HLMX - An HLM25 Database & Story
- Thread starter BKarchitect
- Start date
STARTING A CAREER
My first decision is whether to start my career in Classic Mode - which is a standard 32-team NHL setup or Expansion Mode where I can choose to add any number of expansion teams to the NHL, followed by an expansion draft (WHICH THE GAME MAKES INTO A REALLY COOL EXPANSION DRAFT EVENT, COMPLETE WITH PROTECTED & AVAILABLE PLAYERS!!!).
I'm going to choose Classic Mode - but here's the thing - even in Classic Mode, you can choose to have NHL expansion in future years, complete with expansion drafts that will reflect the players and contracts at the date of the expansion. You can expand (or contract) the league as much as you want as you move your career along!
As I head to the Team Selection screen - I can pick my team to control. But, before I do so, I can select on any team and "replace it" with another team identity in the game. For the HLMX database, I have baked in dozens and dozens of options here, complete with full graphics, jerseys, logos and colors. When you replace a team at this screen, if simply changes the identity and graphics.
For example...Utah Hockey Club is Utah team in the NHL and in HLMX. But I have baked in several different identities that I can replace this generic name with:
For this career, I am going to swap Utah Hockey Club out and make them the "Utah Yeti". They will maintain all the current info (roster, prosecpts, picks, history) of Utah Hockey Club.
You can swap out teams to your hearts content. Many of the team options are meant for expansion teams and expansion team AHL/ECHL affiliates - but you can choose to use them however you want. You can create an entire division where the teams are all based in Europe, for example.
Also, every NHL team has at least one alternate identity (jerseys, logos, colors) that you can swap the standard identity out for. Many are retro or retro "reverse" based. You could if you wanted swap all 32 NHL teams out for alternate versions of their identity to give your game a fresh look.
I am going to take control of Columbus in this sim. With all the terrible and tragic juju around this franchise, let's switch their usual look out for the vintage looking "Cannon" look and then start our game:
My first decision is whether to start my career in Classic Mode - which is a standard 32-team NHL setup or Expansion Mode where I can choose to add any number of expansion teams to the NHL, followed by an expansion draft (WHICH THE GAME MAKES INTO A REALLY COOL EXPANSION DRAFT EVENT, COMPLETE WITH PROTECTED & AVAILABLE PLAYERS!!!).
I'm going to choose Classic Mode - but here's the thing - even in Classic Mode, you can choose to have NHL expansion in future years, complete with expansion drafts that will reflect the players and contracts at the date of the expansion. You can expand (or contract) the league as much as you want as you move your career along!
As I head to the Team Selection screen - I can pick my team to control. But, before I do so, I can select on any team and "replace it" with another team identity in the game. For the HLMX database, I have baked in dozens and dozens of options here, complete with full graphics, jerseys, logos and colors. When you replace a team at this screen, if simply changes the identity and graphics.
For example...Utah Hockey Club is Utah team in the NHL and in HLMX. But I have baked in several different identities that I can replace this generic name with:
For this career, I am going to swap Utah Hockey Club out and make them the "Utah Yeti". They will maintain all the current info (roster, prosecpts, picks, history) of Utah Hockey Club.
You can swap out teams to your hearts content. Many of the team options are meant for expansion teams and expansion team AHL/ECHL affiliates - but you can choose to use them however you want. You can create an entire division where the teams are all based in Europe, for example.
Also, every NHL team has at least one alternate identity (jerseys, logos, colors) that you can swap the standard identity out for. Many are retro or retro "reverse" based. You could if you wanted swap all 32 NHL teams out for alternate versions of their identity to give your game a fresh look.
I am going to take control of Columbus in this sim. With all the terrible and tragic juju around this franchise, let's switch their usual look out for the vintage looking "Cannon" look and then start our game:
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Alrighty. Time to see what I am working with. I know this job won't be easy. Let's take a look at the organizational depth chart:
You have to play the game a bit to get used to what the ratings mean...and with different roster sets they may mean slightly different things. The HLM website has a guide but I consider it a pretty loose guide, since I have really toyed around with the entire structure of the database.
Loosely...above 90 makes you a star, high 80's and you are a frontline player, mid 80's and you are a good middle of the line-up stalwart, low 80's a solid regular and high 70's would be a low-end or depth player in my HLMX roster set.
Up front I'm really feeling the absence of Johnny (rest in peace, brother). I'm hurting at LW for sure. Good depth up the middle and right side looks ok if the Russians continue to grow. I may have a decision to make with Lindstrom - if he can improve during camp, maybe he can make the team, but he probably needs another year in junior.
On the blueline - Weresnki is by far my star player. Depth isn't too bad. Hoping Jiricek can take the next step and while Mateychuk probably needs to start in the AHL, he is close and could be a guy who is ready by mid-season to bump Harris out of the starting 6 or if I deal Provorov.
In net, Merzlikins is marginally my starter over Tarasov but it is close. I'd love to dump Merzlikins' contract but that is going to be hard. Greaves has sneaky potential in the AHL and Ivanov is by far my best younger prospect. He should be killer in the KHL this year.
I can turn my depth chart to "Potential" to get a better understanding of the age and potentials of my system:
In HLM parlance, the stars and colors are coded to different levels. Instead of stars you can also choose to have potential displayed as a "catagory"...but because I view the catagories as very loosely defined, the stars just seem cleaner and less specific to me. Basically - more stars the better potential.
For colors...
GRAY = Aged past where potential matters (this does NOT mean their rating won't change or can't go up).
BLUE = A really sure bet to meet their potential
GREEN = A very good bet to meet their potential
YELLOW = A modest bet to meet their potential
RED = A low bet to meet their potential
DARK RED = A very low bet to meet their potential
In the HLM guidelines - the colors are given a specific %. But because I play with the BALANCED PROSPECT GENERATION option on (it keeps the relative ratings curve for the game the same year to year) - for me the actual % doesn't mean much.
So...for example, a guy rated 4.5 stars and blue like Fantilli is pretty certain to become a star. Jordan Dumais is 4.0 stars and red which means he's got good upside, maybe top-6...but he's pretty unlikely to meet it in any given game/career.
This is how the game looks with the stars swapped out for the descriptions...but again, I just find the stars less constrictive in terms of how I view a player:
You have to play the game a bit to get used to what the ratings mean...and with different roster sets they may mean slightly different things. The HLM website has a guide but I consider it a pretty loose guide, since I have really toyed around with the entire structure of the database.
Loosely...above 90 makes you a star, high 80's and you are a frontline player, mid 80's and you are a good middle of the line-up stalwart, low 80's a solid regular and high 70's would be a low-end or depth player in my HLMX roster set.
Up front I'm really feeling the absence of Johnny (rest in peace, brother). I'm hurting at LW for sure. Good depth up the middle and right side looks ok if the Russians continue to grow. I may have a decision to make with Lindstrom - if he can improve during camp, maybe he can make the team, but he probably needs another year in junior.
On the blueline - Weresnki is by far my star player. Depth isn't too bad. Hoping Jiricek can take the next step and while Mateychuk probably needs to start in the AHL, he is close and could be a guy who is ready by mid-season to bump Harris out of the starting 6 or if I deal Provorov.
In net, Merzlikins is marginally my starter over Tarasov but it is close. I'd love to dump Merzlikins' contract but that is going to be hard. Greaves has sneaky potential in the AHL and Ivanov is by far my best younger prospect. He should be killer in the KHL this year.
I can turn my depth chart to "Potential" to get a better understanding of the age and potentials of my system:
In HLM parlance, the stars and colors are coded to different levels. Instead of stars you can also choose to have potential displayed as a "catagory"...but because I view the catagories as very loosely defined, the stars just seem cleaner and less specific to me. Basically - more stars the better potential.
For colors...
GRAY = Aged past where potential matters (this does NOT mean their rating won't change or can't go up).
BLUE = A really sure bet to meet their potential
GREEN = A very good bet to meet their potential
YELLOW = A modest bet to meet their potential
RED = A low bet to meet their potential
DARK RED = A very low bet to meet their potential
In the HLM guidelines - the colors are given a specific %. But because I play with the BALANCED PROSPECT GENERATION option on (it keeps the relative ratings curve for the game the same year to year) - for me the actual % doesn't mean much.
