EHM The Blue Line

I've noticed that Offensive Defencemen do not score as much as most other types, usually a cap of around 40ish points. Even for Karlsson.
Unrelated, but in scout reports players are 'good for' a certain amount of points, why is that there? Rookies often easily break these totals and veterans never reach theirs.

Woot? Offensive D-men are scoring too much in this game Season 1 i had Streit on 47 and MDZ on 45, Season 2 i had Streit on 61 and MDZ on 50 and Season 3 i had Brodie on 75 points...

That's odd, because I don't see that. However, for instance, I've seen Erik Johnson and Vlasic both top 60 points.

Karlsson, Gio, Brodie, Wideman, Burns, etc, regardless of save game never seem to score much at all

Overall, everyone are scoring too much in this game.

I've surpass 100 points with a d-men numerous time..
The most notable is probably Cam Fowler, who done it two seasons in a row.

I've got 70 goals+ and/or 140 points + with many forwards, many times.


Note than for my latest game, I've switched to QuickSim and the scoring dropped by a lot and is a lot more realistic.

professorscribbles wrote:
I did set it to not apply, you misunderstand me; in spite of that setting, I kept getting hired to ECHL clubs. I stopped the sim multiple times to quit my job, make sure I set applying for jobs to off, then restarted the sim.

At one point I just stopped halfway to 2020 and just quit the save because it was simming too slow thanks to the jobs bogging down the sim speed.

I am sorry for misunderstanding. It sounds broken then, annoyingly so

professorscribbles wrote:

pjfoster13 wrote:

professorscribbles wrote: Unrelated, my only problem with the simulation is that I can't figure out if there's a way to NOT apply for any jobs while vacationing. I'm trying to leap 5 years ahead in the save and ECHL teams keep hiring me. I'm just going to add a new manager once I get to 2020 anyway, but I'm sure having a job is slowing it down.

One of the vacation settings is "Apply to Higher Reputation clubs". Setting that to No should keep you out of ECHL or anywhere.

You also have the option of either vacationing as unemployed, or assigning yourself to a team (NHL or otherwise) and going into the game's master Preferences and enabling "User GM cannot be sacked". That might actually be a new function because I don't remember seeing that in the past.

I did set it to not apply, you misunderstand me; in spite of that setting, I kept getting hired to ECHL clubs. I stopped the sim multiple times to quit my job, make sure I set applying for jobs to off, then restarted the sim.

At one point I just stopped halfway to 2020 and just quit the save because it was simming too slow thanks to the jobs bogging down the sim speed.

You won't apply for jobs but it won't stop you from accepting a job offered to you. Way around that is to set your reputation as something like a rec level player from Thailand or another "non-hockey" market nation.

sluice wrote:Overall, everyone are scoring too much in this game.

I've surpass 100 points with a d-men numerous time..
The most notable is probably Cam Fowler, who done it two seasons in a row.

I've got 70 goals+ and/or 140 points + with many forwards, many times.


Note than for my latest game, I've switched to QuickSim and the scoring dropped by a lot and is a lot more realistic.

really wondering what your tactical settings are then ?

I´ve played a total of 3 seasons so far (with 2 different teams) and the highest scoring d-man on my respective teams scored between 25-30 points.

Duranium wrote:really wondering what your tactical settings are then ?
I´ve played a total of 3 seasons so far (with 2 different teams) and the highest scoring d-man on my respective teams scored between 25-30 points.

The current TBL Challenge (using EHM:EA and the Philadelphia Flyers) has many examples of D with more than 30 points in a season

In the current Challenge, from the screenshots posted thus far, the lowest total for a Flyer top scoring D in a season was 37 points http://www.ehmtheblueline.com/forums/vi ... &start=450


top D scorer for the season (from the current TBL Challenge)
- Batdad 41 points
- Batdad 44 points
- Peter_Doherty 75 points
- sao.phim 64 points
- braeden 44 points
- Peter_Doherty 61 points
- geckon 37 points
- Peter_Doherty 47 points

There's a Thread where all the Challenge Discussion goes, and sometimes people talk about their tactics within (I know there's some great tips from Batdad in the current Challenge Thread) http://www.ehmtheblueline.com/forums/vi ... 20&t=13585

And of course there's the Even Strength Tactics Thread http://www.ehmtheblueline.com/forums/vi ... =17&t=4331 and the Special Teams Tactics Thread http://www.ehmtheblueline.com/forums/vi ... =17&t=3624

So I'm trying to set up my neutral zone tactics... and I'm showing movement on the rink....

the players don't adjust to my changes in the movement picture in the tactics screen. and the settings never stay.

