Confirmed with Link: Cale Makar is the Official NHL 24 Cover Athlete

[Ceremony]

That thumbnail. Make Smug Cale our next playoff avatar theme.

 

[BKarchitect]

Bring back NHL95 for the PC complete with pixelated graphics. But add all 32 teams and and a modern franchise mode. I would pay such absurd sums of money for this.

 

[The Abusement Park]

Cale should have been last years cover boy already.

Then this year could have been...View attachment 736457

Ideal male figure right there.

 

[henchman21]

Bring back NHL95 for the PC complete with pixelated graphics. But add all 32 teams and and a modern franchise mode. I would pay such absurd sums of money for this.

This basically exists on PS4 and XO (and PS5 and XSX via BC)... NHL 94 Rewind. I think the rosters are from 2021, but close enough.

 

[Alienblood]

Really hope these hip issues aren't chronic and don't lead to other lower body ailments like Landy's knee. We don't need ALL the Orr comparisons.

Of course Cale has gotten on guys for not winning draws too. Is there anyone in history that's capable of doing more with an O zone faceoff win than Cale?

"Makar admits he has gotten on teammates for "not winning draws as much as we should be." He sees Johansen's abilities on faceoffs akin to those of Nazem Kadri, whose departure from the Avalanche in 2022 left a hole at No. 2 center that Johansen will attempt to fill.

"It's fun to have a guy like that because I feel like winning faceoffs is a huge, overlooked part of the game," he said. "If you can grab that possession right away, you're gonna control the first 30 seconds of play."

um I thought faceoffs didn't matter lol

Don’t forget the poster with the weird obsession about Cale needing to ‘lose the baby fat’

me ? and I fully expect him to.be in great shape this year .

 

[Alienblood]

That was by far the funnest WJC to watch for me. Byram's was #2, if only Dach could have stayed healthy.

But god damn was Makar amazing in that tournament. It still blows my mind that Hockey Canada politics run so deep they flat out refused to let Makar crack into the top six defense and insisted on rotating him as the extra. "oh I get to play another 90 seconds this period?" Goal and an assist.

Ducharme lolol

 

[niwotsblessing]

JFC, a second video game thread?!

*Checks calendar* Ah, still August.

 

[CobraAcesS]

That was by far the funnest WJC to watch for me. Byram's was #2, if only Dach could have stayed healthy.

But god damn was Makar amazing in that tournament. It still blows my mind that Hockey Canada politics run so deep they flat out refused to let Makar crack into the top six defense and insisted on rotating him as the extra. "oh I get to play another 90 seconds this period?" Goal and an assist.

I can't remember if it was that or the WJSS, but they basically would lose the lead play Makar more, regain it, bench him. At least two if not three iterations of that crap.

It was like Logan Stanley or some shit they kept throwing out there lol.

 

[GeoRox89]

um I thought faceoffs didn't matter lol


me ? and I fully expect him to.be in great shape this year .

I couldn’t remember if it was your or nammerus or if you are really two different people or not but yes

 

[Alienblood]

I couldn’t remember if it was your or nammerus or if you are really two different people or not but yes

I'm my own person not nammerus lol. I'm much more positive

I think we know now that Cale's hip was causing him to struggle with minutes.

 

[Gumballhead]

The rips in the underwear LOL

Only a Speedo will do, those thighs cannot be contained.

That thumbnail. Make Smug Cale our next playoff avatar theme.

That’s the Geico gecko.

 

[CobraAcesS]

That thumbnail. Make Smug Cale our next playoff avatar theme.

That's how good Makar is..

They can't even replicate the shit he does in RL in a game well.

 

[CobraAcesS]

Get this man a Presidential Medal of Freedom already!

He needs to be on that Pitt team, it just makes so much sense.

Also bring Flower back, let him steal the job, and then play Jarry In the playoffs.

Voodoo sauce complete

Bring back NHL95 for the PC complete with pixelated graphics. But add all 32 teams and and a modern franchise mode. I would pay such absurd sums of money for this.

I wouldn't be surprised if you could find the old game on steam.

 

[BKarchitect]

This basically exists on PS4 and XO (and PS5 and XSX via BC)... NHL 94 Rewind. I think the rosters are from 2021, but close enough.

He needs to be on that Pitt team, it just makes so much sense.

Also bring Flower back, let him steal the job, and then play Jarry In the playoffs.