So...for example, a guy rated 4.5 stars and blue like Fantilli is pretty certain to become a star. Jordan Dumais is 4.0 stars and red which means he's got good upside, maybe top-6...but he's pretty unlikely to meet it in any given game/career.
This is how the game looks with the stars swapped out for the descriptions...but again, I just find the stars less constrictive in terms of how I view a player:
One thing I want to do right off the bat is set up some future expansion for the league. In my NHL, we are going to expand to 36 teams. Two teams will be added in consecutive years.
If I go to League Settings, I can start to plan for this. Now if you start a Classic Mode game and decide to expand, that puts the first expansion draft at June 2026 so the new teams will join in 26-27. This gives a realistic timetable for expansion announcement and planning.
So for the first round, I'm going to add the Atlanta Thrashers and Arizona Coyotes for the 26-27 season. When you select the NHL expansion teams you will also be prompted to select their AHL and ECHL affiliates. For Atlanta, I brought back the Detroit Vipers for the AHL and the Quad City Mallards for the ECHL. For Arizona, I'm adding the Sacramento Pumas in the AHL and Reno Wolfpack in the ECHL.
These are all identities complete with jerseys, logos, etc available in NHLX
When the expansion happens, I'll have to worry about who from my team is exposed and who to protect - but for my rebuilding Jackets, two summers from now is an eternity. I just need to keep it in the back of my mind!
If I go to League Settings, I can start to plan for this. Now if you start a Classic Mode game and decide to expand, that puts the first expansion draft at June 2026 so the new teams will join in 26-27. This gives a realistic timetable for expansion announcement and planning.
So for the first round, I'm going to add the Atlanta Thrashers and Arizona Coyotes for the 26-27 season. When you select the NHL expansion teams you will also be prompted to select their AHL and ECHL affiliates. For Atlanta, I brought back the Detroit Vipers for the AHL and the Quad City Mallards for the ECHL. For Arizona, I'm adding the Sacramento Pumas in the AHL and Reno Wolfpack in the ECHL.
These are all identities complete with jerseys, logos, etc available in NHLX
When the expansion happens, I'll have to worry about who from my team is exposed and who to protect - but for my rebuilding Jackets, two summers from now is an eternity. I just need to keep it in the back of my mind!
I think before I do anything, I want to see how my organization stacks up in the NHL hierarchy. There are a myriad of really cool league settings and rankings you can peruse at any point.
How about the overall strength of my roster. OOF. Not very good. At least I have a ton of cap space and am on the younger side overall!
Trade power is a fun one...it assesses the overall trade value of your franchise. Young players in their primes and top prospects count a lot of good. So do having a lot of good picks. Middling players with bad contracts count a lot of bad and if you traded all your picks, you will see it affect this ranking. As far as this goes...I'm not doing to shabby. I've got some bad contracts for sure (Merzlikins, Gudbranson, Severson) but definitely some valuable assets:
In terms of my prospect pool - things look solid. Lindstrom is a potential stud and Mateychuk and Brindley are my #2 and #3 prospects:
In terms of league prospect rankings (it ranks the Top 50) - I've got Lindstrom at #12 and Mateychuk at #18 with Brindley also maing the list at #38.
How about the overall strength of my roster. OOF. Not very good. At least I have a ton of cap space and am on the younger side overall!
Trade power is a fun one...it assesses the overall trade value of your franchise. Young players in their primes and top prospects count a lot of good. So do having a lot of good picks. Middling players with bad contracts count a lot of bad and if you traded all your picks, you will see it affect this ranking. As far as this goes...I'm not doing to shabby. I've got some bad contracts for sure (Merzlikins, Gudbranson, Severson) but definitely some valuable assets:
In terms of my prospect pool - things look solid. Lindstrom is a potential stud and Mateychuk and Brindley are my #2 and #3 prospects:
In terms of league prospect rankings (it ranks the Top 50) - I've got Lindstrom at #12 and Mateychuk at #18 with Brindley also maing the list at #38.
If I go back to my OFFICE in the left column GUI - I can start to sim. HLM25 has a myriad of options available for what arrives in your inbox and what you are notified of...you can turn things down so you just get a quick simming experience. You can keep things restricted to items that involve your team only. Or you can turn everything on and be notified of an assortment of news items...signings, firings, waivers, injuries, milestones, international accolades and selections, etc:
Note: the AI GM's do like to sign a lot of their prospects to ELC's up front
Note: the AI GM's do like to sign a lot of their prospects to ELC's up front
If I go to my STAFF section I can look at staff throughout the organization - NHL/AHL/ECHL and hire/fire as needed. You will see the cumulative effects your staff ratings have on each level. Keep an eye on things like DEV (development) especially at the AHL level as this can influence how your prospects develop.
Right now at the NHL level, I've got positives for defense and PK and a little for development but negatives for offense, PP and really bad for goalie. Which means I might want to look at how I can upgrade staff traits to produce better results in those areas.
I'll have a lot of good prospects in Cleveland this year, so the +1.7 development my AHL staff has (mostly due to Mike Eaves have a 20 for DEV) is a very good indicator.
Staff sometimes have and sometimes will develop "special abilities". For example, my HC, Dean Evason, is a Level II Communicator which gives the bonus seen below. He can continue to level up this trait or add new traits if he develops well as an HC:
The best staff (GMs, coaches, scouts) in the game will have lots of cool "abilities" or bonuses which definitely can effect team/franchise performance:
Side note: in HLMX, I have all 32 NHL GMs and HCs updated and rated how I like complete with special abilities but the rest of the staff is still a work-in-progress. As staff actually makes a big difference in this game, I would like to flesh that out well as I evolve the roster set.
Right now at the NHL level, I've got positives for defense and PK and a little for development but negatives for offense, PP and really bad for goalie. Which means I might want to look at how I can upgrade staff traits to produce better results in those areas.
I'll have a lot of good prospects in Cleveland this year, so the +1.7 development my AHL staff has (mostly due to Mike Eaves have a 20 for DEV) is a very good indicator.
Staff sometimes have and sometimes will develop "special abilities". For example, my HC, Dean Evason, is a Level II Communicator which gives the bonus seen below. He can continue to level up this trait or add new traits if he develops well as an HC:
The best staff (GMs, coaches, scouts) in the game will have lots of cool "abilities" or bonuses which definitely can effect team/franchise performance:
Side note: in HLMX, I have all 32 NHL GMs and HCs updated and rated how I like complete with special abilities but the rest of the staff is still a work-in-progress. As staff actually makes a big difference in this game, I would like to flesh that out well as I evolve the roster set.
A few days into September and I get a notice a few of my players have been selected for the World Cup. While HLM doesn't have near the options of EHM in terms of international or tournament customization, it does have:
- World Cup: You can opt for every year or every four years, it is in the beginning of September before the season starts. There are two divisions with 10 teams each and promotion and demotion between divisions. It is a senior-level best-on-best tournament which includes NHL players.
- WJC: Just like in real life the WJC's happen each year in December/January. Same format as the World Cup with two divisions of ten teams each and promotion and demotion.
A country's international performance can graudally have an effect on the level of prospects they produce, which is a neat feature although I have yet to really dig into the overall impact of this over a long period.
You can't control any WJC teams but under SETTINGS, you can choose to control a World Cup team of your choosing.
One of the things I have baked into the HLMX roster set is a very robust real-life international selection of players for even the "minnow" nations like Great Britain, Poland, etc. WHile the goal of HLMX, and HLM in general - is much, much more NHL-centric than the vast array of options EHM has, I've made it a point to represent all international countries with real senior players and prospects (based on recent real World Championships, Olympic Qualifying and Junior tournament rosters)- even when they fall below the standards I use as a threshold for whether or not to create a player/prospect from a stronger nation. I really want to maintain a "real feel" to international rosters as many years into a sim as possible:
Of course your stronger nations at the World Cup will be a who's who of NHL stars...
