyone! Also great that the decision is coming so early not one week before. 💪

And now you are just talking shit only thing i said to "some of the Leksand guys" (which was one btw) was that i think it's kind of shit to rctic to not be here also, but in the same time there is only a week to play this so Gamer had to make decisions. "No offence Be a Bro." And then you come and cry to me like a little bitch. Best team will win qualies anyway🤷‍♂️ Us not taking part last minute ain't gonna give Leksand a free spot at this point.😂

Is there options to have just 6vs6 license? You cant just raise Prices if teams/players not want to play 1vs1 or 4vs4

Since multiple series were played prior to when this was posted, here's an updated look at the odds for each team, as well as some of the things that changed since the original article. NOTABLE CHANGES: - EXEN have virtually locked up a playoff spot, and have also increased their chances of finishing Top 4 by 13% after its sweep of Mustaa Kultaa on Sunday. - Mustaa Kultaa's odds at a Top 4 finish dipped from over 95% to 72.98%. The was due to collecting 0 points against EXEN. - Last Dance now have a 92.5% chance to clinch the #1 seed. - Mythix (47.2%) and Parasite (33.8%) are the favorites to finish 2nd. Mustaa Kultaa still has a 12.4% chance and EXEN holds a 1.3% chance, though this is unlikely. - Heimo's playoff chances improved the most on Sunday, going from over 61% to 88.61% due to earning 6 points against Vapor. - vNexs' playoff chances increased by roughly 15% despite not playing on Sunday. - SSK ESPORTS' playoff chances have increased to over 85% after earning 3 points against Mythix. A few more wins should likely lock them in. - Tohtorit's playoff chances saw the biggest drop, going from 67.68% to 5.25% after not collecting a point in their series vs Last Dance. - GOONS are officially eliminated from playoff contention after collecting 0 points in its last four games of the season. They are also virtually a lock to play a relegation playoff series barring a collapse from one of teams behind them in the standings. - Blackbirds are virtually eliminated from playoff contention. Though they are still mathematically alive, it will take winning out along with many favorable results to end the season. The projections have them likely to play in a relegation playoff series. - NOVA's playoff chances have slightly increased due to results around them. Their chances of being automatically relegated have also decreased to nearly 0%. They did not play on Sunday and still have 14 games to play. - Vapor and ONSE Esports are likely the only teams remaining who can still be automatically relegated. Vapor collected 2 points in its four games played, while ONSE did not play on Sunday.

Well maybe then use this huge letdown as a fuel to win Lite or something and you’ll get mentioned, if validation from others is what you desire.

We need the search opponents according to team size and region back. Has been hard to to play full 6v6 with low ping. That is what this whole scene is about.

Nice one! Love the random facts!

Hello Sportsgamer! It seems a bit stressful to close the registration already on March 21st? Further. It also seems in combination of “Super early bird” and “early bird” to be a quick way to get license money to cover the payout of old won prize money? I heard through one person that Tunnel Vision who won ECL Spring in NHL 24 was promised to get their prize money for that tournament on April 14th. And it's nice to be promised something that you have rightfully earned. But aren't you breaking your own rules in connection with this? In your rulebook it says the following (see attached picture): Winnings will be paid within 90 days. Since this is in a rulebook, how do you handle such a thing that there are still missing payments (according to rumors) from a tournament that was settled in NHL 24. And with that said, is the money on the way even for those who won ECL Winter this year? I'm just curious how you handle such matters, and why it became so stressful with a very short sign-up period? Looking forward to an answer. SINCERELY Mattias

Thx for some motivation boost, veli))

Your schedule for these tournaments are absurd, what is the point in these? People have other life than this game, 70% of these ”wildcard” teams are playing also FCL and have no time to play games. Add some time to FCL since there is nothing to play for so people can play their games without giving walkovers

This is something a 9 year old would cheat about in street hockey. C'mon now. :DDD Top 1 dumbest ways to recieve a multi tournament ban. Regarding the recent LA decisions and suspensions as of late, great job LA! Fuck around and find out is a real thing.

