Eastside Hockey Manager - Part VII

[BKarchitect]

EHM is more or less a labor of love / side project for Riz it seems. If SI had any appetite to develop, market and sell a new version of EHM, I think they would but the market is minuscule compared to CM/FM. But if they gave Riz time and support, even like 2% to modernize EHM a bit more inline with Footy Manager - well that would just be a dream come true and I’d totally pay $59.99 or whatever for EHM 2, even if it just addressed the most basic of needs and came with a modern, streamlined interface.

OOTP is great but CM/FM was my jam back in the day and that may be part of me being partial to EHM still. The fact that it’s taken FHM five iterations to even get up to a level that is actually comparable with EHM is a testament to Riz and what a rock solid game experience it is.

 

[Kranix]

Just simmed a season with ECK's excellent DB. Numbers are a little lower than they will be this year because the game doesn't account for goaltender equipment size and the changes in style of play, but it's pretty darn accurate.

Wow, I love the database but I've simmed 2018-19 several times with it and prior versions and never got this kind of accuracy. McDavid never wins the scoring title, rarely finishes top 5. Leading scorers are in the 80-90 point range at season's end usually.

 

[BKarchitect]

Finalizing some big tweaks for NHL32X 2.0. Here are the six new WHA franchises that will bring the league total to 24 and give us an even 12/12 split between North America and Europe. The six new clubs will be part of the new Central Europe division. And it keeps the WHA in big, prime capital cities and cosmopolitan cities (Milan's not a capital per se but still a very world city).

You'll notice a couple things up front:

1) The teams are all new. I decided to go this route so that I could implement the WHA without changing the make-up of other leagues in the game which are still reality-based.

2) The names have been "North Americanized". This is on purpose to keep a similar look and feel to all the teams in the league. I know it feels against tradition for some but keep in mind these are all new clubs and an all new league. It's meant to be different. And it's still a North American-based league (technically).

Budapest Bears
- The Budapest Bears take their identity from current Hungarian club MAC Újbuda. MAC will continue to play in the Hungarian league on the "Buda" side of the city but existing modern arena Papp Laszlo Sportarena (capacity 12,500) will serve as home to the WHA's Bears.

Kyiv Falcons
- The Falcons of course are based on traditional Ukrainian power Sokol Kiev, who sent many prospects to the NHL draft in the 80's and 90's. Sokol no longer exists - the WHA's Falcons are their spiritual successor and will play in a brand new arena, 16,000 seat Obolon Arena.

Milan Vipers
- The Vipers are a resurrection of the former Italian champions. HC Milano RossoBlu will continue to play in the AlpsHL but the WHA club will bring back the "Vipers" nickname from the past while marrying it to the classic Milan red and blue colors. The brand new Luxottica Arena, capacity 17,500, will be their home.

Prague Lions
- The Lions are a direct re-birth of the former KHL team Lev Praha, who enjoyed a successful, if very brief, stint in that league a few years ago. The KHL's loss is the WHA's gain as the league moves into former KHL territory. The Lions will of course play their games in Prague's well-known O2 Arena, capacity over 17,000.

Vienna Eagles
- Austria will be represented in their capital city by the Eagles while the Vienna Capitals will continue to play EBEL. Red Bull was considered by logistically, Vienna made more sense than Salzburg for the WHA. The Eagles will take to the ice at a renovated Wiener Stadhalle, capacity 15,000.

Warsaw Legion
- Much like Kyiv, Warsaw's team is a direct descendant from a former team in Poland, Legia Warszawa. Maintaining the old club crest and colors, the WHA's Legion will play in a brand new, state of the art area seating 17,000 - PKO BP Arena.

Also, Paris has gotten a make-over for this update, with the boring PSG copied identity replaced by the Paris Flyers, a riff on the current Division 3 based Paris club, the Français Volants Paris. They get a stylish and classic winged logo.

And finally, the WHA gets a sleek new logo that represents the two sides of the ocean, North America and Europe, coming together to form a dynamic international club league.

