One type of player that has never been very valuable in previous NHL games, but now has a newfound importance, is the plug-and-play type who can move up and down your lineup without negatively impacting your chemistries. “The goal is to have unique ways of building the teams – finding players that fit the team so you can get the best out of your team,” Sumal says. As you scroll through players on the Edit Line screen, you can see the various ways a player fits or doesn’t into his current role. These modifiers affect both simmed and played games. To the right of each line, you can see how their chemistry modifies your team performance, on a scale of -5 to +5. To better surface the chemistry between players on a line, the Edit Line screen receives an overhaul in NHL 20. A scheme fit tab on the coach card shows how well each player fits the coach’s preferred strategy, so you can immediately identify players who are and aren’t a great match. One coach may prefer a Behind the Net approach for a top line, but use Overload for the second line and Crash the Net for the third and fourth. These are the same basic systems we’ve seen in past NHL games, like forecheck system, powerplay strategy, penalty-kill strategy, etc. “Having a good coach and having a coach that fits what you're trying to do is very important,” Sumal says.Įvery coach in the game has defined team tactics and line strategies that you can see by pulling up their coach card. The goal of this new system is to change the meta of how users build their teams. NHL 20 introduces a brand-new take on line chemistry dependent on finding players that fit with your coach’s tactical philosophies. The NHL series used to have a line-chemistry system based on pairing different styles of players together to optimize their performance. You’ll even see them behind the bench during games. Sumal says he saw the Vegas Golden Knights fire their coach during a losing streak, and the interim head coach led them to the Stanley Cup Finals that same year.Īs with scouts, sometimes an NHL player will retire and move into the coaching pool. It can also lead to dramatic turnarounds. Firing a coach can be a net benefit to the organization, as it resets morale for the players and staff. The GMs aren’t afraid to pull the trigger on a firing mid-season if things are dire. The CPU-controlled teams set their expectations before the start of a season, and teams will put their coach on the hot seat during losing streaks or if a team fails to live up to expectations. The game also tracks which players and coaches each coach has the best and worst chemistry with. The overall morale rating is an aggregate of four different sub-morale meters that cover team performance, management, coaching staff, and player relationships. Across both players and coaches, the morale system ditches the happy faces in favor of a more informational bar system. Unlike scouts, coaches also have concepts of morale and staff chemistry. With bench roamers now in the mix, EA added the Jack Adams trophy to the end-of-year hardware. Having a head coach with a good coach influence rating will help more XP trickle down to the staff.Ĭoaches have their own card where you can track their coaching record and see how many awards they’ve won. Coaches earn XP across all six categories as they progress through their career by winning games, winning hardware, being at the top of the league in scoring, etc. Where one may specialize in defense, another might work best with veterans, preventing them from suffering serious skill regression. Each coach has a distinct teaching specialty. These break down across six categories – offense, defense, power play, penalty kill, teaching (which helps grow or stunt prospect growth), coach influence (which helps develop staff). Like scouts, coaches have their own set of ratings. For each league, you hire a head coach, two assistants, and a goalie coach. A wide variety of coaches are generated at the start of your franchise mode (complete with character models that will be seen in-game), and you can hire and fire them at will.Įach organization has a total of eight coaches split across the NHL and AHL. EA wants to eventually incorporate them, but there are some licensing hurdles to overcome that prevented them from making it into NHL 20. Now it’s time for NHL to join the ranks of franchise modes where coaches play an integral role in the experience of running an organization.īefore breaking down how coaches affect the game, I should note that no real NHL head coaches are in the game this year.
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