2020-21 Season in FHM7

JeffR · 12-16-2020, 12:40 AM

I've mentioned this in a couple of places, but I thought I'd keep a post here for easy reference for anyone who's wondering.

The default starting database for a standard game begins with a 2020-2021 season that's (more or less) a regular season that starts in the fall of 2020, with all leagues playing a full schedule. Some of the real 2020-21 structure and rule changes in leagues are present (even if they're likely to go away after this season), but any league with really significant changes (the NHL and other late-starting leagues, and those like the EIHL, NIHL, and ALIH that cancelled their seasons outright) will operate like they'd been able to play as if there'd been no interruption due to Covid.

Once we have firm details on what every league is doing (mainly contingent on everyone seeing what the NHL is going to do), we'll put together a start option that'll try to reflect what 20-21 really looks/will look like. Partial schedules, schedules with odd breaks (owing to cancelled/postponed games), cancelled international tournaments, some playable leagues that sit out the whole season, and so on. That'll all revert to normal for 21-22. We'll include this in one of the regular game updates; I'll give more details once we have a timeline for that.

The player database is another issue; we'll keep making changes in the starting player data up until the real NHL Opening Night happens, then we'll freeze that as the regular "Opening Night" database and add a "Current" version as we've done in previous years. Doing it that way does require some compromises; a lot of players, for example, were loaned to European teams from their NHL/AHL/CHL teams to get some playing time before those leagues resumed play.

If we put all of those players on loan like that, it would really break the AI because it's not designed to deal with great masses of loaned players like that (we had it that way in testing for a while, and the results weren't pretty.) So those players will start on the team they're contracted to.

As a side-effect of those loans, it's a little more difficult to use Eliteprospects data in the way I normally would to keep the rosters accurate. That'll probably fix itself once every league is playing again, but to begin with you may see some errors in the rosters of lower-level teams.

Orioles1966 · 12-17-2020, 04:52 PM

I just heard on Toronto Sportsnet radio that the Canadian teams might have to play their games in the USA if they can't get agreements with 5 different Provinces.

Hopefully FHM7 will have a neutral site option with the NHL 2020-21 schedule if they ever do play for real.

tward13 · 12-17-2020, 05:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orioles1966

I just heard on Toronto Sportsnet radio that the Canadian teams might have to play their games in the USA if they can't get agreements with 5 different Provinces.

Hopefully FHM7 will have a neutral site option with the NHL 2020-21 schedule if they ever do play for real.

The arenas are empty, they're all neutral sites.

Orioles1966 · 12-20-2020, 04:30 PM

The NHLPA has approved a 56 game regular season(between Jan.13-May 8) with all divisional games and neutral sites(yes-neutral sites) are possible(all of this according to ESPN website).

Still no word where Canadian teams will be playing.

Sabres2000 · 12-20-2020, 05:47 PM

https://www.tsn.ca/nhl-free-agent-fr...y-28-1.1566614

Season Begins January 13th
Trade Deadline is April 12th
Season Ends May 8th
Stanley Cup is Presented Beginning of July.
Expansion Draft July 21st
Rookie Draft 23/24th
Free Agent begins July 28th

Orioles1966 · 12-20-2020, 05:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sabres2000

https://www.tsn.ca/nhl-free-agent-fr...y-28-1.1566614

Season Begins January 31st
Trade Deadline is April 12th
Season Ends May 8th
Stanley Cup is Presented Beginning of July.
Expansion Draft July 21st
Rookie Draft 23/24th
Free Agent begins July 28th

Two places in that article mention's Jan 13th as start of season.

tward13 · 12-20-2020, 10:39 PM

It's January 13.

No mention of neutral sites, a couple of teams (San Jose and Vancouver) may need to use a alternate home site for the season. Games will not be played at random neutral sites.

LouColonels · 12-22-2020, 07:48 PM

Prob in the US like the BlueJays did back in the shortened MLB season

AbeFroman · 12-23-2020, 04:02 PM

The 2020-21 NHL schedule was just released. Full schedule files available at the bottom of the Press Release in the link.

