The NHL Gaming World Championship returns for its third iteration with a record breaking $150,000 USD prize pool. This year, the championship features a number of changes based on public feedback from previous iterations. Together with a number of partners, the NHL has realised the rapid growth of the gaming community and will be bringing gamers the biggest event of NHL esports yet!

Registrations are open now - register here.

Here's how the tournament will be played:

Round 1: Online open play
The online open play will be running on PS4 and Xbox for four weeks, starting March 11th. Each week 32 players from each console and each region will advance to round two. The last chance to register for online open play is on Sunday, March 29th.

Round 2: Online play-in bracket
This is a bracket that will be hosted on two dates for each region.
EU: April 11th & April 19th
US: April 18th & April 25th
CAN: April 25th & May 2nd

• NEW! The Online play-in bracket will be played in best-of-three rounds head-to-head.
• NEW! Players who advance to rounds 4-7 of the Online play-in bracket will earn cash prizes of between $200-$1,000 USD. Find specifics in the tournament rules.

Regional finals:
EU: Viaplay Studios, Copenhagen, Denmark - May 16th
US: NBC Sports Studios, Stamford, Connectitut - May 22nd
CAN: Sportsnet Studios, Toronto, Ontario - May 30th

• NEW! Players finishing 3rd and 4th will face each other in a best-of-three consolation round, with the winner earning a spot at the World finals.

World finals:
The World finals will be hosted at the 2020 NHL Awards, time and place still TBA. The champion will receive the largest share of the prize pool - $60,000 USD.

• NEW! This year, the World final features nine players in a two-stage event. The first stage consists of a head-to-head round robin best-of-three series between the three third place regional finalists - the top two will be advancing to the final eight-person bracket.
• NEW! The World final is played with the top eight competitors in a single elimination bracket consisting of head-to-head, best-of-three series (1 vs 8, 2 vs 7, 3 vs 6 etc.).

Where to watch and follow?

Find all information about the tournament at www.nhl.com/fans/gaming
The Regional finals and World finals will be streamed on the NHL Twitch channel.
Tournament brackets can be followed on FACEIT once the play has commenced.
On social media, #NHLGWC lets you follow the conversation around the event.

Hey NHLGamers,

Today, the 30th of January, EA SPORTS has released the fourth update for NHL 20.

Based on the list of changes, there are quite a few fixes that the community has been asking for. The biggest change is most likely the tweak regarding how players will experience pickups from now on, with a greater emphasis being placed on players properly facing the puck to boost the chances of picking up passes. We should also not see those superhuman behind-the-back one-handed no-look interceptions from the opposing team. Additionally, defensive awareness has seen a buff, with balance whilst back skating being nerfed slightly. 

An important fix comes to the Xbox, as the goalie puck covering issue should now be resolved. Previously you might experience the goalie unable to cover the puck, turning into a poke check-fest in front of your net, eventually leading to the puck trickling in. This hasn't been much of an issue on the PS4, but Xbox players will be happy to get rid of this inconvenience as well.

Last but not least, we'll mention the ability to skip the Play of the Period replays. Think of all those saved seconds adding up throughout the rest of your games of NHL 20!

For the full changelog, please see below.

Quote

Gameplay
----
- Fixed a rare case where the puck could stop dead when passed or shot around the boards
- Various interception logic tuning
- Reduced player ability for pickups outside skaters field of view (1 hand behind the back pickups) so they do not play as often and as unrealistically fast
- Defensive awareness attribute made more effective and tuned the windows in which players can intercept pucks within their field of view
- Improved player head tracking of the puck
- Players tuned to have less balance/preparedness when pivoting or backskating with the puck
- Fixed the issue where holding pass would negate spins from working which opened up holes in skating blends
- Fixed an issue where slapshots in the defensive end would target your own net instead of the left stick direction
- Further improvements to covers for pucks underneath the goaltender
- Fixed a case where the goalie would continuously lose the puck when performing a between the legs cover
- Fixed a few cases where the puck was able to slip past the goalie unintentionally while they were tight to the post
- Increased the amount of stick contact on legs/skates needed to cause a trip

Presentation
----
- Added additional commentary
- Added consensus skip to Play of the Period replays

World of CHEL
----
- Turned off Canal outdoor rink from EASHL Drop-in 3v3 and 6v6
- Fixed an issue where top clubs in Threes Eliminator stopped receiving points when near the top of the leaderboards
- New content added to World of CHEL which is to be revealed through the Chel Challenge card. Tune in regularly to see what exciting new stuff you can earn

Art – Equipment
----
Helmet
- True Dynamic 9 Pro Helmet

HUT
----
- Fixed an issue where Users would sometimes crash playing against certain Squad Battles teams
- Fixed an issue where Users would sometimes earn negative Skill Rating for a Win in HUT Rivals

Art - Jerseys
----
NHL
- Anaheim Ducks Alternate
- Boston Bruins Alternate
- Colorado Avalanche Stadium Series
- Los Angeles Kings Stadium Series
- Dallas Stars Winter Classic
- Nashville Predators Winter Classic

AHL
- San Jose Barracuda Alternate

Source: EA Forums

 

What are your thoughts on the update? Have you had the chance to test it - does it deliver? Let us know in the comments below!

Hey NHLGamers,

On the 5th of December EA released the third update for NHL 20. Unlike the content updates before it, this one looks to explicitly tweak gameplay mechanics, with backskating facing the brunt of their ire.  

Aside from backskating receiving a potentially substantial nerf, EA claim to have updated their physics interactions with goalies, as well as fixing the zone camera. Furthermore, in EASHL it should now properly show a player's position when they're being highlighted in a replay, as opposed to being listed as center regardless of their actual position. 

In addition to this, players will now have the option to have Snoop Dogg as a guest commentator alongside James Cybulski, replacing Ray Ferraro. 

For the full changelog, please see below.

Quote

 

- We have updated the skate model so that players lose more speed when disrupting their core balance/weight distribution when by pivoting over and over. This year we had already removed the ability to accelerate during parts of a pivot that a player shouldn’t be able to but players that were spamming pivot weren’t losing as much skating speed as they should considering what the responsiveness allows them to do.

- Puck carriers pivot speeds will be impacted by trying to pivot at high speeds to simulate what they would need to do to keep control of the puck

We believe these are agreed upon, community friendly changes that will benefit gameplay without shaking things up too drastically.

In terms of the potential adjustments we’re looking to make, they to revolve around pivoting but are a bit more harsh than what was shown above:

- We may add the ability for players to lose the puck if they try to pivot at higher speeds with less control.

- When puck loss is active, we have the ability for players to increase their chance of keeping the puck into a pivot if they increase control by gliding.

We are continuing to monitor feedback around these potential changes so please let us know what your thoughts are in the comments or on social.

Thank you for the continued feedback and now here are the Content Update notes:

General
- Restricted directional toe drags to when a skater is moving forwards
- Improved player switching cases when a teammate has been injured
- Fixed a rare issue where tall players were unable to receive passes consistently (This would have been seen the most on D to D passes to stationary players pivoting to face the net)
-Fixed physics updates with goaltenders.

AI
- Improved ability for Weakside defender to stay with their check on the rush

Skating
- If players continually pivot, their skating will be impacted more realistically
- Puck carriers pivot speeds will be impacted by trying to pivot at high speeds to simulate what they would need to do to keep control of the puck

Presentation
----
- Added additional celebrations
- Various overlay fixes
- Fix for the Zone camera not working as intended
- Various environment camera clipping fixes

Game Modes
----
Tournaments
- Added 2019 Spengler Cup tournament

HUT
----
General
- HUT Team Abbreviation no longer displays in Pause Menu prior to puck drop

HUT Rivals
- Implemented a matchmaking cap for very high and very low Skill Ratings to improve the likelihood of these players finding games
- Fixed multiple display issues in the Ranks and Division screens
- Fixed an issue where Coin Items could not be redeemed if a player had 2,000 HUT Champions Points

Squad Battles
– Fixed an issue where expired Loan items displayed an incorrect contract length when viewing Opponent Squad

World of CHEL
----
Content
- Customize Club – The 2019-20 Canucks logo has been added, and the 2018-19 Canucks Logo has been moved to the vintage section
- New content added to World of CHEL which is to be revealed through the Chel Challenge card. Tune in regularly to see what exciting new stuff you can earn

Fixes
- Fixed an MTU exploit in online modes
- Fixed an issue with the Instant Replay timeline not functioning prior to puck drop
- Fixed an issue where EASHL overlays show the player position as C

Art - Uniforms
----
The following uniforms have been added to NHL 20

AHL
- Belleville Senators Away and Alternate
- Hartford Wolfpack Home, Away and Alternate
- Iowa Wild Alternate
- San Antonio Rampage Home and Away
- Stockton Heat Alternate

 

Source: EA

 

NHLGamers,

We’re pleased to be bringing you your next eSHL team, which is going to be Leksands IF who have signed the roster of former Synergy Hockey. Kim “DraySWE” Larsson is the man put in place to recruit the team and he will be acting as a manager of sorts for them too. He is an accomplished Dota player and caster, and has also made a name for himself as an event host, which he has transitioned to full time. I had a short chat with the man about their team and their new investment into esports:

What did you find so interesting about Synergy in particular?
“The routine that they’ve amassed during all their years of play. That and the fact that they’ve managed to maintain a high level of competition throughout their history.”

Kim says that they had a vision of what kind of team they wanted to recruit, and Synergy fit that mold very well:
“NHL is currently a rather marginal esport, so you’d imagine that the criteria can’t be all too strict. However, after taking a look at the situation around Sweden, we realized the potential and set expectations to recruit experienced players with passion for the game and their club. We wanted a stable team who could put up a fight against most opponents on any given night. On top of that, our guys have a very positive vibe and a good attitude that makes me extra happy.”

What does this esports endeavor look like for Leksands IF - do you already have future plans?
“I like the attitude that Leksands IF has towards esports in general. They are eagerly diving into new things and aren’t afraid to innovate. I guess we’ll know more after the first eSHL season, so get back to me on that later. The overall feeling is definitely very positive!"

Synergy Hockey is one of the most long-lived clubs in the NHL esports scene and have remained a rather successful bunch ever since the team was put together in the fall of 2010 and that surely shows the experience and long-term success that was talked about. Most players have been part of the team for their whole careers with very few exceptions. The team is nowadays known as a strong defensive unit that due to their chemistry built along the years can surprise any team with impressive passing plays.

Here is the roster of Leksands IF:

We also caught up with captain William @Mumsi- Lindblad and assistant captain Jonas @Supremski Söderlund for some comments about their new colors:

@Mumsi-: "Representing an SHL team had been in the talks within the team for quite some time already, of course under the right circumstances. It was a big surprise when Leksand contacted us, however. They told us that they were looking for a team to represent them in the eSHL and that they’ve been keeping tabs on us for a while. They were very clear about the fact that we were the ones they wanted to sign. There was a mutual interest so no we quickly got into negotiating with Dray (Kim Larsson) who came off as a real professional. We clicked very well and things have taken off from there."

"Our left winger Calle @Smutto Hjul has a special bond to Leksand in the form that he's a passionate fan of the team. That's been valuable for us as he's been running errands with the club for us.", says captain Mumsi.

@Supremski: "I'll add that it was very important for us to sign with a team that really wanted our team to represent them. We weren't going to jump on any offer we got on the table. When Leksand and Kim approached us, they made a very good impression and our discussions revealed that we were very much on the same page. We've been sporting the Synergy colors for so long now, that we wanted to make sure we get it 100% right when we were going to sign."

The transition from Synergy Hockey to Leksands IF will be happening immediately and the change will also take effect in the ongoing ECL Elite season. We wish the best of luck to the team and hope to see great things from them in the future!

 NHLGamers,

It's been a while to say the least, in October 2018 we released the first part of my analysis on captaincy in the NHL and its virtual counterpart and now I'm back with an updated second part and views from a one year older (smarter?) me.

If you missed it or need a refresher, please take a look at the first part here.

With that out of the way, welcome to the second part of our captaincy analysis. We'll start with the captains of Eastern Conference and after that discuss some thoughts about NHL20 captaincy and what EA could do to improve it.

Eastern Conference:

Atlantic Division:

Boston Bruins – Zdeno Chara

The Giant. Has a hulking presence in the Bruins defense. Is the longest reigning captain currently in NHL also the longest ongoing career in the NHL. Even though Chara is not getting any younger and he’s not that fast, he still has a solid contribution both on defense and offense. The slapshot of this monster of a man is still one of the hardest in the whole league. Has been training like a madman in the summer so I don’t expect his performance to deteriorate too much from the last few years. The question still remains: Does he still have juice left for one more year or is this his last? My guess is that next year the skipper could be Bergeron.

Buffalo Sabres – Jack Eichel

Last year was the first year for Eichel as captain and Buffalo did not make play-offs (again). It was more about the quality of the team than about Eichels ability to lead, though. It remains unknown if he is captain material and if he can lead Buffalo to greatness in the future, but he is currently the best chance that the Sabres have. With him, Dahlin and Mittelstadt, Buffalo has good set of future superstars and in the coming years we will see them in playoff contention.

Detroit Red Wings – Vacant

The reign of swedes ended with Zetterberg. Motor City is in turmoil for a second season straight. No light at the end of the tunnel and still no captain. The team has bigger problems than assigning their captaincy, but they should have one to lead them through these troubled waters. I would like to see Larkin appointed C and start the building from there. There is a long road ahead, but Larkin is young, dependable and has good point potential.

Florida Panthers – Aleksander Barkov

Let’s say it out loud, Mackenzie as a captain was a failure. It is good that Panthers saw and acknowledged that, set their sights to the future and appointed Barkov as captain in 18-19. Barkov is everything that captain should be, he puts up points but is no slouch in defense either, has a high work ethic and is an exceptional gentleman of a player. Those things are the definition of leading by example and I would not be surprised if Barkov is the captain in Florida for the next 10 seasons. Florida should easily be in the playoffs this year and I hope that they will finally be the serious cup contender with Barkov at the helm. 

Montreal Canadiens – Shea Weber

Montreal is no easy place to be captain as hockey is a way bigger sport in there than in most parts of USA and Canada. That influences many players too much as your performance on the ice reflects to your everyday life. If you are on a winning streak people will high-five you in the street and that surely gives boost, but there’s a big caveat here too a Montreal’s Captain cannot escape the responsibility that comes with poor performance at all. If you've lost a game, you will hear about it the next day during grocery shopping and you just have to deal with it. That role is not for everybody, but Weber has adapted to this role very well. Weber is a senior player and might have 3-4 good seasons left. He starts to slow down on the ice but his slapshot is still deadly. The Canadiens team itself is just mediocre and they must do their absolute best to reach playoffs. I am a bit surprised how well they have started the season but that is partially because of so many underperformers in the Atlantic division. The performances have started to even out as of late though.

Ottawa Senators – Vacant

The era of Karlsson has been over for a while now. Last season was a disaster as expected but there are signs of hope in the future. Jean-Gabriel Pageau needs to be appointed Captain as soon as possible and start building play-off team from there. Pageau is quite a small player but is a good scorer and has many good years ahead of him. Team around him is not of a great quality but you have to start from somewhere. Let’s check up on them in 2-3 seasons, before that I don’t see any chances of playoffs.

Tampa Bay Lightning – Steven Stamkos

Stammer - He might just be the best shooter in the whole NHL and we all know that, but this season and in 18-19 we have seen a new type of Stamkos as he has adapted a bit more to a playmaking style. That makes him even more of a threat to opponents. Stamkos if one those players who can win games all by himself, but as he has developed more into a team guy as he's gotten older that just might be the missing piece that leads him to greatness. 

Toronto Maple Leafs – John Tavares 

The Leafs appointed Tavares expectedly as Captain for this season. So far it has not held any fruit, but that is not because of Tavares. Tavares is the best choice for the Leafs and I see them as potential cup contenders in coming years. This year has started with a crisis around Babcock and it escalated as Toronto sacked him. it remains to be seen if Tavares and coach Keefe can turn the ship around and sail towards playoffs. If not this season, then the next. The Stanley Cup is coming back to Toronto in the coming years that’s for sure, but is it this season, next season or the season after that?

Metropolitan Division:

Carolina Hurricanes – Jordan Staal

After a double captaincy catastrophe 18-19 Hurricanes came to their senses and they appointed Williams as captain. Williams retired after the season and Carolina appointed Staal as Captain for this season. Staal has worn the Captain badge before and is a logical choice because of that, but I would have liked to see Aho as captain. Aho signed contract till 23/24 season with them and is their future Franchise player. Why not give him more responsibility and make him even more committed to Carolina? 

Columbus Blue Jackets – Nick Foligno

Who else for Columbus? Has grown as a leader in the last few seasons by big leaps. Big player on the ice, but HUGE player in the locker room, one of those players that you can’t judge by their point production because the overall impact of the player is much bigger for the team. Won the King Clancy trophy (Leadership/humanitarian award) and Mark Messier leadership award in 16/17. At 31 years old he can still play for quite some time and we shall see if he gets the crown for his career and maybe goes down in history as a true great captain. 

New Jersey Devils – Andy Greene

No thrills, no frills defender. Well liked player by fans and players around him. Will not set any scoring or passing records, but he is the definition of reliability on defense. Has played all of his NHL career for the Devils and I’m sure he won’t be going to any other team. There is one caveat with Greene as there is with many other captains, he has not won anything major as captain or as a player so when or at this late in his career we might say if the time comes to lead the team to victory is he ready for it and can he even do it?

New York Islanders – Anders Lee 

The Tavares era ended. Lee took the reins and he is the natural choice for the Islanders. Dependable player with good scoring sense. Has played all his NHL matches for the Islanders and knows the team and their mentality well. Islanders surprised us all last season as they made it all the way to the Eastern Conference finals. They have started this season very well and if nothing drastic happens they will make playoffs for the second year in a row. It seems that the Islanders did not need Tavares at all, and they are playing way better without him.  

