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Hey NHL Gamers, The countdown is finally over and NHLGamer.com is back with a fresh and modern look, added features and other improvements to allow for easier navigation. @Lurkins has been hard at work for quite some time to achieve this, from what we think, amazing foundation for what is to come in future updates. Here is a changelog: New design that allows us to serve content more efficiently and helps you in finding anything you need at first glance Heavily improved mobile view: Many of you like to browse NHLGamer.com on your smartphones, and you will notice great results which come hand in hand with the new design, that is geared directly towards mobile users Overhauled website navigation: Menus are debloated and a couple of new links were added to make navigation more intuitive ECL All time stats are available from Leagues -> ECL All time stats All time team records are available at the bottom of each team page Defensemen stats are available for each Division by selecting their corresponding page and choosing Stats -> Defensemen Points per game column added to the standings to easily compare teams with a highly different amount of games played Fixed player career stats view, which was not working as it was supposed to (especially for Goalies) You can now leave comments for any matches on the match page A search feature allows you to find various things on the website, such as players and teams Fixed various errors for the game stats reporting tool Added new tools for staff members to allow for easier and faster fixing of games which were reported incorrectly If you are experiencing errors of some sort, or if you are seeing weird layout issues, please try one of the below methods in your browser to perform a hard refresh: Google Chrome: Hold CTRL and click Refresh Mozilla Firefox: Hold CTRL and press F5 Microsoft Edge / Internet Explorer: Hold CTRL and press F5 In case your issue persists, please report this error with as many details as possible in the thread below: As always, we listen closely to all the feedback you give us, so please use this opportunity and help us in improving the website even more. Currently, we are working on bringing more really exciting features to life, and we cannot wait to share these with you in due time. Thank you. NHLGamer.com

Good day NHLGamers, Here are all the particulars you need to know for ECL 4, which starts today! Rule changes There are some rule changes from ECL 3 to ECL 4. Most of them concern updates based on Rulings we made in ECL 3 in our three disciplinary threads. Here is a link to the rules as every player does need to read them carefully, the rules that have been updated will be marked in bold text: Here is a quick summary of some of the changes: Clarified that every player needs to be on the correct teams official NHLGamer.com roster (by invite) and not just listed in the registration post before they play in any ECL games. Went from a 3-point system (like European hockey) to a 2-point system (like the NHL). Updated the scheduling rules to not limit teams as much from playing their games ahead of time. Trade deadline is now 2 weeks before the end of the regular season. Teams quitting ECL 4 before the end of the regular season will not be allowed participation in ECL 5. Added a new Fair Play rule. Captains message Every teams captaincy squad (regardless of division) will receive a message today, detailing what is expected of them, with some helpful links and information. Seeing as we have more teams than ever before, we deemed it a good idea to let all captains and assistant captains know how things work on NHLGamer and where they can turn to for help. This message also includes a clarified defintion on what the different Staff members "jobs" are and who to contact when they need help. As this is useful information for the rest of the community as well - we will also list it here: If you have questions regarding possible rule violations, team conflicts or disciplinary actions - you contact @vSilenttio, @OxtreeLAT, @gzell60 and @Ranksu. These staff members form the new League Administration. If you have any questions about the website itself, if something isn't working properly or if you are unsure about how to do something - you contact @Kenu or @Lurkins. If you have any questions, thoughts, ideas or comments concerning the news stories on our webpage or the content that is featured - you contact @The_Alpha_Furyan. For business proposals, you contact @Kenu. League Administration The above mentioned 4 NHLGamer staff members make up the new League Administration (LA) responsible for handling all the disciplinary matters and rule violations that occur. We of course envision a tournament without discipline needed but unfortunately we know that isn't always a realistic goal. The LA will handle each matter individually and communicate their decisions through "League Administration Rulings" news stories when the need arises. You are expected to have video, image or text proof of matters that need the LAs attention as it is near impossible to rule in a "he said/she said"-case. NHLGamer.com

