Project NHL 36 - a 2018-19 DB with 36 Team NHL/AHL/ECHL!

[BKarchitect]

A bit of feedback after one season played with Quebec Nordiques :

- I've changed a bit the teams' colors and visual identity, thanks to Assistant. I've made no change(s) apart from that.
- Getting a balanced roster is a major challenge and I liked it very much. I ended up offering contracts to almost all FAs before the start of the season.
- I ended up as the most successful Expansion team after VGK, with some good wins and no more than 10 games lost in a row.
- First game was a thriller.(OT loss vs LAK)
- I have had A LOT of 1 goal losses in the season, which is very frustrating from a ppg point of view : I think I could have snapped a few more OT points.
- Now I'm really looking forward to signing some major UFAs and RFAs.

I'll post screenshots soon



edit : apart from Training camp, no bugs encountered at all.

Can't wait - interested to see what you did with the Nordiques identity

[Ukko]

I didn't change too much the Nordiques' id, I just added a bit of red to match the historical colors of the Franchise.

I must say the best moment of the season was the two wins in early April vs Montreal. Second game was a 2-0 win in a full Videotron Centre !
As a sidenote, two days after the magnificent shutout win against MTL, Nordiques got smashed vs Toronto, 9-2.

Suggestion: I'd keep the Predators in Western conference, and have Hartford Whalers instead of Saskatoon or Kansas City. So that the expansion teams are at least 2 in the eastern conference.

[BKarchitect]

I'm from Kansas City so they are untouchable for me and I just love the Whitetails identity and the addition of another Canadian club. Plus both help fill out the middle section of the continent whichever Ian sorely lacking in clubs versus the Northeast with plenty of options.

Milwaukee would be the one to go but I'm partial to their identity and being a hockey crazed state. Houston, Hartfiord and Toronto II/Hamilton were the hardest cuts. Ultimately I just did what I wanted and will probably leave it that way unless like a dozen Hartford Whalers fans come here and demand to be included

Appreciate the input though! Like I said, Quebec is the hardest challenge!

[Ukko]

I understand your views on the teams' choice, it's ok for me. I just noticed Whalers on your logo files and had the thought popping up

I'm trying to get some screenshots up asap, while playoffs are on the way in my running game (Conference semi finals are : LAK#1 vs SJS#6 / WIN#5 vs MIN#7 / TOR#8 vs CAR#7 / NYR#3 / TBL#4, hashtags are for seed number).

[Monette]

Monette - I would just wait till the official TBL 17-18 database comes out. I'm not going to update my Vegas database anymore because there is little point, I want this to offer something different in terms of gameplay much like the retro rosters do (but opposite!). I will PM you my last Vegas database from about 4-5 days ago later today though (I never uploaded it anywhere).

Moses - sorry I'm not sure about Mac but hopefully somebody can help you out!

Thank you buddy !

[stone169]

Can't wait to try this out.

[Ukko]

Alright, first season is over, I'm at the dawn of season two and I'm desperately looking for centers

I landed a few players in FA : D Trouba, G Halak, RW J.Anderson, C Eakin, LW Vesey, D Carrick, D Koekkoek and a few others after a relatively safe draft (Boqvist with pick #6).
A few were RFAs and I've given away numerous picks, but I'm trying to be competitive very soon and I've got a few big targets for next year instead of drafting (lacking prospects and youngsters to send for picks anyway).

61,5 Million of cap space so far, I'm afraid the first few games will be hard, as my centers are : Okulov, Bjugstad, Eakin, Söderberg and Burmistrov..

[stone169]

One thing I noticed so far, is that if I try to set up the game with 'Randomized Details', it crashes.

[Ukko]

One week away from trade deadline in Season two : I've noticed a lot of teams are trying to trade for picks and/or players, and the expansion teams are looting the waivers

Nice to see how the league is slowly shifting to 36 "even" teams. West expansion teams are still rubbish and bottow ranking, while I'm 14th in East with Nordiques and tanking for picks as of February. Averaging .480ppg so far in year two.