- World Cup: You can opt for every year or every four years, it is in the beginning of September before the season starts. There are two divisions with 10 teams each and promotion and demotion between divisions. It is a senior-level best-on-best tournament which includes NHL players.
- WJC: Just like in real life the WJC's happen each year in December/January. Same format as the World Cup with two divisions of ten teams each and promotion and demotion.
A country's international performance can graudally have an effect on the level of prospects they produce, which is a neat feature although I have yet to really dig into the overall impact of this over a long period.
You can't control any WJC teams but under SETTINGS, you can choose to control a World Cup team of your choosing.
One of the things I have baked into the HLMX roster set is a very robust real-life international selection of players for even the "minnow" nations like Great Britain, Poland, etc. WHile the goal of HLMX, and HLM in general - is much, much more NHL-centric than the vast array of options EHM has, I've made it a point to represent all international countries with real senior players and prospects (based on recent real World Championships, Olympic Qualifying and Junior tournament rosters)- even when they fall below the standards I use as a threshold for whether or not to create a player/prospect from a stronger nation. I really want to maintain a "real feel" to international rosters as many years into a sim as possible:
Of course your stronger nations at the World Cup will be a who's who of NHL stars...
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***BUG ALERT***
So...like all games, HLM25, especially in this early version - seems to have some bugs. I'll kind of post those in here as I go along.
One of the bugs I've noticed is that if you replace a team with another team in your game setup screen...the GM of the new team tends to go absolutely BONKERS with trades.
So, for this career, I replaced the look of Utah Hockey Club with Utah Yetis. For whatever reason, this seems to prompt the Yetis to go bat sh!t wild with trades before the first season. This does NOT happen if I just leave them as the "Utah Hockey Club". And it happens even though the finances, GM, coaching, roster, organization is all still exactly the same.
This bug happens with any team that I "replace" in the setup screen, even if I am just replacing the look/logos with a different version of the same team (not that it even matters since any replacement is supposedly purely graphical in nature).
Workarounds for right now?
1) Don't replace any of the Classic 32 teams until this bug is fixed.
2) Enjoy the absolute wild ride of a GM (or multiple GMs if you replace multiple teams) on meth cranking out trades like he's working for the Wolf of Wall Street if you "replace" that team in your game setup.
3) Play with COMMISSIONER MODE on in settings (you have to do this in the setup screen for your career) and then selectively turn off the AUTO AI for any of these teams (this will effectively mean they are neutered from making moves and let's you control what they do as long as the toggle it turned off), at least temporarily...it may be this only happens the first year at the beginning of the year...or it may cause coked out GMs for the entire game. I haven't figured that out yet.
I'll let the developer know of this bug
Uhhh....chill the frick out Bill Armstrong!!!!
So...like all games, HLM25, especially in this early version - seems to have some bugs. I'll kind of post those in here as I go along.
One of the bugs I've noticed is that if you replace a team with another team in your game setup screen...the GM of the new team tends to go absolutely BONKERS with trades.
So, for this career, I replaced the look of Utah Hockey Club with Utah Yetis. For whatever reason, this seems to prompt the Yetis to go bat sh!t wild with trades before the first season. This does NOT happen if I just leave them as the "Utah Hockey Club". And it happens even though the finances, GM, coaching, roster, organization is all still exactly the same.
This bug happens with any team that I "replace" in the setup screen, even if I am just replacing the look/logos with a different version of the same team (not that it even matters since any replacement is supposedly purely graphical in nature).
Workarounds for right now?
1) Don't replace any of the Classic 32 teams until this bug is fixed.
2) Enjoy the absolute wild ride of a GM (or multiple GMs if you replace multiple teams) on meth cranking out trades like he's working for the Wolf of Wall Street if you "replace" that team in your game setup.
3) Play with COMMISSIONER MODE on in settings (you have to do this in the setup screen for your career) and then selectively turn off the AUTO AI for any of these teams (this will effectively mean they are neutered from making moves and let's you control what they do as long as the toggle it turned off), at least temporarily...it may be this only happens the first year at the beginning of the year...or it may cause coked out GMs for the entire game. I haven't figured that out yet.
I'll let the developer know of this bug
Uhhh....chill the frick out Bill Armstrong!!!!
Since zombie Bill Armstrong decided to single-handedly put my lovingly crafted realistic roster into a blender, I've restarted the game with the same settings and put the Yeti on super-secret double probation - at least until the season opener - to see if that calms things down.
In the meantime - one of the other really fun features of HLM is that...well, like real humans, hockey players have families. You'll get a notice from time-to-time that a player's family has welcomed a newborn child! These off-spring will eventually possibly become hockey prospects and players down the road, although there is no guarantee they will be successful. There is howver a slider where you can control how much family genes influence a prospect to become good
Given his dad's role - I don't hold out huge hope that little Rex Olivier will be a scoring superstar when he is drafted in 2043...but you never know!
In the meantime - one of the other really fun features of HLM is that...well, like real humans, hockey players have families. You'll get a notice from time-to-time that a player's family has welcomed a newborn child! These off-spring will eventually possibly become hockey prospects and players down the road, although there is no guarantee they will be successful. There is howver a slider where you can control how much family genes influence a prospect to become good
Given his dad's role - I don't hold out huge hope that little Rex Olivier will be a scoring superstar when he is drafted in 2043...but you never know!
You can only do it during the contract negotiation phase at the end of the season where you re-sign players.
In the screen where you are asked to offer new contracts (or not) to expiring players you will see two options:
- Expiring (the default screen for each of these days)
- Contracts
Contracts shows all contracts and if you click on a player whose deal still has term remaining, you will see an option to buy them out.
Took me a while to find this too! I don’t believe you can buyout players in the season, even after they’ve been waived.
Continuing on with my test career here with Columbus, still in pre-season - made a couple of depth moves to shore up extra wing depth in case guys like Brindley aren't ready to stick on the team come opening night. Picked up Brock McGinn and then Joey Anderson. Warm bodies who can serve as extra forward and be waived themselves without much fuss.
I then did get a very interesting trade proposal from Edmonton - this is the HLM AI sending this to me, not something I instigated. But with Broberg out of the picture, the Oilers GM has realized they have a huge top 4 hole to fill in their defense. Provorov has appealed to them as he can play both sides and only has one year left on his deal, making him a cost-effective solution.
When you trade with the computer, GREEN means a player the other GM has high interest in on your team and when one of their players is RED in color, it means it's a player they are more than willing to move in the right deal. Don't mistake that color for VALUE, which is still established by the bars next to the player in the trade screen. It just means, fundamentally, a player or type of player they will move.
So Edmonton's GM has offered me recent late 1st rounder Sam O'Reilly and veteran bottom pairing defenseman Josh Brown for Provorov. Provorov is green because he is of high interest to them. O'Reilly is red not because the Oilers don't value him - but because they are in a "win now" mode and basically all their prospects are red, meaning philosophically, they are available for a move that helps the Oilers win now.
If I go in to negotiate, you can see how when sorted by value, a guy like O'Reilly (or Savoie) has significant value but are RED.
Meanwhile, if you scroll down, you'll eventually hit the players that are valued negatively. Like Kane and especially Nurse. They are both RED and have terrible negative value in the value bar. HLM does a pretty nice job of factoring contract size and length with player age and ability to create negative value players like in real life.
I will say sometimes the CPU GMs are way too eager to offload guys with even slightly negative value and will attach a ridiculous number of high picks and prospects to do so. I'm not talking Nurse-level bad contracts here (which obviously WOULD require a haul, like in real life, to offload).
Also pay attention to contract clauses - when you see a NMC, NTC or M-NTC next to a player and it is RED, it means that player will NOT waive to be a part of the deal. If it is GREEN, it is ok.
Needless to say, nobody on the Oilers with trade clauses is willing to waive to go from a Cup contender to a bottom feeder. Big shock!
I then did get a very interesting trade proposal from Edmonton - this is the HLM AI sending this to me, not something I instigated. But with Broberg out of the picture, the Oilers GM has realized they have a huge top 4 hole to fill in their defense. Provorov has appealed to them as he can play both sides and only has one year left on his deal, making him a cost-effective solution.
