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

Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2017 11:36 pm
by BKarchitect
NHL 36
Welcome to the 2018-19 NHL 36 database!

I’ve created this database to let people play out the ultimate NHL expansion fantasy. That’s right – 36 teams in the NHL, maintaining an 82 game schedule template, for both regular and Olympic years. And, as a bonus – you get a 36 team AHL and ECHL setup as well for a 1:1:1 farm team ratio. All main leagues should be playable except the SPHL (explained further down).

Nuts & Bolts:
I will keep the database updated with real-world transactions and contracts. Expansion teams start out with nobody on their roster…and because we are approaching the real start of the 17-18 season and players have been assigned to their real clubs – it will be a monumental challenge to take over an expansion team for the first few years.

Settings I use:
- “Early Start Date” recommended to give yourself time to sign players
- “Normal” database size…you can adjust as you see fit though, shouldn’t affect the game
- “Add Key Staff” selected so new teams will have coaching personnel
- “Disable All Extra Players” is what I usually do…I have filled the database with a lot of “beefed up” real prospects through the 2020 (and a few 2021) NHL drafts…I’ve finished updating the QMJHL rosters but right now if you use the OHL or WHL you may want to select “extra junior” players until those are updated.
- I always choose to “Retain All Teams” but I doubt it has much impact on the playability of this database.

Known Bugs:
- Some lower-tier Euro leagues may not be playable...for example, Suomi-sarja (third tier Finland) is not playable because the 2017-18 alignment is 16 teams and although the database reflects this, a new schedule template for 16 teams has not yet been implemented. All North American leagues and major European leagues should be playable but let me know if you find any others that are wonky.
- ***UPDATE*** NHL TRAINING CAMPS NOW WORK FINE IN v2.1 DATABASES :-D
- The USHL can be turned on and put on enhanced/full mode and it'll work and operate just fine but if you try to be GM as one of the teams, it will sometimes crash...so having the USHL on is fine but for right now, being an actual USHL GM is unstable

Updated Leagues as of 05/14/18:
- NHL, AHL, USHL/USNTDP, all NCAA conferences (with TONS of real life commits for future years), QMJHL, KHL, SHL, Liiga, OHL, QMJHL, WHL. Quite a few major moves in other leagues (NLA, DEL, VHL, ECHL, CIS/USports, Czech, BCHL, Asia League, etc) are also updated but no guarantees for accuracy or completion. Again, if you are truly looking for a massively detailed, real-life database, the recommendation is always to grab the latest TBL roster set.
- ***NEW*** All IIHF (World Championship and WJC) Divisions are updated for 2017-18 along with updated senior rosters for all 16 main tournament WC teams (including the likes of South Korea, France, Norway, etc). Read more here: viewtopic.php?f=150&t=18764#p232541

NHL Changes:
The real-life 31 team NHL has been bolstered by 5 exciting new additions (in the NHL36 - Original Database): Seattle, Quebec, Kansas City, Milwaukee and Saskatchewan. With 18 teams per conference, a move has been made back to a 3-division setup in each conference, with 6 teams per division.

The schedule consists of:
- Divisional Rivals x 5: 4 games each (2 home, 2 away)
- Conference Rivals x 12: For 10 teams, 2 games each (1 home, 1 away) and for 2 teams, 3 games each (2 home, 1 away versus one and 1 home, 2 away versus the other)
- Cross-Conference x 18: 2 games each (1 home, 1 away)

Team reputations, arenas, attendance, etc have all been updated and new rivalries have been entered based on the new divisional layout and expansion teams.

NHL36 Alternate Databases:
In addition to the Original NHL36 database described above and in the posts below at the beginning of this thread, I am adding several alternate universe NHL36 databases where the 5 additional teams vary. Anytime the actual database is updated, I will have the alternate databases also updated - so you can pick and choose and always have the most-up-to-date database, just with the team and league structure of your choosing! See the links below for in0game screenshots and NHL alignments. Downloads in the download section later in this post.
- NHL36 "Great North"
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=18491&start=150#p232200
- NHL36 "Wild West"
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=18491&start=150#p232201
- NHL36 "City Lights"
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=18491&start=150#p232204
- Note that AHL/ECHL affiliations may not make a ton of geographical sense in the alternate NHL36 databases as they are still based on the Original database. Once the EHM editor allows importing of affiliations, I will re-arrange these a bit in the alternate databases.