Voodoo sauce complete



I wouldn't be surprised if you could find the old game on steam.

There are fabulous updated ROMS of NHL94, 95 and 2004 (three of the more classic and loved versions of the game) even for 2023 with Seattle that you can run in an emulator - the only issue with all of them is nobody has ever been able to figure out how to make the games run with 32 teams. In other words you can have Seattle and or Vegas but you have to sub out two other teams. I’m assuming the way that is coded into the old PC versions of the NHL series makes it difficult to alter - schedules and screens and such.

Still great but for me personally having to have 30 teams kind of ruins the long-term playability.

I’ll have to try to find this XO version to see if it is any different.

 

[CobraAcesS]

There are fabulous updated ROMS of NHL94, 95 and 2004 (three of the more classic and loved versions of the game) even for 2023 with Seattle that you can run in an emulator - the only issue with all of them is nobody has ever been able to figure out how to make the games run with 32 teams. In other words you can have Seattle and or Vegas but you have to sub out two other teams. I’m assuming the way that is coded into the old PC versions of the NHL series makes it difficult to alter - schedules and screens and such.

Still great but for me personally having to have 30 teams kind of ruins the long-term playability.

I’ll have to try to find this XO version to see if it is any different.

That's easy though, just get rid of Minnesota, and Arizona. You won't notice a thing.

 

[Foppa2118]

That was by far the funnest WJC to watch for me. Byram's was #2, if only Dach could have stayed healthy.

But god damn was Makar amazing in that tournament. It still blows my mind that Hockey Canada politics run so deep they flat out refused to let Makar crack into the top six defense and insisted on rotating him as the extra. "oh I get to play another 90 seconds this period?" Goal and an assist.

Probably one of, if not the most unjustifiable decisions I've ever seen in hockey. His detractors would try to justify it too, and then he'd go play a game and completely disprove what they were saying.

"He's too high risk" - he would pinch and still skate back into the D zone before the puck gets there
"He's not good defensively" - he played just fine defensively just like he does in the NHL
"There's only a LD position available this game" - he looked very comfortable and played great on the left side with Timmins especially

Meanwhile even with limited minutes, he led all of Team Canada (not just defenseman) in points with like a game or two to go in the tournament. He was doing everything and dominating that tourney with the puck, and they would still scratch him, and give him limited minutes, because the politics made them play guys like Mete and Jake Bean. Even Ray Ferraro was losing his mind at the decision.

 

[BKarchitect]

That's easy though, just get rid of Minnesota, and Arizona. You won't notice a thing.

Can I just get rid of the Wild twice?

 

[Ceremony]

Watching the gameplay reveal trailer is a bit odd:



A few things:

- The hitting in this video is much greater than in actual NHL games.
- "Hit players into the bench and break the glass" which was the case in NHL 2003. Okay,
- The tethering thing for the goalie controls - again, something that was largely the case in 09, the first year they had Be a Pro.
- Oddballs in the comments wanting things like warm-ups and coaches challenges (what virtual recreations of sports need is all the administration that goes with it)

09 was the last NHL game I had and 11 was the last FIFA I had. I've not played an EA sports game since. I know enough about FIFA to know that gameplay and game modes don't really improve year on year, but they're too far gone in terms of chasing money from FUT to expect anything. The latest I know of Career Mode is that it genuinely just doesn't work, but they've no real reason to try and fix it.

Either way, the (somewhat naive, probably) notion I have is that games like this year on year should build on the previous year and add and refine features. Instead it seems like features get added, deteriorate over the next few years then get reannounced as if they're to be celebrated. Is this about accurate? I'm getting the game regardless (and I'll probably love it) but I'm curious about how underwhelming it's going to be.

 

[CobraAcesS]

Can I just get rid of the Wild twice?

Yes move Arizona to Minnesota after, then delete.

 

[henchman21]

Watching the gameplay reveal trailer is a bit odd:



A few things:

- The hitting in this video is much greater than in actual NHL games.
- "Hit players into the bench and break the glass" which was the case in NHL 2003. Okay,
- The tethering thing for the goalie controls - again, something that was largely the case in 09, the first year they had Be a Pro.
- Oddballs in the comments wanting things like warm-ups and coaches challenges (what virtual recreations of sports need is all the administration that goes with it)

09 was the last NHL game I had and 11 was the last FIFA I had. I've not played an EA sports game since. I know enough about FIFA to know that gameplay and game modes don't really improve year on year, but they're too far gone in terms of chasing money from FUT to expect anything. The latest I know of Career Mode is that it genuinely just doesn't work, but they've no real reason to try and fix it.