 

[Albatros]

Legion is actually an existing hockey team separate to Legia in Warsaw.

 

[BKarchitect]

Legion is actually an existing hockey team separate to Legia in Warsaw.

True but my database does not go all the way down to Poland third tier (again if you want hyper accuracy with four tiers of every country, my database is not for you) so I’m ok with it. In this fantasy world let’s just say the new rich WHA club bought the naming rights away. Plus I like the old crest and colors better. I know it’s mixing things a bit but i like the end result.

Same applies with Paris and the Flyers moniker.

 

[xECK29x]

What do you mean by that ?

I find the notifications and news articles and what not to be really repetitive, its the same notifications every week.

I know EHM is similar but it just doesn't annoy me like it does in FHM.

 

[BKarchitect]

Running some tests before releasing the 24-team WHA...some interesting observations:

- I started the test with the WHA teams just filled with fake players, so the first couple years were kinda rough - although Paris managed to make it to the ICC Final before losing to Linkoping from Sweden that very first season.

- It's 2023 and the highest profile player signed by a WHA club is probably Vasili Podkolzin who is on a 2-year, $5 million deal with Brussels. He was drafted in the top 10 by the Rangers in 2019 but never signed, staying in the KHL before jumping to Brussels this past off-season. He's one of the highest scorers in the league and I'm sure the Rangers want to sign him but I think he can still only sign an entry -level NHL deal which is a far cry from what he is making in the WHA which may be why he hasn't gone to the NHL yet.

- The Euro clubs do a really go job of pulling in the top players from their respective countries. Prague is almost completely an all-Czech line-up save for a sprinkling of other nationalities. Jan Kovar, Libor Sulak, Libor Hajek Radko Gudas are some of their top players (obviously the creme of the crop plays in the NHL still). Warsaw features 6 of the 9 top reputation Polish players. The top 7 Ukraine players in reputation all suit up for Kyiv. 4 of the top 5 Italian players already play for Milan. Austria is a bit more varied with only 4 of their top 9 playing for Vienna (their top player is young star Marco Rossi who plays for the Avs). London has gobbled up the top young British talents (Liam Kirk, Mason Alderson, Kieran Brown, etc). Brussels has a few Belgian-born players but the game has yet to generate a ton of good Belgian players so they are mostly foreign. Same for Budapest with Hungary, Amsterdam with the Netherlands and same for Paris and French players...ironically the top young French player, Alexandre Texier, plays for rivals Kyiv. Copenhagen has a few top Danes but the best Danes are still in the NHL. Oslo has had the hardest time attracting their top national talent - GET Ligaen club Storhamar actually has more top Norwegians and the top guy, Mathias Emilio Petterssen plays for the Flames.

Here's the IIHF world ranking of European clubs with WHA teams (keep in mind it's only 2023 - any lasting impact on development due to higher reputation teams will likely take a decade or more to really make a big impact):

Norway: 5th
Great Britain: 6th
Poland: 7th
Ukraine: 8th
Italy: 10th
Hungary: 12th
Czech Republic: 15th
Denmark: 18th
France: 23rd
Austria: 24th
Netherlands: 27th
Belgium: 29th

Now I'm not sure how the rankings are figured - the Czech ranking is shocking but they are still in the top tier in all competitions and as competitive as usual while Italy ranked 5 spots ahead are still in Division 1B of the Worlds, for example. Meanwhile, my how Britain, Poland and Ukraine have climbed!

- A lot of good young goalies have filled the league - Ian Scott, Michael DiPietro, Colin Delia, etc. Looks like younger netminders with NHL talent but who are sick of waiting around as backups find the WHA a good place to go to enhance their skills. Most still have their NHL rights retained so it's almost like getting loaned out but at a step higher than the AHL.