When you trade with the computer, GREEN means a player the other GM has high interest in on your team and when one of their players is RED in color, it means it's a player they are more than willing to move in the right deal. Don't mistake that color for VALUE, which is still established by the bars next to the player in the trade screen. It just means, fundamentally, a player or type of player they will move.
So Edmonton's GM has offered me recent late 1st rounder Sam O'Reilly and veteran bottom pairing defenseman Josh Brown for Provorov. Provorov is green because he is of high interest to them. O'Reilly is red not because the Oilers don't value him - but because they are in a "win now" mode and basically all their prospects are red, meaning philosophically, they are available for a move that helps the Oilers win now.
If I go in to negotiate, you can see how when sorted by value, a guy like O'Reilly (or Savoie) has significant value but are RED.
Meanwhile, if you scroll down, you'll eventually hit the players that are valued negatively. Like Kane and especially Nurse. They are both RED and have terrible negative value in the value bar. HLM does a pretty nice job of factoring contract size and length with player age and ability to create negative value players like in real life.
I will say sometimes the CPU GMs are way too eager to offload guys with even slightly negative value and will attach a ridiculous number of high picks and prospects to do so. I'm not talking Nurse-level bad contracts here (which obviously WOULD require a haul, like in real life, to offload).
Also pay attention to contract clauses - when you see a NMC, NTC or M-NTC next to a player and it is RED, it means that player will NOT waive to be a part of the deal. If it is GREEN, it is ok.
Needless to say, nobody on the Oilers with trade clauses is willing to waive to go from a Cup contender to a bottom feeder. Big shock!
Decided to tweak Edmonton's offer....I feel like with Mateychuk potentially being ready for NHL action at some point this year and Provorov a pending UFA next summer - cashing in and getting a late 1st prospect is the way to go. I was able to negotiate another ok prospect in the deal instead of Josh Brown who I had no use for:
If you go to your Team info screen, you can see a pretty nicely formatted summary for each franchise, including picks, recent trades, rivals and retired numbers. Really nice format here graphically...HLM's GUI can take a bit of getting used to but I think the screens are really well done:
Rivals can be manually inputted in the editor but the game will also assign regional rivals if there are none based on teams in the same league and geographical distances between the home cities of the teams.
If you go to your Team info screen, you can see a pretty nicely formatted summary for each franchise, including picks, recent trades, rivals and retired numbers. Really nice format here graphically...HLM's GUI can take a bit of getting used to but I think the screens are really well done:
Rivals can be manually inputted in the editor but the game will also assign regional rivals if there are none based on teams in the same league and geographical distances between the home cities of the teams.
Moving players around your system is pretty straightforward - if the rosters are setup properly with correct player rights, certain player will have eligibility to be moved to juniors, college or Europe. For example, Nolan Lalonde still has his overage year of OHL eligibility left so I can send him there. You'll also get a reminder if a player is waiver eligible before you demote them, as you see with Sawchenko here.
Columbus is one of three NHL teams with no ECHL affiliate - so all of those teams have "made-up" ECHL affiliates so there is an even 32-32-32 NHL-AHL-ECHL affiliation pyramid.
Now, when you go back to the DEPTH CHART screen, you can see your organizational pyramid with levels - NHL/AHL/ECHL/Other Leagues:
Columbus is one of three NHL teams with no ECHL affiliate - so all of those teams have "made-up" ECHL affiliates so there is an even 32-32-32 NHL-AHL-ECHL affiliation pyramid.
Now, when you go back to the DEPTH CHART screen, you can see your organizational pyramid with levels - NHL/AHL/ECHL/Other Leagues:
As I head into my first real game of the regular season (I toggle CPU control of my pre-season line-ups), it's time to set my lines.
You will notice in the graphics below that each line has a color bar next to it. The color bar represents the OFFENSIVE CHEMSITRY that line has. Do not make the mistake of interpreting it as overall strength of line. You may have a shutdown line or pair that has red next to it - that does not automatically the line is "bad" - just that it won't score a lot.
For line/pair offensive chemistry there is:
BLUE = Great
GREEN = Good
YELLOW = Ok
Red = Low
Dark Red = Very Poor
Sometimes playing a player out of position will negatively affect a line's offensive chemistry, so keep that in mind.
You can also set your goalie rotation starter/back-up frequency% here if you don't want to manually change your goalie out from game to game.
You can also set your PP/PK units. You'll want to pay attention more to a player's OFF/DEF splits here rather than their overall rating (when you swap a player out, it will show you the splits as shown below...in general the CPU will auto-populate special teams based on OFF/DEF abilities of your roster):
You also have the option of LOCKING any or all line combinations so that the CPU does not tweak certain things on its own (if you have auto-manage turned on for line-ups). Like maybe you have a lower rated but top-notch prospect you always want to be locked into a top-6 role for development purposes - it is easy to do this.
You will notice in the graphics below that each line has a color bar next to it. The color bar represents the OFFENSIVE CHEMSITRY that line has. Do not make the mistake of interpreting it as overall strength of line. You may have a shutdown line or pair that has red next to it - that does not automatically the line is "bad" - just that it won't score a lot.
For line/pair offensive chemistry there is:
BLUE = Great
GREEN = Good
YELLOW = Ok
Red = Low
Dark Red = Very Poor
Sometimes playing a player out of position will negatively affect a line's offensive chemistry, so keep that in mind.
You can also set your goalie rotation starter/back-up frequency% here if you don't want to manually change your goalie out from game to game.
You can also set your PP/PK units. You'll want to pay attention more to a player's OFF/DEF splits here rather than their overall rating (when you swap a player out, it will show you the splits as shown below...in general the CPU will auto-populate special teams based on OFF/DEF abilities of your roster):
You also have the option of LOCKING any or all line combinations so that the CPU does not tweak certain things on its own (if you have auto-manage turned on for line-ups). Like maybe you have a lower rated but top-notch prospect you always want to be locked into a top-6 role for development purposes - it is easy to do this.
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When you SIM a game, the in-game play-by-play options and graphics will look very familiar to EHM users:
You can "watch" the entire game at variable speeds, edit lines in-game or if you are more concerned about the results than the "watching" part, simply SIM the game with a single click:
And...well how's that for a shitty season opener? The Islanders absolutely obliterate me 9-3 LOL.
You'll also se milestones for players in the game recap which is neat.
Overall - not a ton more I can say about the in-game experience, it'll feel familiar to users of other hockey GM games.
I will say for the GUI - some of the screens look "sparse" on desktop/Steam but this is due to the game being originally for mobile. Some info-packed screens are easier to see more info at once on desktop. But other screens look a bit more pleasing on mobile. They are both functionally solid. I had some graphical bugs in 2024 desktop version that seem to have been addressed.
You can "watch" the entire game at variable speeds, edit lines in-game or if you are more concerned about the results than the "watching" part, simply SIM the game with a single click:
And...well how's that for a shitty season opener? The Islanders absolutely obliterate me 9-3 LOL.
You'll also se milestones for players in the game recap which is neat.
Overall - not a ton more I can say about the in-game experience, it'll feel familiar to users of other hockey GM games.
I will say for the GUI - some of the screens look "sparse" on desktop/Steam but this is due to the game being originally for mobile. Some info-packed screens are easier to see more info at once on desktop. But other screens look a bit more pleasing on mobile. They are both functionally solid. I had some graphical bugs in 2024 desktop version that seem to have been addressed.
Now that the season has started, I'm going to turn back on ACTIVE AI for the other teams in the league in COMMISSIONER MODE. Remember, COMMISSIONER MODE does a couple things:
1) Let's you make roster moves and trades for any and all teams
2) Let's you turn ACTIVE AI on or off
TIP: You MUST turn COMMISISSIONER MODE on prior to starting a career/game. By default, the ACTIVE AI will be turned ON for all teams. This means CPU-controlled teams will make their own trades.
PRO TIP: The computer AI will often make a lot of stupid or just overwhelming number of trades right when you start a career, prior to the start of the season. Also, it will go nuts if you "replace" a team when you setup your career (see this post: Replace Team Trading Bug).