Either way, the (somewhat naive, probably) notion I have is that games like this year on year should build on the previous year and add and refine features. Instead it seems like features get added, deteriorate over the next few years then get reannounced as if they're to be celebrated. Is this about accurate? I'm getting the game regardless (and I'll probably love it) but I'm curious about how underwhelming it's going to be.

IMO these yearly sports games basically follow the console generations. The first year is stripped back, but shiny new graphics. Year 2 you get most of the old features back, but add some new weird control scheme. By year 3, you have all the old features plus some ones that are added, but basically garbage... new control scheme is pushed harder. Years 4-8/9 are the exact same game with new rosters. We're on year 3 here.

 

[CobraAcesS]

IMO these yearly sports games basically follow the console generations. The first year is stripped back, but shiny new graphics. Year 2 you get most of the old features back, but add some new weird control scheme. By year 3, you have all the old features plus some ones that are added, but basically garbage... new control scheme is pushed harder. Years 4-8/9 are the exact same game with new rosters. We're on year 3 here.

Yeah, it's no wonder I looked in my bins and I have 13, and then 17 lmao. I think I got both used, and played them about two hours a piece. I learned to by the NHL games used for like pennies on the dollar more than 20 years ago.

Even then it's been 6 years since I felt like buying one.

Might have to spend like 25$ next year just for the cover though.

 

[Balthazar]

Probably one of, if not the most unjustifiable decisions I've ever seen in hockey.

Ducharme went on record before the WJC saying that he'd not change his defense pairings as long as the team keeps winning. IIRC he also kept the same lines for the whole tournament, not changing anything.

 

[CobraAcesS]

Ducharme went on record before the WJC saying that he'd not change his defense pairings as long as the team keeps winning. IIRC he also kept the same lines for the whole tournament, not changing anything.

That must be just a thing.. Bednar will do the same thing even if literally everyone is predicting an auto loss if something isn't done.

 

[Metallo]

Watching the gameplay reveal trailer is a bit odd:



A few things:

- The hitting in this video is much greater than in actual NHL games.
- "Hit players into the bench and break the glass" which was the case in NHL 2003. Okay,
- The tethering thing for the goalie controls - again, something that was largely the case in 09, the first year they had Be a Pro.
- Oddballs in the comments wanting things like warm-ups and coaches challenges (what virtual recreations of sports need is all the administration that goes with it)

09 was the last NHL game I had and 11 was the last FIFA I had. I've not played an EA sports game since. I know enough about FIFA to know that gameplay and game modes don't really improve year on year, but they're too far gone in terms of chasing money from FUT to expect anything. The latest I know of Career Mode is that it genuinely just doesn't work, but they've no real reason to try and fix it.

Either way, the (somewhat naive, probably) notion I have is that games like this year on year should build on the previous year and add and refine features. Instead it seems like features get added, deteriorate over the next few years then get reannounced as if they're to be celebrated. Is this about accurate? I'm getting the game regardless (and I'll probably love it) but I'm curious about how underwhelming it's going to be.

Can't they just add bobbled pucks on passes and stickhandling? That in itself would make the game more realistic.

 

[Foppa2118]

Ducharme went on record before the WJC saying that he'd not change his defense pairings as long as the team keeps winning. IIRC he also kept the same lines for the whole tournament, not changing anything.

I'm pretty sure that was in reference to "the lines" (i.e. forward lines), since Cale played with multiple defensive partners, on both the left and right side.

Ducharme might be the most overrated coach in history. His entire reputation comes from winning with a stacked roster in Halifax and Team Canada. Nothing to do with his coaching decisions.

When he got to the NHL, and actually had to do some coaching, he failed miserably.

That WJC team was so dominant they could afford to leave top draft picks like Suzuki off the roster and to play Makar as a 7D in favor of lesser defenseman like Clague, Mete, Bean, and Cal Foote and still win.

There's just no justifying playing Makar the least minutes of your 7 defenseman, when he leads the entire team in points, and is playing well defensively on both the right and left side.

Ducharme's decisions, from building that roster, to how he managed it, were stupid and they won despite his decisions because Team Canada is so deep with talent, not because of his decisions.