Guys and girls....we need a completely new appraoch to strategies in this game...this is programmed to play like U10 hockey at the moment where were just happy to see a defensive player standing in the defensive slot, or an offensive player going at the puck...theres no purpose to these strategies...we need to prrgram these right for this game to ever taker a step foerward.

Offensively:

Overload - this isnt a 5v5 strategy...its an outdated powerplay strategy that the 1-3-1 and umbrella can look like when establishing possession but then morphs into their respective looks...please update to a standard 5v5 cycle as shown below
Behind the net - this isnt as "structured" or "accepted" as the standard cycle...but involves lots of picks/screens and rolls. way too static right now
Crash the net - should feel like behind the net without as much movement...basically a btn guy with two screeners and youre just constantly feeding the point...little cycling/movement..more board passes up the wall with a D shot then retrieve and repeat over and over

standard hockey cycle

Starting spots - as you can see we have net front presence on the strong side with a 3rd man high to create space for F1 and for good defenisve posture

Starting the cycle - F1 moves up the wall...F2 anticipating cycle to strong side...F3 moving towrds the middle and a little lower anticipating the cycle - D1 startts back movement towards middle anticipating a pass from f1 so they can walk to the middle

Cycle 1 - F1 cycles the puck low and F2 retrieves....F1 with a hard cut to the high slot to replace F3 while F3 moves to the net front to replace F2

cycle 2 - the final points after the movement....rinse and repeat

Point cycle

well restart with the starting skating spot

Point 1 - F1 passes to D1 and D1 walks to the slot...D2 walks to weakside tops of circles/boards area..F1 follow pass to blueline and then opens hips to slot to be an attack option on a return pass from D1....F3 takes the net front role as they are in the middle while F2 makes themselves a backdoor/cycle reset/retrieval option on the current strong side

Point 2 - ending points after the previous movement - shape should look like an umbrella with two forwards in the "alley" between the dots (want a screen and a backdoor/tip option)

Point 3 - assuming we dont shoot - heres D1 moving to D2 option...F3 maintains screen and rotates with puck/angle which is also a great spot for a cycle retrieval and F2 remains backdoor option

Point 4 - ending spots for clarity

Point 5 - assuming shooting lanes are clogged...D2 cycles low for F3 retrieval while F2 fills F3's spot to support cycle...F1 moves into high forward position (look familiar? it should 🙂)

Point 6 - ending positions for clarity

Point 7 - we restart the cycle on the weakside..all repeat information

Point 8 - ending spots for clarity

hopelly this was an easy way to see what a standard accepted cycle flow looks like...obviously i didnt go into every scenario here but these are the two most common "patterns' if you will in hockey...now tell me...which strategy in the game resembles this? easy answer..none. i think ive felt NHL 23 do a slightly better job but i think we need an actual strategy revoloving around this cycle that isnt an overload because this isnt an overload nor does the overload in the game play like this. the overload stacks three on the wall and involves give and gos and picks/screens with a backside D cut which really only works in outnumbered scenarios (in theory of course)

Now tell me that if we had this scripted in the game that we couldnt generate offense? this cycle has an "answer" for everything...it has high and low puck support...it should in theory have body positioning advantages for dead area plays to win races to if in trouble and needing to cycle...it has tip and backdoor options if the defense is tight...and it has a lot of passing options if the defense blunders and is beat. dont think its too much to ask for people to understand this pattern and mvoement to have success in a hockey game...very basic with lots of optioons

Now onto the defensive side of the zone...i dont want to bore everyone tio death here but D is MAN TO MAN in hockey....the ai cover spots and zones on the ice...cover the MAN. MEN score not SPOTS...lets walk through shall we?

starting spots...Strong side D takes the net front...weakside D takes the high forward...center ALWAYS takes the board...wings take their respective offensive D..easy stuff

low cycle movement - see how everyone stays with their original assingment? stop having the ai "cover" all of the time..stay with your assignment!

landing points after movement for clarity

now lets assume the puck went to the point and the offense is taking their umbrella shape - back to the starting point

Here we go - puck moving to the point...see all of the movements drawn..everyone sticks with their assignment!