[BKarchitect]

NHL36 v1.1 is updated in the first post.

Changelist:
- Updated transactions (North America & major European leagues)
- Added new major NHL injuries to the config, so guys like Ryan Ellis and Ryan Kesler will start the season on the IR like in real life (although not sure how early start date affects this)
- Added a bunch of new prospects to the OHL/WHL based on camp reports - neither of those leagues will still be as updated as the QMJHL, as most Q teams have released their initial 24-player rosters and those are updated while neither the WHL or OHL is to that point yet
- Tweaked some NCAA commits...example, blue chip defender Bode Wilde will be attending Michigan and not Harvard now
- I had previously had well known PTO's to NHL camps (ie, guys with NHL experience) as contracted to those teams. But I've decided to keep all these guys (Upshall, Purcell, Cowen, Polak, Parenteau, etc, etc) as UFAs in the database until they actually officially sign NHL contracts. This will give you more variety and options for signings if you play as one of the expansion teams, at least for now!
- I shifted some AHL rosters around so that the current AHL roster is relevant to the NHL club. For example, in NHL36, Nashville's new AHL farm team is Norfolk...so all the AHL contracted players currently on Milwaukee have been transferred to Norfolk. Same for Abbotsford now having the Utica contracted players.

[proffe]

This really gave me a new reignition to EHM, great job!

[BKarchitect]

This really gave me a new reignition to EHM, great job!

Glad you enjoy it!

For those looking for some hep getting their team off the ground, I recommend heading to the KHL on day 1 to offer some contracts. Technically, this should not be possible (I don't think) since there is no NHL-KHL transfer agreement - in real life, I think you have to wait for the KHL players contract to end to bring them over. But for some reason, in EHM, some guys can be "bought out" immediately while others you have to wait for the contract to end. Here's what I have found though and it's the best way to start your expansion team with some decent talent that is under 25/26 years-old as opposed (or in addition to) to signing a bunch of 35 year-old free agents:

Forwards
- Vladimir Tkachyov, C (Ak Bars one): Good all-around center, "Two-way forward, 3rd line potential"...he's a top grab with limited center depth at your disposal
- Johan Sundstrom, C: Another center not great at anything but pretty solid all-around, "Power forward, 3rd/4th line talent"
- Mikhail Grigorenko, LW/C: We all are familiar with Grigs...pretty talented and actually a fairly smart player but low on physicality and determination...could still be a top 6 player for an expansion team, "Two-way forward, 2nd/3rd line potential"
- Nikolai Prokhorkin, LW: Solid sniping ability and not afraid of the rough stuff, "Goal scoring forward, 3rd line potential"
- Alexander Barabanov, RW: Another winger with some goal scoring upside, "Power forward, 3rd line potential" even though he's not particularly big or rough.

Defenders
- Artyom Zub, LD/RD: Good defensive-minded defender, definitely worth getting, "Defensive defenseman, no. 3/4/5/6 potential"
- Zakhar Arzamastev, LD: Really nice slapshot from the point, "Pointman, no. 5/6 potential"
- Niclas Burstrom, LD/RD: Smaller guy with good skating and positioning, "Two-way defenseman", probably best as a 6/7 guy

Goalies
- Andrei Kareyev: Really quality young netminder, "Starting goaltender, hybrid style", can probably start for you right away - will only come over if he's a "key player"
- Alexei Krasikov: Work in-progress but should have good upside, "Starting goaltender, acrobatic style"

The following guys I have been able to sign but you have to wait till their contracts are over (summer 2018):

- Vladimir Tkachyov, LW (Admiral one): People have seemed to have good luck with him, high scoring upside but also bust factor
- Konstantin Okulov: C/LW: Really talented, no guarantees but IMO an even better prospect than Tkachyov
- Alexander Khokhlachev, C: Former Boston Bruin is still young and creative with top 6 upside, potentially
- Dennis Everberg, RW/LW: Former Colorado Avalanche is a burly winger who is a force in the KHL - but probably better as a grinder in the NHL

[BulldogsFan]

I downloaded the database and wanted to make changes to the file and just wanted to double check that this wouldnt make an error...