So, I like to turn ACTIVE AI OFF for all teams until the season starts. This lets you begin each season with a roster as close to what is intended as possible. Think of it as an ability to turn "pre-season trading" off between CPU-controlled teams. They will still however make you offers, and you can still make them offers. They will also still waive players and shape their rosters as need be, so turning off ACTIVE AI does NOT mean you have to manually control all the other teams.
You will have to remember to turn ACTIVE AI back on though for all the teams at some point if you want them to make their own-AI driven trade decisions...
1) Let's you make roster moves and trades for any and all teams
2) Let's you turn ACTIVE AI on or off
TIP: You MUST turn COMMISISSIONER MODE on prior to starting a career/game. By default, the ACTIVE AI will be turned ON for all teams. This means CPU-controlled teams will make their own trades.
PRO TIP: The computer AI will often make a lot of stupid or just overwhelming number of trades right when you start a career, prior to the start of the season. Also, it will go nuts if you "replace" a team when you setup your career (see this post: Replace Team Trading Bug).
So, I like to turn ACTIVE AI OFF for all teams until the season starts. This lets you begin each season with a roster as close to what is intended as possible. Think of it as an ability to turn "pre-season trading" off between CPU-controlled teams. They will still however make you offers, and you can still make them offers. They will also still waive players and shape their rosters as need be, so turning off ACTIVE AI does NOT mean you have to manually control all the other teams.
You will have to remember to turn ACTIVE AI back on though for all the teams at some point if you want them to make their own-AI driven trade decisions...
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If you go the PLAYER DEVELOPMENT SCREEN, you can see an overview of progression that your players are making.
TIP: Here's a couple of very key points to keep in mind!
- A player 25 or younger (and I believe it is 27 or younger for goalies, which makes sense, because goalies peak later) will have a natural DEVELOPMENT which will increase their ratings. How quickly and how much they increase depends on the player, development settings in the game and coaching. ALL young players will naturally be able to DEVELOP.
When you see your PLAYER DEVELOPMENT screen sorted by age, notice everybody 25 or younger has a colored up arrow next to them along with a FOCUS. Everybody older than that (aside from goalies younger than 28) has no TRN arrow.
So by training, all young players can improve and nobody older than a certain age can. This does NOT mean an older player can't experience a bump in ratings - level of statistical performance can affect ratings up or down on players of all ages. But only young players can have this natural development.
You can change a young players TRAINING FOCUS on this screen:
TIP: In addition to just natural training, you can use your coaching staff for more ONE-ON-ONE training with specific player you select which will more quickly boost their attributes in that desired area.
In the example below, head coach Dean Evanson is working with Marchenko on his HIT attribute and he will level up there in 131 more days.
TIP: Sometimes you may want to place players in the ECHL if only to take advantage of extra coaching development spots. I only have three skaters on my ECHL team right now which means my coach "Barry Weaver" isn't working with anybody. That's a spot I could fill to start boosting a player if I send somebody else down from the AHL to the ECHL.
This individual, targeted training can not only boost attributes, but you can also have a player learn a new position or a new type of style:
TIP: You can also assign your coaches to players over 25, not just young players. But if you do this, you can only teach them a new position or role, not increase their ratings development.
AND DON'T WORRY, IF THIS IS MORE DETAIL THAN YOU WANT TO GO INTO, YOU CAN JUST AUTO-ASSIGN ALL YOUR TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT
TIP: Here's a couple of very key points to keep in mind!
- A player 25 or younger (and I believe it is 27 or younger for goalies, which makes sense, because goalies peak later) will have a natural DEVELOPMENT which will increase their ratings. How quickly and how much they increase depends on the player, development settings in the game and coaching. ALL young players will naturally be able to DEVELOP.
When you see your PLAYER DEVELOPMENT screen sorted by age, notice everybody 25 or younger has a colored up arrow next to them along with a FOCUS. Everybody older than that (aside from goalies younger than 28) has no TRN arrow.
So by training, all young players can improve and nobody older than a certain age can. This does NOT mean an older player can't experience a bump in ratings - level of statistical performance can affect ratings up or down on players of all ages. But only young players can have this natural development.
You can change a young players TRAINING FOCUS on this screen:
TIP: In addition to just natural training, you can use your coaching staff for more ONE-ON-ONE training with specific player you select which will more quickly boost their attributes in that desired area.
In the example below, head coach Dean Evanson is working with Marchenko on his HIT attribute and he will level up there in 131 more days.
TIP: Sometimes you may want to place players in the ECHL if only to take advantage of extra coaching development spots. I only have three skaters on my ECHL team right now which means my coach "Barry Weaver" isn't working with anybody. That's a spot I could fill to start boosting a player if I send somebody else down from the AHL to the ECHL.
This individual, targeted training can not only boost attributes, but you can also have a player learn a new position or a new type of style:
TIP: You can also assign your coaches to players over 25, not just young players. But if you do this, you can only teach them a new position or role, not increase their ratings development.
AND DON'T WORRY, IF THIS IS MORE DETAIL THAN YOU WANT TO GO INTO, YOU CAN JUST AUTO-ASSIGN ALL YOUR TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT
Sorry for the delay to everybody who has PM'd me - been busy still upgrading the roster with depth chart and prospect results from the first month of the season which have helped to shape the realism. In addition, I'm nearly done filling each NHL team with updated major staff (GM, HC, Coaches, Heads of Player Development and Head Scouts) as well as AHL Head Coaches and coaches. I'll post a link here soon to the rosters!
As an interlude, I wanted to see how my future draft crops are panning out (the roster set is full of hundreds of real prospects and full future draft classes, shaped by discussions of projections from a variety of prospect sites and the HFB prospect and other sub-forums) - and a cool way to do this was to take a look at the status national teams in one of my current test sims.
The results below are from the World Cup rosters in 2031 - a nice distance into the future to see how well the "realism" of the roster set is holding up with actual prospects. If anybody wants to know how this instance of a sim has treated a particular player, prospect or team - let me know and I can show you! Keep in mind though - players and prospects have variable degrees of progression and ceilings in different sims of the same roster - so results could vary!
WORLD CUP 2031 ROSTERS (Test Sim 11/8/24)
Click "Spoiler" to see the in-game rosters for each nation
UNITED STATES
Forwards
- Still led by the now 30 year-old Jack Hughes and old man Auston Matthews at 34 but plenty of new blood up front along with some of today's stars still hanging on to their prime. James Hagens has really become the heir apparent in the middle whilst three other former BC Eagles stars in Will Smith, Gabe Perreault and Ryan Leonard have all made good on their promise. Look out for Rocco Pelosi, a real-life blue-chipper coming down the pike who has evolved into a star at age 22 in this current sim. Only one CPU-generated player here, but he's a dandy...21 year-old star winger "Harvey Myers".
Defense
- Quinn Hughes still leads the blueline at age 32 and Adam Fox still has plenty of life at age 33. Luke Hughes joins his two brothers on the team, of course...and no real surprises on this now very veteran and experienced blueline.
Goalies
- No surprise that Jeremy Swayman is still the man in net in 2031 but as some of the other USA stars have aged out, current Wings prospect and Michigan State star Trey Augustine has blossomed in this sim to be the man of the future - albeit on the Devils, as the Wings made a now regretful trade in this sim!
CANADA
Forwards
- Just a ridiculous line-up as to be expected. Nathan MacKinnon at age 36 has been phased out and Connor McDavid, now 34, is no longer the center of the team but Connor Bedard is still smack in his prime and anchors a glorious top line with 2026 draft phenom Gavin McKenna (who has become the #1 ranked forward in this sim) and potential 2025 top 3 pick, power forward Porter Martone. Mack Celebrini has also absolutely made good on his promise whilst another hulking current OHL prospect, Ethan Belchetz, looks like Lindros 2.0 at 6'-5", 233 pounds with 92 offense and 97 hitting. Nice progress by 2024 draft blue chippers Cayden Lindstrom and Berkley Catton in this sim. Only one CPU-generated guy in this line-up, "Brandon Allard" - who at age 20 now was the 1st pick n the 2029 draft (one of the first draft classes you won't find stocked with a bunch of real prospects).