New York Rangers – Vacant

Marc Staal or Mika Zibanejad would have been the natural choices for the Rangers captaincy this season, but they have not appointed anyone yet. Rangers was a messy bunch last season, but they made an impact in the summer as they signed Artemi Panarin with a huge over 11 million AAV contract. The season so far has been mixed for them and they have not been able to be solid either away or at home. With Kaapo Kakko, Panarin and Zibanejad they now have the star players, now they need to settle with a captain and start chasing the playoff spot again.

Philadelphia Flyers – Claude Giroux

Fast on skates and fast with his hands, pretty small in size but big in attitude. Has already won the World Championship and World Cup so he sure knows how to win. His leadership skill are enough to lead quality team to the Finals and even a championship but I just don’t see that the 19/20 Flyers is that team. I hope he proves me wrong because he is just so entertaining to watch on the ice.

Pittsburgh Penguins – Sidney Crosby

Who else? Has won everything in his career. A top two player in the league, might even be the best depending on who you ask. Teammates and fans love him, and others hate him. Has a reputation of doing tricks on the grey area of the rulebook and that pisses lots of people off. Even the haters cannot deny Sids ability to lead the team from one win to another and even from one cup to another. I am 100% sure that he will still get more huge wins in his career as his fire for winning is next to none. Has had lots of concussions in his career so there is a bit of speculation that he might retire early, but I think that he is so driven to win that he will play for another decade.

Washington Capitals – Alexander Ovechkin

The greatest goal scorer of his generation and some might say greatest scorer of all-time. As a younger player had some problems with his defensive mentality but has improved his defensive efforts and as of now, he is a very well-rounded player. Has a plethora of medals from World Championships, World Cup and now even Stanley Cup. The biggest problem with Alexander the Great though is that although he plays with passion, that fire gets the best of him sometimes. He lives and dies by the game and sometimes it makes him do great things and miraculous goals that look impossible but the downside is that the team sometimes suffers. In 18/19 Alexander proved that he can be the leader that team needs and finally grabbed the Cup to his Capitals. That seals the deal of the speculation if he can or cannot win Stanley Cup. The Cup win boosted to Alexander the Great and he scored over 50 goals last season and Capitals are one of the strongest favorites to win the Cup this year. 

Captains in NHL 20

How do the captains influence the game when you are playing NHL 20 and how much of an impact does that give? The answer is easy: none, nada zilch, zero! 

It does not matter if its HUT, Franchise mode, Threes, online versus or shootout, captains on the ice do not have any effect on the game and they are just like any other player. I think that it should not be like that. Captains make all the difference in real life why they cannot do that in game also? 

EASHL is kind of a breed of its own though. There the assigned Captains do matter because when you are playing with human players on your team, communication is one of the key parts of the game and captains do it in EASHL kind of like real hockey captains communicate in the NHL, making sure that a plan is followed and everybody does their part.

I still remember that in HUT there were meaningful ”A” and ”C” cards a couple of years ago.The ”A” card gave +1 to all stats to a maximum of two players in your team. The ”C” card gave +2 to all stats to one player in your team. That way you could boost your favorite players and they made kind of a difference and captains meant something. I really think that it was a good feature and I don’t have a clue why it was changed so that “A” and “C” cards are now purely cosmetic. I really would like to see it make return in future NHL. But that does not solve the problem that in another modes the captain doesn’t have any impact. Communication with referees is a key part of a captain in real hockey but I think that cannot be implemented meaningfully to a NHL game. Yes, referees can be improved but that is a discussion for a different article 😉

I have been thinking about this quite a lot lately because I think that captains play such a crucial role in a teams success or failure in the real world, so I think that they have to have a bigger impact in NHL games too. I watch hockey passionately and I also passionately play NHL on consoles so it’s natural for me to compare the two and think about things to improve or change. The solution that I came up with is really quite simple, it does not change the fundamental gameplay a lot but captains would have straight and noticeable ”impact” on a game. So my idea is a ”momentum”. It has been debated for years now that NHL games have invisible momentum and ”ice tilt” features, but let’s not go into those too much now. On my model whenever ”A” does something significant for example a big clean hit, assist, goal, successful deke, or a blocked shot your whole team gets a 5-30 second boost to the whole teams overall stats. I was thinking about +2 to all stats or something similar. When ”C” does the same thing the boost would be more, for example +3 to all stats. On both cases there would be a visible difference like the overhead player indicator chances to upwards pointing triangle for the duration of the momentum. When the assistant captains or the captains does something hurting your team like takes a penalty or accidentally scores an own goal the team would take a similar negative momentums -2 overall for ”A” or -3 overall for ”C”. The duration would be affected by the length of the penalty or severity of the mistake, but I would make it equal length as the boost so 5-30 seconds, this would be indicated by downwards pointing triangle as the player indicator. 

I really think that this would work in all play modes and it would encourage a bit different playstyles and bring it a bit closer to real hockey. It would not make or break a match but potentially this feature would make captains relevant and knowing when you are controlling one might affect your play style. Potentially this brings one extra strategical element to the game and makes manual line changes mean more and besides timeouts gives you more of a “control” on your teams momentum and I think that when you have visible momentums that you can affect yourself the game becomes more enjoyable for everybody.

What do you guys think? Are my analyses spot on or did I miss something? What about captains in NHL games? Is this a feature we should see in future games? Let me hear your opinions in the comment section I am eagerly awaiting your input!

Hey NHLGamers,

On the 25th of October EA released the second update for NHL 20. Like the content update that came almost a month prior, it appears as though EA are sticking to their guns so to speak and are trying their damnedest not to change the core gameplay as much as they can. As such, the bulk of this patch comes in the form of a bunch of miscellaneous additions, although that said there are some that should be highlighted.

Perhaps the biggest addition for EASHL players would be the option which now allows players to change which camera they view when in the box or on the bench. For HUT players however, the biggest change would be the inclusion of the new mode 'HUT Rivals'. For players who are still yet to play HUT Rivals, a breakdown of what the mode looks to achieve as well as a rough guide to it will be available shortly - so stay tuned for that!

Not mentioned in the patch log, but you should notice the PS4 version play more like the Xbox One version now. The difference is small, but you should notice it's a little bit easier to bump a player off his/her balance from smaller nudges. At least in theory, this should make defence a little easier around the net. 

For the full changelog, please see below. 

Quote

Game Play

----
General
- ECHL Regular season overtime rules increases to 7 minutes Instead of five minutes
- Fixed a case the where the penalized team was being allowed to possess the puck when an injury occurs

Al
- Fixed a case the where the AI would pursue over loose pucks on Rush

Chances Against Goalies
- Various Animation Improvements
- Improvements To Covers For Pucks Underneath The Goaltender
- Further Improvements To Goalie Tracking When The Puck Is Behind The Net

Physics
- Fixed a case where the goalie could skate through the net

Shooting
- Fixed some cases where players would take a path that would put them offside when trying to one-time the Puck
- Improved selection for on-the-fly timers
- Further shot angle Improvements for accurate release trajectories

Presentation

----
- Added Penalty Box and Bench Camera Options for Beyond Pro and EASHL Modes
- Added new player intro animations
- Added more variation in cameras during playback in outdoor environments
- Various environment camera clipping fixes
- Player lineup animation and camera improvements

Franchise Mode

----
- Tuning the frequency a Coach will decline a contract offer due to market size and team status.
- Added the ability for RFA to not receive a contract at the start of a new franchise mode. These players will remain RFA until signed in either mode by the CPU or User team.
- Misc stability Improvements.

HUT

----
HUT Rivals
- HUT Rivals is a new HUT online game mode that allows you to compete against other HUT players, earn Rewards, and qualify for HUT Champions
- Starting out by playing 5 placement games to determine your starting Skill Rating and Division
- Play Games in Your Division's Weekly Competition to
Earn Rivals Points, Rank Up, and Earn Better Weekly Rewards - Earn HUT Champions Points as You Play Rivals Games to Progress Towards Earning Entry to HUT Champions
- Every week a new Rivals Season begins. Rivals Points are reset to 0 when a new season begins.
- You'll also earn Rivals Points while playing HUT Champions Games to help rank up and earn Rivals Rewards

- The following changes have been made within HUT to accommodate the addition of HUT Rivals:

- The 'Online' tab in the HUT Hub has been re-organized
- HUT Champions qualification now takes place by earning enough HUT Champions points by playing Rivals games

- There will be no longer be HUT Champions Qualifiers through Competitive Seasons each week.
- Winning Div 1 in Online Seasons will no longer grant HUT Champions access.

General
- Fixed an issue where the player bio sometimes showed incorrect Win / Loss stats for Goalies

Squad Battles
- Added a warning popup when trying to play the game with less than 30 minutes remaining in the Season.
- Fixed an issue where the 'Unranked' rank is sometimes displayed as 'Rank 1' on the My Rank tab.

World of CHEL

----
Improvements
- Added the ability to now change the Chel Challenges card to require a specific number of challenges to complete out of 15 to earn the Special Reward

Content
- New Content Added to the World of CHEL which is to be Revealed through the Chel Challenge card. Tune in regularly to see what exciting new stuff you can earn

Fixes
- Fixed a Hang in Ones and Threes Eliminator that can occur during a match rollover
- Fixed the Ones Eliminator scoreboard not appearing if an opponent dropped out while loading into a match
- Fixed Club Captaincy not appearing for the Home team
- Fixed Full Reward not greeting after it is Redeemed in Chel Challenges
- Fixed an issue where the second wireless controller lost the ability to join a match if the first controller became disconnected.

Art - Equipment
----
Gloves
- Sher-Wood M90 Rekker Pro

Art - Jerseys
----
NHL
- Los Angeles Kings Retro Alternate
- St. Louis Blues Retro Alternate
- Calgary Flames Heritage
- Winnipeg Jets Heritage

AHL
- Colorado Eagles Alternate

OHL
- Barrie Colts Home and Away
- Flint Firebirds Home and Away
- Guelph Storm Home and Away
- Hamilton Bulldogs Home and Away
- Kingston Frontenacs Home and Away
- Kitchener Rangers Home and Away
- Mississauga Steelheads Home and Away
- Niagara IceDogs Home and Away
- North Bat Battalion Home and Away
- Oshawa Generals Home and Away
- Ottawa 67's Home and Away
- Saginaw Spirit Home and Away
- Sarnia Sting Home and Away
- Sault Ste-Marie Greyhounds Home and Away
- Sudbury Wolves Home and Away
- Windsor Spitfires Home and Away

QMJHL
- Acadie-Bathurst Titan Home and Away
- Baie-Comeau Drakkar Home and Away
- Blainville-Boisbriand Armada Home and Away
- Chicoutimi Sagueneens Home and Away
- Drummondville Voltigeurs Home and Away
- Gatineau Olympiques Home and Away
- Halifax Mooseheads Home and Away
- Moncton Wildcats Home and Away
- Owen Sound Attack Home and Away
- Quebec Remparts Home and Away
-
Rouyn Noranda Huskies Home and Away
- Saint John's Sea Dogs Home and Away
- Shawinigan Cataractes Home and Away
- Sherbrooke Phoenix Home and Away
- Val D'Or Foreurs Home and Away
- Victoriaville Tigres Home and Away

WHL
- Brandon Wheat Kings Home and Away
- Calgary Hitmen Home and Away
- Edmonton Oil Kings Home and Away
- Everett Silvertips Home and Away
- Kamloops Blazers Home and Away
- Kelowna Rockets Home and Away
- Lethbridge Hurricanes Home and Away
- Medicine Hat Tigers Home and Away
- Moose Jaw Warriors Home and Away
- Portland Winterhawks Home and Away
- Prince Albert Raiders Home and Away
- Prince George Cougars Home and Away
- Red Deer Rebels Home and Away
- Regina Pats Home and Away
- Sarnia Sting Home and Away
- Saskatoon Blades Home and Away
- Seattle Thunderbirds Home and Away
- Spokane Chiefs Home and Away
- Swift Current Broncos Home and Away
- Vancouver Giants Home and Away
- Victoria Royals Home and Away

DEL
- Adler Mannheim Home, Away and Alternate
- Augsburger Panther Home, Away and Alternate
- Dusseldorfer EG Home, Away and Alternate
- Eisbaren Berlin Home, Away and Alternate
- EHC Red Bull Munchen Home and Away
- ERC Ingolstadt Home, Away and Alternate
- Fischtown Pinguins Home, Away and Alternate
- Grizzlys Wolfsburg Home, Away and Alternate
- Iserlohn Roosters Home, Away and Alternate
- Kolner Haie Home, Away and Alternate
- Krefeld Pinguine Home, Away and Alternate
- Thomas Sabo Ice Tigers Home and Away
- Straubing Tigers Home, Away and Alternate
- Schenninger Wild Wings Home, Away and Alternate

Nationalliga (Switzerland)
- EHC Biel Home and Away
- EV Zug Home and Away
- HC Ambri-Piotta Home and Away
- HC Davos Home and Away
- HC Friborg-Gotteron Home and Away
- HC Lugano Home and Away
- Geneva-Servette HC Home and Away
- Lausanne HC Home and Away
- SC Bern
Tigers Home and Away
- Rapperswil-Jona Lakers Home and Away
- ZSC Lions Home and Away

 

Source: EA

Is it better? Is it worse? Let us know your thoughts on the new content update in the comments below! 

NHLGamers,

This article will be a deep dive into the details of the HUT Fantasy Hockey Event that runs from September 27th until October 11th.

How do the cards work?

The way that these cards work are similar to evolution cards that we have seen before in HUT. The Fantasy cards will upgrade throughout the season but only based on the following conditions: 

Skaters will upgrade when they score a goal during a NHL, SHL or Liiga game.
Goalies will upgrade when they record a victory while in the lineup of their NHL, SHL or Liiga team.

Each goal or victory award the player card with a +1 OVR upgrade.

Also note that playoff and cup games will not contribute towards the upgrades of these cards.

Sets/Hut challenges 

As always with a new event, there is a new batch of sets and also hut challenges. I’ll go through each of the sets and also take you through the solo challenges and give an evaluation if they are worth completing considering various factors. 

Sets

The first set requires you to exchange 50 gold players for a Gold Collectible, this is a set I personally would recommend avoiding simply because you get a better value doing a similar Icon Collectible set. Icon Collectibles are currently valued at almost double of the Gold Collectible and the requirement for the sets are the same, I would rather go for the Icon set.

The set I advise you to avoid at all costs requires you to give up six Gold Collectibles (adding up to 210,000 coins) for a 33% chance at any of these cards. More than likely you are paying over 200k coins for a base gold card when for that price you can have a shot at an 88 Teemu Selanne or Joe Sakic who would be a mainstay in your squads. 

I would also stay away from the next two sets, which require you to trade in either 16 Gold Collectibles for a 1 in 3 choice pack or 18 Gold Collectibles for an Ilya Kovalchuk master item. Ilya Kovalchuk has a very sleek card design with very nice synergies which are 1 point for 1T, 1 point for SP and 1 point for BM. 1T and SP are arguably the two most effective synergies in the game as they improve your whole team when activated. The downfall of this card is his price as mentioned. 18 collectibles add up to a total of 630,000 and in that same price range you could be looking at a Gretzky or Lemieux which are much better cards right now. Last season Kovalchuk scored 16 goals in the regular season which would make him a 96 OVR - that’s a great card without a doubt, but keep in mind this kind of production happens over the course of the season, so you’ll have to wait on your investment to reach its full potential. 

The best two sets to complete are the Fantasy Hockey Collectible set and the Fantasy Hockey Prospect set. You will earn a Gold Collectible from the Fantasy Hockey Collectible set, as you can earn these Fantasy Hockey Collectibles through solo challenges each weekday over the course of the event, this is a good way to stack up on Gold Collectibles. In the Prospect set you exchange a gold collectible for a Fantasy Hockey Prospect choice pack. Just keep in mind only NHL, SHL and Liiga goals or wins count towards the OVR boost, so stay sharp on who you’re picking.

Solo challenges 

Apart from the collectible challenges there are 10 base challenges to complete from these you will earn 6 packs which are base packs and mini packs. If you have around 2 hours free to complete these i would recommend them because you will get 6 free packs and there is always the opportunity to pull top tier cards from these packs. If you are pressed for time i would stay away from these as the rewards aren't as great as you would get from doing competitive seasons game or squad battles games. 

Item lineup (projected overall for the season)

Below you can find a list of current Fantasy Hockey items with their current overall and their projected final overall based on their performance last season. 

Master set Ilya Kovalchuk, RW - 80 OVR (96)

Skaters 

Kris Letang, RD - 82 OVR (98)
David Krejci, C - 77 OVR (97)
Teuvo Teravainen, LW - 76 OVR (97)
Ryan Johansen, C - 82 OVR (96)
Shea Weber, RD - 78 OVR (92)
Seth Jones, RD - 83 OVR (92)
Ivan Barbashev, C - 77 OVR (91)
Mikko Kousa, RD - 83 OVR (91)
James Neal, RW - 79 OVR (86)
Milan Lucic, LW - 79 OVR (85)
Taylor Hall, LW - 72 (83)

Goalies

Jimmy Howard, G - 75 OVR (98)

Prospects 

Skaters

Henri Jokiharju, RD - 83 OVR (83) 
Alexander Nylander, RW - 79 OVR (82) 
Martin Necas, C - 79 OVR (80) 
Filip Zadina, RW - 79 OVR (80)
Eeli Tolvanen, LW - 79 OVR (80)

Goalies

Cal Petersen, G - 76 OVR (87)

Who to buy from the market?

