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

BKarchitect · Post by **BKarchitect** » Sun Aug 19, 2018 2:05 am

Thanks! I didn’t actually go through the rules that were already in there (which were dates from like a 2013 version of TBL DB) so bound to be some inaccuracies, I’ll update this and anything else you find for the next update.

Wally_Wallcakes · Post by **Wally_Wallcakes** » Mon Sep 03, 2018 5:45 pm

I've experienced my first crash with Project NHL 36.

Using the latest update and the Great White North database, my game crashes when updating data on June 30th. To add some detail, I have the following leagues selected to 'ENHANCED':

Canada (All Jr Leagues)
Czech Tipsort Extraliga
Finish Lilga
Deutsche Eishockey Liga
Kontinental Hockey League
Slovakian Tipsort Liga
Swedish Hockey League
Swiss National League A
United States (All except SPHL and Atlantic Hockey Association)

Used the 'add extra players' as well and FULL database when starting the league. Anyone else having any issues getting beyond year one?

Thanks!

raipeh · Post by **raipeh** » Tue Sep 04, 2018 5:00 am

Wally_Wallcakes wrote: Mon Sep 03, 2018 5:45 pm I've experienced my first crash with Project NHL 36.

Using the latest update and the Great White North database, my game crashes when updating data on June 30th. To add some detail, I have the following leagues selected to 'ENHANCED':

Canada (All Jr Leagues)
Czech Tipsort Extraliga
Finish Lilga
Deutsche Eishockey Liga
Kontinental Hockey League
Slovakian Tipsort Liga
Swedish Hockey League
Swiss National League A
United States (All except SPHL and Atlantic Hockey Association)

Used the 'add extra players' as well and FULL database when starting the league. Anyone else having any issues getting beyond year one?

Thanks!

I'm running City Lights DB, and I've experienced 0 crashes so far, during several saves. My farthest save is in the 2022 offseason.

I run only NHL on Enhanced, everything else is on View Only except British Leagues which I have not selected at all. Other settings include retaining all teams, and adding all possible extra players/staff, with full DB. Teams are 'drafted' with BKarchitect's Imported Draft File.

In an other note, Nils Höglander, b. 2000 has a wrong/wonky birthplace, and Minnesota State in WCHA is misspelled as MInnesota.

As usual, great work on the database @BKarchitect, enjoying it thoroughly! <3

BKarchitect · Post by **BKarchitect** » Tue Sep 04, 2018 3:51 pm

Thanks for the error reports. Swiss, German and Slovak leagues had not been tested yet on full detail as of the last update so the crash might have to do with one of those leagues.

Next update this week will add Swiss National League, Swiss League, Swiss Elite JR A, DEL, DEL2 and DNL as cleaned up (structure, colors, logos) and fully playable leagues. I’ve gotten to 2029 so far with no crashes with all Canadian, USA, Swedish, Finish, Russian, Czech, Swiss and German leagues on fully playable with the current db testing. Bound to be some errors of course but should be pretty stable. Outside the nations I’ve highlighted, your kinda on your own still but will continue to make headway into the rest of the European nations.

Wally_Wallcakes · Post by **Wally_Wallcakes** » Tue Sep 04, 2018 8:10 pm

Thanks for all the work you've put into this project. It certainly adds such a unique and fresh way of playing EHM.

I'm going to tweak some settings and try again. I typically don't have all leagues on enhanced, so I may change that a little bit and start a new season. I start from scratch, so an empty roster to start with makes for a long season when you have a club full of past-their-prime scrubs, but it makes that follow up season all the more interesting. Hoping I get there this time around.

Thanks again!

jonathanorjas · Post by **jonathanorjas** » Fri Sep 07, 2018 3:00 pm

I have updates on SHL and HockeyAllsvenskan regarding shootouts. Both leagues will not change the rules and stay at best of 3.
When it comes J20 SuperElit I am still not sure yet, but that league will start in a weeks time so I will find out by then most likely and update you about that.

BKarchitect · Post by **BKarchitect** » Sat Sep 15, 2018 5:43 pm

NHL36/32 v7.3 Update
Update: Fixed ZIP files so that various versions of DB download correctly instead of all being the NHL36 Original (2:40PM CST)

Typical update stuff:
- Transfers across North America and major European leagues including juniors and future NCAA commits and contract extensions. Includes the Pacioretty and McQuaid deals and Seguin and Wheeler extensions and Zetterberg retirement. Plus, young player bumps from rookie camps…guys like Dillon Dube who look like surefire bets to make their NHL rosters this season. Also Brisebois taking over Yzerman in Tampa. Brampton as the Sens’ ECHL affiliate, etc, etc.
- Continued prospect addition and refining. Bunch of new top 2004-born Quebec prospects in this release and some extra young Finns. Look out for 2003-born Joshua Roy as well, he’s looking amazing IRL. Also, have begun the process of cleaning up NCAA and CHL rosters based on official 18-19 rosters (NCAA) and pre-season camps (CHL). These of course will remain in flux for a bit longer, but tons of NCAA commits have been re-classified and added back in as future commits for 2019.
- Expansion Draft import files are still included with every NHL36 & NHL32 database variant, so you can jump start or customize your own expansion team experience.