Defense
- Cale Makar is still a world-beater but in 2031, in this sim, he's been surpassed by the amazing WHL phenom Landon Dupont. This blueline is all offensively fueled with Evan Bouchard and Noah Dobson still going strong and Kevin Korchinski making he most of his potential in this sim.
Goalies
- Canada's weakness over the last few years and while a now veteran Joel Hofer has become really solid in this sim - as his country's #1, Canada may slightly trail some of its peers. WHL standout and 5th round draft pick Scott Ratzlaff has been a great surprise in this sim and has worked his way up to quality NHL starter and Team Canada backup.
SWEDEN
Forwards
- The Swedes are loaded with young stars who really have hit their stride in this sim. Elias Pettersson and William Nylander are still around but the focus is the younger stars. Leo Carlsson has become everything the Ducks hoped he would be while the 2025, 2026 and 2027 drafts brought Anton Frondell, Vitkor Eklund (who joins his brother William Eklund on the team), Viggo Bjorck, Ivar Stenberg (Otto Stenberg's younger brother) and Dorian Eklund-Aspe (a potential future Mats Sundin clone) - all part of the real next wave of Swedish talent. One fake guy here in "Andreas Hoglund", a 2029 pick.
Defense
- Rasmus Dahlin remains a superstar on the blueline and only has gotten better with age. A couple of 2023 first rounders really hit their stride in this sim in Axel Sandin Pellikka and Theo Lindstein.
Goalies
- Jesper Wallstedt has blossomed into the best goalie in the world in this sim with potential high 2025 pick Love Harenstam now also an NHL starter and his understudy for Tre Konor.
RUSSIA
Forwards
- No surprise to see Russia still pumping out offensive stars. Familiar stars and hyped current prospects like Kirill Kaprizov, Matvei Michkov and Ivan Demidov form the core along with current prospects like KHL youngsters Nikita Artamonov, Daniil But and Danila Yurov - who have all progressed nicely in this sim. Joining them are a younger generation of real Russian phenoms like Nazar Privalov, Alexei Vlasov and Artyom Katsuro.
Defense
- Pavel Mintyukov has taken the mantle of Russia's defensive talisman in 2031, with high end prospects all still in the KHL today like Alexander Nikishin, Anton Silayev, Dmitri Simashev and Mikhail Gulyayev all in their primes in this current sim.
Goalies
- Superstar Igor Shestyerkin has started to fade at age 35 but remains really good...but Russia had Yaroslav Askarov already in the que and he's become Russia's #1 and an NHL star with San Jose.
FINLAND
Forwards
- Finland is solid up front but going through transition with guys like Aleksander Barkov, Sebastian Aho and Mikko Rantanen still relevant but not who they once were. Current prospects like Konsta Helenius and Joakim Kemell have developed into nice front line players in this sim and Saku Koivu's kid, Aatos, a current Montreal pick, has developed nicely. But the Finns are lacking that next gen superstar in this sim.
Defense
- Miro Heiskinen is aging beautifully and is still a Norris-level stud. Juho Piiparinen is real prospect for the 2026 draft while 2024 picks Jesse Pulkkinen and Veeti Vaisanen have done well in this sim. Two younger fake guys round out the group in "Juho Nyberg" and "Toni Eloranta".
Goalies
- A 2024 pick of the Kraken, Kim Saarinen, has emerged from the Finnish goalie prospects in this sim to take over the #1 mantle for Suomi.
CZECHIA
Forwards
- The Czech's boast a strong forward group - while David Pastrnak has faded with his older age a bit, the next generation has been promising. Jiri Kulich has developed into the star of the offense, with 2025 pick Vojtech Cihar, 2026 draft phenom Adam Novotny and even younger real prospects like Lucas Andrejko (2028) and Dominik Zelezny (2029) already looking awesome. As well as CPU generated winger "Milan Reichel".
Defense
- The Jiricek brothers (David and Adam) are now in their primes and leading the show along with 2025 potential 1st rounder Radim Mrtka and 2026 prospect Ondrej Ruml.
Goalies
- Lukas Dostal has been one of the premier goalies in this sim the entire time and continues to be the bedrock of Czechia. He's paired with 2024 draftee Jakub Milota.
SLOVAKIA
Forwards
- Youth is served up front for Slovakia where Juraj Slafkovsky is he obvious star man, assisted by Blues stud Dalibor Dvorsky. Watch for Adam Nemec in the 2026 draft - he's looking like the real deal in this sim, while other recently drafted or future real prospects dot the remainder of the line-up - including Oliver Ozogany, who isn't even eligible until 2027 in real life.
Defense
- No surprise to see Simon Nemec (Adam's older brother) lead the way, although he topped out in this sim more as a solid #3 NHL blueliner and not some superstar top pairing guy. Funny enough the "Tomas Plekanec" you see at LHD is a computer generated guy and not the old NHL center lol!
Goalies
- Somewhat of a surprise here but 2023 Blackhawks 2nd rounder Adam Gajan has really turned into a star netminder in this particular sim...which is great for Slovakia!
SWITZERLAND
Forwards
- Youth is served...will real life be as kind as this sim? Nico Hischier is still the star at age 32 but he's joined on the top line by two real life phenoms - Jonah Neuenschwander (2027) and Julian Donatsch (2029). Potential 2026 1st rounder and QMJHL phenom Lars Steiner anchors the second line while Nolan Rohrbach is another name to watch for down the road. It's a young and dangerous group in this sim.
Defense
- In 2031, needless to say, Roman Josi is retired. Janis Moser has taken over the reigns as the country's #1 with recent high picks like Lian Bichsel and Leon Muggli supplementing him.
Goalies
- Elijah Neuenschwander (Jonah's brother) is a potential pick for the up-coming 2025 draft and has developed into a great starter for Toronto in this sim. More surprising is Matia Nico Birchler, a less hyped prospect also for the 2025 draft who in this sim was a 6th round pick and has exploded into a real NHL starter himself, leaving the Swiss with two great options.
GERMANY
Forwards
- Yes, in 2031, Leon Draisatl is still pretty darn good, as is Timmy Stutzle and J.J. Peterka. But the real story in this sim is real future phenom Max Penkin exploding into a true superstar, keeping the line of German icons going up front. Current Saskatoon Blade and 2025 potential pick David Lewandowski has become the best of the rest this time around.
Defense
- Mo Seider is still a star and while the depth ain't great (in terms of true NHL talent), at least 2025 pick Carlos Handel has developed into a very nice second option and top 4 NHLer.
Goalies
- Nothing of note here, the Germans making do with some guys who are pretty long-shot prospects in real-life.
NORWAY
Highlights
- Recent Wings 1st rounder Michael Brandsegg-Nygard leads the way up front with 2025 pick Mikkel Eriksson developing nicely and the Aaram-Olsen brothers (Niklas and William) ones to watch down the road. Ducks 1st rounder Stian Solberg leads the defense as a top 4 NHL talent. Feliz Timraz-Westin is a real goalie prospect of promise but the CPU generated "Hermod Eger" appears to be a real star.
As an interlude, I wanted to see how my future draft crops are panning out (the roster set is full of hundreds of real prospects and full future draft classes, shaped by discussions of projections from a variety of prospect sites and the HFB prospect and other sub-forums) - and a cool way to do this was to take a look at the status national teams in one of my current test sims.
The results below are from the World Cup rosters in 2031 - a nice distance into the future to see how well the "realism" of the roster set is holding up with actual prospects. If anybody wants to know how this instance of a sim has treated a particular player, prospect or team - let me know and I can show you! Keep in mind though - players and prospects have variable degrees of progression and ceilings in different sims of the same roster - so results could vary!
