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*leviadan* · 04-16-2021, 06:49 PM

3386 Words - Ready for Grading

i. Preface:

Hey all! I've been working on this piece for quite some time, and I know it might come as a shock to some to see me of all people writing this, as I've never been much of a nuts and bolts guy when it comes to the SHL. I was flip flopping on whether or not to publish it at all because stats and data like this are so far out of my comfort zone.

That being said, around the S55 offseason, when I was uncapping and thinking about my player's development, I was kind of surprised by the lack of build discussion on the forums. This was around September of 2020 I suppose? So I've been working on this and mulling it over for close to seven months now. It felt like a waste to not share it in some form, so bear with me.

Obviously I talked to my GM and we worked at what I wanted from Burlok, but given the huge amount of players in the league and the amount of success you can have with different builds, I was a little surprised to find there wasn't more general knowledge being tossed around. I guess some people want to keep it private for personal or team success? Anyway it struck me as odd and I thought it would be a good idea to dive in myself, and try to find what actually makes a player successful. I wanted to find optimum builds for prototypical forward, defenseman, and goalie. Not really anything super nuanced or nitty gritty here, just trying to find a build that consistently gets the most points possible for forwards, the lowest GA/SA for defense, and the highest HDS% for goalies. A very simplistic look at what a player is or can be, but for the sake of optimizing for success in a video game I figured these are decent enough parameters.

Hopefully this is interesting! I think I found some good results, and I have plans to do a write-up on what I found for defense and goalies in the near future, so if people like this I can dig into those soon. But for now, let's talk optimizing a high scoring forward.

ii. The Offensive Build:

I had a lot of ideas going into this about what would and wouldn't be valuable for an effective scoring forward. I'd heard bits and pieces about how Getting Open and Offensive Read are super important to the sim, while things like Shooting Range or Puckhandling have less relevance to performance. Going purely by the gut test this sounds right to me, but I didn't want to leave anything to assumption, so I had exhaust all options.

Screening - 20

Screening is a big part of scoring in the modern NHL, and I figured the same should be true for a modern day hockey sim. Goalies are better than ever and it's important to be able to get traffic in front and allow your shooters the best chance at catching the goalie unaware. Even better if you can get a stick on it and redirect the shot. So my money, getting screening to 20 is going to do a lot for you as a scoring forward. We're splurging a lot of TPE early here but that's OK!

Getting Open - 20

Like I mentioned earlier, one of the rare pieces of common FHM knowledge floating around is that getting open is super valuable. A strong sense of where the defenders are watching and how you can get yourself there unnoticed is huge for someone that wants to bag a lot of points. To my mind, it just makes sense. So we're going to go with a 20 here and give ourselves the best possible chance at some high danger scoring chances. Again, a bit of a TPE dump and we're only on the second stat-- but these first two are super important.

Passing - 20

In the preface I said that my, albeit simplistic, goal was to optimize for a forward that will really rack up points. If that's what we're aiming for I think you'll agree that passing is going to be key. Assists are 50% of the points available to a player, so if we're not going all in on it than what are we doing here? If you can go tape-to-tape with your teammates, you're going to get points. Easy. Moving on.

Puckhandling - 20

Puckhandling was a stat that I talked about in the preface as being widely regarded as unimportant, so you might be surprised to see a 20 here. The thing is that because we're trying to find the best possible build for a forward, I had to be willing to try a few things that go against the grain. Playing the possession game was a revolution in late 00's NHL hockey teams and has only become more ubiquitous as time has passed. As such I think that it's important for our optimized scoring forward to be able to confidently handle the puck in all ends of the ice. The more your team possesses the puck, the more likely you are to find the back of the net.

Shooting Accuracy - 20

Alex Ovechkin, Connor McDavid, Babe Dye-- these guys could friggen score the lights out. What do they all have in common? An absolute laser beam of a shot. Our theoretical point chasing forward is going to have to take a page from the book of Dye and be able to find twine from all angles. Like I mentioned earlier, there's only two types of points available, and goals are going to be a big one for this experiment. We've locked in a strong ability to pass, so now we've got to do the same for shooting.

Shooting Range - 12

Remember how I said we were dumping a lot of TPE early? Well here's where we make up some of that difference. While I do believe that shooting range is important, as per SHL rules we can only go up to 12 as a forward. Personally I think that's a little bit crazy, and I'd like to see HO review this cap and maybe issue an explanation as to why it's in place, but it works to our advantage here because our build is already pretty expensive. We'll begrudgingly set this to 12 and call it a day.