***Expansion Draft Update***
All v7.3 databases come with a slightly tweaked expansion draft. The structure of the draft has always kept players who have changed clubs this off-season with their new real club. So guys like Tatar, Tierney, Balcers have been replaced in the expansion draft so that they can suit up for their real life new clubs. This has resulted in some slight roster shifts for all the expansion teams.

***European Leagues Update***
As started with v7.2, I’ve begun overhauling European leagues to streamline the game - less leagues and teams but more updated with complete update to graphics and look (all club colors and logos for 18-19). V7.2 started with the big boys in Russia, Sweden and Finland…this v7.3 update concentrates on Central Europe. Clubs who appear in multiple leagues are simply placed in the highest league as some of the better leagues are multi-national in make-up.

ALL TEAM NAMES, COLORS & LOGOS (with logopack addition below) updated for all the leagues listed (and from previous updates) for 2018-19.

Also, I have adjusted all European leagues (and North American juniors/NCAA) to have slightly stricter roster rules…instead of being able to carry unlimited players, there are now caps on roster and contract limits, similar to the NHL and KHL. I feel in test sims this leads to less “hoarding” by certain clubs and better distribution and more movement of players. Let me know what you think.

- FINLAND UPDATE: I did update Finland to introduce promotion/demotion from Liiga to Mestis. I know this isn’t true to real life but I like the variety promotion and demotion add to the game. Structurally, there is now a relegation league at the end of the Liiga season, with the bottom 2 Liiga placers and the winners of the Mestis playoff semi-finals.

- CHAMPIONS HOCKEY LEAGUE: CHL teams (CHL licenses) updated for the 2018-19 season. Since EHM uses the old format (48 teams and not 32 – this can’t be edited), the extra 16 teams are based on the additional national entries from the old 48 team format – based on the next highest placed league/playoff finishers for respective nations from the 17-18 league seasons who aren’t actually in the 32-team 2018-19 tournament. Also, logos and branding for the tournament have been updated. The IIHF Continental Cup entrants have also been updated for 2018-19 but more on that after I get to some of the small domestic leagues in future updates. Both tournaments should function without error now.

- SWITZERLAND: National League (formerly NLA) re-branded and teams & structure updated for 2018-19 season. Swiss League (formerly NLB) structure/teams updated for 2018-19 season. There is promotion/relegation between National League and League.

- SWITZERLAND JUNIORS: Elite Junior A structure/teams updated for 2018-19 season and now is playable for the first time in NHL36. Swiss Junior B teams updated for the 2018-19 season...not playable though. There is promotion/relegation between Junior A and Junior B.

- GERMANY: DEL teams & structure updated for 2018-19 season. DEL2 teams updated for 2018-19 season. Oberliga (third tier) teams updated for 2018-19 season...not playable though. There is promotion/relegation between DEL, DEL2 and Oberliga...as with Liiga, I know this is not true to real life, but I like the idea of seeing an old heavyweight club like Hannover Scoprions (toiling in Oberliga) being able to make it back to the DEL.

- GERMANY JUNIORS: DNL teams updated for 2018-19 season and now is playable for the first time in NHL36. Also updated to reflect new U20 format (in lieu of old U19 format).

- CZECH REPUBLIC: Tipssport Extraliga teams & structure updated for 2018-19 season. Chance Liga (second tier) rebranded and structure/teams updated for 2018-19 season. There is promotion/relegation between Extraliga and Chance Liga.

- CZECH REPUBLIC JUNIORS: DHL Junior Extraliga structure/teams updated for 2018-19 season and now is playable for the first time in NHL36. Also updated to reflect new U19 format (in lieu of old U20 format). Rules adjusted as well to allow Red Bull Academy (Austria) to host both Austrian and Czech players as domestic.

- SLOVAKIA: Tipssport Liga teams & structure updated for 2018-19 season. 1HL (second tier) teams updated for 2018-19 season...not playable though. There is promotion/relegation between Liga and 1HL.

- SLOVAKIA JUNIORS: Junior Extraliga structure/teams updated for 2018-19...not playable though (yet). This league is a combination of current U20 and U18 clubs, hence the 14 teams.

