Goalies...

CanuckJohnny · 11-12-2023, 05:20 PM

Just had a season where the AI played Shesterkin 28 games and Quick 56.

I know backups playing way more games than starters was an issue in last year's game, thought it had been tuned a bit and fixed to a degree at some point in 9, but it seems to be back with a vengeance.

I don't know what's worse, haha, that they played a 2.5 star 38 year old Quick twice as much as incumbent starter and perennial Vezina candidate Shesterkin or that it worked in that Quick had reasonable success (not as good GSAA/60 as Shesterkin but he did have seven shutouts and the Rangers made the playoffs). I feel like mediocre goalies are still too OP, and shutouts are still too high (Merzlikins also led the league the same sim with 10 shutouts). Goalies are voodoo and I appreciate that FHM replicates that to an extent, but there are a handful of elite goalies in the league that consistently excel and it should be far rarer to see an established elite goalie replaced by a mediocre backup. (Do goalie ratings even do anything I'm starting to wonder?). But yeah, hopefully the AI can be tweaked to favour starting elite goalies most of the time.

bvs · 11-12-2023, 05:53 PM

Agree with this point. I see far too many shutouts too and high-end goalies seem to offer little value for their Cap hit.

treestreetgaming · 11-13-2023, 11:43 AM

I’ve had quite a few low end prospects out perform big names as back ups.

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ety516 · 11-14-2023, 03:35 PM

The AI is not very good at building rosters and very bad at picking specifically goalies, and in addition to that, it seems to have incorrect values assigned to the "backup" and "starting" supplementary roles when it comes to actually fielding goalies - it assigns the role correctly when signing players, but understands it incorrectly. Hence, there is a harcoded "magic" to keep scoring averages "realistic". Result = good goalies underperform, bad ones overperform. Best to keep average or slightly under average goalies in your roster and ignore the shenaningans of the AI led teams. I tend to not look at their stats at all for my sanity since I've seen a 7-9 goalie be the best in a league with 13-13 average rating a couple saves back.

11-12-2023, 05:20 PM	#1
CanuckJohnny All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2022 Posts: 554	Goalies... Just had a season where the AI played Shesterkin 28 games and Quick 56. I know backups playing way more games than starters was an issue in last year's game, thought it had been tuned a bit and fixed to a degree at some point in 9, but it seems to be back with a vengeance. I don't know what's worse, haha, that they played a 2.5 star 38 year old Quick twice as much as incumbent starter and perennial Vezina candidate Shesterkin or that it worked in that Quick had reasonable success (not as good GSAA/60 as Shesterkin but he did have seven shutouts and the Rangers made the playoffs). I feel like mediocre goalies are still too OP, and shutouts are still too high (Merzlikins also led the league the same sim with 10 shutouts). Goalies are voodoo and I appreciate that FHM replicates that to an extent, but there are a handful of elite goalies in the league that consistently excel and it should be far rarer to see an established elite goalie replaced by a mediocre backup. (Do goalie ratings even do anything I'm starting to wonder?). But yeah, hopefully the AI can be tweaked to favour starting elite goalies most of the time.

11-12-2023, 05:53 PM	#2
bvs Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 33	Agree with this point. I see far too many shutouts too and high-end goalies seem to offer little value for their Cap hit.

11-13-2023, 11:43 AM	#3
treestreetgaming Minors (Single A) Join Date: Dec 2020 Location: Maine Posts: 91	I’ve had quite a few low end prospects out perform big names as back ups. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

11-14-2023, 03:35 PM	#4
ety516 Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Apr 2023 Location: Slovakia Posts: 36	The AI is not very good at building rosters and very bad at picking specifically goalies, and in addition to that, it seems to have incorrect values assigned to the "backup" and "starting" supplementary roles when it comes to actually fielding goalies - it assigns the role correctly when signing players, but understands it incorrectly. Hence, there is a harcoded "magic" to keep scoring averages "realistic". Result = good goalies underperform, bad ones overperform. Best to keep average or slightly under average goalies in your roster and ignore the shenaningans of the AI led teams. I tend to not look at their stats at all for my sanity since I've seen a 7-9 goalie be the best in a league with 13-13 average rating a couple saves back.