Update: Due to the fact that one ECL Lite group was having an empty slot, we decided to accept a late registation by J P T J. Furthermore we decided to merge two ECL Lite groups into one (per lottery), so we end up with the same conferences as ECL Pro. All changes are reflected below. Hey NHL Gamers, First of all, some of you have been asking for an ECL 4 kick-off date already, and we can confirm we will be starting on Monday, the 20th of February. Secondly, all of us here in the NHLGamer Staff are overwhelmed by the amount of registrations for the new division format: 79 teams in total! Back when we were discussing the framework for divisions, the following quote was dropped in the Staff chat: "Expecting 80 or more teams is likely ridiculous". Turns out we were quite wrong about it. The community has never been more alive, and we are incredibly happy about this. Having said that, the Staff had to make a couple of decisions. Unfortunately, Fat Cats, which were nominated for the Elite division, decided to withdraw from ECL 4. According to the announced tie-breakers (most playoff wins -> best regular season PPG average), Rynnäkköviikset will join ECL Elite and fill up spot #16. This is the final ECL Elite lineup: Unknown (previously Northern Ascendancy) Dynasty Synergy (previously Synergy Hockey) Written in the Stars Northern Stars Laser HT SIKA Limitless (previously X Factor) MUKIMIEHET TIKI TALK Aapon Taikasauva Nordic Lightning Refuse To Lose Nordic Nightmare Finnish Roosters Rynnäkköviikset For ECL Pro, we received a total of 44 registrations for 32 spots, which means we needed to move 12 teams to ECL Lite. Some choices were more obvious than others, but in the end, we believe we made the right decisions. As announced earlier, we have taken ECL and EASHL records, as well as team/player reputation and consistency into account, and ran a lottery with 10 pre-seeded teams (Nordic Stars, Carlsberg HC, Germany's Finest, HC Checkmate, Kattiautomaatti, murohoki, Rusty Blades, Silver Sword Griffins, Sjukstugan, White Trash) - followed up by another lottery with the 22 remaining teams. Here are both ECL Pro conferences for ECL 4: ECL Pro A Sjukstugan White Trash Carlsberg HC Rusty Blades murohoki Nocturnal Hunters The Beagle Boys Ace Holes HC HC Magic Zone The Lights Out (previously Lunatic Lions) Shameful Knights Bare Knuckles Hockey Origins Free From Rodents Unlucky Boys HC Baltic Sea Eagles ECL Pro B Silver Sword Griffins Germany's Finest (previously UKnighted HC) Nordic Stars Kattiautomaatti HC Checkmate Company of Geeks Bellizzi Pata Hellalla Inter Iceland Showtime Royal Club Nemesis (previously Voodoo People) Huppati HC Thunder Tigers Alliance HT AK 47 All remaining 32 teams will join ECL Lite and compete in two conferences with 16 teams each. These are the ECL Lite conferences: ECL Lite A Ice Phoenix Pohjoista Voimaa HC Scorpions Vemppaosasto Lavetten Banterfield Battallion HC Palosaari Clowns On Ice Anonymous HC Elämäm Kiekko Die TwitchProleten Dynamo Danglers GHETTO FIREBIRDS Papat Bone Breakers A Dream Valhalla ECL Lite B Wolfsrudel EV Duisburg Prometheus HC Ancient Warriors Pungbrock HC Falun Coal Miners Teletapit DEAD END KINGS EN HUND PSHL Roadrunners The Youngsters Last Kings Hawks Hockey Club iNF4M0US Blues HC J P T J What do you think about the conferences? Let us know in the comments below! NHLGamer.com

Hey NHL Gamers, First of all, congratulations to X Factor on winning ECL Season 3 in an amazing final effort against the Finnish Roosters! Tomorrow we will post a full season recap, so keep an eye on the news section. Many of you have been asking for ECL Season 4 registrations to open already, and today is the day! We are opening the floodgates for our first ECL Season in the new Divisions format. Not only do we think this is the start of the most exciting chapter in NHL gaming history, we also believe it points towards a very bright future for this community. During the last few days we have received many interesting comments from long time community members, suggesting ECL is undoubtedly heading into the right direction. At the same time, ECL is still as newcomer-friendly as ever - which will always be a top priority for us. Don't hesitate and spread the word on your own team channels, so we can mark another significant growth in participation with ECL Season 4. Many thanks for your continued support! ----- 'Divisions? Dude, what are you talking about?' In case you were hibernating during the last few weeks (it's freaking cold outside, we understand!), please read the latest update on ECL Divisions. ----- 'I see! What else do I need to know?' First of all, there are a few general rules that apply to our ECL branded tournaments: Regional restrictions: ECL is a European tournament format, however we do not necessarily exclude North American players. North American players are not allowed to host matches / be captain in the lineup, which means all games need to take place on European servers. The same rule applies for Russian players: Please evaluate your previous connection experience against some of the teams participating in the ECL, especially if you live in eastern parts of your country (which likely connects you to US West servers). In case of severe connection issues, we reserve the right to exclude teams or players. ECL is a 6 vs. 6 tournament building upon the EASHL mode in the latest EA SPORTS NHL iteration, NHL 17. Each player needs to sign up with NHLGamer.com and create his personal Player Card. You can find a tutorial video right here in case you experience issues. Teams need to have at least 8 players to sign up. The roster cap is 14 players. Default game days are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Registrations are open until 23:59 CET on February 10th / 00:59 EET on February 11th. The tournament will start approximately one week after registrations are closed. ----- 'What about the other tournament & gameplay rules?' The final ruleset will be released shortly ahead of the tournament start. ----- 'How do I register my team?' (PS4 ONLY, see below for Xbox One) If you qualified for ECL Elite during Season 3, please read the 'Signing up for ECL Elite' paragraph below. If you are a new team or did not qualify for ECL Elite during Season 3, you need to decide whether you would like to join ECL Pro or ECL Lite. ECL Pro will accomodate 2x16 teams, while ECL Lite does not have a limit. In case we exceed ECL Pro capacities, we will look at each individual ECL Pro registration and determine, whether you qualify according to several criteria (Players on the team, team history, stats from previous seasons if available, EASHL 6vs6 ranking and stats) compared to the other teams. By signing up for ECL Pro you accept to be moved to ECL Lite in case it is required according to our decision. You are also allowed to sign up for ECL Lite right away. If you wish to participate in ECL Pro, please read the 'Signing up for ECL Pro' paragraph below. If you wish to participate in ECL Lite, please read the 'Signing up for ECL Lite' paragraph below. ----- Signing up for ECL Elite Applies to the following teams only: Aapon Taikasauva, Dynasty, Fat Cats, Finnish Roosters, Laser HT, MUKIMIEHET, Nordic Lightning, Nordic Nightmare, Northern Ascedancy, Northern Stars, Refuse To Lose (to replace Nordic Blizzard), SIKA, Synergy Hockey, TIKI TALK, Written In The Stars, X FACTOR Go to the ECL Elite registration thread and use the registration template below to confirm your participation or withdrawal! Withdrawal posts are final - you immediately give us the permission to nominate another team from Season 3 to fill your spot. Signing up for ECL Pro Go to the ECL Pro registration thread and use the registration template below to sign up. Signing up for ECL Lite Go to the ECL Lite registration thread and use the registration template below to sign up. ----- Registration template Team name: Team Abbreviation: Team Captains (PSN IDs): Captain 1, Assistant Captain 1, Assistant Captain 2 Team Roster (PSN IDs): Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 Player 4 Player 5 Player 6 Player 7 Player 8 ... (Optional: Add a team logo if this is the first time your team participates in a tournament on NHLGamer.com, or if you simply wish to change it.) ----- 'How do I participate with my Xbox One team?' At this time, there will be no division format on Xbox for ECL Season 4. However, Xbox players are very welcome to start their NHLGamer career in a regular tournament, and you can sign up in this thread. Please use the registration template above and add your Xbox Live IDs instead of PSN IDs. ----- For now, that's all you need to know. Get those sign-ups in, and in case of any questions, please use the comments below! NHLGamer.com