- AUSTRIA: EBEL teams & structure updated for 2018-19 season. AlpsHL re-classified as an Austrian-based league (under the EBEL umbrella even though 8 teams are Italian) and teams/structure updated for 2018-19 season and playable for the first time in NHL36.

- AUSTRIAN JUNIORS: EBYSL structure/teams updated for 2018-19 season and now is playable for the first time in NHL36.

- HUNGARY: Erste Liga teams & structure updated for 2018-19 season and playable for the first time in NHL36.

- HUNGARY JUNIORS: A generic default Hungarian-based junior league/team has been added as a domestic-based place for prospects to be generated. The top real Hungarian junior clubs play in the Austrian-based EBYSL.

- ITALY: Italian Hockey League has been re-branded from Serie A2 and teams & structure updated for 2018-19 season…not playable though. The major Italian teams all play the Austrian EBEL.

- ITALIAN JUNIORS: Italian Junior League teams & structure updated for 2018-19 season…not playable though. Also updated to reflect U19 format.

- SLOVENIA: International Hockey League teams & structure updated for 2018-19 season…not playable though. The two big clubs (Olimpija & Jesenice) play in the Austrian-based AlpsHL.

- SLOVENIA JUNIORS: A generic default Slovenian-based junior league/team has been added as a domestic-based place for prospects to be generated. Jesenice Jrs play in the Austrian-based EBYSL.

- CROATIA: A generic default Slovenian-based senior league/team has been added as a domestic-based place for Croatian players. Medvescak play in the Austrian-based EBEL while four other Croatian clubs play in the Slovenian-based IHL.

- CROATIA JUNIORS: A generic default Croatian-based junior league/team has been added as a domestic-based place for prospects to be generated.

- ROMANIA: A generic default Romanian-based senior league/team has been added as a domestic-based place for Romanian players. The three big clubs (Csikszereda, Brasov, Gyergoi) play in the Hungarian-based Erste Liga.

- ROMANIAN JUNIORS: A generic default Romanian-based junior league/team has been added as a domestic-based place for prospects to be generated.

- SERBIA: A generic default Serbian-based senior league/team has been added as a domestic-based place for Serbian players. The three big clubs (Partizan, Crvena Zvezda, Vojvodina) play in the Slovenian-based IHL. Technically, Partizan doesn’t IRL but rather than leave them in a skimpy Serbian-league, I added them to the IHL.

- SERBIAN JUNIORS: A generic default Serbian-based junior league/team has been added as a domestic-based place for prospects to be generated.

- BULGARIA: Bulgarian Hockey League[/u] teams & structure updated for 2018-19 season – it’s just a 4-team league…not playable though.

- BULGARIAN JUNIORS: A generic default Serbian-based junior league/team has been added as a domestic-based place for prospects to be generated.

- JAPAN: Asia Ice Hockey League[/u] teams & structure updated for 2018-19 season – still playable as always, structure really hasn’t changed. Includes the three South Korean clubs and Sakhalin from Russia.

- JAPAN JUNIORS: Added two generic default Japanese-based youth teams – one at the high school level and one at the university level since that is the more prevalent path in the country than “juniors”.

- SOUTH KOREA: A generic default Romanian-based senior league/team has been added as a domestic-based place for Korean players. The three big clubs (Anyang, Daemyung, High1) play in the Japanese-based AIHL.

- SOUTH KOREA JUNIORS: Added two generic default Korean-based youth teams – one at the high school level and one at the university level since that is the more prevalent path in the country than “juniors”.

- CHINA: A generic default China-based senior league/team has been added as a domestic-based place for Chinese players. The main Chinese clubs play in either the KHL (Kunlun) or VHL (KRS, Tsen Tou Jilin).

- CHINESE JUNIORS: A generic default China-based junior league/team has been added as a domestic-based place for prospects to be generated. The top Chinese junior team (KRS Junior) plays in the MHL.

Will head back to Western Europe for the next update (top levels of Great Britain, France, Denmark, Norway, etc).

As always, mucho credits to dani9 for his logo superpack (while I have added a multitude of logos - many are also just re-named to work with my databases) and to the TBL crew as I used their extended European league models as a check to get my versions of some of the leagues above to be playable.

