EHM The Blue Line

So since I'm on an 8 hour watch(yay Navy) babysitting newbies and I have my computer I figured now would be the time to post all about my Test Sim to 2035 just to show how the game handles the LOOOOOONG games some of us like to partake in. I only had the NHL active and I don't have interwebs on my laptop(Have to pay for it in the barracks...screw that) so it'll be written out. Feel free to ask questions. I've already posted in the funny/strange screenshots about how Sidney Crosby signed with the Flyers in the 2024 season and that late rounders can turn into elite players and solid players.

So without further adieu......we'll start with the Stanley Cup Champs for the past 20 years.

2014-15 - Chicago Blackhawks over Montreal Candiens
2015-16 - Washington Capitals over Anaheim Ducks
2016-17 - Tampa Bay Lightning over Dallas Stars
2017-18 - Montreal Canadiens over Los Angeles Kings (Canada's drought is over)
2018-19 - Tampa Bay Lightning over Colorado Avalanche
2019-20 - Boston Bruins over Dallas Stars
2020-21 - Nashville Predators over Carolina Hurricanes
2021-22 - Calgary Flames over Montreal Canadiens
2022-23 - Columbus BlueJackets over Dallas Stars
2023-24 - Chicago Blackhawks over Detroit Red Wings(Original 6 matchup the NHL is drooling over)
2024-25 - Arizona Coyotes over Philadelphia Flyers(Craig Berube coached Coyotes led by McDavid knock off the Crosby/Price/Kane Flyers)
2025-26 - Calgary Flames over Detroit Red Wings
2026-27 - Carolina Hurricanes over Calgary Flames
2027-28 - New York Rangers over Calgary Flames(3 straight appearances)
2028-29 - Arizona Coyotes over Pittsburgh Penguins
2029-30 - Buffalo Sabres over Arizona Coyotes (Eichel vs McDavid 1)
2030-31 - Arizona Coyotes over Montreal Canadiens
2031-32 - Arizona Coyotes over Buffalo Sabres (Eichel vs McDavid 2)(Coyotes had won the previous 5 President Trophies)
2032-33 - Minnesota Wild over Montreal Candiens
2033-34 - Montreal Candiens over Minnesota Wild
2034-35 - New Jersey Devils over Minnesota Wild(Swept led by what looks to be a Lundqvist regen and Roberto Parent)

Teams without Cups: Florida, San Jose, St. Louis, Vancouver, Winnipeg
Slumps: Toronto(1967), Flyers(1975), Colorado(2001), Dallas(1999), Oilers(1990), Islanders(1983), Ottawa(1927, technically)


Some notable Records that either were broken or almost broken
Career Games Played: Gordie Howe(1767) with Alex Galchenyuk breathing down his back(1757, Age 41) along with MacKinnon(1728) and Monahan(1720)
Career Goals Scored: Wayne Gretzky still holds the record with 894, but Patrick Kane(848) came close while Valery Nichushkin(838) is the leader for active players(Age 40). Jeff Skinner(824) pasted Gordie Howe, while Alex Ovechkin failed to hit 800(781)
Career Assists: Not even close. Gretzky's 1963 assists will never be touched. McDavid is the closest with 1193
Career Points: Crosby came close to passing Gordie Howe(1821 to Mr. Hockey's 1850) while McDavid is the active leader w/ 1740

Goalie records for wins were never put in, so John Gibson owns the Goalie Wins record with 660(Varlamov had 659)


Hall of Fame
All the typical current players you would expect are in there with quite a few surprises like
Mike Ribeiro
Olli Jokinen
Jake Muzzin
Jeremy Morin
Blake Wheeler
Brandon Saad
Adam Henrique
Nail Takupov
Tyler Ennis
Nino Niederreiter
Marcus Johansson
Mikkel Bodker
Mark Stone
Tyler Johnson

Players That Have Had Careers After Retiring, as far as Hall of Famers

Alexander Ovechkin: Was hired in 2025 as Dynamo Balashikha's Assistant GM and became Slovakia's GM in 2026, leading them to a Third Place finish in the 2031 WC. Fired in 2034 and hired as Russia's GM months later, led them to a 3rd place finish in 2035 World Championship before being fired. Currently Unemployed(Pretty average stats, w/ 17 in Adaptability and 18 in Determination)