Hey NHL Gamers, The last post on our transition to having divisions in our popular ECL tournament certainly created a buzz in the community. It is our most commented news story in the history of the website (108 comments!) and our second-most read story ever regarding ECL (second only to the ECL Summer Cup Draft review). We'd like to start off by thanking the community for contributing such a wealth of knowledge and well thought-out suggestions in the comment section - we encourage you to keep doing that. The staff reads all the comments and consider the input we receive to be invaluable. Based on the community feedback and lenghty (which is an understatement) internal Staff discussions, we have decided to tweak a few aspects of ECL Divisions. Read on to see how it works: ----- Q: How many divisions will there be? During ECL 4, there will be up to 3 divisions. Division 1 is called "ECL Elite" and will consist of the following 16 teams: Based on ECL Season 3 regular season: Northern Stars Written In The Stars X Factor Finnish Roosters Laser HT Aapon Taikasauva Synergy Hockey SIKA Based on ECL Season 3 playoff wins: MUKIMIEHET TIKI TALK Dynasty Northern Ascedancy Nordic Nightmare Nordic Blizzard Fat Cats Nordic Lightning In case one or more ECL Elite teams won't be able to participate in ECL 4, other teams will be nominated according to these tiebreakers: 1) Playoff wins 2) Regular season PPG average More tiebreakers from the ECL ruleset can be used if necessary. Division 2 is called "ECL Pro" and will be split up into two conferences to accommodate 16 teams each (to match the schedule of ECL Elite), meaning a total of 32 teams in the Pro division. ECL Pro will be open to new teams (teams which did not participate in ECL 3) as well as all ECL 3 participants which did not make the cut to ECL Elite. If there are significantly more than 48 registrations for ECL Season 4, we will introduce "ECL Lite" (read more below). ----- Q: How many games will teams play during the regular season? The amount of games will, as per usual, be 2 games against each opponent – meaning 30 games (15 opponents) each season for ECL Elite and ECL Pro, which consists of two 16 team conferences. Regular season will be done in approximately 5 weeks, by playing 3 opponents (6 games) per week. ----- Q: How will promotion/relegation and playoffs work? First off, we will have promotions and relegations. Having closed divisions is not something we are considering at the moment and we are going with the European hockey model where teams can be both promoted and relegated in the different divisions. For ECL Elite: 8 out of 16 teams will make the ECL Elite Playoffs where the Top 8 teams start off in quarterfinals, then proceed to semi-finals and finally the ECL Elite Finals where the league winner will be crowned The teams that finish #15 and #16 in ECL Elite will instantly be relegated and play in ECL Pro the following season. Teams that finish #13 and #14 will each play one ECL Pro semi-final loser in a direct competition to determine which teams will play in ECL Elite during the next season Teams that finish in places 9-12 will not play in the playoffs nor be subject to relegation In summary, this means a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 4 teams are relegated each season. It also means 12 out of 16 teams will see some form of post-season play and ensure that every team will be fighting all season, either to make the playoffs or avoid relegation For ECL Pro: Out of each conference of 16 teams, the first 8 teams will make the ECL Pro Playoffs, where both conferences will be cross-seeded like in ECL 3 according to our tiebreakers. In the ECL Pro Finals, the ECL Pro Champion will be crowned, and both finalists will also be promoted to ECL Elite The two semi-final losers will each face one ECL Elite team in a direct competition to determine, which teams will play in ECL Elite during the next season The teams that finish #13 - #16 in both ECL Pro conferences will play a cross-seeded pre-playoffs style series, where all losers (4 teams total) will be relegated to ECL Lite for the next season Teams that finish in places 9-12 will not play in the playoffs nor be subject to relegation In summary, this means 4 teams are relegated each season. It also means 24 out of 32 teams will see some form of post-season play and ensure that every team will be fighting all season, either to make the playoffs or avoid relegation ----- Q: How is ECL Lite going to work? ECL Lite will be the entry point for less experienced teams and provides a great platform for new players to get accustomed to the ECL in a slightly less competitive environment. The exact shape and size of ECL Lite will depend on the amount of teams signing up for ECL Season 4, but the plan is to have conferences of smaller sizes (2x8 example below, will always be adjusted so all registrations can participate) than ECL Elite and ECL Pro. Each ECL Lite team will be able to make the ECL Lite Playoffs and have the chance to go to ECL Pro. For ECL Lite: After the regular season, all teams will participate in cross-seeded ECL Lite Playoffs. While all semi-finalists will immediately be promoted to ECL Pro, the two finalists will also face each other for the ECL Lite Champions title The exact ECL Lite Playoffs format will be slightly different every season, depending on the amount of teams, and will be disclosed once final registration numbers are available ----- Q: Can an ECL Elite or ECL Pro team pause/be inactive for a season? Inactive teams will be relegated. Example: An ECL Elite team decides to skip a season. This means they will play in ECL Pro for their next season. ----- Q: What if teams split up? Who keeps the divisional spot? The staff will look at each individual case but, as a rule of thumb, the captain is considered the owner of the team. If a team has disagreements where the captain has lost the faith of his teammates, he will have to explain this case to the staff. If both assistant captains and at least 3 other members, who played for the team the season before, apply ownership of the team, they will have a strong case to claim the team with all of it's history and current divisional spot - aside of the team name, which remains the captain's property (unless agreed otherwise). If a team is completely dismantled so the requirement described above cannot be fulfilled (e.g. the Captain and both Assistant Captains each decide to leave for different teams), nobody will be able to claim ownership. In that case, the team will be removed from ECL Divisions. ----- Q: What about newly created teams that consist of established ECL players from several different teams? Where do they start? Upon signing up for ECL Season 4, teams are expected to express their wishes for their placement. If your team wants to start in the Lite division, simply state so in your registration. It is not possible to register for ECL Elite. While we will do our best to honour the wishes, whether a new team participates in Pro or Lite will be determined by the NHLGamer Staff based on the following criteria (in no particular order): Players on the team Team history Stats from previous seasons (if available) EASHL 6vs6 ranking and stats We admit there is always a risk for subjectivity, but feel like this is the best approach. Obviously this is only necessary when exceeding 48 registrations, but based on the amount of new teams we're hearing about, we expect this to be the case. Remember, ECL Divisions is all about longevity and building Franchises - consistency and good roster management are key to qualifying as one of the best professional teams on the planet. ----- Q: Is this concept final? Yes and no. For ECL 4, this post outlines the final structure: ECL Elite with 16 teams, and ECL Pro with 32 teams divided into two conferences. This structure includes promotions and relegations in both of the divisions. ECL Lite will be introduced if there is a demand for it in the form of amount of teams and will also be connected to the other divisions via promotions. ----- Q: Will there be an ECL Season 5? Will it be played during NHL 17? When will the leagues start for NHL 18? NHL 17: ECL Season 3 ends by 31.1.2017 ECL Season 4 preliminarily starts 20.2.2017 and ends 16.4.2017 Summer Cup specifics to be determined, but season start jotted in around the start of May. (This is a draft-type league) NHL 18: Releases 14.9.2017 (estimate) ECL Season 5 starts 16.10.2017 and ends 17.12.2017 ECL Season 6 starts 8.1.2018 and ends 11.3.2018 ECL Season 7 starts 2.4.2018 and ends 3.6.2018 Summer Cup specifics to be determined. (This is a draft-type league) ----- Q: I got you! When will registrations open up? This week. Stay tuned for another update! ----- For questions or any other kind of valuable input, please refer to the comments below! NHLGamer.com