DOWNLOAD NHL36 DATABASES HERE:
Version 7.3 - Original NHL36 Expansion (September 15, 2018)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/z4ysf87gl25pi ... 3.zip?dl=0
Version 7.3 - NHL36 "Great North" (September 15, 2018)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9xhanetbbwnx5 ... 3.zip?dl=0
Version 7.3 - NHL36 "City Lights" (September 15, 2018)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/f7x09i02w3tjz ... 3.zip?dl=0
Version 7.3 - NHL36 "Wild West" (September 15, 2018)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/j14332378vowe ... 3.zip?dl=0

DOWNLOAD NHL32 DATABASE HERE:
Version 7.3 - NHL32 Seattle (September 15, 2018)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/akh3bvpnlzh4p ... 3.zip?dl=0

DOWNLOAD NHL36/32 GRAPHICS HERE:
Here are the NHL36/32 logos with the complete Russia/Sweden/Finland updates - remember download Dani9's latest logopack FIRST and then add/overwrite this set to complete the NHL36/32 logos
https://www.dropbox.com/s/brsjowy6t32h1 ... 3.zip?dl=0

Make sure you have dani9’s latest logo superpack installed FIRST, overwriting when asked when installing the NHL36/32 logopack extensions…he has both a clubs superpack and international superpack
https://www.ehmtheblueline.com/forums/v ... 80&t=18850
https://www.ehmtheblueline.com/forums/v ... 80&t=15589

BKarchitect · Post by **BKarchitect** » Sat Sep 15, 2018 5:45 pm

V7.3 Screens:

Every club and league noted above and with previous updates are updated with complete dani9-style logo graphics and refined club colors (note that I tend to use European-style naming and don’t include temporary sponsors in the club name unless it is a long-running and important identifier:

Includes many changes that seem minor but are very worthwhile for better clarity:
From:

To:

Logos adjusted for clarity on both color (standard screen) and white (in-game alternate jerseys) backgrounds:

Club names, colors and logos between senior and affiliated junior clubs will match except where the junior team has a different “brand”:

Many of the updated leagues are multi-national partnerships updated for the 18-19 season:

Updated CHL brand and contestants based on the 18-19 tournament (see comments in v7.3 release post above):

BKarchitect · Post by **BKarchitect** » Sat Sep 15, 2018 5:51 pm

A lot of times people have questions on what leagues and options they can and cannot run.

I have test simmed thru 2025 with every league on "enhanced" and every added player/staff option selected and have only had one error...a "player pointer" error in 2020 which I was able to click through and keep simming with no issues. So reliability is definitely going up, even with multiple leagues and added options selected. I cannot guarantee you will have no errors though...because it takes my poor computer so darn long to sim with every league and option of "full" - I've got to also rely on error reports from users so please keep leaving feedback especially with major crash issues.

Here are the options I had selected for testing (it was in NHL36 not NHL32 but shouldn't be any differences). Also the DNL should be fine (Germany) i just missed it on this screen grab below.

jonathanorjas · Post by **jonathanorjas** » Sun Sep 23, 2018 9:53 pm

I can confirm that Swedish J20 superelit are using best of 5 in the shootout after checking todays scores in the league.

scorndefeat · Post by **scorndefeat** » Mon Sep 24, 2018 12:56 am

BKarchitect,

1st time poster, came on to express my gratitude and appreciation for your project, truly one of the best projects this franchise has ever seen and a lot of fun.

Just had 2 quick questions regarding the latest releases:

-Has there been any efforts to add future "prospects?" As we know, the game becomes pretty bare on quality prospects past 2020; another user made a useful spreadsheet that generated future prospects. Just wondering whether you have implemented anything of that nature.

-Has there been any updates to attributes/CA/PA for NHL (or AHL & CHL) players for the 2018/19 season, or are the attributes/CA/PA values based off the TBL 10.3 2017/18 databases?

Once again, thanks for the amazing effort and looking forward to the newest release!

BKarchitect · Post by **BKarchitect** » Mon Sep 24, 2018 12:39 pm

Yes to everything, it’s a completely different db to TBL and future draft prospects have always been an emphasis...I tweak ratings on basically a weekly basis and have my own arsenal of spreadsheets I use

Just give it a try if you want - the 36 team format is obviously not real so it’s not for everyone (xECK is constantly updating his real database and I’m sure whatever TBL releases for next season will be worth the wait) but it’s definitely a fantasy format firmly grounded in reality.

Next update will include a completely updated and re-rates CHL for the 18-19 season and continued refining NHL depth charts based on training camps and preseason performances and projected rosters.

scorndefeat · Post by **scorndefeat** » Tue Sep 25, 2018 1:37 am

BKarchitect wrote: Mon Sep 24, 2018 12:39 pm Yes to everything, it’s a completely different db to TBL and future draft prospects have always been an emphasis...I tweak ratings on basically a weekly basis and have my own arsenal of spreadsheets I use

Just give it a try if you want - the 36 team format is obviously not real so it’s not for everyone (xECK is constantly updating his real database and I’m sure whatever TBL releases for next season will be worth the wait) but it’s definitely a fantasy format firmly grounded in reality.

Next update will include a completely updated and re-rates CHL for the 18-19 season and continued refining NHL depth charts based on training camps and preseason performances and projected rosters.