WORLD CUP 2031 ROSTERS (Test Sim 11/8/24)
Click "Spoiler" to see the in-game rosters for each nation
UNITED STATES
- Still led by the now 30 year-old Jack Hughes and old man Auston Matthews at 34 but plenty of new blood up front along with some of today's stars still hanging on to their prime. James Hagens has really become the heir apparent in the middle whilst three other former BC Eagles stars in Will Smith, Gabe Perreault and Ryan Leonard have all made good on their promise. Look out for Rocco Pelosi, a real-life blue-chipper coming down the pike who has evolved into a star at age 22 in this current sim. Only one CPU-generated player here, but he's a dandy...21 year-old star winger "Harvey Myers".
Defense
- Quinn Hughes still leads the blueline at age 32 and Adam Fox still has plenty of life at age 33. Luke Hughes joins his two brothers on the team, of course...and no real surprises on this now very veteran and experienced blueline.
Goalies
- No surprise that Jeremy Swayman is still the man in net in 2031 but as some of the other USA stars have aged out, current Wings prospect and Michigan State star Trey Augustine has blossomed in this sim to be the man of the future - albeit on the Devils, as the Wings made a now regretful trade in this sim!
CANADA
- Just a ridiculous line-up as to be expected. Nathan MacKinnon at age 36 has been phased out and Connor McDavid, now 34, is no longer the center of the team but Connor Bedard is still smack in his prime and anchors a glorious top line with 2026 draft phenom Gavin McKenna (who has become the #1 ranked forward in this sim) and potential 2025 top 3 pick, power forward Porter Martone. Mack Celebrini has also absolutely made good on his promise whilst another hulking current OHL prospect, Ethan Belchetz, looks like Lindros 2.0 at 6'-5", 233 pounds with 92 offense and 97 hitting. Nice progress by 2024 draft blue chippers Cayden Lindstrom and Berkley Catton in this sim. Only one CPU-generated guy in this line-up, "Brandon Allard" - who at age 20 now was the 1st pick n the 2029 draft (one of the first draft classes you won't find stocked with a bunch of real prospects).
Defense
- Cale Makar is still a world-beater but in 2031, in this sim, he's been surpassed by the amazing WHL phenom Landon Dupont. This blueline is all offensively fueled with Evan Bouchard and Noah Dobson still going strong and Kevin Korchinski making he most of his potential in this sim.
Goalies
- Canada's weakness over the last few years and while a now veteran Joel Hofer has become really solid in this sim - as his country's #1, Canada may slightly trail some of its peers. WHL standout and 5th round draft pick Scott Ratzlaff has been a great surprise in this sim and has worked his way up to quality NHL starter and Team Canada backup.
SWEDEN
- The Swedes are loaded with young stars who really have hit their stride in this sim. Elias Pettersson and William Nylander are still around but the focus is the younger stars. Leo Carlsson has become everything the Ducks hoped he would be while the 2025, 2026 and 2027 drafts brought Anton Frondell, Vitkor Eklund (who joins his brother William Eklund on the team), Viggo Bjorck, Ivar Stenberg (Otto Stenberg's younger brother) and Dorian Eklund-Aspe (a potential future Mats Sundin clone) - all part of the real next wave of Swedish talent. One fake guy here in "Andreas Hoglund", a 2029 pick.
Defense
- Rasmus Dahlin remains a superstar on the blueline and only has gotten better with age. A couple of 2023 first rounders really hit their stride in this sim in Axel Sandin Pellikka and Theo Lindstein.
Goalies
- Jesper Wallstedt has blossomed into the best goalie in the world in this sim with potential high 2025 pick Love Harenstam now also an NHL starter and his understudy for Tre Konor.
RUSSIA
- No surprise to see Russia still pumping out offensive stars. Familiar stars and hyped current prospects like Kirill Kaprizov, Matvei Michkov and Ivan Demidov form the core along with current prospects like KHL youngsters Nikita Artamonov, Daniil But and Danila Yurov - who have all progressed nicely in this sim. Joining them are a younger generation of real Russian phenoms like Nazar Privalov, Alexei Vlasov and Artyom Katsuro.
Defense
- Pavel Mintyukov has taken the mantle of Russia's defensive talisman in 2031, with high end prospects all still in the KHL today like Alexander Nikishin, Anton Silayev, Dmitri Simashev and Mikhail Gulyayev all in their primes in this current sim.
Goalies
- Superstar Igor Shestyerkin has started to fade at age 35 but remains really good...but Russia had Yaroslav Askarov already in the que and he's become Russia's #1 and an NHL star with San Jose.
FINLAND
- Finland is solid up front but going through transition with guys like Aleksander Barkov, Sebastian Aho and Mikko Rantanen still relevant but not who they once were. Current prospects like Konsta Helenius and Joakim Kemell have developed into nice front line players in this sim and Saku Koivu's kid, Aatos, a current Montreal pick, has developed nicely. But the Finns are lacking that next gen superstar in this sim.
Defense
- Miro Heiskinen is aging beautifully and is still a Norris-level stud. Juho Piiparinen is real prospect for the 2026 draft while 2024 picks Jesse Pulkkinen and Veeti Vaisanen have done well in this sim. Two younger fake guys round out the group in "Juho Nyberg" and "Toni Eloranta".
Goalies
- A 2024 pick of the Kraken, Kim Saarinen, has emerged from the Finnish goalie prospects in this sim to take over the #1 mantle for Suomi.
CZECHIA
- The Czech's boast a strong forward group - while David Pastrnak has faded with his older age a bit, the next generation has been promising. Jiri Kulich has developed into the star of the offense, with 2025 pick Vojtech Cihar, 2026 draft phenom Adam Novotny and even younger real prospects like Lucas Andrejko (2028) and Dominik Zelezny (2029) already looking awesome. As well as CPU generated winger "Milan Reichel".
Defense
- The Jiricek brothers (David and Adam) are now in their primes and leading the show along with 2025 potential 1st rounder Radim Mrtka and 2026 prospect Ondrej Ruml.
Goalies
- Lukas Dostal has been one of the premier goalies in this sim the entire time and continues to be the bedrock of Czechia. He's paired with 2024 draftee Jakub Milota.
SLOVAKIA
- Youth is served up front for Slovakia where Juraj Slafkovsky is he obvious star man, assisted by Blues stud Dalibor Dvorsky. Watch for Adam Nemec in the 2026 draft - he's looking like the real deal in this sim, while other recently drafted or future real prospects dot the remainder of the line-up - including Oliver Ozogany, who isn't even eligible until 2027 in real life.
Defense
- No surprise to see Simon Nemec (Adam's older brother) lead the way, although he topped out in this sim more as a solid #3 NHL blueliner and not some superstar top pairing guy. Funny enough the "Tomas Plekanec" you see at LHD is a computer generated guy and not the old NHL center lol!
Goalies
- Somewhat of a surprise here but 2023 Blackhawks 2nd rounder Adam Gajan has really turned into a star netminder in this particular sim...which is great for Slovakia!
SWITZERLAND
- Youth is served...will real life be as kind as this sim? Nico Hischier is still the star at age 32 but he's joined on the top line by two real life phenoms - Jonah Neuenschwander (2027) and Julian Donatsch (2029). Potential 2026 1st rounder and QMJHL phenom Lars Steiner anchors the second line while Nolan Rohrbach is another name to watch for down the road. It's a young and dangerous group in this sim.
Defense
- In 2031, needless to say, Roman Josi is retired. Janis Moser has taken over the reigns as the country's #1 with recent high picks like Lian Bichsel and Leon Muggli supplementing him.
Goalies
- Elijah Neuenschwander (Jonah's brother) is a potential pick for the up-coming 2025 draft and has developed into a great starter for Toronto in this sim. More surprising is Matia Nico Birchler, a less hyped prospect also for the 2025 draft who in this sim was a 6th round pick and has exploded into a real NHL starter himself, leaving the Swiss with two great options.
GERMANY
- Yes, in 2031, Leon Draisatl is still pretty darn good, as is Timmy Stutzle and J.J. Peterka. But the real story in this sim is real future phenom Max Penkin exploding into a true superstar, keeping the line of German icons going up front. Current Saskatoon Blade and 2025 potential pick David Lewandowski has become the best of the rest this time around.
