Player personality

A player’s personality is who he is away from the puck: how he gets along, how he carries a big game, what he wants from his career. It reaches into chemistry, the dressing room, big games and contract talks, and the languages he speaks decide who he can talk to on the ice. The game does not change a player’s personality as he ages, so what you see when you sign him is what you get.

Reading his personality

Open a player’s info panel, or the Overview of his page, and look at the Personality section. It sums him up in his Persona, Culture fit and Winner instinct, and six bars show the traits behind them. You can read it for any player in the game, without scouting him.

Each bar runs between two poles, and the dot sits where the player falls. The pole he leans toward is brighter, and a word by the bar names where he falls. The dot turns green or red only toward the far ends: green where the trait helps the club, red where it tends to cost. In between it stays neutral.

Bar	Words under the bar, left to right	What it touches
Humble – Cocky	Compassionate, Friendly, Responsible, Cocky, Arrogant	Culture fit, his persona, the lift from the home crowd
Follower – Leader	Anonymous, Modest, Respected, Role Model, True Leader	Captaincy, standing up to a checking line
Nervy – Clutch	Nervous, Anxious, Stable, Determined, Heroic	Pressure in big games, consistency, standing up to hits
Content – Ambitious	Lazy, Half Hearted, Enthusiastic, Purposeful, Ambitious	Training, consistency, how long he holds his level
Loyal – Greedy	Modest, Compliant, Reasonable, Hard to Please, Greedy	Contract demands, loyalty to his club, culture fit
Clean – Physical	Gentle, Respectful, Tough, Agitator	Penalties and fights, checking, injuries to the players he faces

A player who reads Cocky or Arrogant gets other leadership words — Egocentric, Childish, Impressive, Motivator, Commander. A cocky player at the loyal end of his Loyal – Greedy bar reads Easy-going or Eager instead of Modest or Compliant.

Persona

The persona is his personality type: Competitor, Inspirer, Peacemaker or Tactician. It decides who he fits with on a line, and a dressing room needs a mix of all four.

The persona follows from the six bars:

• Competitor — direct and forceful. Cocky, ambitious, clutch and physical players lean this way.
• Inspirer — sociable and lively. Natural leaders (Role Model, True Leader) and enthusiastic players lean this way.
• Peacemaker — gentle and accommodating. Humble, content players who read Nervous or Stable in big games lean this way.
• Tactician — private and analytical. Responsible, clean players who keep a low profile and are reasonable about money lean this way.

The persona’s color only tells the four types apart; it is not a grade. A player may also lean toward a second type, which the game reads too. The panel names it beside his main one, as Leans and the type.

Culture fit and Winner instinct

Culture fit reads Positive, Neutral or Negative: what he brings to the club’s culture. If your club’s culture reads Negative or Toxic, look for players whose Culture fit reads Positive when you sign, re-sign or hand out a letter.

Ego counts most, then greed: humble, loyal players read Positive, and cocky, greedy ones Negative. Winner instinct reads from Very Weak to Very Strong and measures how much of a Competitor he is; a player whose main or second type is Competitor reads highest. Both are his share in the club’s culture and winner instinct; how the room adds them up is on team spirit and focus.

What personality affects

Personality works mostly where the screen does not show it: on the line, in the room, in big games and at the negotiating table. You can’t train it, so you choose for it — who plays together, who wears the letter, whom you sign.

On the ice

• Chemistry. The personas on a unit decide how well its players can play together; which types clash is on lineup chemistry.
• Big games. His Nervy – Clutch bar counts most in how he carries the pressure of a big game, goalies included; see team spirit and focus.
• Consistency. In every game, the Content – Ambitious bar most, with Nervy – Clutch and spirit, decides how steady he is: an ambitious, clutch player has fewer off nights.
• Getting rattled. Leader and Clutch, with spirit and experience, help him stand up to a checking line trying to rattle him. A big hit from a player who leans Physical can shake a Nervy one further.
• Physical play. A player who leans Physical takes more penalties, majors and fights included, and more still if his Physical rating is high too. A checking line leans on that edge, and he raises the injury risk for the players he faces; a clean player lowers it. If your team spends too long short-handed, look at the Clean – Physical bar of the players who take the penalties.
• Home ice. The more humble a player, the more reliably he gets the full lift from the home crowd; a cocky one more often loses part of it.

In the room

Culture fit, winner instinct and the mix of personas on your roster make the club’s team spirit, and the Follower – Leader bar counts most in a captain’s leadership. See team spirit and focus.

Settling in

A player is happier when his teammates suit his persona and share a language with him. His Morale, under Transfer on his page, reads Struggling to settle in when few of them do, and Settled at the club when enough do and few clash. If a player reads Struggling to settle in, a teammate who suits his persona and speaks his language helps him settle.

A Competitor with a big reputation may name a teammate he clashes with (Clashes with a teammate), and an Inspirer one he enjoys (Enjoys a teammate).

A player whose bars lean far enough toward Cocky, Follower and Nervy takes being put on the trade block badly: while he is listed, his confidence can’t rise above its normal level.

Contracts and career

• Money. A greedy player asks a higher salary, values money over the level of the league and asks for a raise on promotion more readily. A loyal one asks less, weighs the club he plays or played for when he chooses between offers, and is readier to sign a long deal.
• His role. Personality shapes the role he asks for: a player who is not tough won’t ask to be an enforcer. Unless he leans greedy (Hard to Please or Greedy) and cocky (Cocky or Arrogant), a player keeps to the role in his contract. See player roles and player contracts.
• Ambition. An ambitious player gets more out of training and holds his level longer as he ages; a content one gets less and declines sooner. An ambitious player can also be Flattered by outside interest from a club in a higher league.
• Career length. Ambition counts most: an ambitious player tends to play a longer career, and a lazy one retires sooner. Leaders, clutch players and humble players also last longer than followers, nervy players and cocky ones. See decline and retirement.

Languages

The Languages section of his info panel, and his Bio page, list the languages he speaks, each Fluent or Basic, his native language first. Who can talk to whom counts in lineup chemistry and in how well a player settles in.

Learning new languages

Players start with the language of their home country. Players whose native language is Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, German or Dutch also start with basic English; other players often know less, or too little to show. A language appears on the list only once he speaks it at a basic level.

Once a season, after the playoffs, each player who played picks up some of the language of the country where he played most of that season. National-team games do not count. It takes a few seasons before a new language shows as Basic, and longer to become Fluent.

How fast he learns depends on his persona and on the language:

• Inspirers learn fastest.
• A Tactician with no second leaning, or a Peacemaker and a Tactician who lean toward each other, learn slowest.
• A language far from his own comes harder, and a season can pass with no progress.

Scouting a personality

You don’t need to scout a player to see his personality. A scouting report adds what the panel leaves out: every report names his second leaning, if he has one, and a Profile report adds his personality spectrum, his impact on your team’s culture, and the players on your roster he Gels with and Clashes with.

Gels with and Clashes with weigh language as well as persona, and they cover your main roster. More thorough scouting names more players, and a Brief Profile report leaves out the team-culture impact.

Worth knowing

• You can read every player’s personality without scouting him; a Profile scouting report adds who on your roster he gels with and clashes with.
• The more humble a player, the more reliably he gets the full lift from the home crowd; a cocky one more often loses part of it.
• A big hit from a player who leans Physical can shake a Nervy opponent further.
• Languages are picked up once a season, after the playoffs, from the country where he played most; Inspirers learn fastest.
• A player whose bars lean far enough toward Cocky, Follower and Nervy takes the trade block badly: while he is listed, his confidence can’t rise above its normal level.