Thanks for your reply! I felt that there were re-ratings and changes but didn't cross-reference the TBL 10.3 file I was playing on, good to know!

I started a game a few weeks ago on the NHL36 7.1 release and have been enjoying it thoroughly. Based on what you're saying, I will have to hop in with a new game once the next release comes out. Thanks again!

BKarchitect · Post by **BKarchitect** » Sat Sep 29, 2018 5:49 pm

NHL36/32 v7.4 Update

Update Info:
Focus on this update was not the cleaning up and addition of more European leagues but rather getting the CHL (OHL, WHL, QMJHL), the USHL and NCAA updated for the 2018-19 season and beyond. v7.3 was already fairly well updated but this release of v7.4 includes completely updated and re-rated CHL roster with a couple hundred new rookies and full opening week rosters as of this release. Every USHL team has been updated for their 2018-19 start of season with full rosters, including approximately a hundred new players. All NCAA leagues have been updated with their actual 2018-19 rosters and commits who aren't in college this fall have been re-classified to future classes. Canadian Junior A teams and USA Tier II junior teams weren't specifically updated but there was a trickle-down effect from the CHL/USHL/NCAA so those leagues have also seen an influx of new players and updates.

With the CHL update comes some rule tweaks to bump the roster limits back up and more importantly, all CHL teams now have an affiliated farm team either in Junior B or (a few cases in the OHL), Junior A hockey. Actual full-time affiliations are not really the same in juniors as in the pros aside from a few cases - so where possible I used real affiliations but outside of that, the affiliated clubs are based on geographical regions and proximity. It will be quite useful though to be assured of having a place to assign players no matter who you control in the CHL though.

NHL ratings and injuries have continued to be tweaked as we head towards opening night rosters and as always, real-time tweaks of prospects through the 2022 draft with weekly input from performances. Plus as usual, transfer for major leagues around the globe and fixed the roster limits in the CHL and AHL/ECHL.

A few team brand/graphical updates this release as well so make sure to grab the logos files...for example the Orangeville Flyers are now the Cambridge Redhawks. Avangard Omsk in the KHL has been updated with new logo/branding. And the entire GOJHL (Junior B in Ottawa) has been unpacked and updated as many of those clubs serve as affiliates for OHL teams. Junior B clubs in Western and Eastern Canada remain "packed" as individual teams serving as representation for their respective leagues.

Thanks!

As always, much credit to dani9 for his logo superpack (while I have added a multitude of logos - many are also just re-named to work with my databases) and to the TBL crew as I used their extended European league models as a check to get my versions of some of the leagues above to be playable.

DOWNLOAD NHL36 DATABASES HERE:
Version 7.4 - Original NHL36 Expansion (September 29, 2018)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ndronrbijfsfq ... 4.zip?dl=0
Version 7.4 - NHL36 "Great North" (September 29, 2018)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fljgqv7lahh0f ... 4.zip?dl=0
Version 7.4 - NHL36 "City Lights" (September 29, 2018)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ve42cnb38q3za ... 4.zip?dl=0
Version 7.4 - NHL36 "Wild West" (September 29, 2018)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/85unlpq0gfohs ... 4.zip?dl=0

DOWNLOAD NHL32 DATABASE HERE:
Version 7.4 - NHL32 Seattle (September 29,2018)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/cyye6i146fdv1 ... 4.zip?dl=0
Version 7.4 - NHL32 SeattleQuebec (September 29, 2018)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/yl1ottu7cmedg ... 4.zip?dl=0

DOWNLOAD NHL36/32 GRAPHICS HERE:
Here are the NHL36/32 logos with the complete Russia/Sweden/Finland updates - remember download Dani9's latest logopack FIRST and then add/overwrite this set to complete the NHL36/32 logos
https://www.dropbox.com/s/oq0ms6pkqo8at ... 4.zip?dl=0

Make sure you have dani9’s latest logo superpack installed FIRST, overwriting when asked when installing the NHL36/32 logopack extensions…he has both a clubs superpack and international superpack
https://www.ehmtheblueline.com/forums/v ... 80&t=18850
https://www.ehmtheblueline.com/forums/v ... 80&t=15589

BKarchitect · Post by **BKarchitect** » Sat Sep 29, 2018 5:56 pm

V7.4 Screens:

Full 2018-19 rosters for ALL OHL/WHL/QMJHL/USHL teams!

Play juniors with full depth charts at your disposal - you can even try to convince some of your NCAA-committed draftees to play juniors...no guarantees though!

Craft full tactics with all real players, no need for CPU-generated fake filler players at the start

Full rosters = better game results...hundreds of new players, all rated, defined and with real DOB and birthplaces

Continued graphical tweaks for a smooth and updated experience!