Finally Janikka got his justice, now he can go to sleep at night without having to think about those who doubted him! "Never give up when you know you are right. Believe in yourself and you will reach your full potential" #JusticeForJani

Mee ny svamppi vaan sinne eläkkeelle takas. No offence. 😉

Hi everyone, and thank you for raising these valid concerns. For some additional context—especially for those of you newer to SportsGamer (formerly NHLGamer)—we’ve proudly paid out over 300 000 € in prize money since 2015, either directly or through our partners. Taking care of our commitments to the community is something we’ve always taken seriously. That said, we fully acknowledge that in recent times, some payments have been delayed, and in a few cases, significantly longer than we would ever want. We’ve communicated directly with the impacted individuals regarding timelines, but we understand this affects trust across the board. For that, we apologize. Why are payments delayed? The biggest factor relates to discussions with tax authorities regarding the correct license tax rate during the last three years. Here’s the practical impact: Players have been billed at 10%, but tax authorities have collected 24%, and now 25,5% (the VAT was raised in Finland from 24 -> 25,5% in September 2024). This discrepancy has resulted in a significant shortfall in our budget for prize payments and operations. On top of this, the global financial climate has made sponsorships and partnerships harder to secure, adding additional strain on our timelines. What are we doing about it? This situation is not acceptable, and we’re taking steps internally to address it: We’re working towards clearing the backlog of delayed payments. We’re reassessing processes to prevent this from happening again. We’re committed to open communication—even when the news isn’t ideal. It’s important to stress: Every winner will be paid. We’ve never left payments unpaid, and that will not change. We want to be transparent: while we are working hard to resolve the current issues, some delays may continue in the short term. However, it’s important to emphasize that we have always honored our prize commitments, and every player who has earned prize money will be paid—no exceptions. That’s a promise we stand by. On the 90-day rule I hear the suggestion to remove or revise the 90-day payout rule. You’re right—we haven’t consistently met that target recently. But the 90-day commitment remains our goal, and we include it in our rulebook to hold ourselves accountable. Removing it might make things easier for us, but we believe it would only weaken your position as our community. On registration deadlines The Super Early Bird (SEB), Early Bird (EB), and Regular registration phases serve a few key purposes, including: Encourage teams to engage earlier, which helps us plan the season better/earlier. Offer teams better value for committing early. Give our staff time to process registrations and licenses more evenly, rather than scrambling at the last minute. We understand that early deadlines can feel stressful. Our goal is to balance accessibility with sustainability, so the league can continue to grow and provide opportunities for everyone. In closing, we appreciate everyone who has raised concerns—whether here or in private conversations. These discussions help us improve. We ask for your continued patience as we navigate this situation, and we promise to keep communicating openly along the way. Kind regards, Kenneth

I have really enjoyed the all ability ban in fcl and would have hoped for it in the ECL as well, but this is still good progress toward balanced and better gameplay, good job !

The gameplay is actually best in years, it's not all about hustle anymore. Ofc there are always some tweaking, but the biggest problems right now are on the matchmaking side and extremely slow menus. They should fix these as priority. - Removing the room size: exact is the dumbest decision they've made since they completely removed eashl from nhl 15 back in the days. - Servers are messed up? Finnish vs Finnish team plays on the Swedish server? Happens all the time. - Grudge is a bit meh and it is very broken, it is always the center at least for us :D. - Timed onetees are very overpowered. - Stick lift need some adjustment, you can spam it quite a bit. - Inconsistent penalties as mentioned before. - Weird animations at the wrong time. We get a penalty and the replay shows the last goal. All in all it's impossible to give more feedback as searching for an opponent is a nightmare at the moment. We spend much more time in the menus than in-game.

This some good shit. I enjoyed reading it! Two absolute legends of the scene who have both been all class in every interaction I have had with them. Enjoy whatever comes your way next, fellas.

Thank you very much, @Kenu and the other SportsGamer admins as well as everyone else who helped find a quick solution to this problem. A shout-out to @FlyerKungen and @pakjiz who both also have DNA, are affected by this problem, and were active in bringing it to people's attention (FlyerKungen even made DNA and EA aware of it). Also thank you to everyone who participated in the relevant threads and polls as you all helped keep this issue on the front burner. Sorry for the corny acceptance speech there, I'm just really happy we got a quick ruling to work around this problem before the season started. I know there are dozens of players like me who can now start their season without having to worry about playing some of their games with packet loss. Here's hoping EA can fix it as soon as possible so the Finnish and Russian players can play their home games with the lowest ping.

I was forced because I couldnt catch a beach-ball, maybe I can hit some bodies at least instead 🤷🏻‍♂️