Atlanta, Quebec, Hartford, KC, Seattle.. i want to put Atlanta in southeast where they were, Quebec is already in Northeast, Hartford to Metro since they were in the East division before, KC is already in central and Seattle is already in pacific. I wanna move Arizona to Pacific, Vancouver to North and Detroit and Nashville to Central

SO i was going to move Milwaukee back down to AHL and then norfolk down to ECHL and rmeove Roanoke

So the Division in NHL would be

Metro
Phi
nj
nyi
pit
nyr
hartford

NE (remains the same)
quebec
montreal
toronto
boston
buffalo
ottawa

SE
Washington
Cbs
carolina
tampa
florida
atalnta

Central
chicago
stl
arizona
detroit
nashville

North
colorado
dallas
calgary
jets
oilers
wild

pacific
sj
van
ana
veg
la
sea

reason i put Philly back in metro then what the save file has is because i wanted to keep the battle of PA alive.. but switching these divisions around shouldnt be a problem i guess ill give it a try

edit: after doing all of this and load the game without some of the leagues u said i nthe vegas database thread to not select i get this error:

The leagues i have as view only are:

Austria leagues, both czech leagues, danish league, finnish top league Lliga, German league, Japan league, Norway league, Russia league, Slovakia league, top swedish hockey league, Swiss top A league, and everything under United states like the colleges ECHL, AHL, NHL and all of canada is all enhanced.. It goes as far as selecting my team and then soon as i go to save it after setting up my Gm profile the game crashes... So do i need to not select a league is that why?

[BKarchitect]

Quick update to NHL36 v1.1 is updated in the first post.

Changelist:
- Heights & weights updated for a ton of players (most of the top drafted prospects the past few years and all junior players as I go through and update the CHL)...still am not going to claim anything close to all heights and weights in the game being comprehensively accurate, but it's better now
- Fixed an issue where Jacksonville (ECHL) was listed as a primary farm team (should be secondary) for Winnipeg
- Added more of the much hyped 2001-born draft class to the WHL in preparation for the upcoming season
- Got the Demers-McGinn trade in there
- A few player updates based on early NHL training camp returns. For example, Brock Boeser being a boss, gets a bump so he should be in prime top-6 contention right away in Vancouver. I'm going to try to keep things updated to as real training camps progress, new versions of the file at least attempt to reflect risers and fallers and depth charts

[BKarchitect]

Bulldogs fan - that sounds like it should work, I'd give it a go and let us know how things turn out! The fun part with a ridiculous setup like this (and yes, I understand 36 teams IS ridiculous!) is that you can try all kinds of combinations. Make sure to check your Club Affiliations to ensure you keep a nice 1:1:1 ration from NHL:AHL:ECHL. And I make the ECHL team the secondary farm team of the NHL team and the primary farm team of the AHL team. I had accidentally had both Manitoba and Jacksonville be Winnipeg's primary farm team and they ended up sending most of their top prospects to ECHL Jacksonville.

For the record, splitting Philly and Pittsburgh was the hardest part of the setup I settled on but something had to give in my alignment...

EDIT: In response to your error...

The error with the leagues I always get during initial setup, before you can even select your team or be a GM. So this is a new one for me. I would first try, just bare bones, put NHL, AHL and ECHL on enhanced and don't select anything else at all. See if that works...if it does, likely some minor league you selected is causing an error (like Japan I never select so I have no idea if it works or not). But if it still crashes, then it is time to inspect the edits you made.

[BulldogsFan]

I even unselected the Swiss A league and still crashes... ill have to double check NHL and AHL league structor maybe that is one of the errors and thanks for the change on Jacksonville

[BulldogsFan]

Quick update to NHL36 v1.1 is updated in the first post.