GOJHL unpacked and updated to bring it inline with Junior A leagues (technically it is Junior B but a major feeder for the OHL

MGSPORTS · Post by **MGSPORTS** » Mon Oct 01, 2018 3:45 pm

Is it a Saved Game? Did you think about Geographical the NHL divisions that I'm doing with Northeast nothing changes but Buffalo to Altantic and also moved to Altantic Washington and Nashville to Southeast,moved Columbus and Detroit to Centraleast a added division but makes League uneven with north and south divisions error when start new game and moved Chicago to North. Also Central changed to Midwest. Did you think about East Coast city? Charlotte? New Orleans? Altanta? Orlando? OKC? I'm glad you picked KC.

BKarchitect · Post by **BKarchitect** » Sat Oct 13, 2018 5:24 pm

Contemplating turning NHL36 into a two-level NHL with relegation and promotion. This database has always been a "lab" for experimentation so this would be the next evolution.

NHL: 32 Teams - Seattle would start as #32 and the league setup would be similar to the base NHL32 database I update.

NHL2: 32 Teams - Would basically be the AHL re-branded, with my other NHL36 franchises (Kansas City, Houston, Portland, Quebec, Toronto Toros, Montreal Maroons, Halifax, Hartford, Saskatchewan) starting in this league along with the top AHL franchises. I might even sneak an international team or two in there, perhaps London to start.

Promotion/Relegation would be via playoff between the bottom of each of the four NHL divisions versus the winner of each of the AHL divisions (if I can get this to work with the editor options). I like this format because it would keep the regional aspect of the divisions intact (Atlantic, Metro, Central, Pacific) no matter who gets promoted or relegated. This means in NHL2, the regular season is basically everything...there would still be a Cup playoff but it would not mean anything in so far as promotion/relegation is concerned.

AHL: 32 Teams - Basically takes over as the ECHL as the third tier and is a combination of lesser AHL clubs, ECHL clubs and SPHL clubs. There is no promotion from this league. The purpose of the league would be to serve as the farm league for both divisions of the NHL. Because I don't want there to be a chance of a farm team being at the same level as the main team, each NHL and NHL2 team will feed into a single AHL club as a farm club. There will be no affiliations between NHL and NHL2 clubs.

I love promotion and relegation as a concept and as a challenge (I've already been adding it to Euro leagues that don't have it like Liiga, DEL and EIHL (haven't released the EIHL update yet) and I think letting an EHM player turning say the Hershey Bears into a Stanley Cup dynasty would rank as a pretty exciting and difficult challenge.

I'd probably keep the standard NHL32 Seattle database updated as well because that's been a popular one since it is likely to happen IRL. But this new version of NHL36 with promotion and relegation would likely replace all the varieties of NHL36 I maintain right now as it would be too time consuming to do both and the league structures will be completely different.

Would a database like this appeal to anybody else?

BKarchitect · Post by **BKarchitect** » Sun Oct 14, 2018 8:17 pm

rubbish...looks like the promotion/relegation NHL concept isn't going to work. The NHL has some specific hard-coded rules and the entire draft system causes an error as well. I was able to get teams to promote/demote but they wouldn't schedule properly and the fact is when the worst team in the league drafts Jack Hughes at #1 overall and a few weeks later are demoted, that pick can now walk as a free agent.

So my next concept which should be very "do-able" is to bring back the WHA and populate it with the expansion teams and a bunch of entirely new clubs in major markets and regions that are missing top-flight hockey. I'd position the WHA's reputation and finances just a shade under the NHL's - but enough hopefully that WHA teams could legit compete for NHL-level talent like back in the 70's.

The other thing I could do with the WHA is really play around with the rules...the WHA back in the day was something of a rebel league and I'd like to position the new version in the same manner. Maybe use the larger IIHF rinks to attract more European talent and open up space, use a 3-point system for wins, count shootout goals in a player's stats, etc.

I cannot add a WHA draft because drafts are hard-coded, which is a bummer. But I could change the minimum age for the league from 18 to say 17 or even 16 to try and see if teams may be able to sign top level phenoms like Hughes of Kakko or Lafreniere before they are selected in the NHL draft. And lift the limit on the entry level contract salary. So in theory, the WHA's Houston Aeros could sign Lafreniere this season to a big money 3-year deal and he could be playing professionally right now. When the 2020 draft rolls around, he could still be taken with the first pick in the NHL draft but that team would now have to potentially fend off his WHA team for his services and would still be limited to an NHL-standard entry level offer. Thus it would be up to the player whether to stick in the WHA for money or jump to the NHL because it is still the world's preeminent league.

This is all theory of course until I start testing but I actually think this could be quite interesting...

