Eastside Hockey Manager - Part VII

[BKarchitect]

NHL32X v3.0 Update

TYPICAL UPDATES
- World transactions and signings/extensions for major league including all NHL trade deadline deals with picks swapped and depth charts tweaked to maximize talent.
- As usual, continual updating and adjusting of prospects for future drafts. Some impressive Russian talent added in this update. Also, every single future NCAA commitment.

WHA UPDATES
- Full new 6 European teams in a new Central Europe division for a 12+12 format.
- WHAII Farm Affiliation + one junior sponsor/affiliate for each team. The North American clubs have junior affiliations with CHL and USHL teams. That means as a GM of a WHA club, you can actually call up junior players from those teams to play with your WHA team, although you can't sign them. Your benefit from this will really depend on how that junior team is able to draft and develop their talent.
- If you are new to this database and wondering what the WHA is all about, read more here:
Original Format:
WHA Reboot - League Info & Testing - EHM The Blue Line
Six New Expansion Teams:
Eastside Hockey Manager - Part VII

WHAII UPDATE
- Brand new league - read all about it here:
Eastside Hockey Manager - Part VII
- I have since updated the First and Last names lists for smaller countries like Albania, Greece and Portugal so they produce realistic sounding players (for the most part)!

SEATTLE FRANCHISE
- Nothing new in 3.0 here but in case you want to know more about the implantation of Seattle or the SEVEN different graphical identities you can choose to give you Seattle franchise in EHM, read more here:
Eastside Hockey Manager - Part VII

SEATTLE EXPANSION AND WHA DISPERSAL DRAFTS
- I have removed these from the 3.0 database ZIP file. Why? Well, with all the activity of the trade deadline, I wanted to let the NHL clubs play with their new, full rosters. If you choose Extra Player Options in game setup, it will still stock Seattle and the WHA/WHAII clubs with players. It’s more of a challenge without the draft files - I’ll bring them back at the end of the season. Feel free to use the draft files in previous versions of NHL32X or create your own as well.

LOGO UPDATES
- New branding for the WHA, WHAII and WHA All-Star games, complete branding and identities for 6 new WHA clubs and 24 new WHAII clubs and some general logo tweaks here and there. See the Graphics Credits file in the database download for more info.

YOU CAN NOW PLAY NHL32X WITHOUT THE WHA/WHAII!
- Included in the ZIP file download of the database itself are two new IMPORT files...WHA Deactivate 1 & 2. If you would like to play NHL32X with Seattle but aren't interested in the WHA aspect, simply use the EHM Editor to import each of those files into the database and save.

- The WHA and WHAII will still show up in the league select screen but they will be grey and have exclamation marks next to them. You won't be able to select them now but that's the point - they won't be in the game. You can select other leagues and options as usual.

RECOMMENDED GAME OPTIONS
- I would recommend turning on all the Extra Player Options (Playable Teams, Junior Players, National Teams) - especially if you intend to use the WHA. It will give all the teams a full starting roster and fill some of the lesser national teams represented by the WHA and WHAII clubs with a pool of players. I also recommend turning on Retain All Teams and Add Key Staff.

KNOW BUGS
- The English second tier (National Ice Hockey League) can cause the game to crash. I believe all other leagues function fine without game-ending errors or bugs. Have simmed through 2060 in testing. Do not select the NIHL for now.

DOWNLOAD NHL32X 3.0:
Dropbox - NHL32x 3.0.zip

DOWNLOAD NHL32X 3.0 Graphics Pack:
Dropbox - NHL32X 3.0 Graphics Pack.zip

 

[xECK29x]

v3.18 Update:

This is a big update, we are almost done updating all of Europe! Very proud of this release and THANK YOU for all the support and help I've been receiving! My focus for the month of March is to complete the overhauls of NHL/AHL/ECHL clubs, then shift to completing overhauls of Canadian Major Junior clubs.