Hey NHL Gamers, as part of Update 3.0, EA SPORTS release a new HUT game mode called "Competitive Seasons". The first season starts today and ends on January 31st. We tried to summarize what this game mode is about and how it works. The first season is called the "All-Star Season" and will consist of a total of 4 rounds. To appear in the stats and earn points for each round, you are required to play at least 3 games. Each round allows you to earn rewards such as: Packs, Special Packs and Coins. Upon participating in all of the 4 rounds, you will also be able to earn season rewards, which are of higher value than round rewards. Rewards will be given out according to your rank in each of the rounds and at the end of the season - for the All-Star Season which is starting today, this is the classification: Round 1 Rewards (January 19th-21st): Rank 1: Elite Talent Pack + Gold Plus Pack + 10,000 Coins. Rank 2: Elite Talent Pack + Gold Plus Pack + 5,000 Coins. Rank 3: Elite Talent Pack + Gold Plus Pack + 2,500 Coins. Rank 4-10: Star Talent Pack + Gold Plus Pack + 1,500 Coins. Rank 11-20: Star Talent Pack + Gold Plus Pack + 1,000 Coins. Rank 21-50: All Star Pack + Gold Plus Pack + 750 Coins. Rank 51-100: All Star Pack + 1250 Coins. Rank 101-250: Gold Pack + 1000 Coins. Rank 251-500: 750 Coins Rank 501+: 500 Coins Round 2 Rewards (January 22nd-24th): Rank 1: Elite Talent Pack + Gold Plus Pack + 15,000 Coins. Rank 2: Elite Talent Pack + Gold Plus Pack + 7,500 Coins. Rank 3: Elite Talent Pack + Gold Plus Pack + 5,000 Coins. Rank 4-10: Star Talent Pack + Gold Plus Pack + 2,500 Coins. Rank 11-20: Star Talent Pack + Gold Plus Pack + 1,500 Coins. Rank 21-50: All Star Pack + Gold Plus Pack + 1,000 Coins. Rank 51-100: All Star Pack + 1,500 Coins. Rank 101-250: Gold Pack + 1,250 Coins. Rank 251-500: 1000 Coins Rank 501+: 750 Coins Round 3 Rewards (January 25th-27th): Rank 1: Elite Talent Pack + Gold Plus Pack + 20,000 Coins. Rank 2: Elite Talent Pack + Gold Plus Pack + 10,000 Coins. Rank 3: Elite Talent Pack + Gold Plus Pack + 7,500 Coins. Rank 4-10: Star Talent Pack + Gold Plus Pack + 5,000 Coins. Rank 11-20: Star Talent Pack + Gold Plus Pack + 2,500 Coins. Rank 21-50: All Star Pack + Gold Plus Pack + 1,500 Coins. Rank 51-100: All Star Pack + 3,000 Coins. Rank 101-250: Gold Pack + 1,500 Coins. Rank 251-500: 1250 Coins Rank 501+: 1000 Coins Round 4 Rewards (January 28th-30th): Rank 1: Elite Talent Pack + Gold Plus Pack + 25,000 Coins. Rank 2: Elite Talent Pack + Gold Plus Pack + 15,000 Coins. Rank 3: Elite Talent Pack + Gold Plus Pack + 10,000 Coins. Rank 4-10: Star Talent Pack + Gold Plus Pack + 7,500 Coins. Rank 11-20: Star Talent Pack + Gold Plus Pack + 5,000 Coins. Rank 21-50: All Star Pack + Gold Plus Pack + 3,000 Coins. Rank 51-100: All Star Pack + 5,000 Coins. Rank 101-250: Gold Pack + 2,000 Coins. Rank 251-500: 1500 Coins Rank 501+: 1250 Coins Season Rewards: Rank 1: Ultimate Pack + 50,000 Coins. Rank 2: Jumbo Rare Player Pack + 30,000 Coins. Rank 3: Jumbo Rare Player Pack + 15,000 Coins. Rank 4-10: Rare Player Pack + 10,000 Coins. Rank 11-20: Ultra Pack + 7,500 Coins. Rank 21-50: 3 Gold Plus Packs + 5,000 Coins. Rank 51-100: 3 Gold Plus Packs. Rank 101-250: 2 Gold Plus Packs. Rank 251-500: Gold Plus Pack. Rank 501+: Gold Pack. Participation alone will already net you a neat 3000 coins and a Gold Pack at the end of the season, while the Season Winner will receive rare Elite Talent Packs, Gold Packs, a Ultimate Pack and plenty of coins. Are you going to jump in? Tell us in the comments below!

