Eastside Hockey Manager - Part X Patch 1.5 Edition! (Open Beta)

[xECK29x]

Database is being completely rebalanced, expect a much different experience for 2023-24. More details to come later in the summer.

 

[GKJ]

Database is being completely rebalanced, expect a much different experience for 2023-24. More details to come later in the summer.

After all the editing I’ve done, the anticipation is already killing me, and you haven’t even been able to add Keith Jones to the database yet.

 

[xECK29x]

After all the editing I’ve done, the anticipation is already killing me, and you haven’t even been able to add Keith Jones to the database yet.

oh I added him immediately

 

[GKJ]

oh I added him immediately

I’ve been told Ilya Bryzgalov is trying to be a goalie coach too, just sayin’

 

[xECK29x]

I’ve been told Ilya Bryzgalov is trying to be a goalie coach too, just sayin’

What’s Keith Primeau up to?

 

[GKJ]

What’s Keith Primeau up to?

I was thinking about that earlier considering our POHO position, because ex-Flyers. Think he owns a deli chain. Still lives in south jersey

 

[BKarchitect]

Biggest single season point drop ever seen?

In NHLX, I have Landeskog and Nichushkin out for the entire 2023-24 season (Landeskog with injury and Nuke with...well...some unclear situation). So in the sim the Avs run the 23-24 season basically as a one-line team with Lehkonen next to MacKinnon and Rantanen. They killed it, with all 3 topping 100 points. But their next highest scoring forward was Newhook with 33 points (Makar and Toews had a lot of points on the blueline).

Fast-forward to 24-25, and both Landeskog and Nichushkin are back. Avs back to rolling their other lines a bit more and Lehkonen back in more of a defensive role...the result? A 67 point one-season drop...and has nothing to do with him losing ratings which are still great and Lehkonen is still in his prime - it was 100% about the role the CPU coach used him in, some shooting percentage dipping and not being handcuffed next to two of the best players in the league for 80 games.

Same thing usually happens in Edmonton almost every season where the CPU coach will stick either RNH or Hyman with McDrai and as a result, one of them goes bonkers on the scoring sheet. While RNH outproducing McDrai as in this season is unrealistic - the idea that he rides McDrai's ridiculousness to a 100+ point season with far less ability is actually pretty accurate given what we've seen in real life this past season!

 

[bashbros32]

Biggest single season point drop ever seen?

I don't have one "quite" this drastic, but at the same time I feel it is JUST as drastic, but on a smaller scale? lol

I am running NHL X with Atlanta replaced with Hamilton, (and the Swarm moved to Saskatoon lol)

I am running Hamilton, and have Max Domi as my first line center... things haven't been great, as I've been signing players to one and two year contracts, pumping their value and dumping them at the deadline for 1sts: (I just recently traded Timo Meier to the Stars for their next FOUR firsts, and they didn't re-sign him, so I grabbed him back in the offseason, and they also didn't win the cup)

anyways Domi typically floats around the 35-40 point range (I know, really low for a 1c, but we are BAD BAD)

this year, after bringing back Meier, I also signed Laine as the other winger.

as of the deadline, Timo Meier has 13-21-34, and Laine has 24-12-36 (I don't really know how they are managing to score so low in 60 games, my coaches are decent and all of them have an attacking style)

anyways, I have checked, and not only does Domi play with them, but he has the third most TOI among forwards on the team, and most for centers at 18:00 per game.

He currently has 5 assists across 51 games... as the 1c between Timo Meier and Patrik Laine.

3rd in TOI among forwards
14th in G
12th in A
14th in Pts.

what the heck?

 

[BKarchitect]

I don't have one "quite" this drastic, but at the same time I feel it is JUST as drastic, but on a smaller scale? lol

I am running NHL X with Atlanta replaced with Hamilton, (and the Swarm moved to Saskatoon lol)

I am running Hamilton, and have Max Domi as my first line center... things haven't been great, as I've been signing players to one and two year contracts, pumping their value and dumping them at the deadline for 1sts: (I just recently traded Timo Meier to the Stars for their next FOUR firsts, and they didn't re-sign him, so I grabbed him back in the offseason, and they also didn't win the cup)

anyways Domi typically floats around the 35-40 point range (I know, really low for a 1c, but we are BAD BAD)

this year, after bringing back Meier, I also signed Laine as the other winger.

as of the deadline, Timo Meier has 13-21-34, and Laine has 24-12-36 (I don't really know how they are managing to score so low in 60 games, my coaches are decent and all of them have an attacking style)

anyways, I have checked, and not only does Domi play with them, but he has the third most TOI among forwards on the team, and most for centers at 18:00 per game.

