NHL 21 Season Opening Roster Deep Dive (Part One)

[ChaseB]

Kudos to EA for getting the season opening NHL 21 roster update out fairly quickly this...

Written By: Ryan

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[buzz sawyer]

The whole game is screwed up.

[Simple Mathematics]

Good write up Chase. I’ve taken a break from roster editing (and from the whole game, actually). I’ll do my rosters again if roster sharing ever becomes a thing.

EA has always been hesitant to lower the ratings of aging stars. It contributes to the log jam of players rated relatively the same thing.

And I agree, so many of the questionable player types are due to a lack of attention to detail. It’s not hard, really. Look at stats first, and then scouting reports. You are never going to please everyone with your ratings (especially the homers who want all their team’s players rated 99’s). If you base your ratings largely off of stats, it’s a lot harder to argue.


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[Moose24x]

In some cases I don’t think it’s the player type or potential that’s the problem, it’s just the ratings themselves.


Getzlaf, for example, was elite. That was his potential. His age in the game means he won’t grow anymore, but he reached his potential. The problem is he should have stats lowered to show that he has aged and is no longer elite. The game labeling him elite isn’t going to make him go back up to a 90 rating, so I don’t have a problem with it, but he should be like an 83 now.


With player types, Jesper Fast, as an example, should definitely be a two-way forward or grinder and not a sniper. That ought to impact how his AI behaves on the ice and is more accurate. Bobby Ryan, however, while he may not score the totals to CALL him a sniper, plays like he thinks he’s one so it’s fine to leave his player type as sniper, (to dictate how his AI behaves) but his ratings should reflect that even though he plays like he’s a sniper, he isn’t capable of delivering significant numbers of goals.

On the flip side, guys like Caggiulla having top six potential is wrong. Never was, never will be. Alex Nylander clearly doesn’t have elite potential anymore. There are cases where the potential and player styles are flat out wrong, but in many cases the issue is much more the individual attributes and overall of the player (which dictates how much ice time the CPU gives them) rather than their actual type. Bobby Ryan being a sniper in behavior style is fine, but he should only have the attribute strength to score in the 10-20 range.

[Qb]

Right on, Moose. And using your Getzlaf example, EA won't represent or accentuate the skills that make players unique. He's all all about vision, hands, passing, strength. He was never a great skater nor did he have a great shot. That's why he's still effective even after losing a step or two. The guy could still have some really high ratings in OFF AWR, PASS, STR/BAL, etc but be lacking in skating and defense (again, never his strengths). But instead, he gets 85s and 90s all over the place because that's how they do things.

[jkra0512]

Kind of embarrassing still having retired or inactive players on these rosters.

I'm also wondering if they should re-work the player types in this game? I won't pretend to know what new ones should be added, but there seem to be way too many snipers. As a Rangers fan, when Jesper Fast was on the team, he was always labeled as a sniper in this game....he was NEVER sniper. He was a great defensive forward/grinder type, who was on the first PK or went up against the first line, and he was great in that role. NEVER a sniper, though.

Snipers, in my opinion, need to be rarer. We've been saying it for MANY years; there needs to be more of a skill difference between playing as Ovechkin and a 4th liner other than skating a bit faster and shooting a bit harder. This series has felt very stale this generation, and much of it has to do with its roster construction and how poorly they are implemented year in and year out.