Ever since the last update CHL scoring numbers have been way too low in my opinion. In my latest save Mcdavid only had 30 points and no draft eligible player had more than 60.

Is there any way to increase the scoring in the CHL to more accurately represent current trends?

Are you running the tactics or do you have it set for head coach to run the games. Check your GM settings.

Umm, my coach was just AI fired without warning. Two months into my season as the Sabres, Ted Nolan was fired despite the team playing .500 hockey. Is that not my decision to make? Is there a preference to keep your coach from getting fired automatically?

Another problem I've been having is signing players in lower leagues. While controlling the Rochester Americans, I offered a contract to a defenseman in the ECHL and he declined because he just joined his new team (even though he was in his 2nd season with said ECHL team). I didn't low-ball him or anything. ECHL players apparently prefer to stay in the ECHL. To remedy this, I had the Sabres offer him a contract (I prefer to control the NHL team and their affiliate) and he accepted it, except the transfer wouldn't go trough until the off-season. No teams owned his pro or junior rights. He was just a 22-year old defenseman playing in the ECHL, and the AI was going to make sure he stayed there.

Well I havent seen much in the way of scoring BUT I have noticed defenders inability to clear puck out of the d zone with more than one minute to go in the 3rd period... A LOT of goals are socred on stupid turnovers

Tired D? Overplaying some guys? Tired forwards not getting back due to being overplayed? Had this problem in 2007 and that was what solved it for alot of people. I am not seeing that in my game. The comebacks in the last 5 minutes of games are much fewer than I saw in the past version of the game.


It is amazing to me how many people think that it is the game's fault that they are losing, when quite often it can be explained by other things. Not saying that this is the case here, just saying that I see it alot.

Try some things out folks, like maybe not playing your dmen 30 minutes, 20 minutes 10 minutes per pair and your forwards not 30 min, 18 min, 2 min and zero min.

bleedingicon wrote:Umm, my coach was just AI fired without warning. Two months into my season as the Sabres, Ted Nolan was fired despite the team playing .500 hockey. Is that not my decision to make? Is there a preference to keep your coach from getting fired automatically?

Another problem I've been having is signing players in lower leagues. While controlling the Rochester Americans, I offered a contract to a defenseman in the ECHL and he declined because he just joined his new team (even though he was in his 2nd season with said ECHL team). I didn't low-ball him or anything. ECHL players apparently prefer to stay in the ECHL. To remedy this, I had the Sabres offer him a contract (I prefer to control the NHL team and their affiliate) and he accepted it, except the transfer wouldn't go trough until the off-season. No teams owned his pro or junior rights. He was just a 22-year old defenseman playing in the ECHL, and the AI was going to make sure he stayed there.

I've definitely had mine auto-fired too.... kind of annoying because he was a very good coach.... and my team was at .500....

zyberianwarrior wrote:Well I havent seen much in the way of scoring BUT I have noticed defenders inability to clear puck out of the d zone with more than one minute to go in the 3rd period... A LOT of goals are socred on stupid turnovers

Isn't that kinda very true to real life hockey?

I'm in the summer before the 2021-22 season and I've noticed that a huge percentage of the prospects for the next draft and beyond are listed as "injury prone" to some degree. I've thought since playing early access that the percentage of Russian players who are injury prone is too high, but now it has spread to everyone, regardless of nationality. I'm not sure how to ballpark a percentage of prospects this is happening to, but it is very, very high. It seems like it has possibly changed since the last update, but I'm not sure about that. It is a big problem for me because that is the one thing that turns me off a prospect more than anything else, and with the number of them being so high, there's no way to tell how it will pan out as they grow.

Having said that, I am loving the game to death, just like I did back in 2002

I've been playing a lot using a 2007 DB and have noticed the same things coming up (this is on full sim):

As has been mentioned defensemen are shooting way too much. Hitting is also way off. These appear to be known issues so I won't go into them much.