He currently has 5 assists across 51 games... as the 1c between Timo Meier and Patrik Laine.

3rd in TOI among forwards
14th in G
12th in A
14th in Pts.

what the heck?

Nice, glad you are having fun doing your own NHL alignment!

 

[bashbros32]

these new dbs consistently give me reasons to keep playing this game and it's awesome!

I just had 3 of the weirdest/craziest things happen in my most recent save.

1. I had a player outscore his regular season points total in the playoffs.

Will Belle (25th overall 2025, RW PWF) scored 7 goals and 8 assists for 15 points on the 4th line in 78 games.

in the playoffs, he scored 9 goals and added 9 assists for 18 points in 15 games!

2. What in the WORLD are media expectations in this game? I just saw a news article that the "media is disappointed in Filip Gustavsson this season"

Gustavsson's year with the Wild: 2nd place in the west, 29-14-4 2.07 GAA .925 SV% 3 Shutouts

Took his team to the Stanley Cup Finals... and the media is "disappointed" get bent lol...

3. Remember I mentioned those 4 1sts I got from Dallas for Timo Meier? (Who re-signed with my team that off-season?)

Well Timo got 6 goals, 9 assists for 15 points in 16 playoff games for us this year, helping us claim Hamilton's FIRST EVER Stanley Cup, and Dallas? Missed the playoffs and won the draft lottery...!

I didn't even recognize! I won the Cup AND 1st overall! lol

 

[bashbros32]

Hah, I feel you. I had a similar thing happen TWICE in a SCF deciding game. Beyond infuriating.

View attachment 701118
View attachment 701119

I found more tom-foolery by the game!!!

I call this one: "Filip Forsberg hits the post in NHL Stanley Cup Final... or DOES he!?"

Notice the location of the puck, the shadow of the puck... and Forsberg, #12 in teal.

Now notice the puck has fallen behind/beside the net, and yet at the bottom there it says "Filip Forsberg finds the net !!!"

He was awarded with a goal without actually scoring one: here's further proof, (note the time)

 

[xECK29x]

I found more tom-foolery by the game!!!

I call this one: "Filip Forsberg hits the post in NHL Stanley Cup Final... or DOES he!?"
View attachment 707139

Notice the location of the puck, the shadow of the puck... and Forsberg, #12 in teal.
View attachment 707140

Now notice the puck has fallen behind/beside the net, and yet at the bottom there it says "Filip Forsberg finds the net !!!"

He was awarded with a goal without actually scoring one: here's further proof, (note the time)

View attachment 707141

You can upload the save here: Eastside Hockey Manager Bugs Forum

No promises it will ever be looked at or fixed but worth uploading!

 

[BKarchitect]

@bashbros32 what is your resolution / screen setup? Looks like the “non” zoomed center ice and adds aren’t sized properly. I’m gonna fix that.

 

[bashbros32]

@bashbros32 what is your resolution / screen setup? Looks like the “non” zoomed center ice and adds aren’t sized properly. I’m gonna fix that.

My generic screen resolution is 2560x1440

and my game resolution is 1024x768 and I play windowed.

Edit: I like it like this as I can comfortably have my game open, a web page like this or a hockey game on, and my spreadsheet above!

 

[bashbros32]

this is uhh... an interesting retirement!

For context, this player is 26... was drafted 3rd overall in 2025... has played every year since then, missing a grand total of... 36 games over his 9 year, 700+ game NHL career. Thats an average of 4 ish games a year? I don't have auto save enabled so I can't go back a month and look at how many games he missed this season... but I don't think it was any? I've just never seen a prime player (he was my number 2 D-man legit from the day we drafted him) retire so young off of a "ten day" injury.

 

[xECK29x]

this is uhh... an interesting retirement! View attachment 708380

For context, this player is 26... was drafted 3rd overall in 2025... has played every year since then, missing a grand total of... 36 games over his 9 year, 700+ game NHL career. Thats an average of 4 ish games a year? I don't have auto save enabled so I can't go back a month and look at how many games he missed this season... but I don't think it was any? I've just never seen a prime player (he was my number 2 D-man legit from the day we drafted him) retire so young off of a "ten day" injury.

Boy he must have really destroyed that groin!

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

this is uhh... an interesting retirement! View attachment 708380

For context, this player is 26... was drafted 3rd overall in 2025... has played every year since then, missing a grand total of... 36 games over his 9 year, 700+ game NHL career. Thats an average of 4 ish games a year? I don't have auto save enabled so I can't go back a month and look at how many games he missed this season... but I don't think it was any? I've just never seen a prime player (he was my number 2 D-man legit from the day we drafted him) retire so young off of a "ten day" injury.

nice find! Never seen anyone retire that young.. had a Zdeno Chara regen display that message once before

 

[bashbros32]

What in the world does it take to get a goalies number retired!? aha!