Eric Staal: Became the Blue Jackets Head coach in 2027, leading them to the playoffs in 2029, 30, 31, 32, and 33 before being fired. Currently Unemployed(Very good stats for a coach w/ 17 in Teaching Forwards, Adaptability and an 18 in Motivating)

Ryan Getzlaf: Hired as Ottawa's Head Coach in 2027, Fired the next season. Currently an Assistant Coach for the LA Kings

Vladimir Tarasenko: Never Hired(age 43) very poor Attributes

Maxim Lazarev: Very poor Attributes(Put up 1232 Points in 1272 Games)

Oliver Ekman-Larsson: 12/13 in Judging Ability and Potential, but unemployed

Nikita Kucherov: 12/12 in JA and JP, Unemployed

Jakub Vrana: Will be a great scout 17/17, Unemployed

Joe Pavelski: Hired in 2025 as Head Coach of Montreal Canadiens, Runner Up for Jack Adams in 2029 before being fired the following November. Became the Islanders Head coach in Feb of 2031, fired March 2032. Currently Capitals Assistant Coach. (20s in JA/JP, but doesn't have high ratings in the Coaching positions. 17s in Man Management and Motivating and a 19 in Coaching Youngsters)

Loui Eriksson: Unemployed, but 12-15s in most attributes

Oliver Bjorkstrand: Unemployed, but average coaching ratings plus 19s in MM and Motivating, 17 in Coaching Youngters

Pavel Datsyuk: Currently Assistant Coach for Dynamo Moscow, but terrible coaching rating

Tyler Ennis: Hired as Montreal's Head Coach after Pavelski was fired, led the Canadiens to two Stanley Cups(2031 and 2034) and three appearances(2031, 2033, 2034). Was Runner up for Jack Adams in 2031 and 2033, but won it in 2034. naff Technical skills(18s in JA/JP) but solid Mental Attributes.

Jonathan Huberdeau: Was hired as Head Coach for San Jose in 2030 and fired the following October....How he was even considered is beyond me. Here are his attributes; Goalie - 1, Defense - 3, Forwards -2, JA-3, JP-6, Tactical-2, Adapt-13, Determination-14, Discipline-2, Management-4, Motivating-5, Youngsters-3

John Carlson: Hired as Head coach for the Ducks in 2031, Fired in 2033. Currently Head coach of the Indy Fuel(ECHL). Pretty Average ratings, nothing to write home about.

Ryan McDonagh: Hired as Sharks Assistant Coach in 2031, Average ratings

Jay Bouwmeester: Hired as Assistant Coach for New Jersey in 2026, still there. Iffy Technical(18/17 in JP/JA) but solid Mental attributes

Teuvo Teravainen: Unemployed at the age of 40, but 17/18 in JP/JA w/ Average Mental.

Ilya Kovalchuk: Hired by Lada as Assistant Coach in 2021, before signing on as Altai's Assistant Coach in 2030.. Should be an NHL Coach. Besides Coaching goalies(6) his other technical attributes are solid, while his Mentals are all over 15(besides working with youngsters)

Sergei Gonchar: Assistant Coach for Vasteras(2016), Head Coach for Orenburg(2018), Assistant GM for Lokomotiv Yaroslavi -2(2020) and currently is the Assistant Coach for Crystall elektostal(Russian Pervaya Liga) and has been since 2022. Dude should be a GM. 20s in JP/JA, Man Management, Motivation and Youngsters and every stat but Tactical(4), Physio(8) and Goalie(12) being over 14

Brent Burns: Hired as Bruins HC in 2028 before being fired in 2029. Currently Assistant Coach for the Oilers, but has exceptional attributes and should be a good coach

Ryan Murphy: Currently a Scout for Calgary(17/17) and has been since 2032

Andre Markov: Currently Lokomotiv Yaroslavi's Assistant GM(Since 2029) though attributes are nothing spectacular

Darcy Kuemper: Was head coach for San Jose from 2031 to 2033, but is now a scout for Carolina Average all-around attributes

Ben Bishop: Head Coach for Lighning(2027-2028), Solar Bears(2028-2029), Lightning(2029-30). Currently Assistant Coach for the Calgary Flames. 16 in Goalie Coaching, and solid Mental attributes.