Orioles1966 · 12-30-2020, 12:20 AM

Has the AHL made any official announcements for it's upcoming 2021 season?

JSnow93 · 12-30-2020, 12:02 PM

The current generation of the schedule is pretty bad, as in it's pretty much random and doesn't follow even the standards of a normal regular season. For example Toronto played Montreal twice in the last schedule the game generated. In a normal season they would play 4 times. I'm sure this will be fixed when the new season format is out, but just saying.

I've also noticed injury frequency is pretty high so far.

Lord PichuPal · 01-07-2021, 01:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orioles1966

Has the AHL made any official announcements for it's upcoming 2021 season?

I have heard that Springfield, Charlotte, and Binghamton are opting out of the 2020-21 season. Everyone else I think is good to start in February, though not sure how it'll work for the Canadian teams who have their affiliates in the US.

gekkoguy82 · 01-07-2021, 09:17 AM

Milwaukee will not be playing either.

Cards>Cubs · 01-13-2021, 07:01 AM

Has there been an update to FHM to account for the 2021 NHL season and schedule?

PatTheBrat · 01-13-2021, 08:02 AM

Crossing my fingers that they can release a "real" 20-21 season update. I fear the taxi squad concept might be a big curve ball. Even if they can add it to the game mechanics you still need to teach the AI how to use it. All that for just one season.

Xavier's Crown · 01-13-2021, 08:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PatTheBrat

Crossing my fingers that they can release a "real" 20-21 season update. I fear the taxi squad concept might be a big curve ball. Even if they can add it to the game mechanics you still need to teach the AI how to use it. All that for just one season.

I don't see the difference between taxi squad and sending your guys up/down to/from the AHL with a click of the button. Waivers, cap hit, option to play them all the same in my mind. What benefit would you get if they added taxi squads?

#4BobbyOrr · 01-13-2021, 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PatTheBrat

Crossing my fingers that they can release a "real" 20-21 season update. I fear the taxi squad concept might be a big curve ball. Even if they can add it to the game mechanics you still need to teach the AI how to use it. All that for just one season.

Is it really that important to have the taxi squad part implemented? Those guys can just be stashed in the AHL as scratches which is essentially the exact same concept. To me it’s more important to get the season length and divisional structure correct, every time I try and customise the season myself I run into issues with the schedule.

Adam B · 01-13-2021, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cards>Cubs

Has there been an update to FHM to account for the 2021 NHL season and schedule?

We are hard at work on the next update. It has not been released yet.

Cards>Cubs · 01-13-2021, 07:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adam B

We are hard at work on the next update. It has not been released yet.

Thanks for the response. I completely understand the work that must have to go into adjusting to such a drastic change in the structure of the NHL and its schedule.

I was just curious.

PatTheBrat · 01-14-2021, 05:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by #4BobbyOrr

Is it really that important to have the taxi squad part implemented? Those guys can just be stashed in the AHL as scratches which is essentially the exact same concept. To me it’s more important to get the season length and divisional structure correct, every time I try and customise the season myself I run into issues with the schedule.

Yeah I misunderstood the waiver rule for Taxi squad I thought after initial waiver they were good for the rest of the season.

My bad.