I had a goalie in one save record these stats:

458-250-54 2.56 .922 27 shutouts

8 Stanley Cups
6 Conn Smythes (really)
9 Vezinas
6 Roger Croziers

All recorded with one team... and that team did NOT retire his number.

 

[bashbros32]

I wonder if the Pivot rosters have made the Coyotes a little TOO bad for 2022-23? I know they moved Chychrun but... I took them on for a real challenge and here is how my 22-23 season is going so far...

I traded 2023 and 2024 second round picks to the Los Angeles Kings for:

Carl Grundstrom
Blake Lizotte and
Cal Peterson

I traded a 2024 3rd and a 2026 5th to Anaheim for:

Max Jones

I also signed free agents Brandon Manning and Cody Eakin to 1 year contracts.

aside from that, all I have done is set everything to quick sim, and allowed my coaches to coach, and the board to set pre-season games.

Through to the end of November, the team is a staggering 1-19-0... our leading point scorer is Barret Hayton with 5 goals and 4 assists for 9 points in 19 games. My leading defenseman is Juuso Valimaki with 7 points in 20 games. and Karel Vejmelka has 1 win, 12 losses... 3.97 GAA and a .907 SV%...

Petersen has 0 wins 7 losses a 4.75 GAA and a .886 SV%...

Our only center with a +50% faceoff win percentage is Jack McBain... our... Checks notes, FOURTH line center...

Boy howdy does this team need work.

 

[The Feckless Puck]

I wonder if the Pivot rosters have made the Coyotes a little TOO bad for 2022-23? I know they moved Chychrun but... I took them on for a real challenge and here is how my 22-23 season is going so far...

As a longtime Coyotes fan AND a longtime Pivot Rosters user, I have to say that it's an annual nightmare trying to suss out how to rank the players and organization in EHM to make it realistic. There just aren't enough of people who are both Coyotes fans and EHM-modding savants who have historically been willing to take on the task of evaluating the team in enough depth to make the franchise in EHM reflect reality. That, and the fact that the team should have been historically bad this past season, but under Andre Tourigny and the coaching staff overachieved like crazy (a bit weird to say that since they are still picking 6th in the Draft, but it's true nonetheless).

 

[bashbros32]

Year 1 down of trying to bring Arizona to relevance:

at the deadline we traded Connor Ingram to Edmonton for Brad Malone and a 4th.
we traded Jack McBain to Nashville for a 3rd and a 4th, and we traded Mattias Maccelli (I know lol)
to Nashville for a 1st and a 3rd.

we finished the season 12-63-7, and were awarded with the 2nd pick in the NHL draft: Adam Fantilli, COME ON DOWN!

We also drafted:

RW Matvei Michkov @ 15 (boy he fell, after a 30 goal 18 year old KHL season.
LW Danill But from Lokomotiv @ 23
RD Lukas Dragicevic out of Tri-City @ 55
LW Eduard Sale from Kometa Brno @ 65
RW Gabe Perreault out of the US National development team @ 71
C Connor Levis from Kamloops @ 78
G Carsen Musser from the USNTDP @ 122
RD David Reinbacher from Kloten Flyers @ 127 (Maybe needs a re-rate?)
LD Matteo Rotondi from Drummondville Voltigeurs @ 138
LD Luke Coughlin from Rimouski @ 161
RD Tom Willander from Rogle BK @ 166

In the off-season, we completely re-structured our defense, bringing in Stanley Cup Champion Radko Gudas! along with veteran stalwart Scott Mayfield and young stay at home defender Nikko Mikkola.

On the front end we over-paid like crazy for Tyler Bertuzzi, giving him 8.5M for 7 years. We also brought Marcus Johansson in on a pro-tryout, and he pretty much instantly earned a contract. we gave him 1 year @ 850K.

We also started year 2 with all 3 of our rookie centers, AND Dylan Guenther on the roster.

Our end of pre-season lineup looked as such:

Crouse - Fantilli - Keller
Bertuzzi - Cooley - Schmaltz
Hayton - Geekie - Johansson
Jan Jenik - Nathan Smith - Guenther
x-Max Jones, Travis Boyd, Kassian, Grundstrom, Lizotte

Valimaki - Mayfield
Mikkola - Soderstrom
Moser - Gudas
x-Nemeth, Brown

Vejmelka
Petersen

However, all of Fantilli, Cooley and Geekie needed another season, so both were assigned to develop further in the OHL, and Geekie in the AHL, as the ICE gave up his junior rights.