Assuming F2 - moves back to get to the backdoor spot after the pass...heres the final ending points for clarity

Now lets go down the pass to D2 option...F3 slides to screen and F2 moves a bit up to be a backdoor option

Now lets do the D2 cycle scenario - check the movement...no covering..no zones...its man-to-man assignments...this is simple stuff

finally the ending points...again..no switching..no zones...the guy you were on at the start of the cycle is your man

to me...this isnt reflected in the gmae right now and it leads to defensive breakdowns happening way too frequently...either the defense is way too quick to cover (nhl 20 and before) or it just stands in zones and does literally nothing no mateer what...cone defense (nhl 21 and beyond)

now..i know we need the defense to collapse when guys are beat...but i feel like that converstation needs to happen AFTER we get defensive fundamentals sorted out...what is collapsing and staggard and tight point you know? I mean those just need to go...if we want an option for gap tightness thats one thing...but collapsiong ans staggard and tight point like what? what does that even mean you know? its man on man and we should be setting gap defaults not zone vs man...this isnt basketball...no 2-3 zone here haha...its man on man...too many cuts and too much movement to play zone...would lead to way too many gaps in coverage and uncontested shots which should be much more lethal than they are currently...thats why high level hockey pressures shooters so much...need to make it hard on them....

okay so forechecking...again that strategies mean nothing...what is 1-2-2 aggressive? what passive? what? weak side lock? thats a 1-2-2...so what? need something more concrete and predictable...should make programming easier too..not as many reads

lets start with the basics and well leave the breakout players off just to make this first point...heres a 1-2-2 on the initial dump in/forecheck opportunity

the most important job is for F1 to turn the play...they need a "hard force" here...either strong or weak...this should be selectable "1-2-2 strong" and "1-2-2 weak" or something like this...lets start with strong...that the easiest...F1 cuts off the back of the net..this FC breaks if the D is able to reverse the play...F1 NEEDS to cut the back of the net off...F3 is angling to cutoff the slot pass option as well as to anticipate challenging the opposing Center who will likely receive the breakout pass

lets add the breakout players in so this makes a little more sense...see how the play is being forced to the strong side? we dont necessarily care that they get the first pass off...we want to ensure the play is contained to the strong half of the ice where we will be even numbers wise at worse while the offensive team continues to run out of time, space, and options...we can challenge the RW if the pass goes there...F1 applying pressure on the RD carrying the puck...F3 will challenge and back pressure the C if the C gets the puck...F3 and D2 in position to pick a cross-ice pass off...F1 also cutting off RD's ability to reverse giving the defense a 5v4 advantage as they've taken the LD out of the play....again...turnovers might happen, might not but weve contained the play to one side...we shouldnt be at risk of a goal against...should hopefully force a dump or a full retreat by the blueline..perfect defense where we have numbers...does this always execute perfectly? no..obviously not...thats where knowing your team and attributes and even human skill comes into play here...but this foundation should exist

A strong-side option with a pinch...more aggressive...pretty much what the current "2-3" should actually look like:

now your 1-2-2 weak...a weakside lock...is where were wanting to push the play to the weakside...shocker right? disclaimer here...theres multiple ways to run a weakside lock...ill show a fairly aggressive version as i feel like in a video game youre wanting to have a variety of FCs with different risk involved...this one will have a D pinch....So F1 needs to sellout to push the play that way...so again...programming this we need to ensure the AI are instructed to angle the carrier not sprint at them.FC breaks if the puck is reversed which is a common theme to any FC strategy...F2s job is to basically cover for the RD...again theres less risky variants where F3 would do the covering and there's no pinch..but i want a variety here for game purposes....so F2 sprints to cover the pinch and overload the breakout side. The reason we do this instead of D1 is ebcause we want a D on defense in the rather likely event of a 2-on-1 happening here after a failed FC. So D1 backs out to cover....F3 is going to cover the Center swing which is hopefully going to encourage a breakout to the LW where D2 will be sprinting to pinch on as soon as the opposing RD gets behind the net...if F3 is slower than their C or if your D2 is slow, probably giving up on odd-man rush here but this again is meant to be a much more aggressive options for times where youre trailing and need a goal.

A less aggressive variant:

Another less aggressive variant with a pinch:

the goal of this exercise is show a few things:

Forechecking starts with a force to a side...non negotiable
the current options we have are both redundant and rather ineffective as theres no clearl purpose to them
Pinching is a FC strategy...not a line strategy. i get "bad pinches" happen IRL but that should be left to human mistakes...if the FC isn't involving a pinch you dont pinch...and with the right FC options in the game you can have the AI turn up the heat by using a FC option with a pinch and humans will start seeing more open breaks if they recognize and beat the AI with that knowledge

So to recap...heres what we should be taking away:

IN zone offense and defense needs to be fundamentally revamped - need proper cycle added to offense and proper defense assignments added
forechecking options need to be completely revamped to be effective
these changes will help both offline and online play...offline play has been broken since NHL 21 and onlibe play is "1v1 me bro" which is not hockey and is painfully boring...knowing the sport should be part of the skillset to be good at a sports game

Ill add breakouts later if this starts a good discussion...the ai need to receive an upgrade soon for this game to ever take a noticeable step

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