Kris Letang is the first card I would be looking at in the expensive section of this event, you can currently find him around the 250k mark on the market and I can see him having a successful season ending up in the high 90's eventually, which will boost his value by a whole bunch. A great card if you're willing to invest.

Jimmy Howard is also a good pick up for around 250k. Last year he went on to amass 23 wins, which would put him at the 98 OVR mark and it's hard to see the wings not picking up at least 20 wins even though they are one of the less talented teams in the NHL as of now.

As we head over to Europe and take a look at Mikko Kousa, I believe he is the sleeper card in this wave of Fantasy Hockey items. Last season he hit 8 goals which would take him to a 91 OVR, but in the seasons before he has hit highs of 12 goals, which would take him to a 95 OVR. For 150k you can not go wrong with this pick up also considering he starts at a 83 OVR so he will be able to slot in your squad right from when you pick him up. 

Cards to avoid 

Taylor Hall should be avoided, not because of his stats or potential but because of his price. If you can pick up this card for under 300k it will be a good investment but right now he is at 600k which is one of the more expensive cards in the game, he starts off as a 72 OVR so he will not be useful until he gets at least over 10 goals which is the downfall of this card. The only way this investment will work is if you are willing to wait, he will more than likely be playing with Jack Hughes, who has been on fire during preseason and this could push Hall to have a career high season. It is also his contract year so he will be looking to show the devils his true worth. 

Cal Petersen has already been sent down to the AHL which is a simple reason to avoid him, because he won't see NHL action to upgrade this card. The only way this card will reach its value would be if one of LA’s starters ended up injured and he got some game time, but we will have to wait and see if this card will come good.

What will we see added next week?

Next week EA will drop more fantasy cards (11 NHL players, 1 SHL player) and I can see a theme with these cards. Most of the cards are either starting out at a low overall or are for players who are either expected to be high risk/high reward picks or might not amass too many goals or wins. 

Also, it is notable that all defensemen in the first week are playing on the right side. It might just be a coincidence but some left defensemen should be included in the release for the second week.

Here are some cards I could see being included in next weeks Fantasy Hockey release:

Jack Hughes - New Jersey Devils
Kaapo Kakko - New York Rangers 
Charlie Mcavoy - Boston Bruins 
Auston Matthews - Toronto Maple Leafs
Corey Perry - Dallas Stars
Cam Fowler - Anaheim Ducks
Oskari Laaksonen - Tampereen IIves 
Niko Ojamaki - Tampereen Tappara
Oscar Moller - Skelleftea AIK
Linus Hultstrom - Djurgardens IF 
David Rittich - Calgary Flames 

That'll be it for this time, I'm enjoying the idea of Fantasy Hockey very much. It's kind of bringing dynamic ratings to HUT, but not quite. Which card do you think will be the best value? What do you think about this event? Give us your thoughts in the comments!

Hey there NHLGamers,

Coming sometime today (1st of October) will be the first content update (often also known as a patch) of the year for NHL 20. Contrary to last year, EA will not be releasing a tuner just yet. Releasing tuners often is something they have done for the past few years, which especially last year was criticised by many players for changing the game for the worse or simply too often. As such, the main focus of this update will be to fix bugs that have been reported across many modes, from World of Chel to Franchise. That is not to say that there are just bug fixes, as they have tweaked some aspects of the game in order for the user to have a better experience when playing the game. 
 

In the content update notes the community manager "Clappy" gives the details about the update, but also points out the development team in Vancouver are monitoring and would like feedback about:

• Interceptions from behind
• Inconsistency of low relative speed hits from console to console
• Puck loss when pivoting at high speed

The team is also looking at the ping (=one way of measuring connection quality) in Hockey Ultimate Team (HUT) not reflecting the user experience in responsiveness of gameplay. Be sure to give your opinion in the comments below.

On the updated side of things, there is a lot of added art and fixes to things such as presentation and lots of "nice to have" things, but there is also a good amount of things that could really improve your gameplay experience, such as:

• Fixed a case where players could get their limbs stuck in the net
• Fixed multiple cases where the puck could go through the goalie’s pad
• Improved cases where slap shots would be missed when taken near the boards
• Various goalie animation fixes
• Fixed cases where goalies were sometimes trying to perform controlled/redirect saves when the puck had a high chance of being deflected and would leave them more vulnerable than they should be
• Improved goalie tracking when the puck is behind the net
• Improvements to shot angle selection logic for some rare cases
• Improved cases where players on loose pucks would perform a snap shot when a slap shot would be expected
• Fixed rare cases where one-timers would miss the puck completely

There have also been many fixes to issues such as the game crashing or the game desyncing (often called looping or the "faceoff loop" and competitive HUT players will be happy to hear that the opponent name will not anymore be visible before the faceoff, so the ability to dodge players by leaving without a loss against tough opponents should be much harder to pull off now.

Below you'll find the full changelog for the update:

Quote

Hello NHL Community,

The newest content update for NHL20 will be live tomorrow on October 1st! This includes newly revealed adidas jerseys, Franchise Mode updates as well as a fix for the HUT loop/desync.

Although we usually release a tuner around this time, we believe there is a consensus that the gameplay in NHL20 is in a good place so we don’t want to make any changes as of now. But there are a few areas we are monitoring and would like your feedback on:
 

Interceptions from behind
Inconsistency of low relative speed hits from console to console
Puck loss when pivoting at high speed

On top of this we’re investigating some users suggesting that the ping shown in-game is not matching their in-game HUT experience.

Please continue to voice your opinion on these and any other topics as we will continue to provide more gameplay and content updates throughout the year.

Thanks,
Clappy & The EA SPORTS NHL Dev Team

Here are the Content Update notes:

Gameplay

General

• Added NHL 2019-2020 season rule change for puck out of bounds
  • When the attacking team is responsible for the puck going out of play in the attacking zone, in all instances, the face-off will be conducted at one of the two face-off dots in the attacking zone
     
• Fixed a case where the player is sometimes unable to pick up the puck after a penalty shot in Threes

Physics

• Fixed a case where players could get their limbs stuck in the net
• Fixed multiple cases where the puck could go through the goalie’s pad
• Improved cases where slap shots would be missed when taken near the boards

AI

• Improved a case where the weak side defender would overcommit on an odd man rush allowing the puck carrier a breakaway
   
• Fixed a case where AI players would start to accelerate when passed to without player input

Goalie

• Various goalie animation fixes
   
• Fixed cases where goalies were sometimes trying to perform controlled/redirect saves when the puck had a high chance of being deflected and would leave them more vulnerable than they should be
   
• Improved goalie tracking when the puck is behind the net

Shooting

• Improvements to shot angle selection logic for some rare cases
   
• Improved cases where players on loose pucks would perform a snap shot when a slap shot would be expected
   
• Fixed rare cases where one-timers would miss the puck completely

Presentation

• Added ability to preview the play-of-the-period replays in action tracker
   
• Various environment camera clipping fixes
   
• Player lineup animation and camera improvements
   
• Play-of-the-period/game animation and camera improvements
   
• Various Play of the Game/Play of the Period selection logic fixes
   
• Multiplayer hug improvements
   
• Fixed cases where penalty replays in EASHL don’t show the penalty being taken

Franchise Mode

• Added the season standings to the calendar screen
   
• Added Auto Staff Setting that allows the CPU to assign scouts for the user team
   
• Fixed an issue where Alumni Player’s Ages don’t show correctly in a fantasy draft in Franchise Mode
• Fixed an issue where the PP and PK columns in Hire staff were reversed
   
• Misc stability improvements

Art

NHL

• Updated Nashville Predators Scoreboard
• Center Ice Changes
• Updated the following Center Ice layouts

AHL

• Binghamton Senators
• Canadian Hockey League
• London Knights
• Cape Breton Eagles

Uniforms

The following uniforms have been added to NHL 20

NHL

• Buffalo Sabres Alternate
• Chicago Blackhawks Home and Away
• Edmonton Oilers Alternate
• Carolina Hurricanes Away

Canadian Hockey League

• London Knights Home and Away
• Tri-City Americans Home and Away
• Cape Breton Eagles Home and Away

SHL

• Farjestad BK Home and Away
• HV71 Home and Away
• Rogle BK Home and Away

Liiga

• Mikkelin Jukurit Home and Away
• Lahti Pelicans Home, Away and Alternate
• Tappara Tampere Home, Away and Alternate

EBEL

• Dornbirn Bulldogs Home and Away
• EC Panaceo VSV Home and Away
• EC-KAC Home and Away
• EC Red Bull Salzburg Home and Away
• EHC Liwest Blackwings Linz Home and Away
• Hydro Fehervar AV19 Home and Away
• HC TWK Innsbruck Home and Away
• Graz 99ers Home and Away
• SPUSU Vienna Capitals Home and Away

HUT

General

• Fixed a desync issue which was causing the opening faceoff to loop in some Online Games
   
• Fixed an issue where players could see their opponent’s PSN ID/Gamertag before loading into a Competitive Seasons/HUT Champs games
   
• Fixed an issue where Goalie Mask items may have become invisible when navigating the Apply Consumable screen
   
• Fixed some issues where items may have not been properly revealed in Choice Packs

Squad Battles

• Save last-used difficulty as default (complete games only)
   
• Now display ‘Possible Points’ for each opponent as difficulty is selected

World of CHEL

Improvements

• Having heard the community feedback, we are reducing the requirements for the World of Chel weekly challenge card. Now, user will only need to complete a reduced number of the 5 columns to earn that week’s Special Reward.
   
• Added a link to Edit Player from the Recent Items screen so the user doesn’t have to manually back out and enter the flow from the WoC HUB
   
• Added the ability to have EA Custom Stock Team Branding uniforms be equipped by clubs. Stay tuned throughout the year for future uniform releases that can be earned by clubs through hockey bags.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where the current leader in Ones was not displaying correctly after the user has won the final Ones Eliminator round
   
• Fixed an issue where we display the wrong error message if a club is in a Threes Eliminator dressing room, and the session falls below the minimum users
   
• Reskinned the “Waiting for All Users to Resume” screen that comes after the pause menu so that the text is more legible
   
• Fixed various clipping issues and enabled several additional goalie intro animations that previously had clipping issues
   
• Fixed a failed to retrieve data issue that could occur when trying to enter any Dressing Room without the Lead Profile
   
• Fixed an issue where a user could crash upon another user closing the game while loading into gameplay
   
• Fixed a timing issue where desync’s could occur when a Player Class Tuning file or a Gameplay Tuner Set upload happens while games are about to get underway from the Dressing Room
   
• Fixed an issue where very long club names could overlap each other in the dressing room after matching up in a clubs game

Source

 

What do you think about these changes? What else would you like fixed? Let us know in the comments below.

Hey NHLGamers,

I had the liberty of visiting the EA offices for the NHL 20 Producer Tour in Helsinki on Tuesday and sat down with EA SPORTS NHL Producer Clement Kwong for an in-depth interview around NHL 20 and the series in general. As one might expect from me, it was another long session across a variety of topics and I'm happy to say we went beyond the short generic replies on many topics and got a peak behind the scenes in how the game is being developed and what the developers have to take into consideration when making the game.

Without further ado, check out this podcast type interview below:

Thanks to @SUPERVIRTA for joining in and helping out - sorry the audio is a little bit weaker for his part.

Quote

Timestamps (clickable in YouTube channel description):
0:00 Intro
0:18 Introduction of cast
0:29 What’s cool about NHL 20?
1:24 New commentary
3:24 Presentation - Can you move the clock?
4:35 Frostbite?
6:47 Is it possible to start from scratch?
8:54 How is the game built? What’s the development cycle? 
16:17 GM Connected
18:00 Be A Pro
19:09 Seamless puck pickups
21:15 L2/LT
23:31 Franchise mode
25:56 HUT
30:22 HUT Leaderboards
30:48 Versus
32:05 Roster-sharing
32:45 Cross-play
33:42 PC-version
34:24 Differences between the PS4 and Xbox One version
35:53 Practice mode for EASHL?
36:15 Spectator mode
36:54 Dressing room population in EASHL
37:34 Face-off trait removed in EASHL
38:08 6th skater in EASHL
38:32 Gamer tags/PSN ID’s hidden in competitive HUT?
40:35 Will the next NHL GWC be in HUT?
41:36 Replays
43:56 Reconnect feature to EASHL?
46:41 Server selection for EASHL?
47:25 Button remapping
49:05 Outro

At the event we had a chance to play the so called day 0 version of NHL 20, which is the version that everyone will get to play when the game releases. This was a play now match between Virta (WSH) and myself (STL) on one console. It's worth noting that it wasn't a very serious game and we aren't used to playing down-screen, so the playing might not be world class - but we had fun!

Please also note that this is in fact offline and uses a bit different sliders than online. As you can notice there is a stick breaking during the play and the CPU is rather aggressive with hitting at times, neither of which we expect to be the case online.

Hope you enjoyed this and are as excited as we are to get our hands on the game!

Check out more of NHLGamer's social media channels at:
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Hey NHLGamers,

Let me start off by thanking you - our community - for once again providing excellent feedback that you submitted based on the NHL 20 Beta! 

Tomorrow (Tuesday 27th) we will have a great opportunity to talk to some of the EA SPORTS NHL producers face to face in Helsinki. Like in previous years, we are aiming for another interview compiled from your feedback and specific questions about the NHL series. 

This opportunity is truly a great way for everyone to voice their opinion and to keep our community and its members recognized as a valuable source of direct community feedback for the development team in Vancouver.

How do I submit the feedback/questions?

Easy in many ways!

1) Use the comment section below or
2) Write to us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram!

(Pro tip: Use all of the channels to increase your chance of making it to our list of questions!)

This year’s iteration of EA NHLs franchise mode has tried, more than any before it, to radically change the way in which the player builds their team. They have attempted this by shifting the “meta” of the mode away from the idea of just getting the highest rated players, to a much more holistic approach, where in order to have a good team you will need to juggle a host of intertwined factors.

Heading up this radical change is what EA are calling a “coaching overhaul”. In NHL 20, coaches will effectively be ‘players’ behind the bench, they will have their own set of attributes, goals, statistics, even a generated face to put to the name, both in game and in the menus. It should be noted here, that the statistics screen for both coaches and players will now show which team they ‘played’ on for each year, a minute change, but a very welcome one for sure. In fact, players can retire and have their likeness preserved in game if they decide to 'become' a coach, using the same system that allowed players to retire and become scouts in 19. 

Coaching Overhaul

Coaches with a penalty kill attribute for instance will effectively act as a ‘buff’ for penalty killers on the team. Whereas, a bad attribute here will result in a detrimental impact on the ability of the penalty killers. In addition to this, coaches will now have a ‘teaching speciality’, what this means is that each coach will have a bias towards how they grow (or even stagnate / decline) skaters (offensive or defensive), or even goalies. This is tied quite heavily with the ‘teaching’ attribute. In essence then, certain coaches may be good on a rebuilding team, where the teaching attribute will be valued highly, but will have reduced ‘value’ on an older, more established team, as there are less players to ‘grow’.  Furthermore, it sounds as though that with good teaching, a coach may in fact be able to increase a player’s potential, raising their value to a rebuilder even further.

Not only will coaches now have individual attributes for you to weigh the value of, but they will also have specific strategies that they would like the team to use, as well as a general bias of how offensive / defensive / physical they want to play.

Of these ‘strategies’, there are three distinct types, namely: Line strategies, Team Strategies, & Scheme Fit. The last type is not strictly a strategy, rather it’s an indicator of how well the team’s composition and the coach synergise with each other in a way.

Line strategies effectively signifies how the coach wants each line to play. For instance, in the video ‘Coach Toms’ wants the 1^st Forward line to play an overload strategy, with a carry and shoot bias, with a balance between efficiency / energy, and don’t block / blocking of shots. With the 4^th Forward line however, ‘Coach Toms’ would rather that that line played a much more direct style of play and ‘crashed’ the net. These line strategies pair with an individual players’ propensity to play a certain way, to give us ‘Line chemistry’, which we will cover later.

Moving on to the second type now, we have Team Strategies. Generally speaking, this is how the coach wants the team to setup as. For instance, ‘Coach Toms’ wants the pressure exerted by the defensive and offense in 4v4 and 5v5 to be ‘normal’ and ‘standard’ respectively. Whereas, in 3v3, he wants the offense to be aggressive. Additionally, the team strategies page also lists the coach’s individual style in how he wants the team to be set up. Apparently, the four styles at the moment are offensive, defensive, balanced, and finally physical. Which style the coach ‘subscribes’ to will determine in turn which individual strategies he wants to use, as well as affect how he assigns ice time. For instance, a physical / defensive coach is much more likely to rely on his bottom 6 than an offensive coach is.

Finally, we have Scheme fit. Essentially, scheme fit is a representation of how well a coach thinks a player (as well as the team as a whole) fits into his preferred style of playing. In other words, an offensively geared coach will prefer offensive players to balanced, or even defensive players. As far as gameplay impact goes, it does not seem as though that having a bad scheme fit in and of itself results in anything, instead it simply gives you a quick way to check how well everything synergises, since having a higher team / scheme fit can be an incredibly useful thing thanks to another new feature in Line Chemistry.

Line Chemistry looks to add more depth to line-up creation for players. Instead of the only challenge in assembling a ‘good’ line being cap restraints, players will now have to contend with the line strategies set by the Coach, and the preferred way that the individual players would like to play. Maximising line chemistry can be especially important, as a poorly managed line can result in an extreme penalty of -5 ovr across the three players, whereas a line that works well together can receive a +5 ovr boost. In addition to this, players will also receive negatives for chemistry is they play in the wrong position (e.g. a RW on LW), as well as if they are set up with player types that don’t mesh together very well (e.g. three snipers, instead of twf, grinder, sniper).