AHL Changes:
The real-life 30 team AHL has also been updated to a 36-team format with the same league structure as the NHL. The expanded set of teams have been realigned into new geographically-coherent divisions and team reputations have been adjusted.

ECHL Changes:
The ECHL has also been updated to a 36-team format with the same league structure as the NHL. The expanded set of teams have been realigned into new geographically-coherent divisions and team reputations have been adjusted. Part of the ECHL expansion was the ECHL absorbing the SPHL to gain extra teams…so the SPHL is no longer playable but its former members are now in the ECHL.

Disclaimers:
- I have not done a ton of testing with this database yet. So how it plays out – well, that’s part of the fun. If you notice any major issues let me know so I can tweak things!
- I spent a LOT of time setting this all up…especially with the 36 team schedule templates. I encourage sharing and you are free to edit the database how you like but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not simply change a couple things and upload this database as your “own”. If you want to change Saskatchewan to Houston, be my guest but don’t do that and then upload it to Steam saying “ALL NEW HOUSTON EHM DATABASE BY ME!”. There’s a proper way to share and then there is flat-out taking credit for stuff you did very little with. Be an adult and know the difference.

Credits:
- The original database I am using was a TBL version from around 2013. Since then it’s become a completely different database in the past 4+ years of editing but as always credit to the TBL crew and don’t forget to download their new 2018-19 database when it comes out for the most authentic realistic EHM experience out there.
- The amazing logo work behind the Quebec Nordiques, Kansas City Scouts and Saskatchewan Whitetails are by the talented Christian Legault. Visit his webpage (http://legaultdesigns.blogspot.com/) for more of his NHL expansion concepts and the process behind the Nordiques mark which is layered with symbolism.
- The funky and awesome artwork for the Seattle Kraken and the Portland Beavers (co-opted from his Ontario concept) are by the artist Sparky Chewbarky. The forum over at sportslogos.net (http://boards.sportslogos.net/) is probably the best place to check out his work. He’s done some fun stuff with merchandise concepts around all his concept as well.
- The Toronto Toros logo is by (with some small modifications) Dylan Nowak. You can browse his awesome graphics work at https://www.behance.net/DylanNowak!
- The other new logos/identities in the expansion are all either existing / defunct / touched-up versions of actual logos.

DOWNLOAD DATABASES HERE:
- Note ALL database ZIP files now include the Expansion Draft quick start file for each respective database...you no longer will download this file separately. Go to page 5 of this thread to read about the concept and how to implement Expansion Draft results into your NHL36 database so that the expansion teams start with full rosters. If you do not use the Expansion Draft quick start, the expansion teams will start with empty rosters and you will have to build from scratch. Either way is fun and a different experience.
Version 5.0 - Original NHL36 Expansion (May 14, 2018)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xjfy1nyzuyug3 ... 0.zip?dl=0
Version 5.0 - NHL36 "Great North" (May 14, 2018)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xvqkipfj9wfi0 ... 0.zip?dl=0
Version 5.0 - NHL36 "City Lights" (May 14, 2018)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2l8getihhwzs1 ... 0.zip?dl=0
Version 5.0 - NHL36 "Wild West" (May 14, 2018)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/kcrok0as9etru ... 0.zip?dl=0

DOWNLOAD LOGOS HERE:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ekdej1zs7ja9g ... s.zip?dl=0
Logos include all Club & Competition logos (Huge/Large/Small) I use in my game. If you don’t want to overwrite all your logos, you can download this file, unpack it somewhere on your computer and manually just transfer over the logos you want. In addition, I know there are some popular logo packs where the small logos are the glossy button type and the large logos are made a bit larger than standard – if anybody wants to add any of these new or modified clubs into a logo pack, that’s fine with me!
Update Pack: Includes all NHL36 logos, updated for NHL36 v2.4 for the NHL36 flavors plus updates to many real 2017-18 (and future) real logos (Maine Mariners, West Kelowna Warriors, Nava Grads, Rockland Nationals)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/b86m6p56dmk41 ... s.zip?dl=0

DOWNLOAD NHL ICE BACKGROUNDS HERE:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rkqowblx9s8s2 ... s.zip?dl=0
Credit to TBL user nEgativezEro for the “scratched ice” background concept…I’ve re-sized and re-centered some of the original backgrounds and added new ones for the new NHL expansion teams.
Update Pack: Includes Ice logo backgrounds for the NHL36 alternate database teams and updated for NHL36 v2.4 changes
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ptqzhr0logj0g ... s.zip?dl=0

Re: Project NHL 36 - a 2017-18 DB with 36 Team NHL/AHL/ECHL!

Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2017 11:45 pm
by BKarchitect
Sorry for the blurry screencaps, the forum resizes them..right click and view image/zoom if you want to see clearer images.

NHL – FRANCHISE CHANGES
- Seattle Kraken: Added via Expansion
- Quebec Nordiques: Added via Expansion
- Kansas City Scouts: Added via Expansion
- Saskatchewan Whitetails: Added via Expansion
- Milwaukee Admirals: Franchise Upgraded from AHL
- Nashville Predators: Move to Eastern Conference

NHL – REVISED DIVISIONS
Eastern Conference
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Western Conference
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NHL – NEW FRANCHISE STARTING SCREENS
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Re: Project NHL 36 - a 2017-18 DB with 36 Team NHL/AHL/ECHL!

Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2017 11:52 pm
by BKarchitect
AHL – FRANCHISE CHANGES
- Portland Beavers: Added via Expansion
- Abbotsford Flyers: Added via Expansion
- Oklahoma City Blazers: Added via Expansion
- St. John’s IceCaps: Return to AHL from hiatus
- Colorado Eagles: Franchise Upgraded from ECHL
- Utah Grizzlies: Franchise Upgraded from ECHL
- Norfolk Admirals: Franchise Upgraded from ECHL

AHL – REVISED DIVISIONS
Eastern Conference
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Western Conference
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AHL – NEW FRANCHISE HEADERS
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Re: Project NHL 36 - a 2017-18 DB with 36 Team NHL/AHL/ECHL!

Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2017 11:57 pm
by BKarchitect
ECHL – FRANCHISE CHANGES
- California Golden Seals: Added via Expansion
- Fresno Falcons: Added via Expansion
- Elmira Jackals: Return to ECHL from hiatus
- Alaska Aces: Return to ECHL from hiatus
- Birmingham Bulls: Upgraded from SPHL*
- Peoria Rivermen: Upgraded from SPHL*
- Hunstville Havoc: Upgraded from SPHL*
- Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs: Upgraded from SPHL*
- Pensacola Ice Flyers: Upgraded from SPHL*
- Mississippi RiverKings: Upgraded from SPHL*
- Knoxville Ice Bears: Upgraded from SPHL*
- Fayetteville Marksmen: Upgraded from SPHL*
- Kansas City Mavericks: Folded due to KC Scouts in NHL
- *Note: Former SPHL clubs Macon, Evansville and Columbus folded & SPHL ceased operations

ECHL – ECHL REVISED DIVISIONS
Eastern Conference
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Western Conference
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ECHL – NEW FRANCHISE HEADERS
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Re: Project NHL 36 - a 2017-18 DB with 36 Team NHL/AHL/ECHL!

Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2017 12:11 am
by BKarchitect
NHL : AHL : ECHL AFFILIATIONS
Most of these are real 2017-18 affiliations except of course with the new clubs...plus a few things we know will likely happen in the future such as Vancouver moving its AHL club to the west (likely Abbotsford) and the Avalanche wanting to bring their ECHL Colorado Egales up their main affiliate status.

NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE
Columbus : Cleveland : Elmira
Detroit : Grand Rapids : Toledo
New Jersey : Binghamton : Adirondack
NY Islanders : Bridgeport : Worcester
NY Rangers : Hartford : Greenville
Pittsburgh : Wilkes-Barre : Wheeling
Boston : Providence : Atlanta
Buffalo : Rochester : Cincinnati
Montreal : Laval : Brampton
Ottawa : Belleville : Birmingham
Quebec : St. John's : Peoria
Toronto : Toronto : Orlando
Carolina : Charlotte : Florida
Florida : Springfield : Huntsville
Nashville : Norfolk : Roanoke
Philadelphia : Lehigh Valley : Reading
Tampa Bay : Syracuse : Pensacola
Washington : Hershey : South Carolina

NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE
Arizona : Tucson : Fort Wayne
Chicago : Rockford : Indy
Colorado : Colorado : Mississippi
Dallas : Texas : Idaho
Kansas City : Oklahoma City : Fayetteville
St. Louis : San Antonio : Tulsa
Calgary : Stockton : Knoxville
Edmonton : Bakersfield : Wichita
Milwaukee : Utica : Maine
Minnesota : Iowa : Rapid City
Saskatchewan : Portland : Alaska
Winnipeg : Manitoba : Jacksonville
Anaheim: San Diego : Fresno
Los Angeles : Ontario : Manchester
San Jose: San Jose: Allen
Seattle: Utah : California
Vancouver : Abbotsford : Kalamazoo
Vegas : Chicago : Quad City

Re: Project NHL 36 - a 2017-18 DB with 36 Team NHL/AHL/ECHL!

Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2017 12:55 am
by Magic Marner
Hey awesome job, must of taken a lot of time. The only thing I notice is a lot of player height and weight is very off. Andersen on the leafs is at 255lbs, Laine is 6'3 205lbs and Matthews is 6'0 200 pounds, seems like their junior sizes for some of them. I understand you used an older database but the sizes are very off on a lot of players in the NHL.

Besides that 10/10 excellent job. Great job updating the attributes.

Re: Project NHL 36 - a 2017-18 DB with 36 Team NHL/AHL/ECHL!

Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2017 1:12 pm
by Ukko
Woah !! Awesome !

I'm going to try this out :) :notworthy:

Small thing to say: I'd have made one of those teams in a red main color, it seems to make a very blue and green league with the new additions, but that's me being annoying with colors and visual identity :-D

Re: Project NHL 36 - a 2017-18 DB with 36 Team NHL/AHL/ECHL!

Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2017 1:29 pm
by BKarchitect
Thanks guys - I'll try and update some NHL players sizes/strengths in the future...and Ukko I totally understand what you mean about the colors, it's just the way it happened. The Scouts could actually be that deep burgundy red as a primary - which may be more unique. I'll see what it looks like!

I let the game sim a bit last night and here are some results...this is with all CPU control of everything:

2017-18: All 5 new teams were god awful:
- Admirals: 29 Points
- Whitetails: 25 points
- Kraken: 15 Points
- Scouts: 10 Points
- Nordiques: 8 Points
For reference Vegas had 74 Points

Here was the improvement by 2018-19:
- Admirals: 47 Points
- Whitetails: 47 Points
- Scouts: 44 Points
- Kraken: 41 Points
- Nordiques: 32 Points
For reference Vegas had 76 Points

It is March 2020 (2019-20 Season) and all the clubs have basically done much better even though we are only 65 games into the season:
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One thing is obvious,y Quebec will be the hardest challenge because they are the only expansion team out East so you will have far less games against other expansion teams.

Re: Project NHL 36 - a 2017-18 DB with 36 Team NHL/AHL/ECHL!

Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2017 1:42 pm
by BKarchitect
Let's see who got lucky in the 2018 Draft:

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Here's how their top picks are doing a season and a half later:

Dahlin's stats aren't great on a terrible team but he's already the Whitetails' biggest star and he's averaging over 26 minutes per game:
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Svechnikov won the 2018-19 Calder and is on pace for nearly 40 goals his sophomore season:
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Veleno is being eased in by Quebec, he's their third line center and getting 1st unit PP time:
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Speedy Quinn Hughes had 10 goals and 31 points his rookie year; stats a bit down this year but leads Kraken defenders at 24 minutes per game:
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The Admirals have assembled a pretty decent team already so Thomas has been glued to the third line:
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The Admirals loaded up in the summer of 2019 on free agents, signing Tyler Seguin (7 x $8.4), Jacob Silfverberg (5 x $6.985) and Jordan Eberle (5 x $5.25) amongst others. That's how they find themselves competing for a playoff spot in year #3. They've got a pretty solid line-up for starting with absolutely nothing back in 2017-18. If the CPU can manage that, I would say a reasonable goal for people is to perhaps be in playoff contention by year #3...unless you purposefully choose to sign less free agents and develop from within - in which case, it's going to be a longer (but perhaps more rewarding) road!

Re: Project NHL 36 - a 2017-18 DB with 36 Team NHL/AHL/ECHL!

Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2017 2:23 pm
by Ukko
BKarchitect wrote:Thanks guys - I'll try and update some NHL players sizes/strengths in the future...and Ukko I totally understand what you mean about the colors, it's just the way it happened. The Scouts could actually be that deep burgundy red as a primary - which may be more unique. I'll see what it looks like!
I'd keep the scouts as they are atm, with this kind of Erie Otters feel to it, and maybe the Whitetails can get some Red/Green suff ? (think Frölunda)
Nordiques look great in this color scheme in my opinion :

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I'd darken them a bit and make them stand aside from Toronto, Tampa Bay and Winnipeg.
Also, A purple/black/darkgrey team (a bit like Braehead Clan) would be nice (kraken ?).

If you feel like dropping a mp about this, I'll be happy to help and do some logos also :)



Edit : I started a game with your db to test it out, it returned error message of number of Teams for Suomi Sarja and then game crashed :(

Re: Project NHL 36 - a 2017-18 DB with 36 Team NHL/AHL/ECHL!

Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2017 5:52 pm
by BKarchitect
I fixed Suomi-sarja - I had the wrong number of teams in the first stage but it still might not be playable because Suomi-sarja in the database uses a schedule template and the template for Suomi-sarja has only 15 teams (for last season) and not the 16 for the current 17-18 alignment. So in order to work and be accurate, a schedule template needs to be made. I can do this but to be honest, third-level Finnish league is low on my list of priorities. There might be some other lower European leagues with the same issue, I don't usually play with every single league turned on.

EDIT: Yeah, I can start with Suomi-sarja now and the game starts fine but if I select a Suomi-sarja team to take control of, it crashes when you save because of the schedule issue. It'll just have to go on the "to do" list. This will never be a full, multiple level 50 league European database like TBL.

Re: Project NHL 36 - a 2017-18 DB with 36 Team NHL/AHL/ECHL!

Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2017 7:13 pm
by Ukko
In understand I just need to uncheck those "not needed" leagues in order to play the db ?

I never bothered too much about the leagues screen at the start, but if I only need to choose NHL / AHL / ECHL it's fine, I'll try this.

Re: Project NHL 36 - a 2017-18 DB with 36 Team NHL/AHL/ECHL!

Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2017 7:29 pm
by BKarchitect
Ukko wrote:In understand I just need to uncheck those "not needed" leagues in order to play the db ?

I never bothered too much about the leagues screen at the start, but if I only need to choose NHL / AHL / ECHL it's fine, I'll try this.
The top level Euro leagues should be fine, I usually play with KHL, SHL, Liiga, NLA, DEL, CZE on and it works. Make sure Suomi-sarja and NLB are unchecked, those are the two leagues I know for sure because of new alignment may have a few schedule bugs. The leagues and teams will still be in the game and still generate stats even if they are unchecked, you just won't get to see league standings, schedules or have anything more than a "basic" league stats screen.

All North American leagues and Canadian Juniors should be fine, except of course SPHL for obvious reasons.

But you may at first just select NHL/AHL/ECHL to make sure just that biasc setup is working for you and then once you know that, you can add some more leagues that you want except as discussed above.

Re: Project NHL 36 - a 2017-18 DB with 36 Team NHL/AHL/ECHL!

Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2017 7:31 pm
by Ukko
Very good, I'm testing this setup now, I'll come back here if I step onto unwanted bugs ! Thanks for the quick replies!

Re: Project NHL 36 - a 2017-18 DB with 36 Team NHL/AHL/ECHL!

Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2017 8:03 pm
by BKarchitect
Ok, third season (2019-20) is over and here is the expansion team progressions from Years 1 to 2 to 3:

- Milwaukee Admirals: 29, 47, 82
- Saskatchewan Whitetails: 25, 47, 56
- Seattle Kraken: 15, 41, 71
- Kansas City Scouts: 10, 44, 64
- Quebec Nordiques: 8, 32, 58
- Vegas Golden Knights - 74, 76, 80

Despite starting with nothing, Milwaukee has already passed Vegas and finished 6 points out of a playoff spot. Quebec and Seattle made really nice jumps in year 3...while Saskatchewan, despite having Dahlin, didn't improve too much.