Zaschrona · Post by **Zaschrona** » Tue Oct 16, 2018 6:49 am

What I would ideally love to see from your great project is an enhancement of European and rest of the world leagues. I think you should try to not be totally realistic, but to make the game more fun within semi-realistic barriers. Here are some of my ideas for you:

KHL: Turning the league into a true Russian/post-Soviet area league with 24 teams while mirroring NHL with VHL and MHL franchises becoming true one to one farm teams with NHL type of rules. The league should kick away Jokerit and Slovan back to their countries and add an additional team Dinamo St. Petersburg with clear schedule system - 2 teams against all teams, 1 extra game against teams in your conference and 2 extra games vs teams in your division.

Sweden: Any chance SHL could be expanded into a 16 team league also with 16 team Allsvenskan? Sweden has enough players and great teams in game to support more playable teams than they have. More teams would make the league more fun.

Finland: Would love to see Jokerit back in Finland with a nice 16 teams system. The 2nd league could also be expanded to have 16 teams as I am missing there a well-known teams from Espoo, Hokki, FPS and Titaanit.

Germany: Also would love to see both playable competitions expanded to 16 teams - there are many teams in Oberlia worthy of being playable with teams form Hamburg, Hannover or Regensburg surely being possible great additions.

Slovakia: What about turning Tipsport Liga into a Slovakian-Hugarian-Polish version of EBEL? The league would be much better with Slovan being brought back and also with Fehervár the league would have the best Hungarian team in the league. With 2 extra Polish teams the league could be quite nice and unique system of 16 teams. Erste Liga without Vienna Capitals reserve could involve extra teams from Poland and Slovakia to create a new promotion/relegation 2nd division of the league. Romanian teams would move elsewhere.

Czechia: I suggest both divisions could be expanded to 16 teams with current Finnish system. The 2nd division is about to expand to at least 17 teams in real world, so there are going to be more teams involved in the league system in the future. Znojmo should be brought back into the 2nd division. The other two teams that should be added in are Havlíčkův Brod and Žďár nad Sázavou - these are surely the biggest teams outside of the first two leagues, they even have premier junior teams.

Austria: I would love to see EBEL having a promotion/relegation system between EBEL and Alps League. Without Znojmo and Fehervár the league would need extra teams. I see no problem moving up teams like Feldkirch, Jesenice, Olimpija, Milano, Ritten and Asiago to have 16 teams there. With the removal of reserve teams the league would have free spaces for additional teams from Austria, Slovenia, Italy, Croatia and Serbia. Below that level we could then have another division with additional teams in a non-playable league below this level with promotion/relegation to integrate teams from this area into a true league system.

Denmark-Norway: What about a joint Danish-Norwegian 16-team wide league, with teams from Iceland also possibly being in the 2nd league. It is not that realistic due to travel costs, but it would IMO be really cool to have a stronger league system than just two single small leagues.

BeNe League: Would love to see this league getting in as possibly a 2nd division to Liga Magnus with pro-rel system, possibly with additional French and Luxembourg teams and also Tilburg Trappers. Liga Magnus could also involve Spanish teams.

International Hockey League: I think it could steal the brand from Slovenian league and create a Balkan league and involve teams from Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, Georgia and Israel (a small inspiration from Adriatic basketball league where teams from Israel got invited as well).

Baltic League: Would be great to have a joint league for teams from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, also Kaliningrad from Russia or Gdansk from Poland could get involved as it is not realistic they would travel all the way to Hungary in a joint SVK/HUN/POL league.

Asian Hockey League: Would love to see Asian Hockey League being expanded with a team from North Korea and possibly Hong Kong, Taiwan or Mongolia and additional teams from China, Korea and Japan.

Great Britain: I think it would be really cool to add Irish club Dublin into the British league system and also expand both first and second division to 16 teams to use all those available teams we have after removal of lower divisions.

Mexico: I miss Mexican teams either somewhere in US system or their own league.

Super Hockey League: Based on Super Rugby League I would love to see a league with teams from South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

UAE: This could be a great place for a semi-fantasy oil-money league. Real teams there have incredible team names. Maybe could be used as a retirement league where teams would not be able to sign any players younger than 35.

In this way we would have playable teams from all IIHF countries in the world, while we would have a few more decent and interesting leagues.

And well - your idea about WHA - I am not sure I am a fan, but surely looking forward to what are the results of your testing. But right now I would surely prefer some update of NHL/AHL/ECHL rules. Would like to see NHL teams using 22 dressed players and 25 players in squad, giving more jobs to NHL defenders. Also would be nice to change ECHL into what currently is AHL - a place where you would be allowed to send a bigger number of your young players, with only a few spots open for ECHL team. The limit of contracted players as well as reserve list players should be increased to 60/90. Also what I would love would be to change schedule of World Championships in a way so they would be moved futher back in the calendar, so all NHL players with the exception of top 4 teams can take part there. Also not sure if it would work, but would love to see Olympic Games expanded to 16 teams and U20 Worlds to 12 teams. World Cup could also ideally get another format, if EHM somehow allows it.