What this means in practice then, is that it should be worth having ‘role’ players that fit with the coach’s ethos that are technically not the best, but can easily slot in and out of the line up across all lines, as a way to give a ‘boost’ to a line that maybe does not have the greatest chemistry to begin with.

Finally, with an overhauled conversation system, players can now conduct interviews with coaches that you may want to hire, in order to see how interested they would be in joining the team, as well as what strategies in particular they subscribe to. For example, some coaches may have a preference for teams with a large (or even small) fan base. In fact, with the said conversation system, coaches can come to you the GM / owner with suggestions of how to better the team. You will then be prompted with three main options (Agree / Disagree / Persuade), with a fourth option in ‘Promise’ being available after the first statement has been replied to. The persuade option in particular has a likelihood of failing dependent on the subject of the conversation. Additionally, if you promise to make a change, you will receive morale, however if you fail to carry out said promise, you will lose double what you gained in morale for the coach.

Scouting

To help with finding players that could be a good fit with your team, the scouting for franchise mode in NHL 20 has been updated as well.

Pro scouting now provides you with a readout showing how well a certain player would slot into your team, naming which lines in particular would be a good fit for him. For instance, in the video Vancouver’s pro scout assessed Hampus Lindholm and decided that the only lines he would fit in with ‘Coach Toms’’ strategies would be on the power play, whereas Getzlaf would fit in on the power play, as well as the 1^st line.

Additionally, pro scouts will now provide information on which strategies a certain team employs. As far as pro scouting goes, this appears to be the main changes, so with that let’s move on to Amateur scouting which has received a bit of a facelift.

To help inform the player on prospects, there will now be two additional pieces of information that a player will have access to, namely: NHL ETA, and Scheme Fit. NHL ETA mostly does what it says ‘on the tin’ in a way. It tries to make a guess on how close / far away a particular prospect is from making the NHL, whether he’s ‘NHL Ready’, 1,2,3,4, or even 5 years away. Whereas for scheme fit, the amateur scout tries to decide how well the prospect in question would fit in with the team / coach quite simply. These two new categories combined should make the entry draft even more important than in previous iterations, as players can now make more informed decisions regarding who to draft, since if you happen to be contending, it may be better to draft someone who can play almost immediately and make some form of an impact. Whereas, if you’re a rebuilder, you can afford to take the hit of not getting any impact from the players for a few years before he’s properly NHL ready. Furthermore, with the scheme fit element, it may promote players to select slightly lower potential players, if they will fit in well with the team once they grow enough, in turn raising the chemistry of the line they happen to find themselves on.

Finally, players will now have the ability to conduct draft day interviews with players. Similar to the interview that can be conducted with prospective coaches.

Trade Finder

Moving on to quite possibly the biggest feature for playability and reducing annoyance, we have the trade finder. Previous to NHL 20, if you wanted to trade a player, you would just have to flick through all the teams across the league, and just start plugging away, throwing in players and draft picks, getting rejected a bunch of times, before finally arriving at a deal that the AI would accept. Now, instead of having to go through that arduous affair, players have the option to select what they want to trade, then simply hit “Find trade (Open block)”, and voila, the game will go through each team automatically and give you a list of trades that each team can do with the players you selected being the principal pieces.

In addition to this, the logic behind trading has been updated. So, it seems as though that rebuilding teams will be much more likely to take on cap dumps (provided they receive a good enough ‘sweetener’). Furthermore, AI teams will be able to make use of this as well as human players, meaning that teams will prioritise shifting cap burdens in order to make space for their expensive UFAs / RFAs.

Misc. Tweaks

• Users will now find that players who have yet to play in an NHL game but have a decent enough overall (e.g. ~84), will no longer ask for a contract around the 3-4mil mark, but instead will ask for a contract around the 900k-1mil mark, as they have not in a sense ‘proven’ that they are worthy of such an expensive price tag.
• Carrying the topic of price tags, players will not be priced based on their performance in the last season, and not just their overall. So, if a player scores at a point per game pace but is a fairly low overall (say, 80), then they will ask for a larger contract the proceeding off-season compared to NHL 19. This also goes the other way as well, in that a highly rated player will ask for a lower than usual contract, if they just so happened to have a pretty poor year previously. For goalies, this is also the case and they will go off of SV%.
• Additionally, there are now exempt contracts. Specifically, players that are signed to entry deals and currently play in the OHL, WHL, and the QMJHL, will no longer count towards the 50-contact cap, instead they will now have their own internal cap of 40. This means that players will no longer have to let prospects walk because they simply don’t have enough space, furthermore it means that the AI will have some flexibility now that has not been afforded to them in the past, leading to potentially more AI - AI trading.
• Better goalies will now be more likely to appear later in franchise mode than years past
• Goalies and wingers by default will have less trade ‘value’ than centres and defenders. Although, if a goalie has a high rating (90+) for instance, their trade value will be comparable to that of a similarly rated centre, however, as the goalie’s rating falls, his trade value will drop off very quickly and no longer be comparable to an equally rated centre.
• Players on 1yr deals will have reduced value as the year goes on, being significantly lower on draft day. This should make rental deals much more attainable and affordable. Additionally, teams will no longer reject trades on the day of the draft if a player with an expiring contract is involved.
• There will be fewer franchise and elite goalies available in the draft
• An ‘auto-owner’ mode will be an option; in case you do not want to have to deal with the upkeep of the stadium and its facilities
• Players will now receive trade alert pop-ups
• The efficiency of scouting has been reduced, making it harder for players to find ‘gem’ and franchise level players as it will take longer for the scouts to compile a complete report.
• By default, there will be more 100pt scorers in the simulation. However, players will now have the option of changing the rate of scoring league wide, ranging from High, Medium, to Low.
• Finally, franchise mode will have ‘Icon Integration’, allowing players to play against legendary ‘all-time’ teams, such as Gretzky on the Oilers.

For the full write up by EA, click here. 

Additionally, you can find @Tougie24's take just below!

A few weeks ago we learned that NHL 20 will feature Auston Matthews as the cover athlete. Now the cover athletes for the Nordics have been presented, as Patrick Laine and Elias Petterson will be the gentlemen starring on the respective covers of NHL 20 on the store shelves and in the online marketplaces in Finland and Sweden.

Laine also appeared on the cover of NHL 19 in Finland and that makes him the first athlete in EA SPORTS NHL history to be featured on the cover for two years in a row.

- It was great to hear that EA SPORTS wanted me on the cover again. The new cover is even cooler than the previous one! This sort of recognition brings me the drive to prove on ice that I'm really worth all of the hype, says Patrik Laine.

- I'm sure everyone knows that I've been a passionate EA SPORTS NHL fan since I was a kid. A season in the NHL is very tough and playing the new NHL game on the Playstation with my friends is a great way to relax, Laine continues.

Laine was picked as one of the superstars that have a NHL 20 Signature Shot in the game. The Signature Shots are - you guessed it - recognizable shooting styles that have been carefully modelled after the biggest stars in the NHL. 

If you'd like to read more about the features in NHL 20, you can read our previous Full Reveal article and Gameplay Article.

Both players got their own short trailers and you can watch them below:

Screenshots of both players in-game likeness were also released:

Patrik Laine, Winnipeg Jets

Elias Pettersson, Vancouver Canucks

Don't forget to send us your NHL 20 Beta feedback!

Do you think these players were the right call for the cover? Who would you have picked? Discuss in the comments below.

Source: EA SPORTS press release

Yesterday EA SPORTS released the most wanted thing of the summer by releasing the NHL 20 Open Beta. As always, there had been a lot of talk and rumours around the web on whether it would come out or not, but it eventually did and the first impressions around the community - especially after having been presented with a list of improvements since the beta - have been cautiously positive. The tuning to the left trigger, the new animations to the goalies and the revamped shooting especially around the 6vs6 game mode has been mostly received well. But it's still early on and we've barely scratched the surface. This is of course a beta and a lot of improvements are still to be made. As one of the biggest NHL gaming sites in the world - not to mention the amazing talent and passion of our community members - we want to help out.

So here's the deal: We want to hear what you guys think, so we can forward it to the producers and developers at EA SPORTS in a well structured and articulated way. We hope you take some time and write about your experiences (both the good and the bad) and possible issues and solutions that you have run into and hopefully this will help us all get the greatest NHL version yet! In the case of reporting bugs, we also hope that you include screenshots or short video clips to explain them better. Even if someone else already posted the same bug - it might be worth getting a 2nd or 3rd example of it and perhaps from another angle.

Please note that the official EA Answers HQ forum is also live and taking feedback and that is the official way of providing feedback of the beta. You can find it by clicking this text.

We here at NHLGamer want to discuss these things as a group and compile the feedback and bugs to the developers in an easy to chew form. You may write your feedback in any format you want, but we have included the below structure, edited from last years version.

1. NHL Ones
2. NHL THREES Drop-In (Arcade Threes)
3. EASHL Drop-Ins (Please specify if it is in 3s/6s/both)
4. EASHL Club 3s
5. EASHL Club 6s
6. AI skaters in World of Chel (specify mode + how many AI)
7. AI goalies in World of Chel (specify mode)
8. AI goalies in EASHL (specify if in 3s/6s)
9. Customization: Player Classes + Traits/Specializations
10. Customization: Gear (Casual + Pro gear + Gear Bags)
11. Other World of Chel related feedback
12. Online Vs.
13. AI Skaters in Online Vs.
14. AI Goalies in Online Vs.
15. Skating
16. Hitting (Collision Physics)
17. Pokechecking
18. Shooting
19. Offensive Play (i.e. how did it feel to play offense? How easy was it? Was there a skill gap? Were there limitations?)
20. Defensive Play (i.e. how did it feel to play defense? How easy was it? Was there a skill gap? Were there limitations?)
21. Human Goalies in EASHL
22. The new presentation and scoreboard (if you're having problems with it, let us know if you did the configuration properly when starting the beta for the first time)
23. Other (anything not covered here)

We would prefer your thoughts in English, as it will make the process quicker and make for a better discussion here in the community, as all can participate. However, we know there are those who can express themselves better in their maternal language, so for this purpose, we have made this topic discussable in some more languages in their specific topics:

• English (this news story)
• Finnish
• German
• Russian
• Swedish

The NHL 20 Open Beta is available for download now on PS4 and XB1!

https://store.playstation.com/en-fi/product/EP0006-CUSA16390_00-NHL2020BETAGAME1

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/p/nhl-20-open-beta/bnlzc97wc6s9?activetab=pivot:overviewtab

The download size for PS4 users will be 24.391GB. Whereas, users on the XB1 should expect to see the download only come to 22.98GB. 

While your download is in progress why not have a read through one of our most recent articles in which we went over what you should expect in the Beta, as well what changes did not make the final cut for it. 

Are you not able to play it yet? Do you have any questions about the beta? Please, feel free to ask in the comments below

Hey NHLGamers,

Anyone keeping up with the NHL 20 news over the past few days and weeks no doubt has been subjected to the widespread speculation regarding whether or not there would be a beta, as well as when said beta would become available. As a response it appears, EA have announced that there will indeed be a beta, albeit with some fairly extreme caveats. Additionally, whilst the release date has not been officially confirmed just yet, it seems as though that it will in fact go live today sometime during the "evening", which timezone this evening is 'set' in is anyone's guess, but it certainly lines up with the idea that it will be playable from 15:00 EST (or 21:00 CEST) onwards. So, all we can say is keep your eyes peeled as the upcoming evening goes on!

Anyway, probably most importantly I would like to take a minute and go over the caveats that I spoke of previously. EA have been rather uncharacteristically forthright about the upcoming beta, stating that “… we cut the beta build eight weeks prior to today, meaning that there are 8 additional weeks that you’re not going to see and feel in the beta. You’re playing an early, work-in progress version of the game. Some of our new gameplay features were not fully ready to be included in the beta build …”. In essence then, this beta, more than any before it, stands as more of a proof of concept than the ‘finished article’. Despite this disconnect between what we will be playing and where the game actually is at, EA have tried their best to assuage the problem by attempting to get the general feeling of the main three additions (Shooting overhaul, Explosive Transitions, & Goalie Intelligence) in the beta, at the potential cost of stability. Therefore, with the disclaimer that there will be some “inconsistencies”, players should expect to see the following improvements over NHL 19 in the NHL 20 Beta:

Quote

“As part of the shooting overhaul, players will see all-new shot animations in the beta, including greater shot variety and animation coverage in all different context across the ice.”

“Pickups add a new element of speed and creativity to the game. Whether you are receiving a pass in stride or performing a turning pick up to avoid a check, skaters will maintain speed and control, while not losing momentum. This will create more moments where you can use speed to your advantage to beat defenders wide or allow to take a advantage of an opening to get a shot off in the slot.”

“Players will see new goalie animations for controlled saves, covers, and redirects in the beta. With new goalie intelligence updates, goalies will have also more tools at their disposal to eliminate threats.”

Source: EA

As always, we will be setting up bug reporting threads that we will then compile and send to EA once the beta has concluded. Furthermore, these threads will be available in English, Finnish, Russian, & Swedish.

In addition to this, the full (and especially extensive) post-beta changelog is as follows:

Quote

Shooting:

- Fixes to shot model when shooting manual one timers to improve cases where shots sometimes weren't as powerful as they should be.

- Fixes to shot model when shooting one timers where the incoming pass angle is perpendicular to their facing and wasn't accounting for them still getting their hips around and through the shot before contact, making the shots weaker than they should be. This was seen the most when taking wheelhouse one timers off the rush when still in motion (in 090, out 000)

- Fixed an issue where players couldn't take a rebound shot after a one timer or their own shot and a rebound.

- Improvements to the direction and how a player rotates into a one timer shot. Worst cases were when they would go the wrong way and spin fully around before taking the shot rather than turning through the pass direction and when they would start to rotate away before rotating towards the puck.

- Updated logic for slapshot selection based on the players current angle to the net and the direction they are skating. This also improves where the player releases the puck to give them a chance at the most ideal shot from that angle.

- Improvements in selecting the slapshot animations for the angles requested.

- Update to shot logic to prioritize shots from the best location so they aren't reaching or getting jammed unnecessarily.

- Improvements to the line a player takes in their one timer solve towards the near post. Prevents them from drifting away from the pass and solving it too late and also diminishing their angle to the net. We also don't want to see them cut in too far and hurting the amount of open net they have as well.

- Tuning down variable for acquire puck distance for one timers. Since we now solve to a specific spot and can get there with the skate model, we don't have to rely on a big radius. We also added logic this year where we can Miss or Abort the one timer if the player or puck doesn't follow the solved path by getting disrupted.

- Improvements to the possible outgoing shot angle for certain shot animations to limit odd cases where the outgoing angle was quite disconnected from the shot. We want to be responsive to what the user updates but not beyond realistic levels.

- Improved logic for when/how tuck shots would trigger relative to distance to net especially.

- Improvements for how slow speed one timers solve relative to the incoming puck angle relative to the player and the angle in which they want to shoot it.

- Tuned slow speed one timers to allow them to execute more often when they should and reduced the extreme upper body rotations that were allowed at times.

- Fix to allow a player to manually windup faster after they pass the puck as they were sometimes blocked for a set period of time. This is most important in player locked modes using manual one timers in give and go scenarios.

- Some improvements for when a player can turn to a more ideal one timer angle based on their current speed to the angle.

- update to logic for how we blend into shots from out of layered pickups to improve aesthetic quality of shot releases

- Logic improvement for one timer rebounds, giving priority to shots that can be released quicker.

- Fix for one timers from saucer passes not executing because the player was considering the puck to be too high to one time, not thinking it was going to be on the ice by their contact point.

- Fixes to not drive the player to an offside position out of the zone when solving for one timers.

- Fix for cases where blending to a shot out of protect puck was allowing unnatural quick blends to puck positions that wouldn't be possible in that short of time.

- Improvements to ai goalie logic when the puck is behind the net so that they position themselves better in the way they read the puck carriers intentions.

- Various save database tuning.

- Updated logic for looking at when a pickup and one timer are possible so that if the one timer is too far in the future, the player will play a proper catch and release one timer instead using a pickup. Most extreme cases of this would fix cases where the player would let the puck go by them to play a one timer on a bank off the boards.

- Improvements to getting player into the proper angle and position to one time the puck based on incoming and outgoing angle requested rather than trying to update in the shot/release as the body angle is most important before setup.

- Improvements to look for passes from deke nodes to respect puck positions and requested angles better as well as improve visual fidelity.

- Tuning for how quickly a player can turn to shoot when using slapshot windup to spin around and shoot the puck from backskate.

- Added ability to tune one timer shot selection and improve player facing as they prepare to take the one timer and when and how they choose to windup before the shot. Variables are off by default but being tested and will be turned on as we tune and improve the logic as needed. One of the conditions limits the start of a shot animation to wait until player is closer to their ideal facing range. Fixes floating and awkward windups for players that start a long animation while still getting into position. Another is if there is not enough time, the player will go into more of a half windup and fixes the case where a player quickly blends to the top of the windup in an unnatural way. Also added the ability to weigh how quickly the puck can reach the net into the shot selection scoring so that it isn't just about how quickly you can contact the puck if another shot could be more powerful and make up for the time putting the puck in the net itself faster.

- Update to shot model on rebound one timer shots to consider the puck behavior more and how easily the player could handle the puck to shoot the rebound. Ability to shank the shot at the bottom end is in there as well but not turned on.

- Fixed an issue for a player taking multiple shots in a row without the puck.

- Fixed an issue where a slapshot wouldn't solve and would force a pickup to solve instead of a shot.

 

Passing:

- Improvements to pass locations based on the acceleration of the player so it will pass to where they are starting to accel to or stop.

- Update to pass logic to be able to pass to a player by their left or right shoulder to where they can receive the puck more naturally on their forehand or backhand depending on the most ideal incoming angle and preventing players from passing into and through a players legs where they would need to stop their stride to play a more awkward pickup and can instead retain their skating and pick up the puck more naturally.

- Improvements to passing and one timers so the player can receive the puck properly in stride and not stop their momentum or turn in unnecessarily.

- Added the ability for the ai to use the new stick offset for passing that humans are using. It is a cvar that can be turned on once approved as working better. This prevents the ai from passing through a players body and to where they would prefer to receive the puck instead, giving a higher chance of being able to receive the puck in motion and more ideal shooting locations.

- improved pass targeting in one timer situations.

- Add default stick offsets to be used for all non-one timer passing situations, rather than using an animation stick offset which was at the mercy of whatever skating was doing instantaneously.

- Remove the logic which was allowing the user to override the one timer target with the LS as it wasn't obvious enough for players when they were asking to lead a player to their backhand vs pass to a one timer position. Players still have the ability to lower pass assist and also manually lead further with manual saucer passes.

 

Pickups:

- Improvements to detect if a player should play a leaning pickup layered animation based on what they are going to be doing in skating as they go further into the pickup. This should improve some bad arm and shoulder blends during layered pickups.

- Fixed cases where players could enter other states such as winding up for a slapshot when they should actually still be in a pickup state. This will fix cases where a player could be in a windup and still controlling the puck as well.

- Improvements for receiver to account for pass error in their skating direction and still try to receive the puck as naturally as possible.

 

Goalies:

- Improvements to logic for how the future puck position and the goalies position relative to their net for when to look for a cover.

- Improvements to goalie cover logic and coverage, specifically on pucks right behind them.

- Fixes for human goalie covers where auto covers wouldn't trigger reliably.

- Fixes for human goalie covers where manually requested covers weren't solving if the goalie was trying to move and was forcing the goalie to stop moving before a cover could solve.

- logic improvements to help settle goalie on the post in reverse VH if the puck is on the side of the net.

- Fix to ensure the goalie's motion is not heading into net when coming off post from VH.

- Improved logic for goalie's behavior (facing angles, decisions to hug the post and new animation data/coverage) when puck gets in around post/goal line.

- Improved goalie logic on breakaways for how/when they commit to angles and their ability to push hard to fully cover the near side post once the puck carrier has shown commitment to that short side.

- Improvements to when ai goalies will play pre-emptive saves to take away the net when they don't have time to push over and then react. Should improve cases where they would over commit when they didn't need to.

- Fix for some cases where players wouldn't take one timers when the puck was near the boards.

- Fix for goalie blend issues that caused them to duck in their motion.

- handled an the extremely rare case of a human goalie acquiring the puck while idle in desperation side poses

- Added goalie ambient animations after the whistle is blown from several cover puck positions.

- Reduced how quickly goalie will spin to face the puck behind him, as they have plenty of coverage for covers behind/beside them now.

- Update to improve goalie pickups behind their net and near the boards.

- Physics update to help improve goalies cover consistency.

- Updated goalies blocker material to better reflect the material it is actually made of. It was set to be too soft before which hurt some deflections during blocker saves.

- Added ability to tune where a user goalie would want to send the puck relative to their angle to the net when redirecting the puck out of danger. This may be needed due to the various positions user goalies find themselves in deep to their net, off line with the incoming puck angle, etc. and not wanting redirects to end up more dangerous.

- Added a fix for user goalies redirecting pucks into their own net.

- Improved audio hooks for glove saves for audio to be able to represent what they see better in how they talk about it.

- Refinements for AI goalies cover logic. Tightened distance checks when puck is to side or behind the goalie, as we have less coverage reach to those areas and reduced time looking for a cover if they want to move laterally.

- Fixes to goalie puck tracking.

- Fixed logic to prevent goalie from getting hung up on one side of the net when they should be moving to the other.

- improved ai goalie responsiveness when looking for covers around the net/crease.

- Fixes to improve goalie behavior on dead pucks in around the posts and goal line

- Fixed coverage and logic for goalie stick redirects to make them more reliable.

- Fixes to goalie cameras where Puck Visibility is hindered with certain Goalie Cameras when the puck is behind the net.

- Improvements to where goalies were staying in redirect saves too long on deflections/puck path changes.

- Improvements to the directions the goalie would want to redirect the puck relative to their current position in the net and the incoming angle and position of the puck relative to them.

- Fixes to consistency around goalies trying to pickup the puck around the net and/or through the net so that they all behave as expected.

- Removed some old reactionary saves that looked like controlled chest/gut acquires so that they don't look like failed controlled saves. Goalies should play flinching blocking saves instead in the cases they don't have enough reaction time/control to hang on.

- Added fix to goalie pickups by setting the blend off rate for the signature layers so that they blend off before the contact frame.

- Various fixes for goalie cover puck logic.

- Fix for when a goalie is moving above a certain speed, so they can try solving again sooner when the relative puck position has changed.

- Improvements to how goaltenders hold the post when the puck is at sharper angles and limit how anxious they are to move off the post which potentially gave up the short side too easy.

 

Physics/Collisions:

- Improved muscle setup for goalies and how they look when they fall. Should also fix issues where they would get pushed out from the net when falling.

- Fix some issues where you would visually see the puck raise up above the ice before it made a collision.

- Fixed some cases where the goalie would shake when making contact with the ice due to physics.

- Fix to reduce phantom collisions leading the puck to drop for players against goalie by using the more accurate method developed for player vs player last year.

- Updated the stick on goalie test to limit phantom collisions.

- Fix to prevent players from chopping the puck through the net. Added a new test to stick on net collision detection for fast stick movement.

- Various puck physics improvements around the net.

- Improvements to players skating in and around the net and the impacts on puck control. Trying to allow players as much freedom as they should have skating behind the net without losing the puck due to lack of fidelity in control but also ensuring they can't exploit it and cause weak goals through puck warps and over control.

- Fix for rare cases of incidental contact with players legs and the net not registering properly for losing the puck.

- Fixed issues where the puck would stop dead before a potential stick collision with the goalie due to when the update was happening in the frame.

- Fixed issues with odd puck losses due to physics.

- Fix to avoid puck warps along the boards when the puck is possessed and corrected by the board.

- Update to allow us to prevent sticks above the ice from behind from causing puck loss on incidental stick on stick collisions.

- Fix to issue that still allowed stick collisions with the puck through the net.

- Fixed an issue where the puck could get poked out of the goalie's glove.

- Improved collision detection between the puck carriers stick and net to find the balance between puck control/fidelity and puck loss when the collision is deserving/the puck gets too far from the stick.

- Fixes where updated drop puck logic was running incorrectly and players could drop the puck on shots and passes when their stick made even slight contact with the boards.

- Fixed issue where the pucks Y velocity was not correct in physics. This will most noticeably fix cases where the puck would go out of play too easily after a collision.

- Added a fix to allow a player that is blocking the goalie by diving in Ones to be pushed away to avoid interferences with the goalie for game balance.

- Increased cases where some puck collisions were causing the puck to freeze on bad contacts.

- Fixed issues where a player is blocking another from getting up for game balance purposes..

- Solved a case where the puck was going through the net mesh.

- Consistency improvements to physics reactions, with specific interest in the balance of stumbles that allow players to keep control of the puck vs lose it.

- Improvements to collision detection to avoid phantom collisions from the stick.

- Improved rare cases where during a pickup, the puck could go through the boards causing a whistle.

- Solved a case where the puck could go through the net after scoring.

- Fixed an issue where sometimes when hit while going to the bench, the goalie would get stuck in butterfly and never reach the bench.

- Improvements to physics solve to decrease the chance of phantom collisions with the puck.

 

Skating:

- improvements to vision control consistency.

- Vision Control during manual windups now behaves the same as regular offensive vision control off puck making it more consistent as players switch between the two.

 

Penalties:

- Improvements to goalie interference logic.

- Fixes for cpu penalty sliders to improve consistency throughout the slider scale.

- Fixes for cases where a penalty was sometimes not given after the user attempted a dive block at the AI and tripped them.

 

Offensive AI:

- Improvements to ai logic considering offside and their motion nearing the offensive blueline.

- Fix to help tone down bad behavior in offside pass cases. Should now use correct pass speed in passing analysis offside checks. Player will make better decisions if they are definitely going to be offside.

- Fixed cases where the ai will rush into the offensive zone causing an offside.

- Fixed cases where players were drifting too wide at times rather than driving in towards the far post.

- Fixed cases where ai skaters over-skate in the offensive zone instead of stopping earlier for one timer options relative to the net and defenders.

 

Defensive AI:

- Fixed an issue where the ai and near side defenseman specifically would frequently leave the zone instead of holding the blue line when the puck was shot on net or loose low in the zone..=

- Improvements to ai defensive skill stick logic and the angles they look to defend with it.

- When defending against a breakout, the defending AI may turn to face the rush before they have a good gap and results in giving up a breakaway.

- Improved issues in 2 on 2 scenarios where the defender guarding against the open offensive skater would stop up early and allow the open offensive skater to skate in for an tap in one-timer.

- Improved some cases where the AI defenseman will leave the front of the net to pursue the puck carrier and leave an opposing player undefended in front of the net.

- Fixed an issue where an ai defender would move to defend the middle of the ice instead of covering against the breaking winger along the boards.

- Improved cases where an ai defender that was defending against a breakout, would turn to face the rush before they had a good enough gap which was resulting in giving up odd man rushes and breakaways too easily.

- Improvements to defensive ai coverage on the penalty kill in regards to cases where they were too aggressive to help defend the puck carrier and would leave the front of the net.

 

Misc:

- Fix for referees not behaving properly during faceoffs/puck drop.

- Removed post whistle avoidance logic that was causing more player jitter than the collisions it was meant to avoid.

- Various crash fixes.

- Fixed cases where AFK logic could potentially kick users for bad teamplay in Ones.

- Corrected blends when passing, shooting and picking-up to improve fidelity.

- Fix to ensure goalie changes properly when user changes a scenario first and then the goalie in goalie practice.

- Fixed cases where players would unintentionally stick lift because the action would carry over if they were to lose the puck. when trying to protect the puck using the same button.

- Fixed an issue where batted pucks and bat downs weren't solving properly.

- Fixed an issue where players pinned in boardplay were losing the ability to make a play on the puck too easily (i.e. couldn't kick it).

 

Threes & Ones:

- Fixes for ai protect puck behavior in Ones Now.

- Fixes in Ones Now so that the ai won't see the goalie in possession of the puck the same as a player that they can check.

- Disabled Fatigue in Ones Now. A choice on the modes side. It will still be a part of Ones Online.

- Added context for end of game pressure for ai to shoot for Ones Now for players that are behind and have more urgency to try and score.

- Fixed an issue where ai players in Ones Now were spinning the wrong way.

- Fix for the puck drop position in Ones not randomizing after the first drop.

- Various ai improvements for Ones Now licensed player specific behaviors and tendencies.

- Fixed a few cases where you would see the puck warp to start plays after a whistle or goal in Threes before the start of the next possession.

- Fixed cases where a goalie would clear the puck right into the path of an opposing player.

- Improvements to make the ai goalie less vulnerable in cases where the puck is loose around the net, even when getting picked up by teammates. Goalie should stay down when the puck is close, even if his own teammate has it. Goalie shouldn't get back up until they know their teammate has control and is out of danger.

- Fixes to cases where the puck was warping on first pickup in Ones.

- Fix to Threes scoreclock to make it real time.

- Improvements to puck release points for signature slapshots to make them more reliable due to their unique contact positions.

- Fixed a case where the goalie would get stuck standing idle behind the net after passing the puck.

Again, please note that the changes immediately above will NOT be visible in the beta. We will let you know the moment the beta is released.

Edit: The beta is now available for download!

Hi NHLGamers!

Earlier today EA released a gameplay trailer for NHL 20. Among the 'innovations' shown were: RPM tech 2.0, Signature shots, Contextual shots, Explosive transitions, & finally Goalie intelligence. Of the five innovations, around 2.5 have been already been loosely shown off by EA previously in the reveal a few weeks ago, namely the new signature / contextual shots, as well as some improvements made to the RPM tech which debuted last year. Anyway, the trailer in question is available just below so let's get straight into that...

Per EA, here is the rundown for the RPM Tech Speed & Shooting as shown in the trailer:

Quote

SPEED AND SHOOTING FUELED BY RPM TECH

With the introduction of RPM Tech in NHL 19, we delivered a revolutionary new skating engine that overhauled control and responsiveness. In NHL 20, we are building on that cutting-edge technology to deliver unprecedented improvements to how players interact with the puck to further increase the fluidity and authenticity of the game.

Last year the new RPM Tech skating system gave players a higher level of control over skaters, however there were moments when the player was pulled out of skating animations during actions such as shooting, passing or pickups. With new advancements in NHL 20, we have now integrated skating with those actions, allowing players to keep their stride and speed with control of the puck.

 

SIGNATURE SHOOTING STYLES

NHL 20 introduces the next major innovation in RPM Tech-powered gameplay with signature shots. Your favorite NHL stars now look and feel truly authentic with the trademark shooting-styles you recognize from the real world. Additionally, over 45 new contextual shot animations make shooting more lifelike as players use new tools to get the puck on net.

Every licensed player will be assigned their own shooting style to better match the real world look of their shot. Created players will also have that same option, giving you another level of customization to showcase your unique personality and style on the ice. Shooting styles have nuanced differences that take into account different windups, follow throughs, leg kicks, release points, and more to give each shooting style their own unique look.

 

DEKE SHOTS

In situations where you are coming in on 1-on-1, players now have multiple positions available to shoot while dekeing around defenders and goalies. As you drive down the ice, RPM total body tech will now understand if the puck is moving forehand to backhand, or backhand to forehand before a shot is executed. it will also take into consideration how close you are to the net and your skaters entry angle, giving you a suite of new shots in your arsenal to beat defenders and goalies.

 

POSSESSED AND LOOSE PUCK SHOTS

This year player shots will change based on your distance from the net and the difference in power vs quickness that would be required to hit the net. Deke past defenders and drive closer to the net for quicker and snappier shots. Alternatively, utilize your power from the top of the circles by leaning into your wrist shots with more impact shots to stun the goalie.

NHL 20 is also redefining the way players can attack loose pucks. This year each shot is unique based on the incoming angle of the puck relative to the players position, you will now see a player position their hips, legs and stick differently if the puck is coming to their forehand or backhand side.

On the forehand, skaters will move to positions of strength to get behind the shot when the puck is not in an ideal position, resulting in stronger snap shots that come from redirects, rebound or loose pucks opportunities. On the backhand, skaters will now better utilize redirects in situations where they cannot angle themselves for a strong forehand shot.

 

ONE-TIMERS

One-timers have also been revamped as RPM Tech has made one-timer shooting more fluid, connected and realistic. New animations capture the differences when players are shooting high or low, and players will now position their hands and follow through based on the power, angle, and height of the shot.

Taking a full stop before shooting a one-timer will allow you to set up your shot with a higher degree of power and accuracy, while skating at full speed into a one-timer will impact your ability to accurately send the puck on net. A poor one timer pass or a player taking a shot too quickly from a poor position can lead to low quality shots that will be visible through new animations.

 

EXPLOSIVE TRANSITIONS

In NHL 20, new explosive transitions allow you to take the puck in stride, anticipate a turn before receiving the puck, and retain your speed allowing every player to make plays in motion. When receiving a pass players will change their angles and stick position when picking up the puck, giving you more control to seamlessly move into the next play and allow you to experience give-and-go’s without breaking a stride. Just like in real life the perfect feed will make it easier for a player to keep skating at top speed, whereas an mistimed pass will slow down your teams transition. 

Passing locations have also been reworked - passing the puck up the wing will no longer send it into your teammates skates, but will now utilize angles where they can receive it on their forehand or backhand. Human players should feel less locked into pickups and should have the ability to adjust their speed or angle as a pass is coming. Adjust your speed and angle to open up lanes against opponents, slow down to avoid an offside or accelerate onto a puck and drive up the ice.

In addition to the RPM tech, they also released a "deep-dive" regarding Goalie Intelligence. Once again, this is per EA.

Quote

 

In EA SPORTS NHL 20 goaltenders now have the tools they need to take control of the game.

In NHL 19, goalies did not have an expansive tool set to control the puck - too often resulting in soft rebounds and scoring chances. In NHL 20, goalies in position and in control, will have the ability to take over the game with all-new controlled saves, redirects and a whole new suite of covers. Additionally, AI controlled goalies are more aware of threats on the ice, impacting their positioning and how they handle the puck. 

 

NEW CONTROLLED SAVES AND REDIRECTS

In the past goalies would play blocking saves with their body regardless of how easy the puck was to handle or how prepared they were. Now based on a goalie’s skill (attributes), how in control/position they are before a shot arrives and the reaction time they have (speed/distance of the shot) they can make controlled saves to hang on to a puck, pinning it against their chest, collapsing in to hang on in their mid-section or making a more controlled glove save so that they can avoid giving up a rebound and control the play. Goalies can then choose to hang on or play the puck if they have enough control and it’s viable from where/how they pinned/hung onto the puck.

In addition to controlled saves, goalies now have the ability to control the outcome and redirect a puck depending on the situation. The ability to redirect the puck with control will be based on a goalies attributes, how in control they are, and the reaction time they have in each situation. In the past goalies could kick out juicy rebounds, even on pucks that were slower on net that they could have controlled. You will now see goalies use their sticks, leg pads and blocker to control and send the rebound away from danger (i.e. a stick redirect up into the corner glass, a blocker punching the puck out away from danger, or a leg pad kicking the puck out to the corner or out in front depending on where the incoming opponent threat is).