Milwaukee's UFA acquisitions paid off HUGE:
- Tyler Seguin: 88 Points
- Jakob Silfverberg: 75 Points
- Tyler Ennis: 66 Points
- Jordan Eberle: 50 Points
- Michael Del Zotto: 43 Points (defense)
- Connor Carrick: 40 Points (defense)

All were UFA signings except Carrick who they traded for. The Admirals also collected some wild cards like Nichushkin and Zykov who combined for 30 goals and free agent college star Daniel Brickley who they signed and got 27 points from the blueline this year. Their top 2018 pick, Akil Thomas, was a bit of a disappointment with 7 goals. Their second round pick in 2018, large Swedish defender Adam Ginning established himself as a regular on the blueline. Their top 2019 pick, Alex Turcotte (#7 overall) is still with the USNTDP and headed to the University of Wisconsin next year so the Admirals will have to be patient.

Seattle was led by Kevin Hayes (52 points) and Joonas Donskoi (51 points). They also got contributions from lesser known guys who shined with lots more ice time than they would have gotten elsewhere...18 goals from Jordan Weal, 48 points from small but crafty playmaker Kyle Rau and 44 points in 69 games from Finnish winger Henrik Haapala who they got from Florida. Their top 2018 pick Quinn Hughes did what he could on defense with 25 points, while 2019 #1 overall pick Peyton Krebs had 21 points in 79 games. Their 2nd round pick in 2018, center Ty Dellandrea is also a regular on the team.

The Nordiques got quite a bit better with some nice UFA acquisitions like Michael Ferland, who really broke out and led the team with 27 goals and 53 points, Brett Ritchie, another breakout power forward who had 25 goals and 50 points along with Adam Henrique and Derek Forbort. I think in the case of Ritchie and Forbort, the Nords took advantage of that EHM bug where CPU teams let good young RFA's go unqualified and become UFA's because realistically neither should have been a true UFA. The Nords also dealt for Connor Hellebuyck who gives them a strong starting tandem in goal with Petr Mrazek. 2018 4th overall pick Joe Veleno was third on the team in scoring (but only 37 points). Nolan Foote was their top pick in 2019 (4th overall) and he was a regular but had limited impact (6 goals, 19 points).

The Scouts are all about Andre Svechnikov. The 2018 Calder winner had an even better sophomore season, with 41 goals and 72 points, by FAR leading KC in scoring. He really looks like another Patrik Laine out there. Veteran center Jori Lehtera benefited from centering Svechnikov and racked up 57 points while free agent pickup Jason Zucker completed a good top line with 42 points. AN interesting development was former Maple Leafs prospect Nikita Korostelev...he was unsigned by the Leafs and picked up by KC two seasons ago. He just had a 40 point season for KC and was their 4th leading scorer...kind of cool to see a talented reclamation project have success. The Scouts' 2018 second round pick Luka Burzan was a regular on the lower lines but didn't have much scoring success. op 2019 pick (5th overall), dynamic defenseman Artemi Knyazev, just signed to come over to North America for next season and could be a Calder favorite. Between Svechnikov, Knyazev, Korostelev, and another young Russian signing, Alexander Polunin - the Scouts are becoming Team Russia in the heartland of America.

Saskatchewan is currently lagging behind the other expansion franchises and it is likely because they lack real go-to scoring power. They have their superstar defender in Dahlin...they have a bunch of really good character forwards in Danault (52 points), Cogliano (50 points), Hansen (48 points), M. Koivu (40 points) - but these guys are all (at this point in their careers) more like 2nd/3rd line type who play good defense and are over their heads being relied upon to anchor scoring lines. The one bright spot was former St. Louis Blues reject Ty Rattie...Rattie has always been talented but has never been able to stick. But the Whitetails fed him first unit PP time and he led the team with 27 goals and had 48 points - he's a real breakout star that could have only happened with all this expansion because now there are more NHL roster spots to go around. The Whitetails are looking to pair Dahlin with their 2019 first round pick (#6 overall), Victor Soderstrom, to form an awesome Swedish pairing for the next decade. Soderstrom played 52 games on the third pair in his post-draft season. Another young Swede, 2018 second rounder Filip Hallander, appeared in 72 games as a checking line player.

Re: Project NHL 36 - a 2017-18 DB with 36 Team NHL/AHL/ECHL!

Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2017 8:18 pm
by BKarchitect
So here's another lesson I'm learning: both Dahlin and Svechnikov are amazing, and Dahlin will probably be ranked and picked #1 most of the time - but if you have the first overall pick in 2018, Svechnikov will probably make a more noticeable impact on your expansion team because probably the biggest issue you will have to be competitive is finding consistent goal scorers and Svechnikov is like money in the bank. Pair him with a good playmaking center and it's on...Lehtera is old and pretty poor by the time year 3 comes (well, he's not all that great in year 1 either) around but he's good at one thing, passing the puck, and Svechnikov nearly dragged him to a 60 point season.