Offensive Read - 20

Lucky for us that 12 in shooting range has allowed us to really max out on offensive read. As I understand it this one is huge in FHM. The phrasing of the stat itself is a little murky, but I think we can assume that it refers to a players ability to see the offensive game unfolding before them. Kind of similar sounding to Getting Open which is an important stat in and of itself, so the seemingly high amount of overlap between the two could explain why they're both so valuable. Regardless, we want our optimized player to be able to see the O-zone like bullet time, so we're going to spend a few points here for sure.

iii. The Defensive Build:

So far, as you can tell, we've been aggressive buying offensive stats in the hopes of achieving our goal of optimized point production. So this next part we're going to have to build a bit more conservatively in order to be realistic to the limitations of the SHL, while still finding a way to be an effective player.

Checking - 20

While checking itself doesn't necessarily have anything to do with scoring points, I think you'll agree that it can lead to points. Allow me to explain. If the other team is in possession of the puck, it's in our scoring forward's best interest to get them off of the puck in any way possible. Doing this successfully will allow them to then pick up the puck, and then use their many offensive talents to set up a scoring chance. The ability to do this often seems like it would be important to maximizing scoring, so we're going to set this one to 20.

Faceoffs - 20

For some of these stats it's going to feel like I'm repeating myself, but when we're talking about a video game with a limited amount of variables, you're bound to see some stats that are means to the same end. We've already talked at length about the importance of the possession game in hockey, so whether you're a centre or a winger, you have to be able to win the draw more often than not. The faster you can get your teammates the puck, the faster you can start getting set up in the O-zone. Let's go with 20 here.

Hitting - 20

Very similar to checking, this piece is really in-depth and starting to get long so I don't want to spend too many words here going over something I already have. I'd rather use the energy explaining some of the more important stats in greater detail. 20. Next!

Positioning - 20

Speaking of important stats, here we are! Positioning is kind of a blend of offensive read and defensive read. This is just your players general ability to read the ice, regardless of the situation, and find where they have to be. Where this is and what you do with it depends a lot on coaching and what your tactics are asking of you, so your milage may vary with this depending on who runs your team. For our hypothetical purposes though, we're going presume we're building tactics around getting our player points.

Shot Blocking - 12

Getting the body down on the ice and preventing scoring chances against is a noble pursuit, but probably the least relevant stat for us with regards to optimizing production. I'm slowly starting to realize that we're eating into our TPE reserves pretty fast, so mercifully HO has also capped this one at 12 for forwards. We'll take it and run!

Stickchecking - 20

Being able to sustain O-zone pressure and turn dangerous D-zone opportunities into scoring chances is going to be tantamount to the success of our forward experiment. We'll touch on this more later in section iv, but since we're building such a physical specimen that's going to have to be able to keep up with the best of the best in the league, it stands to reason that we'll need to be able to lift some sticks and pick some pockets.

Defensive Read - 20

Another big one in the conventional FHM 6 wisdom. If you've somehow lost the puck and allowed the other team to get setup in your zone, the prime offensive forward is the one that's most quickly able to turn that around and go the other way. It's well documented how effective a high defensive read is at getting this done, so we've got to go with a 20 here. Transition in hockey is so important, and as the players get faster and smarter, you've got to do the same. We've got to be effective counter attackers, and by maxing this out we're going to be adding a good amount of points on the rush.

iv. The Athletic Build:

Everything we've talked about already is all well and good, but it doesn't mean much if our "optimized" player build is winded every other shift and unable to get anything done. So let's talk about what I think might be the best way to manage your TPE in the athletic section of your build, and find out how we can hone our players body for SHL success.

Acceleration - 20

Funnily enough we were just talking about how our scoring forward is going to have to be able to break up defensive zone plays and quickly move to creating offense. Acceleration is really important in going from intercepting a pass flat-footed in your own end, kicking it into high gear and taking your shot at the other end. We've gotta go with a 20 here.

Agility - 20

I personally think that agility is an underrated stat. Think about how important it is in controlled zone entries, quick turns to throw off defenders on the breakout, or being able to work the puck along the boards quickly on the offensive cycle. All of these things are so vital to a well-rounded player, and if we're hoping to max out point production I think it would be utterly foolish to leave out agility.

Balance - 20

Let's be honest-- balance is a bit of a meme stat. It definitely plays a role, but as far as it's importance for the sim goes, I have to assume it's minimal. However, as know, we're trying to be as thorough as possible here. So in attempt to leave no stone unturned, we're going to set this one to 20 and see if it helps us out at all. I certainly have my doubts, but this is for science and it's already getting dangerously close to 2500 words. If I gave up on one little detail this far in, then I've failed my reader. We march onward.

Speed - 20

Much like passing, shooting accuracy, and offensive read, speed is just a must have for any forward in the SHL. North-South speed and getting down the ice is always the major talking point, but I think that sneakily being able to move East-West in either end of the ice is an underrated ability. If you can confuse defenders or net-minders with quick strides from side to side, you'll be able to change the angle on your chances and get higher percentage shots. I love this stat for our forward and I think a 20 here will really help.

Stamina - 20

Everyone learned about the massive importance of stamina during and after the S53 switch to FHM. It was such a hot topic that HO ended up implementing a higher stamina minimum in order to keep players at a base level of effectiveness. If it caused this much discussion and this many waves across the site you can bet we're going to put a few points here in order to keep our optimized player effective. We need them to hit the ice fully refreshed and feeling good not just shift to shift, but game to game.

Strength - 20

I'm kind of surprised that this one isn't under the offensive build, because for our purposes I think we're going to drop a 20 in strength to put more mustard behind our shot. I suppose this could also be useful for muscling our way into the crease, or out battling defenders to get a good tip during a screen. That's just a theory though! We won't know for sure until we get to testing! Stay tuned!

v. The Mental Build:

Last but not least, we have to ensure that we don't forget about the mind when we build an optimal forward. For too long conventional hockey wisdom has told us that mental health and acuity were not important in sports. That sounds silly to us now in 2021, because we know just how important leadership, mental wellbeing, and a positive attitude can be to a player. We're looking to combine the best of traditional knowledge with the best of modern science to find out how we can be the best possible simulated hockey forward.

Fighting - 20

Now you might think I'm crazy for this one, because fights tend to be super rare in SHL sims. However, we also know that not many people have tried dumping points into fighting. We also know that a fight won is a huge momentum swing in favour of the winner, and if we're going to be a top scorer in the league year over year, we're going to need more than just raw stats. You can't max out everything! So if we're going to get an edge everywhere we can, being able to swing momentum in your favour when the team is on it's heels is going to be super important for point production. We want to make sure our team is on it's A game as often as possible, and fighting is one avenue to do so.

Aggression - 20

We don't want to hesitate to get into the dirty areas and make our player's presence known. Just about every high-danger area in the O-zone is going to take some pushing and shoving to get into it. If we shy away from those spots we're going to have to rely almost entirely on our shooting stats, and with a HO mandated 12 in shooting range that just isn't going to cut it. I have a feeling that if we're going to find the optimum build for an FHM forward, aggression is going to be an important part.

Bravery - 20

Once again, we're finding some overlap in the stats, but that's ok. Bravery and aggression have a lot in common, so naturally we're going to have to max out each in order to cover our bases. To you, the perfect forward might conjure up the image of a lean, fast, sniper that can score from a mile out. But if we're looking for optimization... true versatility... a real ability to generate points and opportunities from all over the ice-- we have to get brave.

Determination, Team Player, Leadership, Temperament, Professionalism - 15

Not much to say here. As important as I think these attributes are, we're sadly handcuffed by HO on this one. We're unable to adjust any of these for our players. That's definitely somewhere I'd like to investigate further, but if it's not practical for the SHL then there's no sense in running tests on it. We'll leave these ones alone.

vi. The Final Build:

That was a lot to discuss, but we're finally here. I wanted to make sure I covered every aspect of my research and explain all of my choices in detail so you can see where I'm coming from. Hopefully I conveyed all that and you find that my reasoning is sound.

So where does this leave us? With 4904 TPE we can build, what I think, is a highly effective forward in the SHL. By drilling down on each individual stat and hammering out what's really important to scoring, we've been able to pair down to a realistic build that should be successful in point production season over season. That being said we do know that team plays a major role in FHM success, so while a build like this could possibly be successful in a controlled environment, testing in a live environment on various teams would be a really valuable perspective to gain. Let me know if you'd be interested in working on that with me in my defense or goalie article! Maybe we could even circle back to this one and edit in the extra data.

vii. Conclusion:

As I mentioned at the top, this research and optimization is the result of about ~7 months of work and close to 200 hours of my time. Now might be a good time to mention that I don't actually own a copy of FHM 6, so I was hoping that someone could maybe test this out for me? I don't really know anything about the game and it kinda sucks that I've put so much time into theorizing the best possible players but I have no ability to actually see if it works the way I imagined.

Anyway I don't think that matters too much! I do have a deep understanding of the SHL after more than a year on the site, and I think that insight has given me enough of a foundation to be able to theorize what would and wouldn't be successful.

So let me know what you think! Did this help you out? Are you rethinking your future build? Are you interested in my thoughts on defense and goalie builds? It might take some time, but I'm more than willing to take a deep dive into those positions in the future! Thanks for reading everyone!

viii. Field Results:

Thank you to @puolivalmiste for running a test on this build idea! It's not perfect as I still only managed to land second in SHG, but I think we're getting somewhere. More research and build tweaking to come!

[Image: amPL0ck.png]

[Image: pin1_1.gif?ex=663a63f4&is=66391274&hm=70...8f89c3f46&]

**Lime** · 04-16-2021, 07:00 PM

what the fuck did i just read

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