With these new tools, goalie differentiation by skill will be even more apparent. Some of the best goalies will be able to hang on to or direct harder shots with little reaction time away while weaker goalies may still give up juicy rebounds on shots they could have handled.

NEW COVER SYSTEM

NHL 20 introduces a whole new suite of covers for goalies, adding to their overall coverage by giving them the ability to cover the puck out of more positions. Goalies can also now resolve covers without having to reset and start again, making them more responsive in the mechanic. They are more authentic and responsive in their animations by being increasingly direct to the puck, and in the postures they use to protect the puck and themselves.

Goalies also have unique covers from butterfly, dropping down from standing set positions, reverse VH on both sides, VH from both sides, hug post from both sides, and new covers from various desperation saves. Additionally, goalies can cover the puck with their glove or pin the puck against the side of the net with their stick or blocker.

THREAT ANALYSIS

AI goaltenders in NHL 20 are more aware of threats around them, impacting their positioning and their ability to deal with different scenarios. AI goalies will be more aware of the threat of the puck carrier to score, impacting when and how they challenge the shooter vs. stay deeper in their net. This will lessen the chance of over-committing when the only threat is a pass or shot for a rebound. As the puck carrier becomes more dangerous, getting in closer to the middle of the ice and the net, especially if the player is on their forehand, you will see goalies challenge them more aggressively, increasing the need for the puck carrier to move the puck to open up a better scoring chance.

Goalies positioning and aggressiveness to track the puck and cut down on shooting angles will also be impacted by their teammates defensive positioning. Defensive AI has been updated to add more logic to identify the threat of the puck carrier to have a good chance to score with a shot. This may change their defensive positioning to stay closer to goal side than the direct passing lane. This allows them to gauge whether a rebound threat is more dangerous than a pass to a player with a weaker one-timer. As the one timer threat becomes more viable, the defensive players position will be tighter and heavily favor the direct passing lane.

These improvements will narrow the windows in which the offense has to make choices and will increase the need to work for good shooting positions and passing lanes, ultimately leading to more earned goals.

 

NHLGamer SHORT TAKE

The puck pickups have been one of the most debated subjects in recent years, although almost annually promised to have been improved, very little has actually happened on that front. RPM tech was an exciting and positive overhaul of the skating in NHL 19 and can be expected to greatly increase the flow and speed of the game now that it's being implemented in shooting and puck pickups too. Goaltenders will also receive some new tools to combat rebounds and crease bounces too - a much welcomed addition. In the end, it comes down to how well these animations respond to surprising in-game events. We'd expect nothing less than for our community to work out these kinks and provide some valuable feedback in order to fine-tune the end product eventually. 

Finally, we'd like to provide you guys an opportunity to ask some gameplay related questions. Eight of the EA Game Changers had an opportunity for a hands-on experience with the game in the development phase at the EA HQ in Vancouver. @Kenu as our inside man made the trip in late April and might have some insight to your questions. Shoot your thoughts and questions in the comments section below!

What's up NHLGamers, it's that time of the year again - the full reveal of this falls NHL!

As is tradition, in the early hours of the morning (for us Europeans), at the NHL awards EA released a bunch of information pertaining to the next iteration of their NHL series, ranging from details such as who the cover athlete will be, to general tweaks / additions made to specific game modes. To kick this off, here is the official reveal trailer for NHL 20, which will be released on the 13th of September 2019.

The Cover

As always, we'll start this deep dive into the game off with a brief introduction to the cover athlete. This year, the star chosen to grace the cover is none other than Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs. There was some speculation that the honour would have gone to Alex Pietrangelo of the St. Louis Blues instead, simply due to the much circulated picture of him hoisting the Stanley Cup, as it was perhaps the most 'photogenic' cup photo of late and was of course a fitting end to an unforgettable run by the Blues. Of course, there was also the option of going with Nikita Kucherov due to his incredible performance over the past regular season, putting up a ridiculous 128pts in 82 games (resulting in some serious hardware tonight).  

The Features

Anyway, let's get into the real meat and potatoes of the reveal, namely the features. It may not perhaps be as 'extensive' as last years; however it is still fairly sizable. For ease of viewing, the full run down for each 'feature' will be posted below via EAs website, but as a quick guide there are five distinct additions as cited by EA.

In EA SPORTS™ NHL® 20, your favorite NHL stars now look and feel more authentic with new Signature Shots and over 45 new shot types that make every attack a threat. A new broadcast package celebrates your biggest plays as you take on all-new game modes, including the new winner-take-all Eliminator mode where you play solo or team up with friends to take down the competition.
 

Speed and Shooting Fueled by RPM Tech
NHL® 20 introduces the next major innovation in RPM Tech-powered gameplay with Superstar Signature Shots. Your favorite NHL stars now look and feel truly authentic with the trademark shooting-styles you recognize from the real world. Additionally, over 45 new contextual shot animations make shooting more lifelike as players use new tools to get the puck on net.

RPM Tech also ignites more speed to gameplay through revamped animation blending that allows players to execute shots, passes, and puck pickups without slowing a skater’s pace; creating faster, more skilled and more fluid plays up and down the ice.

Finally, new goaltender A.I. includes full offensive threat analysis, allowing goalies to read the positioning and threat level of every attack before actively controlling rebounds and redirecting pucks away from danger.

A New Generation of Hockey Broadcasting
A revamped broadcast package delivers fresh new play-by-play and color commentary to NHL 20, paired with overhauled scoreboards, overlays and motion graphics; all built to put you at the center of the game’s biggest moments. See your most memorable plays come to life in new Play Of The Game highlights designed to put your best skills on a pedestal for your teammates and your opponents.

New Mode and Icons in Hockey Ultimate Team™
Hockey Ultimate Team™ introduces a new way to play in Squad Battles, the fan-favorite mode from EA SPORTS™ FIFA that allows you to compete and earn big rewards in offline battles. New opponents are refreshed every day, including weekly Featured Squads assembled by NHL players, hot musical artists, hockey influencers, and superstar athletes from other major sports. Squad Battles introduces a brand new way to compete, earn and collect your dream team as you take on the best teams assembled by the biggest names in sports and entertainment.

Hockey Ultimate Team also welcomes a new roster of playable hockey Icons, bringing the total number of collectible and playable Icons to over 400.

New Ways to Play With Friends
NHL 20 adds an all-new competitive game mode: Eliminator. Inspired by the winner-take-all competition in battle royale, Eliminator is a new way to compete in NHL ONES and NHL THREES that pits up to 81 players against each other in a survival tournament bracket to be crowned the ultimate winner. Compete solo in ONES Eliminator, or squad up with friends in THREES Eliminator as you attempt to win three back-to-back elimination rounds against increasingly competitive opponents for ultimate bragging rights.

Also new to NHL 20, last year’s fan-favorite outdoor free-for-all mode, ONES, is now available to play in local multiplayer. You and two friends can select from an elite roster of your favorite NHL players, each with a unique class-based playstyle, and compete on eight outdoor ponds from the comfort of your couch in the ultimate party mode.

An Ever-Expanding World of CHEL
New to World of CHEL are CHEL Challenges, weekly in-game events across all of your favorite modes that unlock unique customization rewards, character XP and more. Adding to the robust character customization options introduced in NHL 19, World of CHEL now offers over 2,000 unique customization items to craft your look and your playstyle - from gear and equipment, to lifestyle apparel from hockey’s biggest brands. Four new outdoor locations bring the game to never-before-seen ponds in remote wilderness and city landmarks inspired by iconic locations.

Feature Impressions

Unlike last year EA appear to have been quite a bit more open regarding how much information they have released about each 'feature' this time around, dare I say they have almost been fairly self-explanatory? 

Let's start with "Speed and Shooting Fueled by RPM Tech". This feature in particular game should bring quite a large QOL (quality of life) update thanks to the "Superstar Signature Shots" which will add some level of immersion to the game when you are playing, as it should differentiate various 'upper echelon' players (such as Subban for example) from more 'average' players. Additionally, they have included 45 new contextual shot animations which will help raise the realism element of shooting as a whole. Furthermore, EA have added upon their 'RPM tech' for the second year in a row, which they state will improve the fluidity of the game as players should be able to blend animations together to a much higher standard, as well as pick the puck without having to slow down too much.

Moving on to "A New Generation of Hockey Broadcasting" which is probably the most ambiguously written piece of the whole article. They state that the broadcast package has been "revamped", including "fresh new play-by-play and color commentary". This signifies EA completely ditching their experiment with the 'NBC' package, and have changed out the commentators of Mike 'Doc' Emrick and Eddie Olczyk for a local Vancouver radio personality in James Cybulski as the new play-by-play, as well as 'promoting' Ray Ferraro from in between the benches to color commentator. Taking up Ferraro's old role will be the infamous Pierre McGuire. The reason for the change is purely logistical it would seem, as EA are now able to get the new team in a couple of times a week to record new lines, something that was a challenge before, as Doc and Eddie were often on the road across the country from each other, and critically did not have enough time to spare. In fact, it EA appear to be pushing the boat out and will have guest appearances in the booth from hockey icons like Don Cherry & Wayne Gretzky, to musicians such as Chance the Rapper and Drake. 

Included in this presentation overhaul is a tweaking of the score clock location, instead of being placed in the top left it will now be visible at the bottom of the screen. 

Additionally, they have also included a new element to the whole presentation with a "play of the game highlight" reel. How this interacts with the whole package however is yet to be seen, although it will apparently be akin to Overwatch's play of the game system, just playing at the beginning of every intermission instead of at the end of the game. 

All information not visible in the EA release within this section has been sourced from Game Informer.

Next up is "New Mode and Icons in Hockey Ultimate Team™" which headlines with the main change being a new mode within HUT called "Squad Battles", something that fans of FIFA should be able to recognise. Aside from this, there has also been an expansion on the raw amount of collectible and playable items within the mode, going to over 400 for this upcoming year. 

On to possibly the most interesting addition for NHL 20, "New Ways to Play With Friends" which signifies the expansion of The World of Chel with an entirely new mode called "Eliminator" which pits up to 81 players (yes, that is not a typo, 81... 8-1) against each other in a tournament bracket based battle royale. You can compete as either a solo player in "ONES Eliminator" or as a "squad with friends in THREES Eliminator". The goal is to win four straight games against ever increasingly more difficult opponents for "ultimate bragging rights", whatever 'that' specifically entails. Furthermore, fans of offline play will be happy to know that you can now play the 1v1v1 mode of 'Ones' offline with friends now, with a choice from various NHL players.

Finally, we move on to "An Ever-Expanding World of CHEL". This seems like EA have recognised their mistake from last year and have added ways for players to gain XP when they are max prestige with the inclusion of "weekly in-game events" (named "CHEL Challenges) seemingly across all modes within WOC. As well as this, they have raised the amount of "customisation items" to over 2,000 within the mode. In addition to EA have included four more outdoor locations which will most likely be rotated through in online games (e.g. Ones and drop ins).

For an even deeper dive into the features above, as well as additional information regarding Franchise Mode then please click on the following link to an article by Game Informer.

Pre-Order Options

As usual, EA will offer three different pre-options. Standard, Deluxe, and Ultimate. The latter two offer the ability to play the game three days prior to it's official release, therefore they will have access from the 10th of September 2019. Additionally, those with an EA access subscription will be able to play the game for the usual 10hrs from the 5th of September onwards.

NHLGamers, 

It's surely been a long road and no one knows that better than the new NHL Gaming World Champion Matthew "Top-Shelf-Cookie" Gutkoski!

Let's take a look back at Cookie's road to the championship:

US regionals:
vs NippinBiscuits 2-0
vs NJD3VS 2-0
vs Johnwaynee 2-0
Grand Final:
vs  Mg x Nuclear 2-1
vs Johnwaynee 2-1 

The top 3 of the 2019 NHL Gaming World Championship were:
1. Matthew "Top-Shelf-Cookie" Gutkowski
2. John "Johnwaynee" Casagranda
3. Karl "Mg x Nuclear" Caslib

NHLGamer congratulates Cookie on a tremendous tournament, the championship title and collecting a big check of $50,000! Congratulations also to all other players for an outstanding effort in the tournament.

NHLGamers, 

This upcoming Tuesday (18th of June) marks the date of the grand final of the 2019 NHL Gaming World Championship! We'll once again be treated to the skilful play of ECL poster boy and reigning world champion Erik @Eki Tammenpää, who is joined by fellow Finnish NHL gaming juggernaut Hannes @Hansulinho Kettunen. 

The European duo will be taking on the two best players from both the US and Canada in a quest for the world championship title and a cash prize of $50,000. The US finalists are winner Matthew "Top-Shelf-Cookie" Gutkowski and runner-up John "Johnwaynee" Casagranda. The Canadian finalists are winner Karl "Mg x Nuclear" Caslib and runner-up Matthew @YungGren Grenier.

As anyone whose been following the NHLGWC might know, this years iteration of the tournament has been played with a slightly different format and also the game-mode has changed from online versus to HUT. The change of game-mode has brought some sought after diversity to the teams used by competitors and on top of that a draft prior to the finals has ensured that no competitor will be sporting the same two players in their lineup. Now enough with the talk, let's take a look at the lineups of each player.

Link to HutDB team, 2019 placement and 2018 placement in brackets.

🇫🇮 Erik @Eki Tammenpää (EU Winner - Reigning champion 🏆)

Lainaa

Forwards
Jack Eichel - Connor McDavid - Chris Kreider
Patric Hornqvist - Aleksander Barkov - Dylan Larkin
Craig Smith - William Karlsson - Sven Baertschi
Joel Armia - Brian Boyle - Jesperi Kotkaniemi

Defensemen
P.K. Subban - Ryan McDonagh
Charlie McAvoy - Noah Hanifin
Danny Dekeyser - Shea Theodore

Goalies
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Roberto Luongo

Eki is the reigning champion and is going into the tournament as a heavy favorite at least on our side of the pond. So far, the reigning champion has played through the tournament entirely undefeated besting the likes of @Dominointi, @kriketski17 and his fellow EU finalist in the regionals. The man himself has spoken about being able to go into this years tournament with a calmer attitude than last year despite being the defending champion. Confidence is oozing from this youngster and we're all certainly anxious to see what he will bring to the table come Tuesday night.

🇫🇮 Hannes @Hansulinho Kettunen (EU Runner-up - Did not make finals in 2018)

Lainaa

Forwards
Elias Lindholm - Ryan Getzlaf - Taylor Hall
Mika Zibanejad - Jonathan Toews - Sebastian Aho
Jason Pominville - Adam Henrique - Nick Foligno
Kevin Labanc - Ryan Kesler - Andrei Svechnikov

Defensemen
Seth Jones - Markus Nutivaara
Matt Dumba - Miro Heiskanen
Jay Bouwmeester - Calvin De Haan

Goalies
Devan Dubnyk
Darcy Kuemper

Hansu already made the headlines earlier today as his new contract with HAVU - a promising Finnish gaming org was announced. HAVU has been making some serious waves recently by signing major partnerships together with Finnish entertainment & IT giant Elisa Viihde and the almost cult-like clothing brand Billebeino. Hansu mentioned that moving on to HAVU is a natural step in the development of his career and will hopefully benefit both him and the organisation. On his way to Vegas, Hansu managed to win (still) young prodigy @PleeMaker in a thrilling bout.

🇺🇸 Matthew "Top-Shelf-Cookie" Gutkowski (US Winner - 3rd place in regionals of 2018)

Lainaa

Forwards
Alex Ovechkin - Anze Kopitar - Elias Pettersson
Brendan Gallagher - Tomas Hertl - Gabriel Landeskog
Joonas Donskoi - Alex DeBrincat - Tomas Tatar
Bobby Ryan - Brock Nelson - Conor Sheary

Defensemen
Brent Burns - Zach Werenski
Ryan Pulock - Zdeno Chara
Brent Seabrook - Esa Lindell

Goalies
Martin Jones
Jimmy Howard

Cookie made the regionals last year and was the last man out of the grand finals. That certainly must have stung, but the man showed relentless drive by coming back and catching fire by first winning the Columbus Blue Jackets Esports tournament in April and dominating the US regionals shortly thereafter. Cookie went undefeated through the regionals and beat competitors such as NippinBiscuits and US regional favourite johnwaynee along the way.

🇺🇸 John "Johnwaynee" Casagranda (US Runner-up - Grand finals 3rd place in 2018)

Lainaa

Forwards
Artemi Panarin - Auston Matthews - Mikko Rantanen
T.J. Oshie - Sean Couturier - Jeff Skinner
Jordan Eberle - Ryan Dzingel - Anders Lee
Jesper Bratt - Chris Tierney - Ondrej Kase

Defensemen
Dustin Byfuglien - Morgan Reilly
Nikita Zaitsev - Rasmus Dahlin
Neal Pionk - Michael Matheson

Goalies
Braden Holtby
Semyon Varlamov

John played his way into the hearts of NHL gaming fans during the 2018 iteration of the NHLGWC, when he became known as the Alaskan sensation. He was kind of an outsider who people didn't have a read on yet but he quickly proved he belongs at the top by ultimately finishing third over the likes of @Fool x 90 and YungGren. In an interview with NHL last week, John said his team might not be the strongest on paper, but if there was a "heart trait", his team would have 1980 "miracle on ice"-type heart!

🇨🇦 Karl "Mg x Nuclear" Caslib (Canadian Winner - Did not participate in 2018)

Lainaa

Forwards
Viktor Arvidsson - Sidney Crosby - Patrick Kane
Filip Forsberg - Johnny Gaudreau - Yanni Gourde
Travis Konecny - Bryan Little - Anthony Mantha
Mathieu Perreault - Phillip Danault - Mikkel Boedker

Defensemen
Drew Doughty - Mark Giordano
Rasmus Ristolainen - Darnell Nurse
Jason Demers - Brayden McNabb

Goalies
Matt Murray
Cory Schneider

Nuke is the black horse in this years iteration of the NHLGWC as he hasn't really played that much competitively before. We had the opportunity to grab a quick chat with this young man:

Nuke, you haven't played too much competitively before, what sparked your interest and how did you end up where you're at now?
- I used to play NHL a lot on old gen. However, as time went on, I wasn’t really having fun with the current gen games. I watched last years grand finals and seeing how much fun those guys had coupled with the fact that I could play NHL for money, I thought I would at least give it a shot.

