NHLX v1.3 Released

A new update to BKArchitect’s biggest roster project to date is now available! The database is available from his very nifty website and feedback/questions can be posted here. BKArchitect recommends downloading both the database and the logopack expansion as there are changes in this update that won’t be as cool looking if you don’t have the latest logopack! (For first-timers – you also must install the original v1.1 Logopack first and then the Logopack Expansion)

The changes are as follows (in BKArchitect’s own words below):

First the simple stuff

• As always, up-to-date transactions including college commits and the recent “KHL exodus”
• Ever more real 2005, 2006 & 2007 prospects – including some with potential from many non-traditional countries and some more tweaking of top prospects based on real-life performance and scouting reports
• The farm league that combined ESL and KHL farm clubs was short-lived…due to some changes described below based on some real-life events, I’ve converted it to simply the “ESL2”for farm clubs for the ESL teams.
• Added an NCDC team for the Mercer Chiefs, expected to being in 22-23

Now, the bigger changes. There are two main areas of change in NHL v1.3

• European structural changes in response to potential changes due to geopolitical events in the world
• A re-imagining of the NHL season and in-season Canadian & American tournaments

First, the tweaks related to the world around us today. I’ve always considered NHLX a bit of fantasy but based in reality. And the reality of the world makes some of the league setups in the older versions of NHLX very much unrealistic. With that, the following changes

• The joint Belarus-Ukraine “super league” has been disbanded. This was a no-brainer. Belarus is back to its real 12-team Extraleague top division format.
• A bunch of North Americans who have been playing for the Belarus national team have been changed to only be able to represent Canada or the USA.
• Hockey in Ukraine has been disbanded. There are no leagues at all now based in the country. Ukrainian teams have been deactivated and the players dispersed. Simply put – war is stupid and the thought of trying to play a game in a war-torn region is just not reasonable. That said, Ukraine has not been erased from the game at all – the senior and junior national teams are alive and well. To support this:
• A generic “Team Ukraine” has been added to the Polska Hokej League. And a generic “Team Ukraine Juniors” has been added to the Polish junior league. Both clubs are Ukrainian in nationality and home but have their home arena based in Eastern Poland.

Major changes to the ESL/KHL

• Jokerit was already moved to the Europa Super League in NHLX and Kunlun was already moved to the Asia Super League. So the one immediate tweak here is that Dinamo Riga has also moved to the ESL. Malmo Redhawks have dropped back to the SHL from the ESL to make room. Severstal has been brought back to the KHL from the VHL to get the KHL back to 16 teams. Sokol from the PHL to the VHL. And Dynamo-Altay Barnaul added back into the game to round out the PHL (and Makarov Cup).
• I feel that the KHL is likely to become much more like the old RSL from the early 00’s over the next few years so I’m releasing European & North American players (much of this has already or is in the process of happening), severely restricting foreigner rules and tapping down on finances. It will still be a strong league of course but this will make the league much more Russian focused.

Changes to Continental / International Competitions

• Europe’s premier club cup in NHLX, the Kings of Europe Cup will still feature the KHL champion, for now.
• The VHL and Belarus have been removed from the CHL. Obviously the VHL is not in the CHL in real-life but I had added them in earlier versions of NHLX. The Kazakh champ will be allowed to continue to be in the CHL.
• I have not removed either Russia or Belarus from any international competitions. I realize some of this is probably coming in real-life and maybe I will address it then. But for now, all international competitions remain the same.

Now on to the more fun and probably relevant major change since I assume a lot of people stick with the NHL as their main league to play. And in NHLX v1.3, the NHL is getting a very big make-over!

• NHL Regular Season & Structure
  • The NHL is still 36 clubs in NHLX and still features the same expansion teams. So no change on this front. But the regular season schedule has been reduced to 70 games, with all teams playing a balanced home-and-home schedule against all 35 other clubs. The result is a new league structure without divisions or conferences. Yup, you heard that right – the standings are now a simple table of 36 clubs – as divisions and conferences have no purpose with a balanced league schedule. All-Star teams remain “captain style”.
  • It takes a bit of getting used to season stats over 70 games and a single league-wide standings table but besides making schedules for everyone fairer with the new expansion teams (so some teams don’t get to play more “easy” games than others), the clearing of some schedule will make way for the big new “In-Season” tournaments that are described below.
• NHL Playoffs
  • In the league standings screen you will now see two lines of demarcation in terms of being a playoff spot. The top 12 teams automatically make the main playoff field. The next 8 teams qualify for the “play-in” tournament. The rounds are still similar to the original NHLX format:
    • Play-In Round: Best of 3
    • Second Round: Best of 5
    • Quarters, Semis and Stanley Cup Finals: Best of 7

So, the main reason behind the streamlining and truncating of the NHL regular season? You’ll have two new high-level Cup competitions to play – the NHL Canadian Championship and the NHL American Championship. I highly recommend turning them on if you play the NHL, but you don’t have to. With the NHL regular season becoming balanced, these competitions are a fun way to keep regional rivalries strong and offer a chance at more trophies, accomplishments, and glory!

The American Championship

• The American Championship features all 28 USA clubs, with a regional 4-group initial round of home-and-home. The winner of each region advances to the Cup stage and competes for the Championship.

The Canadian Championship

• The Canadian Championship has a single group stage of all 8 Canadian clubs playing home-and-home against each opponent. The top four in the group advance to the Cup stage and competes for the championship.

Awards

• Both comps have a full slate of both individual and team for awards which gives NHL players more chances to fill their history with prestigious new achievements.
• Right now the Cups are named for respective legends for each country with long resumes of winning trophies and longevity – who also don’t already have NHL awards named after them, although I am open to different ideas for naming:
  • The Chris Chelios Cup for the American Championship
  • The Jean Béliveau Cup for the Canadian Championship

Schedule

• The Championships have their group rounds dispersed a bit throughout the season to create a kind of nice rhythm to the scheduling. The Cup phases occur at the end of February right after the Olympic Break (which NHLX has even in non-Olympic years – a rest period to allow players to get fit after a grueling schedule before the final ‘push’). This allows the Championships to both be over with about 15 games left in the NHL season – giving clubs time to ramp back up for the actual NHL playoffs.
• What I wanted to avoid was chaotic schedule that either took clubs out of regular NHL games for a huge period (I did not want an NHL season that was essentially two separate season with a huge tournament in the middle) but it also avoids having teams jump from NHL to Championship play ever few games. The block of regular season games are 15 to start and end the NHL season and 10 games between each group of Championship matches.

Player History Hint

• Note that the new Championships will let NHL players have vastly more interesting histories both in terms of achievements and statistics. However sometimes it becomes a lot to “take in” visually when, for example, you may want to see a player’s NHL stats only. Note that EHM let’s you filter by comp pretty easily: