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Hello, all members of the ECL Community! We have had a long ongoing discussion about the X-Factors and Abilities and whether they should be allowed in a competitive environment or not. It has been enlightening to see and hear all the different opinions on this matter on the public forums, party chats, and private messages. We thank you all for taking part in this discussion! Looking closely at the situation, all the abilities have a way to make or break the game - in one way or another - and those effects can go both ways, whether you are or aren't allowed to use them. Abilities allow you to do things that you wouldn't or perhaps even shouldn't be able to do in certain situations, but they also reward you for making good plays, good passes, and timing your actions correctly. Playing without abilities can take away a lot of those rewards and may leave you frustrated because of that. One of the big concerns about banning all the abilities is that it could lead to a much more passive playstyle on defense. Of course, you are still able to score in many different ways, but it is a fact that some things in this game are built around the abilities and the animations they allow you to trigger. Abilities at their best can create these "wow!" moments for both the players and the viewers. It's worth mentioning that the discussion has mostly been around the gameplay experience, but we also want to take the viewers into account, even though currently most of them are you, the players. It is also to be stated that we want to keep the same ruleset for all the ECL divisions. While we see that the opinions are heavily divided between the players from different skill levels, the structure has always aimed to make it possible for teams to climb the division ladder all the way from the bottom to the top. Different rulesets could create a huge barrier between the divisions, which would be against our core values. We don't think either end of the extremes would necessarily result in a bad gameplay experience, but there are a lot of players on each side of the conversation and a compromise between the main two parties feels like the best way to go forward. Based on the community feedback and after an internal discussion we have decided on the following ability restrictions for the ECL '25: Spring season: All Gold X-Factors will be banned for both skaters and goaltenders Activating the Gold X-Factors doesn't require you to spend any XP points for certain traits and it allows you to have the abilities of a superstar even if your actual ability stats e.g. on a shooting skill would say otherwise. This change also brings the number of usable abilities down from 3 to 2. When you need the skill points to use the Superstar abilities, it will require you to carefully think about where to place those scarcely available skill points, and whether you want to focus on offense, defense, or somewhere between. With the removal of the Gold X-Factors, the balance between offense, defense, and goaltending should also stay similar to what we're already used to. The following X-Factors and Superstar abilities will be completely banned The following X-Factors are deemed too powerful even in their silver state and will be banned completely. Big Tipper This ability helps players in front of the net to deflect pucks with ultimate precision. This is the one ability almost everyone seems to agree doesn't belong in a competitive environment, due to the usage requiring little to no skill and being so efficient. Truculence This ability gives you exceptional stability and assists on shoulder checks and greatly increases the chance of knocking over the opponent and sapping their energy. Truculence breaks the game in a few different ways. It slows down the game due to the energy loss and long animations to get back up. It enables you to hit from too far away and from impossible angles, no matter which size player build is being used. You can still hit without truculence but without it, a better understanding of when a hit should be made will be required. Stick 'em up This ability gives you phenomenal defensive stick speed and exceptional accuracy when poke-checking against momentum or at speed while also lowering the chance of a penalty. The game already has a very strong auto-aim built into poke-checking whether you use this ability or not. The ability allows you to spam the stick check without much worry of getting penalized for it. It also allows you to reach the puck from too far away and from impossible angles. Why are the Regional Leagues played without abilities? There was a large group of players who made their voices heard with the so-called "#BanThemAll" messages that were going around after the announcement of the ability bans for the ECL '25: Winter season. As there was no conversation indicating a change in opinion around this subject, we wanted to give the players a chance to try it out in a competitive environment the regional tournaments that were next on the schedule felt like the be the best place to do that. We understand that the timing of this "test period" was far from ideal, especially with the biggest league FCL starting later than we were originally aiming for. We decided to have the same ruleset for all the Regional Leagues, because we wanted all teams and regions to have an equal chance to experience the gameplay without abilities and prepare for the upcoming ECL Season. Our communication of this should have been clearer, but ultimately it was a timing issue with the leagues running at different times. Why was there no community vote? While we understand that there is a big argument to have a vote for this decision, we believe in practice it would not be the best way to go. If we look at some of the unofficial polling results that have been circulating, they show that most people voting were against any kind of change compared to the ECL '25: Winter season. In one specific poll around 130-140 players out of around 650 people on the server voted, even though the server could be considered to consist of some of the most active members in the community. The ongoing public discussions have been very "top-heavy" regarding what division the players play in and this was also reflected in the polling. The higher up you go in divisions, the players tend to be more active and we expect that would also be reflected in a community vote. To actually reach the whole community would be a huge task on its own, and there would still be a big majority of players that the possible vote would not reach, especially given the often narrow time frame. The flip side of the coin is, that even if we would reach all players and have them vote anonymously, we have no way to verify if they have actually looked into all the intricacies of the matter or if they're just casting their vote based on what someone else told them to vote for. This is why we prefer to have an open and constructive dialogue where we collaboratively try to get into the details and thoughts behind the opinions and experiences within our community. What to expect from future decisions? We understand from the feedback that we've been lacking in communication regarding this issue. Communication is our main goal to improve along with reacting quicker to possible changes and make the process smoother overall. Whether it is at the start of the game cycle when something has radically changed, or in the middle of the year when some issue has been raised, we want to react quicker and give the players enough time to adjust for the tournaments. We're very thankful for all the feedback we've received and we warmly welcome any future feedback or suggestions! Best regards, League Administration

In an effort to boost our editorial coverage outside the realm of division-specific ECL content, we've enlisted NHL.com/sv writer, and long-time ECL player, Hampus Duvefelt (l-Furyan-l) to provide a series of special columns for SportsGamer.GG throughout the NHL 26 cycle. This is the first edition. KEEPING A TEAM TOGETHER If there is one thing I’ve learned during all my years in the NHL community, it is that keeping a team together for any duration of time is hard work. Whether it be due to arguments, fading chemistry, personal reasons or just a need for a fresh voice in the party, teams rarely look the same at the end of a game cycle as they did at the beginning of it. In some ways, change is the one constant in the unpredictable world of NHL gaming. In fact, one could argue an “NHL Year” is not entirely unlike a dog year, where in one game cycle, it can feel like you’ve lived through multiple years’ worth of transfers, roster changes and teams disbanding. Having been a captain or assistant captain for the majority of my soon-to-be decade on this platform, I’ve seen my fair share of exists – good and bad. I’ve been caught blindsided by players leaving at the worst possible times, I’ve had to tell unsuspecting players they were being let go (for various reasons) and I’ve had heartfelt interactions with players where we both agreed it was time for a change. I’ve also had a hand in closing down teams entirely, same as I’ve been a part of starting new projects. I’ve had players “poached” from me, with them agreeing to join other teams when they were still on my roster – sometimes even mid-tournament. And, in the interest of full disclosure as to not try and portray myself as some type of saint; I’ve agreed to join teams – or made plans for new projects – while I was still part of another team. The NHL scene has historically flirted with professional organizations and guaranteed contracts but as it stands that is the exception and not the norm. So, in a business that is... not really a business, but more like a (semi-professional) hobby where a contract is signed through a virtual handshake over Discord and a transfer is never more than a well-timed DM pitch away, how do you go about keeping a team together? Here’s what I’ve learned The main thing is to create an environment where players feel comfortable, enjoy “coming to the rink” and feel like their expectations are being met. Whether those expectations are on-ice success, a high level of activity or just a positive gaming experience, it is important to tailor your approach to the players you have. Are you with a group of IRL friends with no previous EASHL experience who are just starting out together? Perhaps don’t yell at them on a daily basis to get their shit together and to up their playing level (sorry, FCM teammates of ECL 1-3)... Are you with a group of hungry, talented 18-year-olds who want to win a championship and are willing to put in the time to do so? Make sure you keep both activity levels and accountability high. And if you’re with a group of (slightly) older players, with jobs, families and other responsibilities that take up their time, make sure to listen to their feedback and try to tailor your gaming sessions to their availability. But the main thing I wanted to share, and really the reason why I decided to write this whole thing, is some advice I received a few years ago from one of the greatest leaders I ever played with. Advice that I listened to at the time, but didn’t fully understand until more recently. And I’m paraphrasing here because it has been a while. He told me to always try and create a team environment where players want to be. Where they feel like they are achieving something just by being a part of the roster. A team that others scramble to play for. A team whose reputation – at least as spread by the players on it, past and present – is undeniably great. There will always be haters on the outside, but if you can create a team environment where starters, backups and loan players alike all feel like they are having the time of their lives, you’ve set yourself up for success. But his most important lesson was this; learn to accept that players are going to want to move on – and cheer them on when they do. Even in the best team environment humanly possible, you are going to have players move on. And here’s the kicker, it doesn’t matter what their reasons for wanting to leave are. It doesn’t matter if it’s wanting more success, wanting a less ‘tryhard’ environment, wanting to play with IRL friends or just wanting a fresh start. In a world without guaranteed contracts, you can never keep a player from leaving, so don’t get frustrated or judge them for it when they do. Learn to let go Of course, it is never a bad thing to ask a departing player why they are leaving or to ask for their feedback if there is something you or the team could have done differently. Listen, and learn from it. But if they’ve decided to leave, that’s that. And that’s okay. Sure, there are both good and bad ways to exit a team, and no one is immune to having an emotional reaction to a player transfer. I certainly am not. But in the end, if you know in your heart of hearts you’ve done the absolute best you can in trying to create a team environment that people want to be a part of, then there is no point in dwelling on it. Or... you could just, you know, win title after title after title. After title. I hear that’s a neat trick too!

Around three weeks ago LA received a report that @Keuschemisch was adding additional points to game reports that were not present in-game. After investigation, here are the findings: In order to carry out the investigation we cross-referenced SportsGamer match results with EA API metadata from seven tournaments stretching across two EA NHL titles. By comparing what we have on record vs. what EA says happened we can see if the stats line up. For instance, in the screenshot below we can see what it looks like when the stats between the two sources line up. All of the players listed have the same number of goals and assists on both the EA API, as well as what has been reported on the SportsGamer site after the games were finished. Generally speaking, people seem to be doing a pretty good job at maintaining the balance between accuracy and speed at which the reports are completed – so to the captains of the SportsGamer community, good work! That said, mistakes do happen and there are times when an extra assist gets added to one player that should have gone to someone else, however as shown in the screenshot below Keuschemisch is a major outlier. No other player across the seven tournaments worth of data is even close. To make matters worse, those 25 points came over the course of only four of those said seven tournaments. For completeness here is the list of players who have had points deducted by accident over those same seven tournaments. Furthermore, as seen in the overview below, a number of Keuschmisch’s additional points come by way of assists being granted when the EA API does not note one being recorded. In order for this to occur when reporting, the individual must edit the EA readout at the bottom of the page before then going back up to the dropdown box to select their name as one of the assisters on a goal. This means that it changes from a potential ‘misclick’ to a two-step process as seen below. Finally, when a game report is completed, it saves the username of the individual who did it, and in these games Keuschemisch was the user who completed the game reports. Therefore, we believe with the evidence listed above that the increase in stats seen on Keuschemisch is not by chance or an error and is in fact a conscious effort to boost their point totals artificially. Keuschemisch claims that the reason for this stats increase is a box score glitch. It is worth noting, that we have also seen video evidence of games where the alleged assists have taken place and been able to confirm that the player in question was nowhere near to getting an assist. Due to the scale of the stats manipulation across multiple tournaments and EA NHL titles, we have decided to suspend Keuschemisch from all SportsGamer tournaments from today’s date (10/01/2025) up to and including 28/02/2026, furthermore, Keuschemisch will receive a captaincy suspension that will run from today’s date (10/01/2025) up to and including 10/01/2030. Finally, for full disclosure, LA received the original report regarding this on the 20th of December 2024. To facilitate this investigation we had to create from scratch a tool to ingest and transform the data from EA’s API into a viewable account of all games from any tournament played on the SportsGamer platform, which we will now be using going forward to proactively scan for players manipulating statistics in a competitive environment. (Update: It should also be noted that from this investigation and the evidence gathered, LA is confident in saying that captains @Toneee9, and @Timasy were not aware of the stats manipulation that was going on, and as such should not face any public (or private) backlash.) League Administration