At the year 2 trade deadline, we moved Marcus Johansson to the Devils for a 1st and a 3rd, and so Guenther moved up to the second line.

Our end of year forward lines looked like this (No defense or goaltending changes)

Crouse - Schmaltz - Keller
Bertuzzi - Hayton - Guenther
Jenik - Boyd - Grundstrom
Jones - Smith - Lizotte
x - Kassian


Our team once again finished 16th in the west. However, we more than DOUBLED our points totals from year 1... going from 31 to 67!

Our key players this year were:

Forwards:

Clayton Keller - 82 GP 41-35-76 +13
Tyler Bertuzzi - 82 GP 31-27-58 +3
Nick Schmaltz - 82 GP 16-40-56 +8
Lawson Crouse - 81 GP 21-25-45 +1
Barret Hayton - 82 GP 16-29-45 +1
Dylan Guenther - 82 GP 16-15-31 -32

Guenther showed a ton of improvement post deadline (and getting consistent top 6 minutes)
once we traded away Marcus Johansson and gave him the slot next to Hayton and Bertuzzi, his numbers shot up, he played 19 games post march 3... scoring 6 goals and 6 assists for 12 points, after only scoring 19 points in 63 games... increasing his projection from 25 points in 82 games to 51!

on D:

Victor Soderstrom - 78 GP 6-31-37 -1
Juuso Valimaki - 82 GP 7-27-34 -14
Scott Mayfield - 80 GP 7-25-32 -22
Janis Moser - 76 GP 3-17-20 -17

Vejmelka went 19-33-7 with a 3.35 and a .910 with 1 shutout
Petersen recorded 9 wins, 10 losses, 4 OTL, putting up a 3.58 and an .899 with 2 shutouts.

I was super excited, as going into the last ten games of the season, New Jersey were on the outside looking in, sitting in 11th place... however in their last 10 they went on a 7 game winning streak and finished 6th place.

 

[bashbros32]

The year 2 draft has concluded for Arizona and we made some stellar picks, we also made a blockbuster trade to acquire what we believe will be our franchises long term goaltending solution!

Arizona trades:

Toronto's (Via New Jersey) 1st round, 27th overall pick, Edmonton's 2nd round 2025 pick
Prospects C Manix Landry. G David Tendeck, G Anson Thornton, F Danil Savunov, D Vladislav Kolyachonok, D Emil Martinsen Lilleberg.
Negotiating rights to D Cal Thomas, D Tom Willander

to Los Angeles for:

Los Angeles 1st round, 10th overall pick.

This trade seems hyper unrealistic, but I allowed myself to do it as I only offered them:

Thomas, Savunov, Thornton, Kolyachonok, and the 1st... they countered me with this proposal.

Now on to the draft, where we were picking 4th and 10th!

4th overall LD Aron Kiviharju out of Leksand in the SHL (yes, he left TPS)
10th overall G Eemil Vinni out of Helsingin IFK in LIIGA
33rd overall W Colton Condra from the Dubuque Fighting Saints
64th overall D Jakub Chromiak from the Sudbury Wolves
65th overall W Gavin Hodnett from the Edmonton Oil Kings
84th overall C Anton Barabanov from CSKA Moskow
90th overall C Alexei Volkov from SKA St. Petersburg
97th overall F Alexander Zetterberg from Orebro HK
105th overall D Matthew Ferriero from the Youngstown Phantoms
127th overall W Liam Greentree from the Windsor Spitfires
129th overall D Justin Reno out of Dubuque in the USHL
161st overall W Owen Wallace from the Prince Albert Raiders
193rd overall W Justin Poirer from the Baie-Comeau Drakkar
215th overall D Peter Brand from the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies

We have signed Aron Kiviharju to join the team in September for training camp!

Some head office decisions have been made after intense exit interviews; the team has decided the following:

Ron Ferguson Jr. and the team have decided to mutually part ways... He will be replaced with Lee Stempniak, the team will spend the summer looking for a scouting replacement.

In HUGE news for the club, former captain, and franchise leader in nearly every statistical category Shane Doan has decided to re-join the club as President of Hockey Operations.

During the coaching staff interviews, it was decided that everyones contracts would be altered (Upon League approval) to one year extensions... meaning Doan and his newly appointed AGM Stempniak, along with the GM will evaluate their job over the next season and decide their fate at that point.

Now on to player movement in the off-season:

Players out:

Josh Brown, Cameron Crotty, Jean-Sebastien Dea, Zack Kassian, Milos Kelemen, Carl Grundstrom, Blake Lizotte, Patrik Nemeth, Travis Boyd, Connor Mackey, Brad Malone and Michael Kesselring.