Download:

Steam: Steam Workshop :: [2018-19] xECK29x's Premier Pivot Rosters (v3.18)
Non-Steam: Dropbox - xECK29x-Rosters-v3.18.zip

Logo Pack:

Steam: Steam Workshop :: Logo Pack (v1.12) for xECK29x's Premier Pivot Rosters (by Dani9 + BKArchitect)
Non-Steam: Dropbox - xECK29x-Logos-v1.12.zip

General Updates:
- Reset reputation scores across entire DB, thanks Archi for including that mass-edit feature in the new Editor!

NHL/AHL/ECHL Updates:
- Latest notable trades, waiver claims and contract extensions
- Added more several potential future top picks for later NHL Entry Drafts (up to 2023) - thanks MasterMatt25!

- Minnesota Wild (attendance, club & player records, players & staff)
-- Iowa Wild (club & player records, players & staff)
-- Allen Americans (retired numbers, players & staff)

- Montreal Canadiens (arena, attendance, club & player records, players & staff)
-- Laval Rocket (club & player records, players & staff)
-- Removed affiliations with Brampton Beast

- Nashville Predators (attendance, club & player records, players & staff)
-- Milwaukee Admirals (rivals, club history, club & player records, players & staff)

- New Jersey Devils (colors, club & player records, players & staff)
-- Binghamton Devils (club & player records, players & staff)
-- Adirondack Thunder (club & player records, players & staff)

- New York Islanders (arena, attendance, player records, players & staff)
-- Bridgeport Sound Tigers (club & player records, players & staff)
-- Worcester Railers (club & player records, players & staff)

- New York Rangers (attendance, player records, players & staff)
-- Hartford Wolf Pack (rivals, club & player records, players & staff)
-- Maine Mariners (attendance, rivals, players & staff)

-- Greenville Swamp Rabbits (club & player records, players & staff)

Africa Updates:
- Updated all African nationality players + staff - thanks Matee!

Austrian Updates:
- Updated names of several clubs in EBYSL and EBSL -- thanks Dani9!
- Updated and added players/staff for EBEL - thanks ppaalloo!
- EBYSL has a new 15 club league structure and schedule - thanks Dani9, credit to BKarchitect!
- Added Alps HL as human-playable - credit to BKarchitect

British Updates:
- EIHL updated -- thanks ppaalloo!

Canadian Junior Updates:
- Updated players/staff for Ontario Hockey League - thanks Matee!

Central America Updates:
- Updated all Central American country nationality players + staff - thanks Matee!

Czech/Slovakia Updates:
- Updated several club/competition names -- thanks Dani9!
- Fixed Czech Chance Liga schedule and league structure, playoffs should now be working -- thanks rhames, credit to BKarchitect!
- Updated club rivals for Czech Tipsport - thanks rhames!

Danish Updates:
- Updated all Danish country nationality players + staff - thanks hons_85!
- Added player records for Danish clubs - thanks hons_85!
- Added career histories for Danish players - thanks hons_85!
- Updated Metal Ligaen clubs and removed Hvidovre Fighters, had to remove 1. Divison from human-playability to update league structure (removal of several clubs)
- Kept Gentofe Stars in Metal Ligaen so it's still human-playable - working with relegation

French Updates:
- Updated all players/staff for French Synerglace Ligue Magnus -- thanks ppaalloo!
- Added French Synerglace Ligue Magnus and National League 1 as human playable again - credit to BKarchitect for his league structure and logos!
- Updated several club names, reputations, attendance and other details
- Added club history for Magnus clubs

Hungry Updates:
- Updated all Hungarian players/staff -- thanks Mattee!
- Updated/added several clubs including a U18 league
- Updated several club names -- thanks Dani9!
- Added Erste League as human-playable - credit to BKarchitect

Kazakhstan Updates:
- Added Kazakhstan U20 competition and clubs with affiliations
- Updated all staff with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgystan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan nationalities -- thanks Matee!