Henrik Lundqvist: Unemployed but 18/18 in JA/JP with 17s in Adapt, Determination, Man Management, and Motivating.

Other notable Players turned Staff

Matt Cullen is GM of the Wild since 2033
Paul Ranger is Ass GM for the Blues
Cory Stillman is a Scout for the Blues
Jeff Halpern is A.Coach for Nucks
Todd Marchant is the Director of Personnel in Anaheim
Stu Barnes is Director of Personnel in Dallas
Eric Lindros is GM of the Oilers
Garth Snow is GM of the Kings
Adam Graves is Director of Personnel in New York(Rangers)
Dan Bylsma is a Scout for the Senators
Dustin Tokarski is the Flyers Head Coach
Mike Ricci is an A.Coach for the Flyers
Scott Niedermayer is a Scout for the Pens(20/20)
Bill Guerin is DOP for the Penguins(Who have three DOPs)
Craig Anderson is A.GM for the Lightning
Chris Osgood is A.Coach for the Lightning
Martin Brodeur is Head Scout for the Capitals
Joffery Lupul is A.Coach for the Bruins
Rod Brind'Amour is a Scout for the Bruins(Should be a GM)
Ian Laperrier is also a sout(Should also be a GM or Head Coach)
David Booth is A.Coach of the Hurricanes
Chris Chelios and Jiri Fischer are DOPs for the Red Wings
Mark Scheifele and Chris Philips are Assistant Coaches for the Wings
John Madden is A. Coach for the Panthers
Doug Weight and Donald Audette are Scouts for the Canadiens
Adrian Aucoin is an A.Coach for the the Canadiens

nice job!

Can you check how was Kopitar doing and if its possible if there was any other Slovenian ever playing in NHL or was drafted.

Interesting. Is it appearing in your game as though players are hanging on too long and not retiring early enough? From the record chasing there of some of the guys (Galchenyuk Mackinnon Monahan etc) it appears that it is possible that this has not been completely fixed? Too many guys hanging on into 40s? 99% are retired by age 38.

Yeah, that looks like a real problem... Most forwards should retire around 35 rather then 40 and defenders at like 37ish...

What are the odds that this could be due to the "Natural Fitness" attribute in the db? I know that it is understood mostly to mean game to game ability to recover, but maybe there's more to it?

It would be interesting to set all to 0 in the db(randomize) and see if it's still a recurring issue.

Kopi wrote:

nice job!

Can you check how was Kopitar doing and if its possible if there was any other Slovenian ever playing in NHL or was drafted.

Kopitar retired in 2026, finished with 1301 Points in 1453 games.

Slovenia was relegated back into Div 1 in 2031, but currently have 5 players in the NHL including Bostjan Poloncic who was the 2nd overall pick in 2029(202 points in 204 games but appears to be quite injury prone)

batdad wrote:Interesting. Is it appearing in your game as though players are hanging on too long and not retiring early enough? From the record chasing there of some of the guys (Galchenyuk Mackinnon Monahan etc) it appears that it is possible that this has not been completely fixed? Too many guys hanging on into 40s? 99% are retired by age 38.

Yeah did a quick lol at the rosters and there are a TON of 37+ players. Some have degraded as far as physical attributes are concerned, but there are still quite a few that are still skating like the wind. I.e Kale Clague is 37, but atill has 17+ on all physical attributes but Jonathan Drouin is 41 and has very average physical stats

nickflyers wrote:

Kopi wrote:

nice job!

Can you check how was Kopitar doing and if its possible if there was any other Slovenian ever playing in NHL or was drafted.

Kopitar retired in 2026, finished with 1301 Points in 1453 games.

Slovenia was relegated back into Div 1 in 2031, but currently have 5 players in the NHL including Bostjan Poloncic who was the 2nd overall pick in 2029(202 points in 204 games but appears to be quite injury prone)

Thanks for the info.

Thanks for the info. Good to see a lot of NHLers becoming staff.

(Quick side-question: Do NHLers who continue on as staff get regens too? Or not until they retire as staff?)

Very interesting !

Was there in your game any surprises on the international level, like deep run in the Olympics by a small team, or surprising WC medalists?

I'd like to know if some teams improved over the years, despite being a minor hockey nation in 2015.