- Some other top picks populating the league in 2023 include Pavel Zacha, Anthony Cirelli, Christian Fischer, Dante Fabbro, Michael McLeod, Noah Juulsen, Caleb Jones, Max Jones, Shane Bowers, Klim Kostin, Niklas Nordgren, Josh Brook, Ian Mitchell, Evan Barrett, Boris Katchouk, Sean Durzi, Nick Hague, Haydn Fleury, Victor Soderstrom (2019 draft), Nolan Maier (2019 draft), Theodor Niederbach (2020 draft), Niko Huuhtanen (2021 draft) and others.

- Because teams have ample financial power, it appears trading is somewhat limited between computer controlled teams. I'm seeing between 2-5 trades per year. Teams are between $10-30 million under the cap and it's mid-season so I may bump the league cap and financials down. As has been pointed out, doesn't look like teams are fully realizing their financial power. A lower cap may encourage more trading. But I also want teams to have financial flexibility to offer young stars like Podkolzin big-money deals.

- Overall scoring is lower than the NHL but higher than the KHL. Flirting with a PPG average (so 68 in 68 in a full WHA season) appears to be similar to flirting with 100 points in the NHL - only the top player are doing it.

 

[Moses Doughty]

@BKarchitect seems like great work as always! Gonna end this little EHM break I've been on and try this DB out when 2.0 comes up. Do you think there's a big challenge in using a NA WHA team vs a Euro WHA team (aka getting NA free agents) or is about the same difficulty for both?

 

[dellzor]

Any updated facepacks yet?

 

[Treb]

@BKarchitect seems like great work as always! Gonna end this little EHM break I've been on and try this DB out when 2.0 comes up. Do you think there's a big challenge in using a NA WHA team vs a Euro WHA team (aka getting NA free agents) or is about the same difficulty for both?

It's definitely harder to get euro FA when you're in NA compared to Europe. I don't think the same applies to NA guys in Europe.

 

[xECK29x]

Any updated facepacks yet?

Aalstrom made a pretty big update to his, but yea we need some new blood in the facepack department BADLY, especially for the future draft classes and Canadian Juniors.

 

[BKarchitect]

Facepacks? @Aahlstroem and @Amazing Kreiderman are your guys. The issue with really young prospects is A) hard to find good photos, especially some of the Europeans and B) it looks odd and somewhat cringy to see a 14 year-old's face in the game representing that player who will eventually be 35. I remember years ago I had a facepack that had Zadina in it when he was like 13 and it was literally a 13 year-old kid's photo. That's straight up weird. I had to delete it, it was so weird.

One of the cool things about the original EHM was that some genius figured out a way to code a file that took the real jerseys from the NHL Shop and added the names and numbers of the players in EHM to them and displayed them in place of the profile pictures. So if Peter Forsberg were on Philadelphia, it was a Philly jersey with his name and number...and if he got traded to Nashville it would become a Preds jersey. This feature is no longer possible. I do wish EHM would upgrade to have jerseys in them like the kits in Footy Manager, that would open up so new possibilities for the profile picture space plus make the line-ups look way graphically cooler - plus drawing/designing the jerseys could become its own cottage industry add-on like it is with FM.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

Any updated facepacks yet?

What facepacks are you looking for? I usually only do NCAA, but I have not had time to do one this year yet.

 

[BKarchitect]

It's definitely harder to get euro FA when you're in NA compared to Europe. I don't think the same applies to NA guys in Europe.

In fact the N.A. teams, when left to the CPU will basically never sign Euros. It's actually like that way with the AHL and ECHL too. Only Americans and Canadians. I thought maybe having the WHA clubs with such high reps and finances would let them overcome this obstacle but it doesn't. The Euro teams operate like other European teams while the North American teams operate like really rich, high reputation versions of AHL teams. I'm wracking my brain to find some work-around. I don't think it kills the experience but I'd like to see a bit more cross-pollination.

 

[Aahlstroem]

Any updated facepacks yet?

I've got facepacks from the start of the season for NHL and Sweden, both include pictures for prospects as well. Actionpic style and you find them in the steam workshop.