Netherlands Updates:
- Updated all Netherlands players/staff -- thanks Matee!
- Updated several BeNeLiga clubs

Norwegian Updates:
- Removed Norwegian First Division from human-playability, league structure being rebuilt
- Updated GET Ligaen clubs, Kongsvinger no longer active, promoted Ringerike and will not demote Lørenskog IK to keep it human-playable - working with relegation
- Added U16 and U21 divisions
- Shutdown U17, U19 and U20 divisions, updated/added clubs to U18 division
- Updated junior club affiliations

Oceania/Asia Updates:
- Updated all Oceania/Asia nationality players + staff - thanks Matee!
- Added Asia League Ice Hockey as human-playable again

Romanian Updates:
- Updated all Romanian players/staff -- thanks Mattee!
- Updated/added several clubs

Slovakia Updates:
- Tipsport structure updated with working relegation and accurate schedule! - thanks Named!
- Updated player transactions and added some new ones -- thanks ppaalloo!

Spain Updates:
- Updated all players/staff of Spanish nationality -- thanks Matee!

Swiss Updates:
- Removed redundant Swiss Cup (Arosa Challenge Cup) - thanks Dani9!
- Updated and added players/staff for Swiss National League (NLA) - thanks ppaalloo!

Ukraine Updates:
- Updated all Ukrainian players/staff -- thanks Matee
- Changed league name to Ukrajinska Chokejna Liha
- Added Ukraine U19 division and clubs

United States College Updates:
- Removed several duplicate players -- thanks bfq_8!

 

[Dirty Dog]

Wonderful job to both of you on your updates (as always!)

 

[BKarchitect]

So as I said in my post above, the newest version of NHL32X does not include an expansion draft file. So I took on the challenge of creating my Seattle roster from scratch.

My process was really a saturation bombing:
1) Try to sign basically every halfway decent UFA out there. Most suck and are old but for a team starting with nothing, I wanted to get a base built up of freebies. Don't forget to grab at least 3-4 goalies to build up depth in net.
2) Try to sign every KHL player who shows interest in coming over. Some can come over right away, some you have to wait out their contracts.
3) Plunder the waiver wire every single time an NHL team waives somebody and make sure to time it at the end of pre-season so that you get one waiver guy per day...that last week you can really load up on guys as teams make their cuts.
4) Also signed some AHL contract guys like Jurco and Redmond who were out there.

So I ended up going to training camp with like 45 players, a complete hodge podge. After camp results and waiver claims, I cut a bunch of guys I had just signed to get my overall roster down to something more manageable, with good depth at the NHL and AHL levels and a few guys even in the ECHL. Most of the guys I cut were over-the-hill types I had offered contracts on the very first day.

Completely re-did my coaching and scouting staff. Immediately signed Joel Quenneville as HC and got a lot of good assistant coaches.

Here's my week one roster in the regular season:

Steen was my highest profile waiver grab but in total I made 10 waiver claims to help fill out my roster. Darren Dietz is probably my best KHL signing for the first season anyways - he's a former prospect who has blossomed into a good physical offensive defender in the KHL and he's my main blueline weapon. Also picked up quite a few younger KHL guys with some decent potential. Zub's a good stay-at-home defender. Okulov and Zernov are interesting centers and Shumakov is a proven KHL scorer (and former Capitals flameout). In net, I signed veteran Kari Lehtonen and claimed Darling...they will battle for the top spot with Mason and Lyons as veteran and younger depth respectively.

I'm 0-4 in my first four games as I tinker with lines...three of the games were close but I just got destroyed by Washington 8-2. The board was unhappy with my loss to rivals San Jose. Right now I'm rolling all my lines equally with the top two lines playing a more offensive style while the third line is probably my best overall NHL line but lacks a bit of creativity.

With the trade dealine officially done and my WHA project really to a point that feels good and fully realized, I'm now looking forward to putting in some time playing my creation!

 

[dellzor]

Just played the 2019-2020 season on BK's latest database and won the finals (unexpected tbh at all LMAO) on my 2nd year of the Canucks. I think Pettersson's performance this playoffs was the highest amount of points I've seen scored by one player in a playoffs. Another thing I noticed, Quinn Hughes' ELC for some reason lasts like 4 or 5 years.

 

[BKarchitect]

EP is amazing. Real life and computer games.

Assuming he won the Conn Smythe?

 

[dellzor]

EP is amazing. Real life and computer games.

Assuming he won the Conn Smythe?

Nah, Boeser ended up winning it over him LOL. Pettersson even had a 6 point game.

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

I'm definitely going to have to give this NHL 32 3.0 a serious go for my money.