Players in:

Aron Kiviharju (1st round 2024)

C John Farinacci, RW Josh Doan (2nd round 2021) LW Julian Lutz (2nd round 2022) D Jeremy Langlois (3rd round 2022) F Carson Bantle (5th round 2020) RW Gabe Perreault (3rd round 2023) RW Alexander Daryin, C Filip Barklund (6th round 2020) RW Anthony Romano, W Elliot Ekefjard (7th round, 2020) Ilya Fedotov (2nd round 2021) and W Jakub Silfverberg (Free Agent)


If everything remains as expected after training camp/pre-season, our year 3 lines will look like such:

Crouse - Schmaltz - Keller
Bertuzzi - Fantilli - Guenther
Hayton - Cooley - Silfverberg
Jones - Smith - Jenik
X- Ben McCartney, Curtis Douglas

Kiviharju - Mayfield
Valimaki - Soderstrom
Moser - Gudas
X- Mikkola

Vejmelka
Petersen

 

[bashbros32]

I wish there was a way to de-couple letters and playing time for the ai coaches...

I believe Crouse is likely to be the Coyotes next captain... however in my situation I need to not name him captain or else he will play 1st line LW, which, I don't think he should be playing with Bertuzzi on the team...

Also, in 24/25, the team was in dead last in the middle of January, and BOTH Aron Kiviharju AND Adam Fantilli (rookies) had "lost confidence in their general managers abilities"...

I removed the A from Schmaltz. leaving only Keller with an A, and the team lineup completely changed... and we started winning...

we went from:

Crouse - Schmaltz - Keller
Bertuzzi - Fantilli - Guenther
Hayton - Cooley - Silfverberg
McCartney - Smithe - Jenik

to

Bertuzzi - Fantilli - Keller
Crouse - Schmaltz - Guenther
Silfverberg - Hayton - Jenik
McCartney - Cooley - Jones

and instantly we ripped off 4 wins in a row, and Fantilli and Cooley went from averaging 6.5 and 6.1 per game, to 7.5 and 7.2 per game respectively (since the change)

it is nuts how much having a letter affects the ai coaches decision to play you... Like, remember when Derek MacKenzie was captain of the Panthers? Would he be shoved to line one with an AI coach?

 

[abo9]

Jumping in because I've challenged myself to win with a "physical", "defensive" team only and I'm finding a few things I never experienced before.

First is that... holy crap I dont touch line making and its just so difficult to win with a bunch of power forward and "physical" anything. Yikes.

Second, a lot of these guys take foreeeever to develop. Ive seen some power forward leave my team at 28 bevause I lost hope and then 4 seasons later I see them as 80 pts forwards with near perfect attributes.

I usually stick to all around, finesse players etc. And they tend to develop much earlier!! It makes it so difficult to know who to keep or not because you never know whos just gonna explore in their thirties lol

Anyone else faced these weird developmental curve so late in a player's career?

 

[BKarchitect]

Jumping in because I've challenged myself to win with a "physical", "defensive" team only and I'm finding a few things I never experienced before.

First is that... holy crap I dont touch line making and its just so difficult to win with a bunch of power forward and "physical" anything. Yikes.

Second, a lot of these guys take foreeeever to develop. Ive seen some power forward leave my team at 28 bevause I lost hope and then 4 seasons later I see them as 80 pts forwards with near perfect attributes.

I usually stick to all around, finesse players etc. And they tend to develop much earlier!! It makes it so difficult to know who to keep or not because you never know whos just gonna explore in their thirties lol

Anyone else faced these weird developmental curve so late in a player's career?

The game still sims high level performance for the majority of players way too late into their careers. Even if their attributes start to deteriorate. I think it is because the sim engine has players continually accruing reputation that sees the GM/coach AI play and value old players way too much even if there are younger players in the system with better ratings and attributes.

And this has a waterfall effect that means a lot of good prospects - even if they develop their ratings and attributes - don’t actually exhibit high level performance until their late 20’s or even 30’s because that’s when they finally break into top roles.

I’m interested in seeing if @xECK29x implementation of a more stratified ratings system helps - but in general I think the game engine is far too reliant on “reputation” ratings and not nearly reliant enough on actual CA. I used to use the editor to “re-balance” reputations after each season (with the feature that @archibalduk implemyed that let’s you generate all reputations based on CA/PA) - because even after one season the reputation to CA relationship gets crazy out of whack. But lately when I do this in saved games it causes the game to crash when I go back into it.