Updated odds after Monday's games: NOTABLE CHANGES: - Polski Boys were the biggest winners on Monday, as they saw their playoff odds jump from 18.74% to 69.79%. They collected 10 out of a possible 12 points in their series against The Black Jacks and Blackbirds - vNexs saw their playoff odds decrease from a comfortable 87.85% to 54.98% after Monday's results, the biggest drop of any team in the hunt. This was due to earning just 1 point in their series with EXEN, while Polski Boys earned 10 and now own an 8-point advantage in the standings. Though vNexs still have 8 games to play, having matchups with Last Dance, Mythix and SSK ESPORTS likely didn't help their cause in the simulations. - EXEN's odds to finish Top 4 increased from 17% to 64.2%. This was due EXEN earning 5 out of 6 points vs vNexs, combined with Mustaa Kultaa collecting none. - Mustaa Kultaa's odds of a Top 4 finish dropped from 72.98% to 31.90% after earning 0 points vs Parasite. They also are effectively out of the running to finish any better than 4th. To do so they would have to collect all 12 possible points while either Mythix goes pointless or Parasite collects no more than 2 points in their remaining games. - Last Dance now have a 97.96% chance to clinch the #1 seed due to Mythix collecting just 3 points in their series vs The Black Jacks. - Tohtorit's playoff hopes increased despite not playing on Monday, going from 5.25% to 21.24%. This was mainly due to losses from vNexs and NOVA . - Mythix and Parasite have full control of the battle for the #2 seed (assuming that the #1 seed holds on), with Mythix holding a 52.24% chance and Parasite having a 45% chance. These two still have a series to play, which could very well decide who ends up with that seed. Mythix has a 4 point advantage, while Parasite has 2 games in hand. - NOVA's playoff hopes declined after Monday's results, going from 13.28% to 4.56%. Though their already slim playoff hopes now seem to be hanging on by a thread, they still look likely to avoid a relegation playoff with a 79.68% of finishing 9th-12th in the standings. - Blackbirds' odds at avoiding a relegation playoff increased after Monday, jumping from 26.11% to 44.20% This was mainly due to multiple losses from The Black Jacks and NOVA. Blackbirds earned 1 point on Monday vs Polski Boys and have one series remaining against Last Dance. - Vapor was a big winner on Monday, as their odds of being automatically relegated decreased from a near certain 95.71%, to a more hopeful 67.19%. This was due to ONSE Esports collecting 0 points in its series vs NOVA on Monday. The two teams are separated by 2 points and each have 4 games remaining. ONSE Esports' chances of automatic relegation increased from 4.24% to 22.63% due to their two regulation losses against NOVA.

you're starting to be a joke, first cancel the pro qualifications, then put random teams, Bern went up to the light because there weren't enough teams, now in the pro qualifiers after the wonderful season in the light, company of geeks relegated for dnf in CORE and now pro qualifiers, rode esports wonderful season in CORE and pro qualifiers, ask the teams you like the most between core and lite, what would be the criteria? It almost seems like you lack the money for the licenses but all this lacks compared to all the lite and core teams, this is too much!!! you are not credible! what a pro qualifier, why not a neo team? will be nice lol

Wouldn't it make more sense to ban taking Timeouts when the Pressure is ON? Because this is the only situation when the bug occurs as far as I know. You can still take a timeout right before the Pressure activates without the risk of the occurance of any bug?

I have a suggestion worth thinking about. Articles like the week 1&2 recap (maybe even this article) get old in a day or so and kind of lose their purpose. Is it really worth the time and effort it takes to write just for all of it to fade in the dust? We also have the wraparound episodes that have many overlaps with articles such as this one. But if this is the way the seasons are to be covered, the wraparounds and articles should be more in support of each other. Maybe it would be better to just fully focus on the preview and season recap + playoffs to get deeper coverage of all the teams. I remember a time when every team had at least a couple of paragraphs written about themselves in a preview. Those articles were always such a pleasure to read. Don't get me wrong, I really appreciate the time and effort these articles take from its writers, but with a couple of fixes they could offer us so much more.

I would love to join Janikkas defending school.

GHETTO FIREBIRDS mentioned. Torille!

@IDangledYouOut will be back on the Wing! It was just a short adventure for the GCL 🐸

I have a few words regarding the schedule and how quickly games start after the ECL information release. This is not an ideal situation, especially for teams playing in other Sportsgamer leagues at the same time. We are not the only ones with many games already scheduled for this week. Now, we have to find room for several important ECL qualifier games on the same game days as FCL. It’s still unclear how many more games might be added. I hope everyone can play their qualifiers without issues, but I know many teams will struggle to align their schedules with such short notice. Just feels wrong timing to start ECL with few days notice and while FCL group stage is still running hot.

" still active top players and know how the game works." A player who “understands” how a game works cannot possibly need golden abilities. And we have seen that in FCL, where it is obviously possible for the best players to score goals anyway. This is not about “understanding” but is obviously only about what you think is FUN and how you WANT it to be. I think everyone is fairly familiar with how the game works, you don't have to be the “best” to have that ability. There is no logic in such a claim. If you're the best at something, it's just a sign that you're the best at managing HOW things work. Everyone understands how to kick a ball forward, but everyone is differently good at putting it into practice. Then that sportsgamer did not take into account the vote on the draft server where the top players had to vote on it - this, on the other hand, perhaps sportsgamer should respond to. Especially for the 2 highest divisions. This will of course create a larger skill gap, which should be exactly what the top teams should want. Just like the good teams now dominate in the FCL.