UPDATE: NHL 17 Version 1.05 is now live! (Download size: 367 MB on PS4) Hey NHL Gamers! Today, EA SPORTS will be applying a couple of updates to NHL 17 in the form of game update 3.0 and tuner update 1.02. Below you can find the official notes, some of the more interesting ones highlighted in cursive. HOCKEY ULTIMATE TEAM: Hockey Ultimate Team™ - Competitive Seasons Competitive Seasons is a new game mode which allows players to compete in a “monthly” season format to earn in-game rewards. Each monthly season consists of rounds. Complete three games to earn round points which determine your ranking on the Round Leaderboards. At the end of each round, you will earn a reward as well as Season Points that count towards your season total. Finish as high as you can in each round to accumulate as many season points as possible to earn a larger reward at the end of the season. *NOTE: Rounds and Season durations are subject to change. GAMEPLAY (Tuner 1.02): ALL MODES Player Updates: • Tuned down puck carrier’s reaction speed to reacquire a puck after losing it. User Goalie Updates: • Increased ability to make saves in tight to their body and decreased ability when reaching to reward better puck tracking and cutting off angles. • Increased ability to make saves on cross grain shots by tuning movement so goalies will stay square even if the user is requesting to move away from the shot direction. • Increase save success on blocking saves. • Decreased the impact goalie movement to help promote puck tracking so that good angles and positioning mean the most for a goalie’s ability to make a save. • Decreased screen effect slightly. • Increased goalie speed for post-to-post movement. • Increased AI goalie’s awareness for a possible shot off a faceoff. • Increased ability to react after a save to increase their chance of getting back in position and making rebound saves. • Rolled back change from previous patch for the goalie occasionally getting stuck in butterfly as it was causing a worse knock on issue. EASHL MODE ONLY EASHL Player Class Updates: Goalies • Increased all goalie classes height to 6’2”. • Increased speed and agility of all goalies and added variance with Standup being the highest and Butterfly being the lowest. • Increased Hybrid goalie’s recover rating so that he is now faster recovering than the Butterfly goalie. • Increased rebound control of all classes. Standup goalie’s will still have the lowest rating while Butterfly goalies will have the highest. • Increased poke check ability for all classes. Hybrid has the best poke check rating of the three classes and Butterfly has the lowest. • Hybrid goalie now has the best stick side and paddle down rating of the three classes. • Increased vision for all classes. Butterfly is still the lowest and Standup is still the highest. • Increased 5-hole rating for both the Hybrid and Butterfly classes to separate them from the Standup goalie. • Increased rebound control for the AI goalie class. Players • Lowered hand-eye ratings for all classes and rebalanced the category to see more realistic deflections and bat-ins across the different player classes. • Lowered shooting attributes of Grinder, Power Forward and Enforcer Forward. • Lowered passing attribute for the Grinder. • Increased balance of the Two Way Forward and Hitting Sniper class. • Increased the ability for defensive builds to intercept passes but still kept the same variance in abilities relative to each of the classes. • Increased the minimum rating a player needs to get a saucer lift on a regular pass. Now Playmaker, Jumbo Playmaker and Puck Moving D will be the only players with the advantage. • Raised discipline of the Two Way Dangler. • Tuned down puck carrier’s reaction speed to reacquire a puck after losing it. PRESENTATION: The following uniforms have been added: • Added Toronto Maple Leafs Centennial Uniform. • Added Detroit Red Wings Centennial Uniform. • Added Chicago Blackhawks Winter Classic Uniform. • Added St. Louis Blues Winter Classic Uniform. • Added Philadelphia Flyers Stadium Series Uniform. • Added Pittsburgh Penguins Stadium Series Uniform. • Added Frolunda Indians Home and Away Uniforms. • Added Linkoping HC Home and Away Uniforms. • Added Baie-Comeau Drakkar 3rd Uniforms. The following arenas have been updated: • Pittsburgh Penguins Arena now named PPG Paints Arena. The following items have been updated: • Fixed CCM Extreme Flex Pro 3 Blocker. • Fixed Regina Pats Medallion to correct logo. • Fixed Buffalo Key Bank Arena scoreboard signage. • Fixed camera clipping issue in Semi-Pro arena in EASHL. EASHL: • Region and Skill-Based Matchmaking restrictions were removed from Private PIN Group Matchmaking. • Anti-griefing logic was removed from Private PIN Group Matchmaking. FRANCHISE: • Fixed an issue where player fighting bias was being set to 0 when the league year changed from year 1 to 2. BE A PRO: • Fixed an issue where player fighting bias was being set to 0 when the league year changed from year 1 to 2.