If you don't get a top 2 pick in 2018, you will have to be more patient. Zadina is probably third best and could be a growing star by year 3. Veleno probably 4th. And lots of good defenders like Quinn Hughes, Adam Boqvist, Ryan Merkley, Ty Smith, Bode Wilde...that can all contribute right away but don't expect All-Stars from year 1. Also Jakub Skarek is a sick goalie prospect but not sure that should be your move if you are playing an expansion team - I find it is fairly easy to get solid goalies by year 2 either by trade or free agency.

Also - look for guys like Ty Rattie and Nikita Korostelev...young guys who are dumped by other NHL teams because they are "fringe" players but they have high offensive attributes, just poor all-around games. But you need scoring so don't be afraid to stick these types of guys on your top lines and PP units to provide some offensive punch. The addition of 6 (if you include Vegas) teams means these fringe guys who can score a lot at lower levels now have a chance to do something in the NHL with more roster spots to go around.

I've filled the NCAA out a lot so also look there to make some free agent signings for top college players who aren't drafted. Defenseman Daniel Brickley of Minnesota State is going to be a hot commodity in real life after this season and he's definitely got NHL potential in this database as well. Send your scouts to all the NCAA leagues because there is some free money to be had.

Re: Project NHL 36 - a 2017-18 DB with 36 Team NHL/AHL/ECHL!

Posted: Mon Sep 11, 2017 8:01 am
by Ukko
Did you get problems with the training camp ?

I'm playing the Nordiques at first season, I've got 45 players on roster with multiple try-outs. On beginning of Training camp, game crashes when I click on the Training Camp button, and it crashes everytime I try to access Training Camp screen (for scrimmage stats, cutting players etc).

Rests works fine so far, It's a major challenge to get an expansion team up from scratch :)

Re: Project NHL 36 - a 2017-18 DB with 36 Team NHL/AHL/ECHL!

Posted: Mon Sep 11, 2017 3:02 pm
by BKarchitect
Ukko wrote:Did you get problems with the training camp ?

I'm playing the Nordiques at first season, I've got 45 players on roster with multiple try-outs. On beginning of Training camp, game crashes when I click on the Training Camp button, and it crashes everytime I try to access Training Camp screen (for scrimmage stats, cutting players etc).

Rests works fine so far, It's a major challenge to get an expansion team up from scratch :)
You are right the training camp button causes a crash, I will investigate this evening, thanks for reporting these issues!

Re: Project NHL 36 - a 2017-18 DB with 36 Team NHL/AHL/ECHL!

Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2017 2:19 am
by krownroyal83
Thanks for all the hard work you've put into this, i'm impressed. Look forward to future updates for sure.

Re: Project NHL 36 - a 2017-18 DB with 36 Team NHL/AHL/ECHL!

Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2017 2:20 am
by Monette
Can it possible to have a version with only 31 teams for people who want to have a realistic game ? Thank

Re: Project NHL 36 - a 2017-18 DB with 36 Team NHL/AHL/ECHL!

Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2017 3:22 am
by krownroyal83
Monette wrote:Can it possible to have a version with only 31 teams for people who want to have a realistic game ? Thank
This already exists. Check the steam workshop.

Re: Project NHL 36 - a 2017-18 DB with 36 Team NHL/AHL/ECHL!

Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2017 4:23 am
by Monette
krownroyal83 wrote:
Monette wrote:Can it possible to have a version with only 31 teams for people who want to have a realistic game ? Thank
This already exists. Check the steam workshop.
None is up-to-date

Re: Project NHL 36 - a 2017-18 DB with 36 Team NHL/AHL/ECHL!

Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2017 9:08 am
by Moses Doughty
Any chance you know how to get the rosters working on a mac if I'm using crossover?

Re: Project NHL 36 - a 2017-18 DB with 36 Team NHL/AHL/ECHL!

Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2017 10:14 am
by BKarchitect
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!

Re: Project NHL 36 - a 2017-18 DB with 36 Team NHL/AHL/ECHL!

Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2017 2:18 pm
by Ukko
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.