12-16-2020, 12:40 AM	#1
JeffR FHM Producer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Kelowna, BC Posts: 17,248	2020-21 Season in FHM7 I've mentioned this in a couple of places, but I thought I'd keep a post here for easy reference for anyone who's wondering. The default starting database for a standard game begins with a 2020-2021 season that's (more or less) a regular season that starts in the fall of 2020, with all leagues playing a full schedule. Some of the real 2020-21 structure and rule changes in leagues are present (even if they're likely to go away after this season), but any league with really significant changes (the NHL and other late-starting leagues, and those like the EIHL, NIHL, and ALIH that cancelled their seasons outright) will operate like they'd been able to play as if there'd been no interruption due to Covid. Once we have firm details on what every league is doing (mainly contingent on everyone seeing what the NHL is going to do), we'll put together a start option that'll try to reflect what 20-21 really looks/will look like. Partial schedules, schedules with odd breaks (owing to cancelled/postponed games), cancelled international tournaments, some playable leagues that sit out the whole season, and so on. That'll all revert to normal for 21-22. We'll include this in one of the regular game updates; I'll give more details once we have a timeline for that. The player database is another issue; we'll keep making changes in the starting player data up until the real NHL Opening Night happens, then we'll freeze that as the regular "Opening Night" database and add a "Current" version as we've done in previous years. Doing it that way does require some compromises; a lot of players, for example, were loaned to European teams from their NHL/AHL/CHL teams to get some playing time before those leagues resumed play. If we put all of those players on loan like that, it would really break the AI because it's not designed to deal with great masses of loaned players like that (we had it that way in testing for a while, and the results weren't pretty.) So those players will start on the team they're contracted to. As a side-effect of those loans, it's a little more difficult to use Eliteprospects data in the way I normally would to keep the rosters accurate. That'll probably fix itself once every league is playing again, but to begin with you may see some errors in the rosters of lower-level teams.

12-20-2020, 05:47 PM	#5
Sabres2000 All Star Starter Join Date: Feb 2014 Posts: 1,009	https://www.tsn.ca/nhl-free-agent-fr...y-28-1.1566614 Season Begins January 13th Trade Deadline is April 12th Season Ends May 8th Stanley Cup is Presented Beginning of July. Expansion Draft July 21st Rookie Draft 23/24th Free Agent begins July 28th Last edited by Sabres2000; 12-20-2020 at 05:54 PM.

12-23-2020, 04:02 PM	#9
AbeFroman Minors (Single A) Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 84	The 2020-21 NHL schedule was just released. Full schedule files available at the bottom of the Press Release in the link. Last edited by AbeFroman; 12-23-2020 at 04:35 PM.

12-17-2020, 04:52 PM	#2
Orioles1966 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2012 Posts: 2,869	I just heard on Toronto Sportsnet radio that the Canadian teams might have to play their games in the USA if they can't get agreements with 5 different Provinces. Hopefully FHM7 will have a neutral site option with the NHL 2020-21 schedule if they ever do play for real.

12-20-2020, 04:30 PM	#4
Orioles1966 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2012 Posts: 2,869	The NHLPA has approved a 56 game regular season(between Jan.13-May 8) with all divisional games and neutral sites(yes-neutral sites) are possible(all of this according to ESPN website). Still no word where Canadian teams will be playing.

12-20-2020, 10:39 PM	#7
tward13 All Star Starter Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 1,964	It's January 13. No mention of neutral sites, a couple of teams (San Jose and Vancouver) may need to use a alternate home site for the season. Games will not be played at random neutral sites.

12-22-2020, 07:48 PM	#8
LouColonels Bat Boy Join Date: Nov 2015 Posts: 4	Prob in the US like the BlueJays did back in the shortened MLB season

12-30-2020, 12:20 AM	#10
Orioles1966 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2012 Posts: 2,869	Has the AHL made any official announcements for it's upcoming 2021 season?

12-30-2020, 12:02 PM	#11
JSnow93 Minors (Single A) Join Date: Mar 2017 Posts: 51	The current generation of the schedule is pretty bad, as in it's pretty much random and doesn't follow even the standards of a normal regular season. For example Toronto played Montreal twice in the last schedule the game generated. In a normal season they would play 4 times. I'm sure this will be fixed when the new season format is out, but just saying. I've also noticed injury frequency is pretty high so far.

01-07-2021, 09:17 AM	#13
gekkoguy82 Minors (Single A) Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Nashville, TN Posts: 57	Milwaukee will not be playing either.

01-13-2021, 07:01 AM	#14
Cards>Cubs Minors (Single A) Join Date: May 2009 Location: St Louis, MO Posts: 78	Has there been an update to FHM to account for the 2021 NHL season and schedule?

01-13-2021, 08:02 AM	#15
PatTheBrat Bat Boy Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 9	Crossing my fingers that they can release a "real" 20-21 season update. I fear the taxi squad concept might be a big curve ball. Even if they can add it to the game mechanics you still need to teach the AI how to use it. All that for just one season.