Listen up NHL Gamers, you crazy bunch just hit another impressive milestone: 1500 members on NHLGamer.com! First of all, a huge thank you to everyone out there - you are the ones that make this journey such an exciting ride. Keep being as passionate, ambitious and inspirational as in 2016, this is the kind of culture that drives this project as a whole. We want to keep striving for improvements, and have set the course for an interesting 2017: We are paving the way for a true eSports experience by setting up a divisional system for our popular ECL tournament, which goes hand in hand with recent news of Hansulinho signing an actual contract with one of Finland's biggest eSports teams, ENCE, to expand to the NHL series. This is a strong signal, and we want to take this opportunity to keep growing rapidly together with the great support and collaboration from the very best NHL players in Europe. Recently, we also added a couple of new staff members (a shoutout to @vSilenttio and @OxtreeLAT, who created the news art), which is ultimately necessary to make all of our plans come to life in the future. As always, every single one of you enables us to do great things, and we will keep listening to all of the creative feedback we receive from you. We can't wait to share some of the things we are working on in the future. NHLGamer.com

Hey NHL Gamers, Season 3 has started and the community side is already in full tournament mode - lots of things being discussed in the chatbox as well as on the forums and in PMs. As you can imagine, it is hard to keep track of all things with so many members being active at the same time. This is why we would like to remind you of two general things, which make it easier for us to hear your voice and help you get your issues fixed more quickly: Reporting errors If you made a mistake when reporting a game, please do not reach out to us via PM. There is a dedicated thread for this kind of issue which can be found here: Please write as much as necessary, and as little as needed - it saves us time and does not require us to follow up General feedback There is a user account called @Feedback which is administrated by us. Simply create a new private message, use the PM title to add a category, and send it to @Feedback. Choose one of the 3 categories: - ECL: All suggestions regarding the ECL tournament (e.g. format, rules…) - Website: All suggestions regarding the NHLGamer.com website (e.g. layout, features…) - Community: All suggestions regarding the community (e.g. staff, community interaction) Make your point, but keep it brief! Do not cover multiple topics in one message. Feel free to write as much as you want and as many messages as needed, but stick to one topic per message. We hope this resolves some of your questions and we are looking forward to the coming weeks! On behalf of the NHL Gamer Staff,

Hey NHL Gamers, around 32 hours (at the time of this news) are left to sign up your team for the first NHL 17 edition of our popular ECL championship: Registrations close on September 29th at 23:59 CEST / September 30th at 00:59 EEST. For the PS4 side, 48 teams already decided to participate, which is once again an incredible number. If you want to join in on the fun, don't hesitate any longer and read through our earlier info news which includes everything you need to know: Additional important note: Every team captain is responsible to list a complete roster (at least 8 players) until the deadline is over. It is also your task to make sure that each player is part of your registration only. In case a player appears on multiple teams, we will not count him towards the 8 player deadline and thus he might risk your team's registration! If needed, you can edit your registration by editing your thread on the forums. Further details will be published during the weekend. Spread the word one last time - we are looking forward to meeting everyone of you on the ice! On behalf of the NHL Gamer Staff,