BKarchitect · Post by **BKarchitect** » Tue Oct 16, 2018 4:35 pm

That's a lot of ideas

Certainly plenty to consider...I've already thought about making promotion/relegation between EBEL and Alps. The Slovakian-based multinational superleague is also an interesting idea, would add a bit more interest and prestige to Slovak hockey.

Testing on the WHA concept is not going well...the computer GM's are stupid. Even with NHL-level prestige and reputation and endless budget, teams still seem to just load up on minor league players but instead of playing for peanuts, they give these scrubs like $3 million contracts. I'm starting to wonder if there is something hard-coded into the game that ensures that no matter how good and rich another North American club is and how reputable another league is, that the game "forces" all the top players to always (or at least 98% of the time) sign with NHL clubs.

When I hand-build the same team I can construct a pretty good roster in the summer of '19 based on free agents but if the CPU can't manage this, it's rather pointless and there's no need for another AHL-level league in the game.

Post by **xECK29x** » Wed Oct 17, 2018 4:34 am

BKarchitect wrote: Tue Oct 16, 2018 4:35 pm Testing on the WHA concept is not going well...the computer GM's are stupid. Even with NHL-level prestige and reputation and endless budget, teams still seem to just load up on minor league players but instead of playing for peanuts, they give these scrubs like $3 million contracts.

Is this in year one of the sim (players in the free agent pool)? If so I've found the game almost treats these players as "on the market for a while", as the default start date is late in the off-season for each respective league, as such the players take short term low money deals in year one and cash in with an extension or in UFA year 2. Could also be reputation, I'm finding aligning home/current reputation with CA makes a big difference in how AI GMs treat players and their worth and vise versa.

mike01g · Post by **mike01g** » Fri Nov 16, 2018 5:10 am

Is there a new/updated expansion draft file that I can use to do the draft myself for the newest version OR what is the newest version that has that draft file available at it doesn't seem to be available from the first post on Page 1.

BKarchitect · Post by **BKarchitect** » Fri Nov 16, 2018 5:57 pm

Every updated db comes with the expansion file in the ZIP archive so you just download the latest db and you’ll have the Excel file to do the draft (or use as a template for your own).

Hopefully I’ll have an update in the next few months. Been keeping the NHL and future draft prospects very updated with 18-19 season performances so far and have done a massive clean up of free agents (eliminating old players and severely reducing ratings of aging former stars who have yet to retire). But have been too busy to keep world transactions and NCAA commits updated to the level I want so at some point I’ll catch up. Also still testing a WHA playable league as an NHL competitor league. Results so far are hit and miss - definitely playable and definitely attracting a better level of player than the AHL but not quite what I want yet.

Smirnov2Chistov · Post by **Smirnov2Chistov** » Sat Nov 17, 2018 3:49 pm

Zaschrona wrote: Tue Oct 16, 2018 6:49 am What I would ideally love to see from your great project is an enhancement of European and rest of the world leagues. I think you should try to not be totally realistic, but to make the game more fun within semi-realistic barriers. Here are some of my ideas for you: (...)

I love many of these ideas, but I think it would run into scheduling errors within the database. (There's already that one Swedish HockeyEttan issue)

The Super Hockey League (South Africa, New Zealand, Australia) would be great for developmental purposes. In my database save, I've seen players from New Zealand become AHL/International stars and it would add to the diversity of the database.

Lol, my own idea. Maybe there could be a Pacific Island League? like Macau, Solomon Islands, Fiji, Tuvalu, Palau, Cook Islands, etc.

From what I've seen so far, maybe an Iberian (Portugal/Spain) league can form? Portugal does not have a league of Ice Hockey in real life, but in EHM, I always see Portuguese prospects come up in my game. Spain has a limited league, so maybe the two could link up?

I can't see the Qatar/UAE league working (although it's a great idea!). Even when star players have no team in free agency at 35+, most won't even sign internationally because they're planning to retire. I think the best way would be to have an extremely large database [extra players included] to help kickstart that

Lucstar88 · Post by **Lucstar88** » Fri Nov 23, 2018 3:41 am

Long time lurker, but first time poster. I downloaded the 7.4 version of NHL36 and after playing about half a season I realized the NHL All-Stars game was missing, but the AHL and ECHL ones were there. Is it a glitch on my end? I searched this topic just in case but it seems it's never been mentioned.

Appreciate the work you've put into the database. It's been really fun!