 

[Brewsky]

I'm biased but still haven't seen anything guts-wise from FHM that would make me switch. Now, if you are into easily accessing historical seasons, I think FHM definitely has that down (though Nino has in the past made some sweet retro databases for EHM). And FHM looks slicker and more modern in its interface...EHM is starting to show its age. But for me, the pre-game editing and customization of databases for EHM and the in-game sim results still are as good as you are going to find. Again, not saying EHM is better just that I prefer it.

Both are far from perfect so expect plenty of "what the heck" moments...but regardless, you'll still find yourself sucked into hours upon hours of play. I don't think either is that expensive at this point so it may be best to try both out and decide for yourself. That way you'll be supporting both for future development

Ah crap, just realized EHM isn't available on the Mac. Have a Mac at home so was hoping to buy the game on Steam and then play it on Mac at home and then Windows at work lol.

They're both pretty cheap and on sale now, I might just buy both. Play FHM at home and EHM at work...

 

[Moses Doughty]

It's definitely harder to get euro FA when you're in NA compared to Europe. I don't think the same applies to NA guys in Europe.

Damn, sounds like the AHL teams with not signing as many Euro FAs but thanks for the heads up

Ah crap, just realized EHM isn't available on the Mac. Have a Mac at home so was hoping to buy the game on Steam and then play it on Mac at home and then Windows at work lol.

They're both pretty cheap and on sale now, I might just buy both. Play FHM at home and EHM at work...

If you want EHM at home you could use Crossover on there, play Steam through it, and get on EHM that way

 

[dellzor]

What facepacks are you looking for? I usually only do NCAA, but I have not had time to do one this year yet.

Mainly the future prospects and there are some prospects (currently) that are named differently in the game, e.g. in BK's NHL32x, Mathew Barzal (with a pic) is named Mat Barzal (so no pic) and same with Goldobin.

 

[dellzor]

Where could I find Aaahlstroem's facepack? Would love to add his into my current packs that I'm subbed to

Nvm found it on the workshop

 

[Moses Doughty]

Where could I find Aaahlstroem's facepack? Would love to add his into my current packs that I'm subbed to

Nvm found it on the workshop

It's on Steam I think

And for your prior post you can edit player names to reflect the DB (or just copy and paste it so one is Mathew and one is Mat) and that'll fix it

 

[fredligh]

I did the megapack for cut-out mug shots a while ago, but time has hold me back since i now got a son. Maybe i will update it with the 18-19 NHL pics and 100-200 draft prospects

 

[Savi]

Even though I didn't win, I think this is one of my best coaching jobs in EHM, getting Team Switzerland a bronze medal at the Olympics in 2034.

With only 9 NHL based players on the roster, mostly on the defensive side including the starting goalie, a 35-year old Nico Hischier playing lights out and winning the scoring title with 14 pts in 6 games and really only one other superstar forward, I think it's almost a miracle I got this far.

 

[dellzor]

I did the megapack for cut-out mug shots a while ago, but time has hold me back since i now got a son. Maybe i will update it with the 18-19 NHL pics and 100-200 draft prospects

<3 Would love an update when you get the chance.

 

[GBHockey]

Has anyone ever drafted an NHL ready regen in like years 2025 and beyond?

The guys I seem to draft don't tend to be NHL ready for at least 2 or 3 years after their draft, by the time they're 21 or so. Which isn't an issue, I'm just curious as to how often NHL ready players come up in regens!

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

Has anyone ever drafted an NHL ready regen in like years 2025 and beyond?

The guys I seem to draft don't tend to be NHL ready for at least 2 or 3 years after their draft, by the time they're 21 or so. Which isn't an issue, I'm just curious as to how often NHL ready players come up in regens!

I notice the development curve is different than EHM07. I typically have an NHL ready prospect after they spend a year in junior or a year in the A. I notice the attributes will go up substantially. I hardly ever see the game produce a McDavid/Gretzky/Orr prospect (it's mostly rare - I've never seen it)

If I have a spot open on my third line or so, I'll give my top draft pick some playing time and see where it goes from there.