Hey NHL Gamers, 4 more days until NHL 17 officially drops in Europe, and guess what that means: We are kicking off the hype train right now! Our popular European Championship League is about to hit Season 3, and because we know "all good things come in threes", we want to get it started in all it's greatness together with everyone out there - bigger and better than ever before. Awesome! What do I need to know? First of all, there are a few general rules that apply to our ECL branded tournaments: European teams & players only - to provide a great tournament experience, it is essential to have this restriction in place as cross-continental games are usually hit by high levels of connection issues ECL is a 6 vs. 6 tournament building upon the EASHL mode in the latest EA SPORTS NHL iteration (this time: NHL 17) Each player needs to sign up with NHLGamer.com and create his personal Player Card Teams need to have at least 8 players to successfully sign up Default game days are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday Registrations are open until 23:59 CEST on September 29th / 00:59 EEST on September 30th. The tournament will start shortly after registrations are over. What about the rules, tournament format etc.? As usual, the rules and the tournament format will be adjusted to the amount of registrations. At this time, we are still looking for your input to determine the best possible outcome for all participants. To give us your feedback on ECL Season 3, follow this thread: Where do I register my team? To register your team, please follow the respective forum - one is for PS4 sign-ups, the other one for Xbox One sign-ups. In this forum you need to create a new topic according to the format below: PS4 Registrations Xbox One Registrations TOPIC TITLE: ECL Registration - [Team Name] _________________________________________ Team name: Team Abbreviation: Team Captains (PSN / Xbox Live IDs): Captain 1, Assistant Captain 1, Assistant Captain 2 Team Roster (PSN / Xbox Live IDs): Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 Player 4 Player 5 Player 6 Player 7 Player 8 ... (Optional: Add a team logo if this is the first time your team participates in an NHLGamer.com tournament) That's it! Tell your friends and let's get this party started! On behalf of the NHL Gamer Staff,

Hey NHL Gamers, this week, Sony revealed two new PlayStation 4 models: Slim and Pro. In short: While the Slim model will replace the original model going forward, by offering the same features with up to 28% less power consumption, the new Pro model is aimed at the core gamer with improved hardware and some new features. The US PlayStation Blog compiled a nice FAQ about the PlayStation 4 Pro, with lots of burning questions about what to expect from this new console. If you want to catch up on all the details, please have a look: http://blog.us.playstation.com/2016/09/08/ps4-pro-the-ultimate-faq/ What does it mean for NHLGamer.com and NHL 17? For the website and it's tournaments, the new PS4 Pro won't have any impact. The Pro, Slim and Original models all play the same games within the same community - so all owners across these models can still play together and against each other. There will not be seperate tournaments. For NHL 17 itself, the impact is yet to be detailed. With the PS4 Pro releasing on November 10th this year, NHL 17 would require a game update to fully take advantage of the model's improved hardware (e.g. better graphics, higher framerate). At this point, EA already revealed support for FIFA 17 and Battlefield 1, so there is a chance NHL 17 will receive a similar update. In case it does not, NHL 17 will be the same experience as on the standard PS4 models - however, if you are a 4K TV owner, the PS4 Pro will uprender the resolution to 4K for a crisper image. What do you think about the new PlayStation 4 Pro? Would you like for EA to support the new model with this year's NHL iteration?

Hey NHL Gamers, NHL 17 is now available for you, if you have an Xbox One and an active EA Access subscription (from 4.99€/$ per month). The EA Access subscription includes an overall of 10 hours of play time (don't forget to quit the game in case you leave for a while!), afterwards you need to buy the full game. Here is a tutorial of our very own @Kenu, explaining how to download the trial ahead of the official starting date tomorrow. Take a look! If you have access to the early trial, make sure to post your impressions in the comments below! Edit: Please note that it seems that if you have pre-purchased and pre-downloaded the game, this trick might not work. We're assuming it will start working for pre-purchase users when the game is officially on EA Access, but it's also possible that you need to troubleshoot with EA. We'll let you know if we get any further info. -@Kenu On behalf of the NHL Gamer Staff,

Hey NHL Gamers, just short of the release of NHL 17, our Summer Cup / ECL Draft tournament came to an end, which means we all were able to fit it into our schedules nicely. Great job! This also means, that we already started preparations for our first tournament of the NHL 17 season. And just like with the Summer Cup, we want to hear your opinions and ideas on how it should go down. Please use the following thread on the community side to drop all of your input - whether it's about regions, platforms, format or anything else. There are no limitations On behalf of the NHL Gamer Staff,

Hey NHL Gamers, if you ever were in doubt about Hockey Ultimate Team being a popular mode - here is some more confirmation. On top of Draft Champions, there will be even more new content: HUT Heroes! In past iterations, collecting a whole NHL team set earned you a regular gold pack. This time though, you will earn a team specific local legend or all-time great with a 94 OVA value. Below is the complete list, including their positions. Enjoy! Anaheim Ducks: Jean-Sebastien Giguere (G) Arizona Coyotes: Keith Tkachuk (LW) Boston Bruins: Johnny Bucyk (LW) Buffalo Sabres: Pat Lafontaine (C) Calgary Flames: Mike Vernon (G) Carolina Hurricanes: Rod Brind'Amour (C) Chicago Blackhawks: Tony Amonte (RW) Colorado Avalanche: Adam Foote (RD) Columbus Blue Jackets: Rostislav Klesla (LD) Dallas Stars: Marty Turco (G) Detroit Red Wings: Brendan Shanahan (RW) Edmonton Oilers: Ryan Smyth (LW) Florida Panthers: Scott Mellanby (RW) Los Angeles Kings: Rob Blake (RD) Minnesota Wild: Andrew Brunette (LW) Montreal Canadiens: Kirk Muller (LW) Nashville Predators: Steve Sullivan (LW) New Jersey Devils: Ken Daneyko (LD) New York Islanders: Bob Nystrom (RW) New York Rangers: Adam Graves (LW) Philadelphia Flyers: Ron Hextall (G) Pittsburgh Penguins: Larry Murphy (RD) Ottawa Senators: Wade Redden (LD) San Jose Sharks: Doug Wilson (LD) St. Louis Blues: Al MacInnis (RD) Tampa Bay Lightning: Dave Andreychuk (LW) Toronto Maple Leafs: Darryl Sittler (C) Vancouver Canucks: Trevor Linden (C) Washington Capitals: Olaf Kolzig (G) Winnipeg Jets: Dale Hawerchuk (C) Tell us in the comments: Which hero are you looking forward to unlocking first?