What's your experience of playing the other guys like, who's the guy to beat?
- I’ve played all the other competitors except the Finnish players. As far as I’m concerned, Cookie is the toughest guy for me to beat. I can only reach the finals if I beat him.

Now, after the Canadian regionals you tweeted out your rather spartan home setup - how different is it to play on this new equipment on stage?
- Playing on a competitive pro set up is something I really loved. I play on a 2008 model TV so there's definite input lag. I will really look forward to playing on future LAN events.

You're going with some rather unorthodox lineup decisions into the finals - a rather diminutive team in size and Gaudreau on center to name a few quirks, thoughts on that?
- My new team is definitely smaller than my old team. Gaudreau at center is definitely unconventional. However, he does have 76 faceoffs which will hold up relatively well. I feel my new team is definitely fast and skilled. Do not underestimate them because of their size.

🇨🇦 Matthew @YungGren Grenier (Canadian Runner-up - Grand finals 5th place in 2018)

Lainaa

Forwards
Mathew Barzal - Mark Scheifele - Vladimir Tarasenko
William Nylander - Max Domi - Nino Niederreiter
Tom Wilson - Jake DeBrusk - Michael Grabner
Jake Virtanen - Artem Anisimov - Jimmy Vesey

Defensemen
John Klingberg - Victor Hedman
Jared Spurgeon - Oscar Klefbom
Brian Dumoulin - Jonas Brodin

Goalies
Henrik Lundqvist
Marc-Andre Fleury

Gren is one of those personalities that splits opinions in the community. Some will love him and others - not so much. When it's all said and done though we can all agree that his playing skills are up there with the very best of them. Gren quickly caught the eye of te audience in the 2018 GWC when he made the finals as the youngest competitor at only 16 years old. The native of St. Georges, Quebéc is surely an interesting sight on stage as he plays with a lot of emotion and isn't shy to show it. 

Well, there you have it, folks! A short NHLGamer insight into the NHLGWC Grand Finals that will be played on Tuesday, 18th of June, 2019 at 21 CEST. Make sure to tune in on www.twitch.tv/NHL in order to cheer for your favourite, who hopefully is one of our NHLGamers! 

We would also like to remind our Finnish members that you can now bet on the grand finals at Veikkaus! Do so responsibly.

NHLGamers,

The European Regionals of the second iteration of the NHLGWC are in the books and we have weeded out the two best players in the European scene. Unsurprisingly, these players are long time NHLGamers and absolute beauties in the scene. After battling through the gruelling single elimination online qualifiers and taking on some elite opposition in the regional final, the golden boy @Eki and hairy veteran @Hansulinho are the first two players to secure their spot at the world finals in Las Vegas. Both Eki and Hansu paved their way through the Xbox online qualifiers and dominated their opposition in the regionals, with the reigning world champ going undefeated in the tournament so far. 

Being the reigning champion and going undefeated through all of the qualifying stages certainly puts a target on Eki's back. Whoever has been following the man play have surely become familiar with his stellar puck possession skills and outstanding patience when creating scoring chances. The champ seems to acknowledge that he is the guy to beat in this tournament, obviously it puts some pressure on the young gun but he is now a man on a mission - to secure a second consecutive championship and cement his position as the best in the business.

Hansu is one of the most experienced players in the whole tournament for sure. He isn't making his first trip to Vegas either, as he actually participated in the NHL Virgin Gaming Championship in 2013 with some success, finishing in 3rd place just short of a hefty cash prize. In order to reach the runner-up spot of this years European regionals, Hansu picked apart @Sagee95 in the quarterfinals and went up against @PleeMaker in the semifinals, arguably as a minor underdog. The youngster Plee managed to steal one game but in the end nerves of steel and experience prevailed - Hansu was in the top 2.

This is what the final bracket of the European Regionals looks like:

If you missed the action from this past Saturday, you can watch the whole broadcast here:

There's still three events of NHLGWC action left to go, as we'll be treated to the Canadian Regionals on Saturday, 25th of May, the US Regionals on Thursday, 30th of May and capping off the season with the Grand Final on Tuesday, June 18th.  

Here's a list of competitors at the upcoming regionals:

CANADA
RyanVince19
@xDubz 17
Mg x Nuclear
@Sitballs (Sitful)
@YungGren
mrdreeezzee
Joshfearless
@Jer Dubz

USA
Top Shelf Cookie
NippinBiscuits
@McLxvinn
NJD3VS
JrPens91
Fishercelll25
johnwaynee90
frogstomp33

Who are your picks to make it through to the finals? Wo do you think will take it all home? Let us know in the comments section and make sure to turn up to the streams at www.twitch.tv/nhl and show your support!

NHLGamers,

Although the ECL season is in the books, this past weekend has still been full of excitement and drama for NHL gaming fans around the world. That's because the NHL GWC is rolling on and this Saturday marked the date for the European Play-In Bracket that determines which gamers are punching their ticket to the regional finals at Viasat studios in Stockholm on May 18th. 

The games started Saturday afternoon and although they are something of a grind - the format this year was a single elimination bracket which resulted in the day progressing rather quickly. The single elimination format has been criticised heavily on social media due to the harshness and the nature of the game in its current state - meaning it allows for uncontrollable bounces and unfortunate goals to happen on the regular. Regardless of this, a good player can always create their own luck and at the end of the day we're certainly seeing some top notch gamers grabbing their spot in the regional finals.

Here are the gamers moving through at the end of Saturday:

PS4
Saku @Sagee95 Björn, Kristian @kriketski17 Veijola, Risto @Dominointi Järvi and Paul @PleeMaker Arontie.

Xbox
Erik @Eki Tammenpää, Eilung, Hannes @Hansulinho Kettunen and Joonas @SUPERVIRTA Virta.

Check Eki's reaction to making the regional finals:

The defending champion didn't beat around the bush when asked about the NHL GWC format this year: "I don't like the format, you simply need to have more shots at making the biggest tournament of the year than one. One and done isn't the way to do it. It's the same for everyone but at the end of the day think we're going to see some players at the finals who probably wouldn't deserve to be there."

It's great to see a few names making their presence felt, although it means a few established players have to face disappointments. Some of last years regional finalists including @Artuzio, @Darkic01 and @FlyerKungen fell short this time, being eliminated in the earlier stages of the brutal single elimination bracket.

One of the new names included is Saku @Sagee95 Björn, who we reached for some comments about the NHL GWC so far: "There's certainly some positives and negatives about the format this year. I like moving over to HUT in the sense that you're seeing some diversity in the teams which wouldn't be there if it was versus. The single elimination bracket is rough, since one mistake could cost you the whole tournament."

"I don't want to put down my opponents, but I think I had an easy way to the regionals. None of my opponents so far really tested me too much. The upcoming draft is going to be interesting, I'll try to build a team with big bodies and Zdeno Chara is a guy I hope I can secure in my lineup.", Sagee continues.

Joonas @SUPERVIRTA Virta is another new name, who's been one of the fastest growing NHL streamers out there recently: "It feels amazing to qualify for my first bigger tournament. What makes it extra special is sharing those moments with all the people in my stream and getting all the support from there."

The NHL GWC will continue with the Canadian Play-In Bracket next weekend and the US Play-In Bracket the weekend after that, so there's still lots of action to go around before the grand finals.

Remember to tune in and watch the regional finals on May 18th. Who will you be cheering for?

@jahajaha93
NHLGamer Editor

Hey NHLGamers, 

A new patch was released at 10:00am CET today (20/03/19). As far as EASHL goes, there are no changes of note (or any for that matter) in this patch, unless of course you're all about the stadium series and alternate jerseys. Essentially then, it looks as though this patch has been pushed out so that HUT games will now no longer show the gamertag of your opponent prior to the game starting. This is surely a very welcomed update to the competitive community, as there has been a lot of players backing out this year when meeting "better players" in hopes to have a better record.

The full changelog is as follows: 

Patch 1.6

Quote

Patch 1.6 will remove in-game voice chat from HUT Competitive Seasons/HUT Champions games. This fix is coming in to prevent players from being able to see the opponent's Online ID before puck drop. This should help address issues where players were being backed out on before puck drop.

In-game voice chat will only be turned off in HUT Competitive Seasons and HUT Champions games. The rest of the modes will remain unchanged.

Please read below for the full patch 1.6 notes.

Hockey Ultimate Team

• We have implemented a change where in-game voice chat will be turned off during HUT Competitive Seasons and HUT Champions.
• Uniforms

The following uniforms have been added to NHL 19

• NHL
  • Philadelphia Flyers Stadium Series
  • Pittsburgh Penguins Stadium Series
  • Tampa Bay Lightning Alternate
  • Toronto Maple Leafs St. Pats Alternate

New Content in World of CHEL

• Added the Philadelphia Flyers Stadium Series uniform
• Added the Pittsburgh Penguins Stadium Series uniform
• Added the Tampa Bay Lightning Alternate uniform
• Added the Toronto Maple Leafs St. Pats Alternate uniform

Source: EA Forums

Hello Gamers,

We're glad to share with you what the NHL has prepared for their biggest gaming event so far - Season 2 of the NHL Gaming World Championship! 
Registrations kick off March 6th and closes on March 31st. However, online qualifiers will be starting already on March 13th.

Ahead of the announcement, NHL Vice President of Business Development Chris Golier stated: “We’ve listened to the players and measured how the live events and content were received and are making changes this year that we think will make for a more competitive tournament and more engaged community.”
 

So, what are the changes?

First off, the NHL GWC Season 2 will be played in Hockey Ultimate Team. This will allow for players to create unique teams that are tailored according to their own style of play. It is definitely an interesting switch over from versus and it's refreshing to potentially see something else than the same two teams matching up against each other for the entire tournament. Right from the get-go, the switch to HUT received heavy criticism from some of the best gamers out there, and it hasn't been toning down. What do you think?

The second new thing was the qualifier system, which was renewed as a natural continuation of switching to the HUT game mode. In order to qualify for the tournament, a player needs to register at Battlefy.com/NHL, whereafter one is eligible to play Online Open Play in order to qualify for the Online Play-in Bracket, where the top 23 players per console and region for each weekly period will compete for a spot at the Live Regional Finals. Online Play-in Brackets are hosted twice for each region (EU 13th & 20th of April, CAN 20th & 27th of April, US 27th of April & 4th of May). In the Online Play-in Bracket, the top 128 players from each console and region will battle it out for four spots at the Live Regional Finals.

The third new thing is also related to the switch over to HUT and this is an interesting one. From the Live Regional finals onwards, players will be drafting their teams from a preselected player pool and no duplicate players will be allowed - meaning every team will be completely unique! This adds another layer of strategy to the competition and will definitely be some fun to speculate on. Players will draft their team for the Regional Live finals and redraft again for the NHL GWC Final.

Andrew "Nasher" Telfer, who will be returning as analyst for season 2 of the NHL GWC commented on the draft as follows: “Players will be forced to step out of their comfort zone, some players stick to versus (with actual NHL teams), others focus on HUT, but for the first time, players won't know exactly what their team will look like going into the tournament. Tough decisions will have to be made during the draft, I'm sure we'll see some pretty crazy lineups come the live events. The good news is players will be able to build a team to fit their play style.”

Prize pool: $100,000
1. $50,000
2. $15,000
3. $10,000
4. $5,000
5/6. $2,500
 

You can see the full schedule for the tournament below:

EU    US    CAN

March 6th  Registration opens at Battlefy.com/NHL
March 13th  Online open play begins
March 31 Registrations close
April 7th Online open play ends
April 13th European Online Play-In Bracket Day 1
April 20th European Online Play-In Bracket Day 2
April 20th Canadian Online Play-In Bracket Day 1
April 27th Canadian Online Play-In Bracket Day 2
April 27th US Online Play-In Bracket Day 1
April 27th European Regional Draft
May 4th US Online Play-In Bracket Day 2
May 4th Canadian Regional Draft
May 11th US Regional Draft
May 18th European Regional Finals (Stockholm, Sweden)
May 25th Canadian Regional Finals (Toronto, Ontario)
May 30th  US Regional Finals (Stamford, Connecticut)
June 3rd  NHL GWC Final Draft
June 18th  NHL GWC World Finals (Las Vegas, Nevada)

Also check what your reigning champion @Eki has to say:

Will we see you on the ice in season 2 of the NHL GWC? Who do you think will win? What are your thoughts on the GWC moving over to HUT? Let us know in the comments!

NHLGamer Writers
@jahajaha93 & @Serg1vratar

Hey NHLGamers, 

A new tuner & patch have been released. The changes of note (at least for EASHL) are the nerf towards a player's skating (acceleration, agility & speed) whilst backskating with the puck, some improvements towards blending of certain animations in the attempt to reduce the effectiveness of "shovel" style shots, a rise in the reliability of faceoff counters, as well as the network performance screen now correctly displaying your ping. 

Regarding the 'main' change (i.e. backskating), the tweaks that EA have made are described to be "subtle" in nature. So, it should not impact play too wildly in theory, although with that said, even a small adjustment to such a widely used mechanic will invariably lead to some pretty stark differences.

The full changelog is as follows: 

Patch 1.55

Quote

Hockey Ultimate Team

• Added in a new Leaderboard functionality to have HUT Champions and Competitive Seasons scoring also be Wins-based
  • Wins-based Competitions will rank players by the number of Wins, with Round Points used as a tiebreaker.
  • Points-based Competitions will continue to rank users by Round Points.
• Removed the ability to see the opponent’s team name and information during the loading screen. The screen will show your network connection and the HUT logo now.

With the addition of Wins-Based leaderboards, we will be able to use them in any HUT Competitive Season mode while still maintaining the functionality of being able to do Points Based events. We wanted to maintain the Points-based competitions functionality as there are certain season structures (i.e. HUT Champions Qualifiers) that make a lot more sense to do in Points-based competitions as opposed to Win-based.

Additionally, we have removed the ability to see your opponent’s team name and information during the loading screen as we received complaints from a lot of players that opponents would back out against them if they recognized their name, making it harder for them to find a game. You will still be able to see the connection bar as you enter the game.

Online

• Fixed an issue where the Network Performance Screen was showing a user’s ping rate as half of what it truly was. (e.g. a 20 ping rate showed up on the screen as 10) This was a purely visual fix and will not affect your online experience. It will now show correctly on the screen.

Gameplay

• Improved how goalies track puck and player motion behind the net
• Improved how goalies react to wrap around attempts behind the net
• Improved blends from deking into quick shots to make the timing more realistic
• Improved motion into backhand toe drag in some contexts
• Identified and fixed a bug where a player skating backwards with the puck wasn’t properly accepting the “with puck” penalties to speed, acceleration, and agility. Alongside the bug fix, we’ve also done some tuning changes to reduce the impact of what the original values were supposed to be.

The gameplay changes made will help address some of the key areas we’ve seen complaints about: backskating with the puck, wraparound goals, and “shovel shot”-style goals. These are the only gameplay changes made in Patch 1.55

Source: EA Forums

Tuner 1.04

Quote

• Turned down the top-level ability for speed, acceleration and agility when backskating with the puck
  • Overall, this will help address the issues we have seen the community raise regarding backskating with the puck being overpowered, especially when entering the offensive zone.
  • This value is in between what the penalties were for backskating with the puck in previous NHL titles and what they were with no penalties. The changes will be subtle, but should help prevent the effectiveness of backskating with the puck.
  • Backskating without the puck will be unaffected by these changes.
• Added improvements to faceoff tuning to fix potential rare edge cases that were being reported around faceoff counters not working reliably at times
• Fix for an issue introduced in tuner 1.02 regarding AI penalty frequency in offline modes. Penalties from the AI offline using this tuner will now be the same as they are in tuners 1.00 and 1.01

Source: EA Forums

 

What does everyone think of the changes? Do you think the backskating nerf was something that needed to be done, or was it a necessary evil to give teams more options on attack? Please, feel free to post your thoughts below! 

NHLGamers!

We've gone three fourths of the way through the qualifiers of the Capitals Esports Face-Off. We're happy to announce that we will see plenty of European colours in the final event, as @Eki and @Eken45jr paved their way through in the first qualifier as we already wrote. It is also with great pleasure we bring the news that @MrNipsuli managed to make it through on the second qualifier weekend, the other finalist from that qualifier was Regs84. The third qualifier was played last weekend and unfortunately no European players made it through that time, but 3 out of 6 is a great record nonetheless. @PleeMaker has been a goal away for qualifying, and it seems like he won't be pursuing another run at this tournament as the Bolts Chel Challenge qualifiers are hosted simultaneously as the fourth qualifier next week.

Confirmed Capitals Esports Face-Off Finalists:
Eki
eken45jr
Regs84
MrNipsuli-
THEY_SPEAK_OF_ME
Cheez Whizzzzz

A short recap of what the Capitals Esports Face-Off is all about:
The Esports Face-Off is a versus tournament open to both EU and NA players on PS4. The tournament is played in a double elimination format alike the NHL GWC. Four online qualifiers will be organised prior to the final event. On top of competing for a $10,000 prize pool, the top 3 players will have the chance to attend the 2019 Chel Classic, representing the Washington Capitals in a 3vs3 showdown against the top 3 players of the Bolts Chel Challenge. 