Is Portugal an added nation that is playable in your database BK? I would love to guide them to international glory.

 

[BKarchitect]

I'm definitely going to have to give this NHL 32 3.0 a serious go for my money.

Is Portugal an added nation that is playable in your database BK? I would love to guide them to international glory.

It is added as a hockey playing nation with Lisbon the flagship club team in the WHAII and a generic domestic league club team and generic junior league club team (which act as farm and junior affiliates for Lisbon) to try an encourage the game to generate Portuguese players.

I’m not sure though at what point you can really play them from a national team standpoint - they don’t have high enough IIHF ranking to appear in the World Championships at the start (which of course is real). So the question is, does EHM relegate the worst Division 3 team each year and randomly promote one of the nations that is not currently in the Worlds to replace them? I’ll have to do some testing.

The best solution may be to try and create a 4th tier of World Championships to get these new hockey nations able to play from the first year. I’m hoping that it is possible, that may be my next editing task.

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

I’m not sure though at what point you can really play them from a national team standpoint - they don’t have high enough IIHF ranking to appear in the World Championships at the start (which of course is real). So the question is, does EHM relegate the worst Division 3 team each year and randomly promote one of the nations that is not currently in the Worlds to replace them? I’ll have to do some testing.

What I've done before (I believe I mentioned it before), in the Editor (or the Assistant forgot which one), I edited the IIHF score for the U.A.E in Division 3 to zero, and bumped Portugal's score similar to Spain's. Once the 'scheduling' setting took place, they were added into Division 3.

 

[BKarchitect]

What I've done before (I believe I mentioned it before), in the Editor (or the Assistant forgot which one), I edited the IIHF score for the U.A.E in Division 3 to zero, and bumped Portugal's score similar to Spain's. Once the 'scheduling' setting took place, they were added into Division 3.

Yeah you'll probably want to keep doing that then for now otherwise no guarantee Portugal will show up in the Worlds anytime soon.

Division 4 of the worlds (and maybe some more Junior divisions) is my next task for sure!

 

[archibalduk]

IIRC it's not possible to add further international tournaments but I hope I'm proven wrong on this!

Great job with the roster updates ECK and BK. We're so lucky to have three sets of high quality roster updates being actively worked on.

 

[Moses Doughty]

@BKarchitect Just to check, did the auto-assigned players in your WHA teams for the most part have attributes from 1-7?

 

[BKarchitect]

@BKarchitect Just to check, did the auto-assigned players in your WHA teams for the most part have attributes from 1-7?

The CPU generated auto players will all generally suck, yes. I view them more as placeholders so you have time to construct your own team (and don't run into an issue with getting to an actual game and not having a full roster) and so that the small countries like Albania, Macedonia, Faroe Islands, Greece, Portugal, etc at least have a pool of national team players to start.

I do not recommend simply hoping that you can get by on the computer-generated players though!

 

[BKarchitect]

Well it's the first TDL in my new Seattle GM game and I made a total of 15 moves throughout January and February to try to refine my roster.

If you'll notice in my first post, I start off the season with generally all old or pretty cruddy depth UFA's and added about 10-12 most low-level waiver pickups.

So through the trade deadline, that roster has gotten me an abysmal 6-47-9 record for 21 points through 62 games, obviously DFL in the league. My main issues so far have been:

- My top scorers like Hemsky and Cammalleri are old and slow. I have to give them good ice time because they are some of the few guys I have with decent puck skills and creativity but they are complete liabilities when not scoring. Shumakov and Carr (who's been a real solid waiver pickup) are my only decent offensive players who either aren't too old or too young.

- Speaking of too young (or not ready), I've found most of my KHL imports just aren't getting the job done yet outside Shumakov, Dietz and Zub. They've got intriguing attributes and potential but need time to settle - so most have ended up in the AHL or as trade bait for more legit NHL players.

- The rest of the roster has become steadily stocked with actual NHL players through waiver claims but the issue is they are all basically 3rd/4th line guys with no offensive skills aside from Steen and even he's declining into more of a 3rd line player. Berglund, Larsson, Cogliano, Sutter, Sobotka, Acciari and the like are all legit NHLers but they are being put into roles which far exceed their capabilities. And I have like zero blueliners with any interesting offensive skills outside Dietz (and he hasn't done that hot).