Larger/More Defensive defensemen are simply terrible in this game. Here is a sample of about 25 guys and their numbers (keep in mind this is a 2007 DB so guys like Foote, Witt, Hamrlik and Blake were all very good players back then). Bigger guys like Blake and Pronger still produce pretty well offensively but their average ratings are terrible compared to the first list. These stats were taken from the 2006-07 season and the players CA's are based on their CA going into the season from the pre game editor. In my 2014-15 season I noticed the same thing, the likes of Chara and Weber vastly under-perform every year.

More offensive minded/smaller defensemen:

[table][tr][th]Name[/th] [th]GP[/th] [th]G[/th] [th]A[/th] [th]P[/th] [th]+/-[/th] [th]PIM[/th] [th]HT[/th] [th]GA[/th] [th]TA[/th] [th]SB[/th] [th]Av R[/th] [th]CA[/th] [th]Off Role[/th] [th]Def Role[/th] [th]Height[/th] [th]Weight[/th][/tr]
[tr][td]Scott Niedermayer[/td] [td]82[/td] [td]17[/td] [td]57[/td] [td]74[/td] [td]34[/td] [td]38[/td] [td]28[/td] [td]74[/td] [td]76[/td] [td]91[/td] [td]8.06[/td] [td]184[/td] [td]16[/td] [td]14[/td] [td]185[/td] [td]90[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Nicklas Lidström[/td] [td]82[/td] [td]14[/td] [td]47[/td] [td]61[/td] [td]12[/td] [td]12[/td] [td]34[/td] [td]68[/td] [td]118[/td] [td]98[/td] [td]7.87[/td] [td]200[/td] [td]16[/td] [td]16[/td] [td]187[/td] [td]86[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Andrej Meszaros[/td] [td]82[/td] [td]16[/td] [td]52[/td] [td]68[/td] [td]30[/td] [td]32[/td] [td]72[/td] [td]57[/td] [td]54[/td] [td]94[/td] [td]7.59[/td] [td]145[/td] [td]14[/td] [td]14[/td] [td]188[/td] [td]99[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Paul Martin[/td] [td]77[/td] [td]14[/td] [td]46[/td] [td]60[/td] [td]35[/td] [td]22[/td] [td]31[/td] [td]34[/td] [td]28[/td] [td]54[/td] [td]7.58[/td] [td]140[/td] [td]14[/td] [td]15[/td] [td]187[/td] [td]88[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Kimmo Timonen[/td] [td]82[/td] [td]18[/td] [td]45[/td] [td]63[/td] [td]15[/td] [td]18[/td] [td]33[/td] [td]70[/td] [td]43[/td] [td]118[/td] [td]7.55[/td] [td]163[/td] [td]16[/td] [td]14[/td] [td]177[/td] [td]88[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Marek Zidlicky[/td] [td]78[/td] [td]15[/td] [td]43[/td] [td]58[/td] [td]20[/td] [td]38[/td] [td]32[/td] [td]39[/td] [td]11[/td] [td]73[/td] [td]7.53[/td] [td]153[/td] [td]17[/td] [td]11[/td] [td]180[/td] [td]84[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Steve McCarthy[/td] [td]68[/td] [td]12[/td] [td]35[/td] [td]47[/td] [td]-4[/td] [td]30[/td] [td]25[/td] [td]27[/td] [td]13[/td] [td]34[/td] [td]7.25[/td] [td]130[/td] [td]14[/td] [td]11[/td] [td]185[/td] [td]89[/td][/tr][/table]

Larger/More Defensive minded players:

[table][tr][th]Name[/th] [th]GP[/th] [th]G[/th] [th]A[/th] [th]P[/th] [th]+/-[/th] [th]PIM[/th] [th]HT[/th] [th]GA[/th] [th]TA[/th] [th]SB[/th] [th]Av R[/th] [th]CA[/th] [th]Off Role[/th] [th]Def Role[/th] [th]Height[/th] [th]Weight[/th][/tr]
[tr][td]Rob Blake[/td] [td]82[/td] [td]13[/td] [td]42[/td] [td]55[/td] [td]24[/td] [td]94[/td] [td]70[/td] [td]80[/td] [td]67[/td] [td]115[/td] [td]7.12[/td] [td]162[/td] [td]15[/td] [td]19[/td] [td]193[/td] [td]102[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Chris Pronger[/td] [td]82[/td] [td]14[/td] [td]51[/td] [td]65[/td] [td]14[/td] [td]58[/td] [td]52[/td] [td]64[/td] [td]115[/td] [td]102[/td] [td]7.1[/td] [td]180[/td] [td]13[/td] [td]18[/td] [td]198[/td] [td]99[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Dion Phaneuf[/td] [td]78[/td] [td]12[/td] [td]39[/td] [td]51[/td] [td]12[/td] [td]107[/td] [td]64[/td] [td]45[/td] [td]15[/td] [td]80[/td] [td]7.06[/td] [td]155[/td] [td]17[/td] [td]13[/td] [td]190[/td] [td]94[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Roman Hamrlik[/td] [td]82[/td] [td]11[/td] [td]37[/td] [td]48[/td] [td]9[/td] [td]80[/td] [td]54[/td] [td]53[/td] [td]69[/td] [td]100[/td] [td]7.01[/td] [td]156[/td] [td]14[/td] [td]13[/td] [td]187[/td] [td]95[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Zdeno Chara[/td] [td]82[/td] [td]15[/td] [td]30[/td] [td]45[/td] [td]12[/td] [td]54[/td] [td]62[/td] [td]56[/td] [td]92[/td] [td]136[/td] [td]6.91[/td] [td]170[/td] [td]14[/td] [td]19[/td] [td]206[/td] [td]117[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Francois Beauchemin[/td] [td]82[/td] [td]9[/td] [td]34[/td] [td]43[/td] [td]47[/td] [td]87[/td] [td]46[/td] [td]60[/td] [td]81[/td] [td]100[/td] [td]6.84[/td] [td]145[/td] [td]10[/td] [td]16[/td] [td]182[/td] [td]97[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Bryan McCabe[/td] [td]81[/td] [td]9[/td] [td]35[/td] [td]44[/td] [td]-2[/td] [td]63[/td] [td]56[/td] [td]61[/td] [td]27[/td] [td]72[/td] [td]6.78[/td] [td]158[/td] [td]16[/td] [td]13[/td] [td]187[/td] [td]99[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Sheldon Souray[/td] [td]75[/td] [td]11[/td] [td]31[/td] [td]42[/td] [td]13[/td] [td]122[/td] [td]56[/td] [td]45[/td] [td]52[/td] [td]94[/td] [td]6.76[/td] [td]163[/td] [td]15[/td] [td]15[/td] [td]193[/td] [td]102[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Chris Phillips[/td] [td]82[/td] [td]3[/td] [td]15[/td] [td]18[/td] [td]4[/td] [td]33[/td] [td]48[/td] [td]56[/td] [td]79[/td] [td]95[/td] [td]6.7[/td] [td]145[/td] [td]8[/td] [td]17[/td] [td]190[/td] [td]97[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Scott Hannan[/td] [td]82[/td] [td]9[/td] [td]33[/td] [td]42[/td] [td]-6[/td] [td]96[/td] [td]70[/td] [td]102[/td] [td]88[/td] [td]102[/td] [td]6.67[/td] [td]150[/td] [td]9[/td] [td]19[/td] [td]187[/td] [td]104[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Ed Jovanovski[/td] [td]81[/td] [td]13[/td] [td]23[/td] [td]36[/td] [td]-35[/td] [td]81[/td] [td]81[/td] [td]94[/td] [td]31[/td] [td]105[/td] [td]6.67[/td] [td]162[/td] [td]15[/td] [td]10[/td] [td]187[/td] [td]95[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Robyn Regehr[/td] [td]82[/td] [td]7[/td] [td]23[/td] [td]30[/td] [td]4[/td] [td]49[/td] [td]61[/td] [td]65[/td] [td]90[/td] [td]111[/td] [td]6.59[/td] [td]150[/td] [td]10[/td] [td]18[/td] [td]187[/td] [td]102[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Colin White[/td] [td]82[/td] [td]5[/td] [td]19[/td] [td]24[/td] [td]14[/td] [td]131[/td] [td]43[/td] [td]69[/td] [td]67[/td] [td]82[/td] [td]6.57[/td] [td]150[/td] [td]8[/td] [td]19[/td] [td]193[/td] [td]97[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Adrian Aucoin[/td] [td]73[/td] [td]7[/td] [td]26[/td] [td]33[/td] [td]-17[/td] [td]43[/td] [td]58[/td] [td]71[/td] [td]46[/td] [td]98[/td] [td]6.55[/td] [td]150[/td] [td]12[/td] [td]14[/td] [td]187[/td] [td]95[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Mattias Norström[/td] [td]82[/td] [td]5[/td] [td]31[/td] [td]36[/td] [td]3[/td] [td]22[/td] [td]50[/td] [td]69[/td] [td]95[/td] [td]118[/td] [td]6.54[/td] [td]140[/td] [td]9[/td] [td]19[/td] [td]187[/td] [td]99[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Adam Foote[/td] [td]73[/td] [td]5[/td] [td]9[/td] [td]14[/td] [td]8[/td] [td]110[/td] [td]43[/td] [td]66[/td] [td]62[/td] [td]99[/td] [td]6.18[/td] [td]154[/td] [td]10[/td] [td]20[/td] [td]187[/td] [td]101[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Brendan Witt[/td] [td]74[/td] [td]2[/td] [td]8[/td] [td]10[/td] [td]-22[/td] [td]95[/td] [td]59[/td] [td]79[/td] [td]83[/td] [td]115[/td] [td]6.16[/td] [td]148[/td] [td]5[/td] [td]18[/td] [td]187[/td] [td]104[/td][/tr][/table]