The Capitals Esports Face-Off will continue as follows:

• February 2nd - Fourth Online Qualifier
• February 22nd - Final Event
• March 19th - 2019 Chel Classic

More info and registrations over at https://smash.gg/tournament/capitals-esports-faceoff/details

Congratulations to Eki, eken45jr and MrNipsuli- on behalf of all of NHLGamer!

Your NHLGamer Editor,
@jahajaha93

Hi NHLGamers!

Thanks for all the constructive feedback provided during the NHL 19 Beta tuner rollback. The devs have been working hard at improving the experience for us and announced that a new tuner will be out ASAP. The original release time was on Friday, January 25th at approximately 11 CET. Due to a problem with the new update, the team made a choice not to yet release a potentially problematic tuner. No new time has been announced, but we will be awaiting more information. The new tuner update, somewhat confusingly named 1.03 will be applied to online modes first and rolled out to offline modes in the coming weeks after that.

Here is a changelog of what will have changed:

Lainaa

• AI skaters will not perform defensive actions against active puck carriers
  • The Beta Tuner Rollback allowed this for the first 2-4 frames, which is why people saw the change in the AI

Note: the AI will maintain their skating aggression and positioning from the roll back as people preferred it as opposed to the past gameplay tuner

• AI skaters will not commit penalties in Online VS or HUT
• Reduced the chance ai skaters will put the puck over the glass for delay of game penalties in World of Chel
• Added back in the forehand stick lift faceoff win speed increase
• Added in the fix to the energy regained at the whistle so that we see more realistic rolling of lines

Many players commented that they felt they were able to stack their lines to use their top players more frequently, which provided less of a realistic experience.

• Tuning fixes for AI Goalie logic for when to play the puck out of their net

Sometimes goalies were getting a little too aggressive; this will help prevent that

• Added back in consistency for user goalies to transition to post hug at extreme facing directions
• Tuned back in the penalty logic changes around trips
• Tuned back in the pokecheck accuracy improvements
• Split the difference on the stick lift penalty tuning so it will be between Tuner 1.00 and Tuner 1.03

A majority of the community mentioned that while stick lifts were too strong in the Beta Tuner, they were also causing too many penalties in 1.03 which made them less effective. This change should help find the proper balance for them.

• Added back in puck pickup tuning fixes
• Tuning out dropped and broken sticks again in online modes
• Added back in the tuning to increase loose puck deke success
• Tuned back in the changes to lower goalies’ ability to react to passes as quickly when they aren’t reading pass
• Tuned back in fix to lower assistance on goalie passes
• Finally, we split the difference between Tuner 1.00 and Tuner 1.03 on the incidental puck loss distance tuning but keeping the low relative speed hitting tuning from 1.00

This will help address the complaints we saw in Tuner 1.03 around players being unable to bump players off the puck at low speeds in the corner, but reduce the amount of incidental contact puck loss that we also saw complaints about from Tuner 1.00


Source: https://forums.ea.com/en/nhl/discussion/239282/gameplay-updates-based-on-beta-tuner-rollback-feedback/

On behalf of the NHLGamer staff,
@jahajaha93

Hey NHLGamers, 

As you've probably heard by now, EA will be having a tuner rollback to the Beta Tuner for a limited duration of time. That rollback has now gone live and will take place between Friday, January 18th (11:00 CET) and Friday, January 25th (11:00 CET). EA is also issuing a tuner feedback survey for the duration of the rollback, you will find a link in-game and on Twitter.

Please see EA's previous announcement and the full 'changelog' below:

Quote

Hey everyone,

Before the holidays begin, we just wanted to provide everyone with an update around NHL 19, and more specifically the feedback we have been hearing around the gameplay.

Over the past few months, we have been seeing a lot of people on all channels asking for us to revert to Beta tuners as they enjoyed the game better during that time frame. While we believe that the current gameplay has a lot of improvements from launch, we also recognize that there could be areas of gameplay that you preferred better in the past.

As a result, in mid-January we are going to be rolling back to the Beta Tuner for a limited time to get your feedback on what you like/dislike about the Beta Tuner compared to the current gameplay tuner. Please note that this will undo some of the positive changes that we’ve seen from the community, so you’ll be seeing some of the following occur again:

• Poke checks will be more sensitive and cause more tripping penalties
• AI goaltending performance will be different
• The ability to drop your stick
• Increase in incidental contact strength (bumps)
• Decrease in penalties from stick lifts

After we change back from the tuner, we will be posting a feedback survey to gather your thoughts, likes, and dislikes on the Beta tuner.

While it is a little while until the tuner goes live, we wanted to provide you with an update as we know how passionate you are about the product. Once we get closer to the date of the tuner, we will provide an update with more information and details on what is happening, when it’s happening, and what you can expect.

Thank you for your dedication and feedback throughout NHL 19 and we hope everyone has a happy holidays!

- The EA SPORTS NHL Team

Source: EA Forums

So, what do you guys think about the rollback? It surely brings some spice to the ongoing season, where the game will have a completely different feel for the coming week. Let us know your thoughts in the comments section!

On behalf of the NHLGamer Staff,
@MartindalexC

NHLGamers!

Yet again, we bring you joyful news about the success of some of our very own NHLGamer members. A while back, NHL franchise Washington Capitals announced the Capitals Esports Face-Off, which is a versus tournament open to EU and NA players on PS4. The tournament is played in a double elimination format, alike the NHL GWC. Four online qualifiers will be organized leading up to the final event in Washington D.C. on February 22nd. On top competing for a hefty $10,000 prize pool, the top 3 of the tournament will also have a chance to represent the Washington Capitals at the 2019 Chel Classic on March 19th. The Chel Classic is a 3v3 format show match against the top 3 players of the Bolts Chel Challenge, hosted by the Tampa Bay Lightning. 

The first online qualifier was held on Saturday, January 12th 2019 and we're happy to inform you that our very own @Eki is advancing undefeated from the winners bracket and @Eken45jr has managed to pave his way through to the finals after beating Regs84 in the losers bracket final. As stated, Eki moves on undefeated and Eken moves on with one loss on his record, that loss being against Eki. 

Check out the absolutely crazy game between Eki and eken45jr called by our friend SleevelessGaming:

The Capitals Esports Face-Off will continue as follows:

• January 19th - Second Online Qualifier
• January 26th - Third Online Qualifier
• February 2nd - Fourth Online Qualifier
• February 22nd - Final Event
• March 19th - 2019 Chel Classic

More info and registrations over at https://smash.gg/tournament/capitals-esports-faceoff/details

Congratulations to Eki and eken45jr on behalf of all of NHLGamer!

Your NHLGamer Editor,
@jahajaha93

(Source: Ilta-Sanomat - Picture by Mika Tuononen)

@Eki takes it home once again.

Seems to be the common occurrence nowadays, right? Success just seems to follow this youngster. IS Cup 3: NHL 19 1vs1 eSM was a blast and we had a lot of people showing up to cheer for their favourite in our stream! On top of that, we also had a nice amount of people show up at the event in Kauppakeskus REDI, Helsinki. The atmosphere was intense especially as the last games were being played. NHLGamer, together with your partners Ilta-Sanomat and SJK eSports would like to thank all of you for showing up, either live or through the broadcast!

The event didn't lack any excitement as we were treated to some absolute thrillers by our competitors. Here are the results of each group after the group stage:

Group A was regarded as 'the group of death' prior to the games, with really strong and experienced players @Dominointi, @Artuzio and @eskoeinari, joined by youngster @MrNipsuli who managed to cause an upset and make his way into the finals, playing as his favourite team Toronto Maple Leafs. Everything was up for grabs until the last round in group A, but Dominointi and MrNipsuli- managed to snag their second victories and move on. In group B we saw the only player who made it through the group stage without a loss in @kriketski17, a name that will certainly be on peoples lips in the versus scene from now on. @xDoumi managed to pave his way into the playoffs as the second player from group B.

Group C didn't offer much in terms of surprising outcomes. @Eki took a routine route to the big games and @Nassustelija managed to cop the second place spot, although he edged out @Markoohh- only by goal differential. To no surprise @PleeMaker grabbed the first spot in group D, whereas @Hansulinho had himself a night to forget going 0-3-0. @buranaburana made his way to the playoffs in second place of group D.

Upsets Galore.

We definitely saw some upsets in the group stage already. @kriketski17 took the whole competition by storm as he went undefeated through a tough group B. Group A with @Dominointi, @eskoeinari, @Artuzio and @MrNipsuli was an absolute free-for-all, as players pretty much traded wins through the first two rounds, leaving a ton of factors to decide who moves on to the playoffs. The underdog in that group was definitely Nipsuli, who together with Dominointi managed to make it through from the group stage. Another massive surprise was the weak performance of @Hansulinho, who didn't quite get into the groove of things this time around. In a group where he could have had the chance of moving on from on a good day, the former IS Cup champion didn't get it done, dropping all group stage games.

Playoff bracket:

The most interesting quarterfinal matchup was definitely Dominointi vs xDoumi, which ended 1-2. The two guys battled hard trading wins and going into double overtime of game two. The younger xDoumi showed his skill and managed to take home the tight series, moving on to a semifinal matchup against PleeMaker. Plee managed to overcome Nassustelija 2-0, as did Eki against buranaburana. Kriketsi17 also won 2-o against MrNipsuli, we saw an interesting turn of events in their second game, as Kriketsi managed to score on a pass from the neutral zone after Freddy Andersen of Nipsuli's Maple Leafs let in an abomination of a goal in the first period. The game was tied up after which Kriketsi managed to secure a win in overtime of game 2.

Jani "JiiHoo86" Hetta and Arttu Hämäläinen had a busy day in the commentator booth. (Source: SEUL - Picture by Jussi Jääskeläinen)

The semifinals offered us a series to remember as PleeMaker and xDoumi went head-to-head. Plee drew first blood in game 1 after a long period of offensive pressure from Doumi to start the game. The game was close all the way through, Plee leading 2-1 until just about the end of regulation when Doumi managed to score off of a shorthanded one-timer chance with 4,7 seconds remaining in the game. To start OT we saw some undisciplined play by Plee, allowing Doumi to snag the win of game 1 by scoring on the powerplay. The second game was a one goal bout - a defensive battle ending in Plee tying up the series. Game 3 was certainly a headscratcher. Doumi came out swinging with two quick goals to start the game, whereafter Plee managed to mount a comeback and the guys went on somewhat on a scoring spree, leaving the game at 5-4 in favour of Doumi at the start of the 3rd period, which is where miracles happened. Doumi scored two goals first, putting him at a three goal advantage. Plee came back to 7-5, Doumi made it 8-5, Plee scored - 8-6 - spectators couldn't even keep up! The guys were nowhere near done, Plee scored three unanswered and the game seemed like a win until Doumi decided to spoil the party again, tying it up AGAIN with 8,5 seconds left! Regulation ends 9-9. Plee ended up securing a final spot in after scoring his 10th goal of the game about halfway through the first period of OT. As Eki managed to win two games against Kriketski, we were treated to a final game with the matchup Eki vs Plee!

See PleeMaker vs xDoumi here:

The Plee - xDoumi series is certainly hard to top in terms of excitement. However, the final matchup was one of the best we could ever have asked for. Eki and Plee are FILADELPHIA teammates, they are arguably the two best NHL 19 players of the world - and we were treated to the opportunity of seeing the two battle it out with 4000€ on the line. The first game of the finals was a tight battle as expected, Plee opened the scoring, but Eki quickly came back. Both guys scored once more in regulation sending us to overtime, which was decided about three minutes into OT at the hands of Eki, making his first claim for the championship. Game two was a bit different in the sense that Eki seemed to run away with the game early as he made it 2-0 in the first period. Plee had different ideas as he scored three unanswered. That remained the case until 41,9 seconds remaining, when Eki managed to find twine on a cross-crease one-timer. We had OT on our hands once again! The first OT period went into the closing seconds, where Eki had an offensive zone faceoff and managed to find the lane for a blueline slapshot - we had a winner!

See the decisive final game here:

Eki was certainly the favourite to take it home all along. The world champion joined the tournament through invite and didn't disappoint. Eki lost only one game in the final tournament, his last group stage game against Nassustelija - a game without any real meaning going forward as Eki had already secured a playoff spot by winning his first two games. When being asked how he felt about the result of the final, Eki stated: "Games between me and Plee have always been a coin toss, he had his chances that didn't go in and I had some luck on my blueline slapshot. It's the way this game is, sometimes the bounces go your way."

Eki is the new champion! (Source: SEUL - Picture by Jussi Jääskeläinen)

PleeMaker had to settle for second place (Source: Ilta-Sanomat - Picture by Mika Tuononen)

Kriketsi17 took home the bronze. (Source: SEUL - Picture by Jussi Jääskeläinen)

Here are the final standings of IS Cup 3: NHL 19 1vs1 eSM:


(Source: Ilta-Sanomat)

Congratulations to all participants!

Once again, NHLGamer would like to thank everyone involved in the event and all of you who tuned in to the stream or showed up at the event. You have played a significant part in promoting the NHLGaming scene and we greatly appreciate every single one of you!

Thank you.

One of the biggest weekends of the year for the Finnish NHLGaming scene is here!

It's time for the IS Cup 3: NHL19 1vs1 eSM final event and the venue is nicely set up by your NHLGamer staff together with our partners from SJK eSports and Ilta-Sanomat. The final event, played at Kauppakeskus REDI in Helsinki kicks off on Saturday at 12 CET with the group stage. 

16 of the the very best Finnish NHLGamers have qualified for the tournament through local qualifiers at our event at GameXpo 2018 and through online qualifiers. Here is the list of players participating is the IS Cup 3: NHL 19 1vs1 eSM final event, sorted by the groups they were placed in:

Group A
Arttu “Artuzio” Mustila @Artuzio
Risto “Dominointi” Järvi @Dominointi
Juho “eskoeinari” Sillantaus @eskoeinari
Roni “MrNipsuli-“ Kaján @MrNipsuli

Group B
Kristian "Kriketsi17" Veijola @kriketski17
Niklas “NikkeDangles” Tukiainen @NikkeDangles
Toni "Thounidinho" Hirvikorpi @Thounii
Aaro "xDoumi" Ruuhinen @xDoumi

Group C
Vesa “Dreamickie” Rajamäki @Dreamickie
Erik “Eki” Tammenpää @Eki
Marko “Markoohh-“ Pennanen @Markoohh-
Mikael “Nassustelija” Katajisto @Nassustelija

Group D
Sami “buranaburana” Piiparinen @buranaburana
Hannes “Hansulinho” Kettunen @Hansulinho
Paul “PleeMaker” Arontie @PleeMaker
Samuli “xKeskitalo” Keskitalo @xKeskitalo

In the group stage starting at 12 CET, each player faces off against every other player in their group. Two players from each group advance to the playoff bracket. The playoff matchups are played best-of-three series and the matchups will be as follows:

A1 vs B2
D1 vs C2
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C1 vs D2
B1 vs A2

Veikkaus is hosting the betting for our event. You can log in and place your winner bets over here. At the time of writing this article, the three winner favourites are:

1. EKI (odds 6,84*)

'Champ' or 'Goat' are some of the nicknames you might have heard being thrown around when the discussion revolves around EKI. By signing with Team Sampi in the summer, EKI became the first professional NHL player, so he surely has some practice hours under his belt. EKI is also a highly skilled offensive player, alike Plee, but his defensive game is considered slightly better. He also overcomes opponents by second-to-none puck control and is by now an experienced live-event player.

2. PleeMaker (odds 5,09*)

After taking home the championship in the very first IS Cup, Plee didn't participate in the second iteration. Everyone knows the capabilities of this 17-year old though. Plee is a dangerous offensive player who makes you pay for your mistakes with deadly efficiency. His trademark is short, quick passing play and patient puck possession. Plee made his way to the finals through our local qualifiers at GameXpo.

3. Hansulinho (odds 12,63*)

'Hansu' is the most experienced player of the bunch by far. He has five Finnish championships under his belt and doesn't plan on stopping anytime soon. Despite not doing all too well in a few tournaments this year so far, Hansu doesn't feel the need to put any pressure on himself. He's going to take it easy and enjoy the atmosphere and meeting people. 

Underdog: xKeskitalo (odds 3,41*) 

xKeskitalo is one of the most inexperienced players of the bunch despite not being the youngest of age. This player has recently surfaced in the versus scene as a potential name of the future and is mentioned in this article due to currently having the lowest betting odds. xKeskitalo competed in the Syyscup at the launch of NHL19 and dominated his group stage by winning all games and conceding only 8 goals in 12 games. This group included names such as Artuzio and Esdor. He also completed a rather successful campaign as a right winger for Resurrection in ECL 7 Pro.

Underdog: eskoeinari (odds 15,95*)

29-year old eskoeinari is the oldest player at the event. He is also the reigning Finnish Champion. Although maybe not matching the other players in raw skill and quickness, eskoeinari possesses eye for the game and is known for playing a but of an unorthodox style. Don't count the old guy out!

*Odds are updated in real-time. This means that the odds will be changing until the betting is closed when the event starts. 

The prize pool of 8000€ will be divided between the eight best players of the event. The winner takes 4000€, runner-up 1600€, third 900€, fourth 500€ and the quarter-finalists will go home with a check of 250€ each.

Schedule for IS Cup 3: 1vs1 eSM:

12.00 – Group stage, round 1

12.30 – Group stage, round 2

13.00 – Group stage, round 3

14.00 – Quarter-finals 1 & 2

15.00 – Quarter-finals 3 & 4

16.30 – Semifinal 1

17.30 – Semifinal 2

18.30 – Bronze game

19.05 – Final

We'll be streaming the event on our Twitch-channel tomorrow starting approximately 11:45 CET. Remember to tune in and cheer for your favourite!

Your NHLGamer Editor,
@jahajaha93