- Too many soft and slow players. This is killing me. Most those checking line types above plus guys like Michael Stone and Kevin Gravel who I've picked up on defense are SLOW. My team is slow and although full of guys who are good checkers and good defensively, also very soft.

- No hope in net. Darling and Lehtonen suck and neither is getting any better.

So, with all that said, I did a complete make-over of the team at the TDL. Some tips:

- Wait till the actual deadline day (Feb 23) to make most your moves because you won't have to wait for responses from other GM's, they will let you know right then and there if they will accept your offer.

- Offer every single one of your players (who is not in your long term plans) to all other teams and see if anybody bites. Make sure to set your team needs to "Building through the draft". I like to see what the max draft picks a club will offer for a player and I can then always look at their roster and see if I can exchange a player or two for the draft picks. But draft picks are currency and it lets me know who is the most interested. I was able to, for example, milk some picks from Hemsky and Lehtonen.

- Start trade talks with every other club and sort their roster by trade value (stars) - look for bargain guys in the 1-2 star range. You'll see I found some decent buys of guys at the deadline who can fit long-term and are big upgrades. They may be available because of personal issues, because of their contract or for no good reason at all.

- You can always buy low on somebody and then swap them immediately (on the 23rd). For example, I got Keith Kinkaid for Columbus for Steve Mason as Kinkaid had a 1-star value for the Blue Jackets. I then immediately moved him in another deal to a team needing a good backup who in turn valued him off my roster as a 3-star value.

- Value guys who can skate and have offensive attributes when you are building from scratch. These will be the hardest guys to sign or pickup off waivers at the beginning of the game. As I said, even the legit NHL players you pickup through waivers during the season will almost all be bottom 6 guys. Value it even more on the blueline.

Here's my post-deadline line-up:

- Jenner is my star pickup. He's a really good and versatile player and Columbus wanted to move his salary so they valued him at 2-stars.
- Salary is not a thing you need to worry about in year one - in fact you need to try and stay above the floor so taking on guys like Eriksson, Dubinsky and DeKeyser was no big deal/
- I looked for a lot of guys in that 25-27 age range who weren't really too established yet but had intruiging attributes and potential to get better and who were only valued as 2-stars by their clubs....picked up the likes of Armia, Poolman, Cousins, Ladue and Carpenter this way.
- Guys like Ryan Spooner and Brendan Smith are really inconsistent but they offer speed and some offense so I am not afraid to live with the warts for now if they can inject some life into the offense.
- Love getting young-ish checkers like Clifford and Hathaway for my fourth line, they are big hitters, can fight, skate well enough and should be a pain to deal with.
- Turned Darling and Lehtonen into Subban and Lindgren. They may not me much of an immediate improvement but both are young with the potential to get better and I am hoping one can be my starter for sometime going forward. Just need to figure out which one.

So it's not a great line-up still but considering I started from nothing in August and it's only February, I think I've made some headway. Time to sim some games and see if the improvement shows on the ice for the rest of the season. Then it's on to the draft lottery were hopefully I punch my ticket for Hughes or Kakko!

 

[dellzor]

By any chance does anyone have a good photo for Pettersson? Favourite player >

Does anyone also happen to know why the sv% for the AHL is always sub 900? I swear I've never seen a goalie have a higher sv% than 900 in any of the leagues beside the NHL.

 

[Moses Doughty]

The CPU generated auto players will all generally suck, yes. I view them more as placeholders so you have time to construct your own team (and don't run into an issue with getting to an actual game and not having a full roster) and so that the small countries like Albania, Macedonia, Faroe Islands, Greece, Portugal, etc at least have a pool of national team players to start.

I do not recommend simply hoping that you can get by on the computer-generated players though!

Oh yea definitely not trying to use those guys haha. Haven't actually played with a non-full roster team at the start before so just wanted to make sure, thanks!

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

So, I'm not sure if I mentioned this here before. I've never really dived into the International scene with EHM. I've strictly played with NHL rosters.