Hey NHL Gamers, new details about NHL 17's new Draft Champions mode were dropped, in form of a trailer as well as a new Deep Dive blog entry! This is how it works: Select your theme As soon as you enter the mode, you are asked to pick one of four different themes. These themes will be updated throughout the season to keep it a refreshing experience. Each theme consists of a fixed player pool, e.g. a "East coast, best coast" theme will only contain players from the Eastern Conference teams. The game will then create a base roster from low- to mid-tier players fitting into this theme. Get drafting Next, you will head into a 12 round draft to add some of the best players to complete your roster. Within each round you need to choose one of four players - and this is where it gets exciting. Do you want to play or more defensive oriented style? Or are you trying to build a strong forechecking lineup? The choice is yours, and it's a tough one. Draft championship In the draft championship, your goal is to win 4 games in a row. This can be played offline against the AI, or against other online players - however it is not possible to mix offline and online games within one championship. With each game you win, you earn 'Draft Collectables'. Draft collectables Draft collectables can be used to unlock Draft Champions dynamic sets, which allow you to get high-end player items, packs and more. The more games you win, the more Draft collectables you will receive. What do you think about the new Draft Champions mode in NHL 17? We feel like this is a very welcome addition, as it offers players even more ways to get some of the best players to join their roster.

Hey NHL Gamers, it's been one week since Gamescom 2016 closed it's doors, and what I can spoil you with right now is: It was one hell of a ride. There will be a seperate news story about our visit at the world's largest gaming event, with a couple of background infos and pictures, later this week. Thanks to Electronic Arts, which invited us to their Business Lounge, we were able to meet Clement Kwong (Associate Producer @ Electronic Arts) and Evan Dexter (Sr. Communications Manager @ Electronic Arts). Clement was very happy to join @gzell60 for an interview session compiled from your input. We hope you enjoy the 15 minute video below - let us know what you think in the comments! As mentioned in the video, Clement is not involved in the technical side of things (like gameplay and animations), that is why he did not want to answer these questions live on camera. However, he made it possible for us to send all of your feedback directly to the development team - pretty cool, eh? Stay tuned for our Gamescom 2016 summary! On behalf of the NHL Gamer Staff,

Hey NHL Gamers, in anticipation of Gamescom, which officialy starts tomorrow, EA SPORTS released a new trailer for NHL 17 time. This time: Probably one of the best hype trailers to get you pumped for the brand new World Cup of Hockey mode. Are you looking forward to playing it? Tell us in the comments below!

Hey NHL Gamers, lots of new details about NHL 17's rebranded GM mode, now called "Franchise Mode", dropped in form of an interesting blog write-up - which we have summarized below - and a new trailer: Owner's personality: Spending: The higher your owner's spending rating is, the higher your overall budget for players, marketing, upgrades etc. will be Importance of success: This category determines whether your management is focused on profit or actual league success, and influences your financial decisions Patience: Low patience ratings require you to lead the franchise to quick success, thereby influencing your personell decisions Owner goals: These are known from earlier NHL games, and are now split up into three categories: Primary, secondary and stretch goals Below you can take a look at one of the team's internal tools, which shows several triggers that influence your owner's happiness: Arena and facilities: Set prices: Tickets, concessions, merchandise and parking are your main source of revenue, therefore it is important to find that 'sweet spot' for optimised sales Upgrade and maintain: Concessions, team stores, parking lots and club seats can be improved to a maximum of 5 levels, while each new level unlocks new items - these new items also have a maintenance level, which means you are responsible for keeping everything in shape Arena customization: Customization features will also be available in Franchise Mode, however they are tied to your progress (similar to EASHL) Team ranking and sales: You are able to compare yourself to the other teams within the league, to see how you stack up against them in terms of revenue Dynamic attendance: If you are watching real life NHL games at times, you might have noticed that there are certain differences when it comes to attendance. Have you ever seen a Florida Panthers game? Yes? Good news: This will be reflected in the new Franchise Mode as well. There are a couple of factors which influence crowd attendance: Time of the season (pre-season games will have lower attendance than playoff games) Quality of opponent Pricing Performance Fan base loyalty and many more Relocation: If you feel like you have done everything to improve your situation, but the fans are still visiting your home games sparely, it's time for a relocation! There are 19 cities to choose from (including Las Vegas and Quebec City), and after your management negotiations were successful, you are fully able to build the new franchise including uniforms and arena customziation. Budgets: Your budget can be split up between 4 categories: Player salaries, arena operations, promotions and advertising. Depending on your owner's mood, you could either become the leagues 'big spender' with lots of financial possibilities, or one of the more financially limited managers who is expected to cut player salaries while keeping up good performance. Promotions: Another way of increasing home game attendance and boosting revenue are promotions, which can be applied to all of your home games (e.g. puck or bobble head giveaways). Right timing is key to selling out games which might otherwise only have lots of empty seats. Season ticket drive: Ahead of each season, you are responsible to tie your fans to the franchise by selling as many season tickets as possible. When settings prices, it is essential to meet your customer's expectations - otherwise you need to rely on day tickets which are far more likely to not get sold after bad team performances. How do you like the new changes to the revamped Be a GM mode? Tell us in the comments below!