You mean to tell me the Flyers are 60 years without a cup?

@zbguy: Yeah it is pretty cool to see. Some become great...others not so much(Huberdeau)

@Doomski: Actulyy going to check later tonight. It crossed my mind while I was looking at Slovenia, but then I closed out EHM.

@Harper

Hmm... this one should be reported on the si site. I cannot get in but they really need to know guys are still hanging on too long. I Believe it is something they thought they had fixed from 2007

batdad wrote:Hmm... this one should be reported on the si site. I cannot get in but they really need to know guys are still hanging on too long. I Believe it is something they thought they had fixed from 2007

I can't get on at work(some gaming sites work some don't, but I'll post this on SI later today or tomorrow

batdad wrote:the si site. I cannot get in

Neither could I (forgotten password, and all efforts to get password sent to me didn't work), so I had to put a dash in my user name and reregister using my wife's email address

Hah. I just forgot my password for a bit. good now. But his discovery...so he should post it.

batdad wrote:his discovery...so he should post it.

Yep!

nino33 wrote:

batdad wrote:his discovery...so he should post it.

Yep!

Tweeted Riz since I can't get my login to for SI to work and the email to reset is taking FOREVER

So I simmed to the start of the 2041 season and there are now only about 8 NHLers that are over the age of 37. Seems to have calmed down, but Gordie Howe's record was shattered multiple times over. McDavid had 1978 points.

Curious if it has to do with the DB...... (Maybe not. Checking the EHM07 DB and McDavid's Natural Fitness is only 14 and Kale Clague's is only a 12 so it's not tied to Natural Fitness.) I'll sim two more seasons and report back to see if there is another increase in 40+ year olds.


As far as the International stage, no real big surprises. An Italian was drafted 1st overall and the Italians made it to the World Championship with the big boys, but again I only have the NHL.

2035-36 - New Jersey over Minnesota
2036-37 - Arizona over Buffalo
2037-38 - Colorado over Tampa Bay
2038-39 - San Jose over New Jersey (1st CUP EVER FOR SAN JOSE!)
2039-40 - Montreal over Vancouver
2040-41 - Capitals over Vancouver

Ok so the ton of players over 38 still playing has leveled out since the 2015-2017 draft class retired. Only one 39 year old and two 38 year olds and three 37 year olds are still active in the NHL as of September 1st 2043

Also Capitals Three-Peated and a Spainard was drafted 2nd overall

ANother thing I'm noticing in looking at all these players is that the mental attributes are pretty lacking. I'm used to EHM 07 where a good mental player had at least 12s across the board, but the "stars" in 2043 have a few high ones and then very low attributes. I mean it's hitting up and down the NHL players so it's an even playing field, at least IMO, but kinda strange.

That kind of has me thinking it's db related.... 2015-2017 draft class is probably the last batch of manually created players.

I've also been simming for a few decades, and I can confirm a lot of players lack good mental stats. Quite a few on the other hand have godlike technical and physical stat. Like this:



Some records were broken as well:
Most career goals:
1. Valery Nichushkin, 937
2. Alexander Ovechkin, 902
3. Wayne Gretzky, 894

Goals by a rookie:
1. Rinat Loginov, 43
2. Maxim Lazarev, 42
3. Jeffrey Simard, 42

Assists by a rookie:
1. Jean Philippe Blouin, 60
2. Veli-Pekka Härkönen, 55
3. Payton Rodrigue, 55

Points by a rookie:
1. Jean Philippe Blouin, 99
2. Rinat Loginov, 90
3. Micke Larsson, 90

Noone came close to career goals and assists, the best attempts were:
1126 career assists by Sidney Crosby
1833 career points by Taylor Hall, 1823 career points by Sidney Crosby

Also none came close to season goals, assists, points etc. Some best attempts:
66 goals, record shared by Vladimir Tarasenko and Linus Skager.
73 assists, record shared by Aleksander Barkov and Auston Matthews.
113 points, Fyodor Kaigorodov.

Carey Price almost broke the career shutouts record, nearing with 102 in 2028.

Oldest player records don't seem to be broken because of a bug? There are players of 42 years old every year, but the record is still held by players in 2014...

Alright I'll try to run a sim with the default DB tonight and see what happens in regards to old players and naff mental attributes.