Playing with Lisbon on NHL 32, how does the game 'work' with transfers and the reserve list? I have a bunch of free agents that I did sign for my team, but it shows nobody appear on my reserve list. My roster players, are just my roster players. Also, I do have a small transfer budget that I would like to grow. Is it like Football Manager, where I can put players on a market and teams bid for them? Or do teams don't seem to bid?

I'm thinking in terms of how the A.I handles contracts with players overseas. When I do my scouting with European Leagues, I hardly see a player get 'transferred' for money, they are just signed to 1/2 year deals.

The whole thing seems a bit challenging to understand lol.

 

[BKarchitect]

So, I'm not sure if I mentioned this here before. I've never really dived into the International scene with EHM. I've strictly played with NHL rosters.

Playing with Lisbon on NHL 32, how does the game 'work' with transfers and the reserve list? I have a bunch of free agents that I did sign for my team, but it shows nobody appear on my reserve list. My roster players, are just my roster players. Also, I do have a small transfer budget that I would like to grow. Is it like Football Manager, where I can put players on a market and teams bid for them? Or do teams don't seem to bid?

I'm thinking in terms of how the A.I handles contracts with players overseas. When I do my scouting with European Leagues, I hardly see a player get 'transferred' for money, they are just signed to 1/2 year deals.

The whole thing seems a bit challenging to understand lol.

I would say just keep giving me your observations and I'll see what we can do to improve the league experience. Right now the WHAII is setup with a pretty minimal financial system. I can tweak this and also start to establish actual budgets and payroll for the clubs in the league. The WHA itself is much more fully modeled financially.

I would think as far as putting players on the market, have you tried "offering" players to teams in the league or in other leagues to see if anybody bids?

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

I would say just keep giving me your observations and I'll see what we can do to improve the league experience. Right now the WHAII is setup with a pretty minimal financial system. I can tweak this and also start to establish actual budgets and payroll for the clubs in the league. The WHA itself is much more fully modeled financially.

I would think as far as putting players on the market, have you tried "offering" players to teams in the league or in other leagues to see if anybody bids?

I'll play more tonight. I've only gone through the first few days but that is what I've noticed so far. Every team in the WHA is trying to sign the same FA's so its funny to see a free agency frenzy that way.

 

[BKarchitect]

ARGHHH...I ended up third in the draft lottery despite by far having the worst team with expansion Seattle. Vancouver goes #1 and I'm sure they'll pick Hughes to pair with his brother and the Kings got #2 so look for a future Kupari-Kakko Finnish super line. Although the draft rankigns having Kakko #1 and Hughes #2.

As for my Sea Lions...#3 is Cozens, #4 is Turcotte, #5 is Dach, #6 is Podkolzin and #7 is Byram...all could be in play. Really disappointed though, probably none of those guys step in on day one to help me.

EDIT: NOPE...Canucks go with Kakko which disappoints Quin but makes a lot of sense with EP already in there as the dynamic center...now you get to watch Pettersson and Kakko burn villages for the next decade. And Hughes goes #2 to the Kings which is also a great fit as he'll get to learn under Kopitar for a bit.

 

[Moses Doughty]

Week or two into playing with Seattle (early start date to give more time for signings)-most my staff is filled out but working between Quenneville, Keefe, and Vigneault for HC. Signed alot of college/juniors guys so far, decent vets, and alot of guys who are gonna come in 2019 (will need to cancel some of those deals)

Big WHA signings so far are Kari Lehtonen (Warsaw) and Steve Mason (Paris)

 

[Treb]

By any chance does anyone have a good photo for Pettersson? Favourite player >

Does anyone also happen to know why the sv% for the AHL is always sub 900? I swear I've never seen a goalie have a higher sv% than 900 in any of the leagues beside the NHL.

What is your detail level?

I get 0.920+ in the AHL all the time (tested up to 2026) with ''Later stages'' as a setting.

 

[dellzor]

What is your detail level?

I get 0.920+ in the AHL all the time (tested up to 2026) with ''Later stages'' as a setting.

What do you mean by detail level?

 

[dellzor]

Cozens from what I aware just completely blows ass in this >