That is a flaw that's really preventing me from enjoying the game. I find myself avoiding defensive defensemen at all costs because I know they're going to be terrible. Yet the AI values players on their CA, PA and reputation compared with their performance.

Another issue is wingers dominating the scoring. In the past 4 years I've simulated wingers have made up 17/20 of the top point getters in year one, 18/20 of the top point getters in year 2, 15/20 of the top point getters in year 3 and 19/20 of the top point getters in year 4. In real life wingers normally score more goals but centremen generally make up well over 50% of the top scorers league wide. Thornton and Crosby barely crack a PPG but guys like Satan and D.Sedin have eclipsed the 100 point mark with relative ease.

The other thing is that it's too easy to extend players contracts for below market values. Players only seem to want short 1-2 year deals and what they ask for reflects their reputation more than anything. Contracts should be based on stats, potential, age and injury history, not on reputation. If a player on my team leads the league in scoring, I want to see that reflected in negotiations by them asking for huge term and a high cap hit. Even the top UFAs generally only demand 3-5 year deals when IRL they're getting 5-7 year deals every year.

I really hope the defenseman issue is looked at. That's the one thing that is stopping me from getting really stuck into this game and playing it like I played EHM 2007. The other issues need looking at but not to the same extent IMO.

I'll try and post this in the SI forums if I can work out how to insert tables so I can post the numbers. If not I'll just hope someone from SI sees the post here.

I think the low hitting totals may be affecting player ratings. Used to be that big strong guys quite often had way too high ratings and small skilled guys too low. Now its almost been flipped. I wouldn't mind seeing it somewhere in the middle. Size still is a large factor all else being similar.

Quite possibly Cee Bee. Weber is constantly getting bad feedback in my game and the Preds are dead last for the last two seasons. Also thinking that these big boys at least in Weber case should be shooting more than they are which is funny considering so much of the dmen are shooting way to high amounts. I have been trying to deal with Weber to see if Ican get him performing, but Nashville is still in love with him even though not playing well.

My team is randomly picking up players from the waiver wire that I definitely did not claim. Now I'm stuck with Alex Burrows' and Alec Martinez's contracts. Which brings me to another problem: the Kings waived Alec Martinez?! In 2015? Very good and even great players with large contracts are too often put on the trade block or flat out waived. This has happened with Martinez, Patrick Kane, Hossa, Bergeron, and others. I could understand this happening in the future, but I'm in the 2015-16 season.

when you start out...

your training camp and all that, does the game just assign random players to training camp or can you pick them?

nevermind I see the option inscouting.. sorry

defensive defencemen (in 15.2b with TBL 7.3 rosters) are absurdly strong in my game. weber was putting up a 9.05 rating at 42 years old and singlehandedly carrying the preds to the playoffs. any defenceman with more hitting than passing or shooting immediately gets used as the shuttiest down guy of all time, takes like one shot on goal a season and puts up an 8.5 rating



this guy is a garbage can! he's being paid 1m a year and i think his stats were like hitting 20, checking 19, everything else 0

i wonder whats causing such a huge difference in games? thats two points in 303 games, lol

Never seen anything like that, in all my saves the big shut down guys are all under 7 AvR, the pretty good ones usually around 6.50 the stud ones closer to 7.