Defense
- Mo Seider is still a star and while the depth ain't great (in terms of true NHL talent), at least 2025 pick Carlos Handel has developed into a very nice second option and top 4 NHLer.
Goalies
- Nothing of note here, the Germans making do with some guys who are pretty long-shot prospects in real-life.
NORWAY
- Recent Wings 1st rounder Michael Brandsegg-Nygard leads the way up front with 2025 pick Mikkel Eriksson developing nicely and the Aaram-Olsen brothers (Niklas and William) ones to watch down the road. Ducks 1st rounder Stian Solberg leads the defense as a top 4 NHL talent. Feliz Timraz-Westin is a real goalie prospect of promise but the CPU generated "Hermod Eger" appears to be a real star.
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LATVIA
Highlights
- Latvia is lead by Olivers Murnieks, a real prospect of great promise for the 2026 draft currently excelling in the USHL. He's joined up front by current NHL prospects Sandis Vilmanis, Eriks Mateiko and Dans Locmelis as well as another promising 2026 pick, Martins Klaucans. The defense is thinner but led by towering real life prospect Leonards Aleksandrs Grundmanis, who isn't eligible until 2027. Familair face Arturs Silovs continues to man the net.
BELARUS
Highlights
- 2024 2nd overall pick Artyom Levshunov has developed into an absolute hoss #1 defender and is clearly Belarus' best talent. He's joined on the blueline by 2023 pick Daniil Karpovich, who has had nice development this sim while Caps star Aliaksei Protas ontinues to be strong along with current Utah prospect Vadim Moroz. Disappointment for the younger Protas this sim though as Ilya kinda flamed out.
AUSTRIA
Highlights
- While they don't really have a superstar, Marco Rossi and Marco Kasper are capable NHLers. Some disappointment that David Reinbacher flamed out and seems to just be a depth NHL blueliner this sim. Some younger real prospects like Paul Sintsching and Leon Kolarik have potential but have yet to do much this sim as well.
DENMARK
Highlights
- The Danish star man is current Kraken prospect Oscar Fisker Molgaard, who has turned into a nice middle six NHLer. Future 2026 prospect Oliver Green has also developed nicely. The Danes are lacking in NHL players though in 2031, with aging Nikolaj Ehlers even still hanging on to a top six spot, though no longer NHL quality.
KAZAKHSTAN
Highlights
- While mostly compromising of domestic/KHlers in 2031 like they do now, this sim has produced a couple of solid NHL players out of real prospects - Yan Melnikov up front and Svyatoslav Yevplov on the backend are both 2026 potential picks. Yevplov was one of the last picks in the 2026 draft in this sim but developed nicely.
FRANCE
Highlights
- Alexandre Texier is now 32 but still the star of the French team - he went back to the Swiss League even though he's still NHL-capable. A couple of real prospects like Mathis Dufour (2025) and Alexandre Monarque (2026) got drafted and are solid AHLers along with a few CPU-generated guys.
ITALY
Highlights
- Italy are surprisingly competitive on the back of star goalie Damian Clara. The current blue-chip Ducks goalie prospect even replaced Lukas Dostal in net for the Ducks this summer after Dostal left to sign a big-money deal with St. Louis. Clara is just the latest Ducks star netminder. Up front, Tommaso De Luca, who has been skipped over in a couple of drafts in real-life, eventually signed in the NHL and is a legit NHL forward now.
SLOVENIA
Highlights
- While still a weak nation overall (Kopitar is long gone in 2031) with little actual NHL level talent, Slovenia is producing a few draft picks here and there, some real and some CPU-generated. THeir one NHL star is "Ignac Vesel", a computer generated player. Current Lightning prospect Jan Golicic partners him on the blueline while very young real-life prospects Marcel Vodnjov and Miha Krajnc got drafted this sim.
GREAT BRITAIN
Highlights
- Very poor in general. Liam Kirk is now a wily vet and leader of GBR while current real NHL prospects Ty Glover (VAN) and Angus Booth (LAK) are both Canadian but I've given GBR passports in this roster to beef up their future squad. The star is Maio Vaksmansky, a very, very young real prospect who plies his trade in Czechia but has represented GBR youth squads - he has real potential in this roster.
POLAND
Highlights
- Like Great Britain, pretty poor in general - with Krzysztof Macias a real WHL prospect who is a solid Liiga forward in this sim as well as Kamil Walega, a young Polish player currently in the Czech Extraliga. Like Great Britain, there is one big hope here, real-life prospect Leon Stryczek, who has developed into a young, fringe NHLer in this sim with potential for more.
- Latvia is lead by Olivers Murnieks, a real prospect of great promise for the 2026 draft currently excelling in the USHL. He's joined up front by current NHL prospects Sandis Vilmanis, Eriks Mateiko and Dans Locmelis as well as another promising 2026 pick, Martins Klaucans. The defense is thinner but led by towering real life prospect Leonards Aleksandrs Grundmanis, who isn't eligible until 2027. Familair face Arturs Silovs continues to man the net.
BELARUS
- 2024 2nd overall pick Artyom Levshunov has developed into an absolute hoss #1 defender and is clearly Belarus' best talent. He's joined on the blueline by 2023 pick Daniil Karpovich, who has had nice development this sim while Caps star Aliaksei Protas ontinues to be strong along with current Utah prospect Vadim Moroz. Disappointment for the younger Protas this sim though as Ilya kinda flamed out.
AUSTRIA
- While they don't really have a superstar, Marco Rossi and Marco Kasper are capable NHLers. Some disappointment that David Reinbacher flamed out and seems to just be a depth NHL blueliner this sim. Some younger real prospects like Paul Sintsching and Leon Kolarik have potential but have yet to do much this sim as well.
DENMARK
- The Danish star man is current Kraken prospect Oscar Fisker Molgaard, who has turned into a nice middle six NHLer. Future 2026 prospect Oliver Green has also developed nicely. The Danes are lacking in NHL players though in 2031, with aging Nikolaj Ehlers even still hanging on to a top six spot, though no longer NHL quality.
KAZAKHSTAN
- While mostly compromising of domestic/KHlers in 2031 like they do now, this sim has produced a couple of solid NHL players out of real prospects - Yan Melnikov up front and Svyatoslav Yevplov on the backend are both 2026 potential picks. Yevplov was one of the last picks in the 2026 draft in this sim but developed nicely.
FRANCE
- Alexandre Texier is now 32 but still the star of the French team - he went back to the Swiss League even though he's still NHL-capable. A couple of real prospects like Mathis Dufour (2025) and Alexandre Monarque (2026) got drafted and are solid AHLers along with a few CPU-generated guys.
ITALY
- Italy are surprisingly competitive on the back of star goalie Damian Clara. The current blue-chip Ducks goalie prospect even replaced Lukas Dostal in net for the Ducks this summer after Dostal left to sign a big-money deal with St. Louis. Clara is just the latest Ducks star netminder. Up front, Tommaso De Luca, who has been skipped over in a couple of drafts in real-life, eventually signed in the NHL and is a legit NHL forward now.
SLOVENIA
- While still a weak nation overall (Kopitar is long gone in 2031) with little actual NHL level talent, Slovenia is producing a few draft picks here and there, some real and some CPU-generated. THeir one NHL star is "Ignac Vesel", a computer generated player. Current Lightning prospect Jan Golicic partners him on the blueline while very young real-life prospects Marcel Vodnjov and Miha Krajnc got drafted this sim.
GREAT BRITAIN
- Very poor in general. Liam Kirk is now a wily vet and leader of GBR while current real NHL prospects Ty Glover (VAN) and Angus Booth (LAK) are both Canadian but I've given GBR passports in this roster to beef up their future squad. The star is Maio Vaksmansky, a very, very young real prospect who plies his trade in Czechia but has represented GBR youth squads - he has real potential in this roster.
POLAND
- Like Great Britain, pretty poor in general - with Krzysztof Macias a real WHL prospect who is a solid Liiga forward in this sim as well as Kamil Walega, a young Polish player currently in the Czech Extraliga. Like Great Britain, there is one big hope here, real-life prospect Leon Stryczek, who has developed into a young, fringe NHLer in this sim with potential for more.
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