Well done! Good communication. Hopefully the conversation about this next time isnt so childish to start with

Sorry but now i have to criticize a little.. Not trying to be rude. What you wrote about our team (Panic On Ice) are completely wrong Teme and Flaazi are not even part of the team anymore, maybe little fact and roster check before writing this article especially if you dont know a thing about Core division.

I think a great feature on this website would be a list of free agents where a player can add their own xbox/psn id. Add a couple of required multi-choice questions like division / position / language / role (starter/backup), a single-choice like closest server, and a long free text field for additional information like availability and contact details. On top of that, show the divisions the player has played in the last few seasons from your own database. And while you're at it, create the same feature for teams looking for players too Heck, even add an 'Alert Me' setting when a team/player matches with your filters 💆 And ohhh baby when a free agent is signed, have it has a system-assisted process which automatically creates a forum post of a signing so we can all cheer on that! I think this would greatly reduce the time teams spend to find suitable players and vice versa. It would also give new players a better chance of being signed when their 'post' is displayed similar to the community legends.

Salary?

Not allowing to take a timeout at all just makes zero sense. A well timed timeout just before full bar (for example goalie gets the puck and freezes it) is just as good of a tactic as taking it on full bar and has no bug involved🤷‍♂️ oh well, let's hope they somehow fix it tomorrow (lol)

@hifk_FANI🐐

Holy shit. @bMaJuH 🐐

Ok, in this regard, I would like to put such a cat on the table as the goalkeeper's passes. Why can't they be stats for goalkeepers. Now the situation is such that when the pass cannot be scored for the goalkeeper, the situation creates an opportunity to give the pass to another player. In these situations, the point should of course be given to the CPU. However, the situation creates an opportunity where a good-hearted goalkeeper might gift a point to his own player in the roster. I'll use Martin Brodeur as an example: 2goals + 45 assists in his career. There are no bots in the nhl!

What a stupid thing to do really))))

Nova has the clearlly best right side in the entire pro and probaply best winger pair. biggest contender.

EASHL gameplay feels great if not fantastic, most enjoyable its been in years IMHO. Seems goalies are having a rough go at it, but I'm sure they'll figure it out. As a skater, pretty much no complaints. At the same time, everything "around" the game is as bad as it ever has been. The online matchmaking, the slow menus, the myriad of bugs and glitches... all of it makes playing the game frustrating, for no other reason than it being difficult to actually get in a game. Side note: I would've loved to have been a fly on the wall in the meeting where they decided to remove the server matching/selection option for standard EASHL games.

Feedback: Game's broken

My question is how and why has this even happened? I mean it's a BASIC feature of a functional videogame and has been in the game for years. Seriously, do they not test out the matchmaking in any way prior to launch? This is actually terrible. Same with versus. Yeah you find opponents instantly, but it is always NA. No exception. Baffles my mind.

Gz for the championship on Gifu's behalf and thanks for the kind words about our guys 😇

Just found the site. Didn't realise there was a competitive scene for this. Definitely gonna follow and also the Twitch channel!

The Timeouts have been tactical anyways in the past? I think a good solution on Elite Level would be to allow teams to agree via SG Messages while scheduling the Matchday how to handle this. For example if both Captains agree in the SG Messages that Timeouts in the Matchup are allowed except during pressure situations this would help a lot. But that's just my 2 cents.

As a goalie I should mention, that the new anticipation system takes ages to activate. I don't have exact timing but it was something like a whole second in beta so you can't react with it in fast one-timers or other hard situations. This means if they would add back the risk thing, you as a goalie would have 20 % chance to make the right anticipation (+ you get your saving ability lowered if incorrect) and you would have to do this a whole second before the shot which at least in Elite is impossible as the puck moves so fast. Anyone who can do math can see that it would be awful odds for the goalie and mathematically you should never use the system if risk is involved. Other side of the coin is that now you can keep it on all the time without penalty and it gives boost on one direction and by keeping it on, you wouldn't have to wait for the set up time it takes. Because of this the set up should be instant so goalies wouldn't have to hold the right stick whole game as it brings the same results. I did only some testing with this new anticipation system in beta as the energy was mostly learning the now optional goalie control scheme, but I did find it almost useless as the goalie would still hoover the puck in even if in rightly positioned and anticipated. Gotta test more after the buffs tho and they were only my own experiences.

@iWeeb22 MVP 🎉🔥