Changelist:
- Heights & weights updated for a ton of players (most of the top drafted prospects the past few years and all junior players as I go through and update the CHL)...still am not going to claim anything close to all heights and weights in the game being comprehensively accurate, but it's better now
- Fixed an issue where Jacksonville (ECHL) was listed as a primary farm team (should be secondary) for Winnipeg
- Added more of the much hyped 2001-born draft class to the WHL in preparation for the upcoming season
- Got the Demers-McGinn trade in there
- A few player updates based on early NHL training camp returns. For example, Brock Boeser being a boss, gets a bump so he should be in prime top-6 contention right away in Vancouver. I'm going to try to keep things updated to as real training camps progress, new versions of the file at least attempt to reflect risers and fallers and depth charts

Dont forget Jacksonville should be Primary for Manitoba as well not Secondary

[stone169]

It still crashes for me when I hit the 'Training Camp' button. Not too sure if it still does that in the 2nd season and beyond though.

But it is a really interesting roster pack.

[BulldogsFan]

so i just selected all Canadian leagues and NHL AHl and ECHL and it still crashes.. i went and checked all affiliates, and league structers and they are look fine not sure what i am missing.. there was no custom schedule made that might affect the team changes would it? i created the Hartford team and the Atlanta team both from scratch should i of just renamed the 2 teams i took out to fix the schedule ID numbers in case that might be the issue?

Edit: After recoping all of the files i just renamed the NHL teams and left AHl teams and ECHL teams alone and it worked fine ill just change NHL teams

[BKarchitect]

It still crashes for me when I hit the 'Training Camp' button. Not too sure if it still does that in the 2nd season and beyond though.

But it is a really interesting roster pack.

Yes I haven't be been able to fix the training camp bug yet...annoying but doesn't hurt long-term playability besides the training camp itself. I'm still working on figuring it out.

[BKarchitect]

so i just selected all Canadian leagues and NHL AHl and ECHL and it still crashes.. i went and checked all affiliates, and league structers and they are look fine not sure what i am missing.. there was no custom schedule made that might affect the team changes would it? i created the Hartford team and the Atlanta team both from scratch should i of just renamed the 2 teams i took out to fix the schedule ID numbers in case that might be the issue?

PM me a link to the db you have edited and I'll take a look at it tomorrow.

[Rono]

Can someone do new small logos for Brooklyn Islanders, Saskatchewan Whitetails, Kansas City Scouts, Seattle Kraken, Seattle Totems and Quebec Nordiques in (ex)NHL.com style, very please?

Examples:
https://abload.de/img/dallasstarsm0u98.png
https://abload.de/img/floridapanthers4fuvl.png
https://abload.de/img/st.louisblues8ru4z.png

And sorry for my bad english..

[BKarchitect]

I'll send dani the "huge" logos of all the new/custom logos for this db and I think he will generously trailer them to that style. I'll try and get those to him today.

[Rono]

Thank you very much.

BTW this database is great! Thanks!

But is true that I upgraded all retired jerseys for each NHL clubs (Selänne, Gainey, Foote, Forsberg, Lindros, Hejduk, Bure, Linden, St. Louis etc...), NY Islanders renamed to NY Bestials. Saskatchewan renamed to Saskatoon, Seattle Potems moved to Portland Potems, Kansas City Scouts renamed to Kansas City Unicorns and Quebec Nordiques renamed to Quebec Eagles. And I upgraded club colours for NHL each club.

If anyone want screen, I can upload screenshots here.

Again, sorry for my bad english.

[stone169]

Crazy thing. Not sure if I fixed the 'Training Camp' issue, but when opening up the database with the EHM Editor. I went to 'Competitions' and then to 'Transfer Rules' and changed the "Max players in squad' for ECHL from 20 to 89, and changed the 'Max veteran players in squad' from 4 to 89.

Then I loaded it up and simmed to training camp and the game didn't crash when I hit the training camp button.

Like I said, I'm not sure if this is an actual fix or not, but it seems to work. I'll do some more testing.