Tactics

Tactics set how your team plays: how it attacks and defends at even strength, how it runs the power play and the penalty kill, how physical it plays, and how it reacts to the score. A good choice weighs three things together: the players you have, the systems your team already knows, and the systems you expect to face.

Choosing your tactics

You pick one system for each of four situations, set the match details and press Save tactics. The Fit bar on each option shows which systems your players suit, and the Fam bar which ones your team already knows.

Open Tactics… from the Actions menu on your team page. The screen shows four cards, one for each system:

• Offense: how you create chances at even strength.
• Defense: how you defend at even strength.
• Powerplay: how you attack with the extra man.
• Penalty kill: how you defend while shorthanded.

Each card shows the formation you have chosen. Click a card to see every option for that system, with its diagram, a short description, its Pros, its Cons and the kind of player it suits (Player fit). Press Select on the one you want.

Below the cards, Match details holds fair play, switch goalie and the game-state focus. Nothing changes until you press Save tactics. Your tactics count from the next game; a game already under way plays with the tactics it started with.

Fit and familiarity

Every system option shows two bars:

• Fit shows how well the ratings of your best skaters suit that system. Each system asks for different skills: Puck Possession wants passers and puck handlers, the Aggressive Forecheck wants skaters with speed, Spirit and endurance on top of their defensive skill. Players on assignment to your affiliate and your goalies are not counted.
• Fam (familiarity) shows how well your team knows the system. It grows with every game you play it and fades when you stop. A system you have not played lately starts at the bottom.

If two systems show a similar Fit, the one with the higher Fam plays better sooner.

Familiarity only ever helps. In each game, players who know the system get a lift from it, and veterans get more out of a familiar system than young players do. A team that changes systems every game never builds that lift, so a new system costs you a few weeks before it plays at its best.

Your systems also decide what your players work on in practice: training builds the skills your tactics ask for. See training and development.

Offensive systems

Your offense decides which of your skaters’ ratings count when your team creates and finishes chances at even strength. Match the system to your forwards’ ratings. If they are strong in Passing and Puck handling, Puck Possession suits them. If they are fast and hard-working but weaker with the puck, Dump & Chase asks the least of their puck handling. If they are fast and have good puck skills, Transition Rushes suits them.

System	How it plays	Suits
Crash the Net	A forward drives to the net to deflect shots, bang in loose pucks and screen the goalie.	Strong, gritty forwards who can pass the puck.
Dump & Chase	Puck in deep, then forwards go hard after it and force the defensemen off it.	Fast, hard-working players. Asks the least of your puck handling.
Puck Possession	Keep the puck and cycle it patiently until something opens on the weak side.	Good passers and puck handlers.
Transition Rushes	Go the other way fast, often with a mobile defenseman joining the rush.	Fast skaters with good puck skills.

The chances Crash the Net and Dump & Chase create are harder to finish than chances built with the puck.

Defensive systems

Your defense decides which ratings count when your team defends at even strength. If your team is less mobile, the Conservative Trap suits it. If your skaters have Skating, Spirit and Endurance on top of their defensive skill, the Aggressive Forecheck suits them.

System	How it plays	Suits
Conservative Trap	One forechecker deep, four skaters in a wall at the blue line to stop the attack in the neutral zone.	Defensive-minded players. A good fit for a less mobile team.
Aggressive Forecheck	Four skaters attack the puck low in waves and never let the opponent settle.	Fast players with Spirit and endurance.
Moderate Forecheck	One forechecker low, two high, two defensemen back. Funnels the attack to the boards and cuts passing lanes.	Mobile players with defensive skills.
Left-Wing Lock	A winger stays high as a safety valve while the rest pressure.	Big, mobile players.
Spread	The wingers flush the puck carrier from behind his net and force a rushed decision.	Fast, physical players.

Power play

Your power-play system decides how your units attack with the extra man. Pick it for the players on your power-play units: if your defensemen have a big shot, the Umbrella suits them; if your best power-play players are passers and puck handlers, Overload or 1-3-1.

System	How it plays	Suits
Umbrella	Three high in a triangle at the blue line, two low in the slot. Feeds hard shots from the point.	Defensemen with a big shot, forwards with good puck skills.
Overload	Outnumbers the penalty killers along the half-boards and cycles low.	Players with good passing and puck handling.
1-3-1	Four passing triangles set up one-timers and pull the kill into the middle.	Highly skilled puck handlers who can also shoot.
Spread	Floods the slot with forwards and pulls the killers off the blue line.	Power forwards and defensemen with a good shot.

On the power play, a player shooting from his off side, a left-handed shot on the right or a right-handed shot on the left, now and then gets a better look at the net. The lineup shows how each player’s ratings suit your power-play and penalty-kill systems.

Penalty kill

Your penalty-kill system decides how your units defend while shorthanded. If your penalty killers are mobile, the Diamond or the Wedge suits them, the Wedge if they also have Endurance; if they are defense-minded and hold their ground rather than chase the puck, the Box.

System	How it plays	Suits
Diamond	A high forward takes the quarterback, a forward and a defenseman take the circles, a low defenseman guards the slot.	Mobile, defense-minded players.
Box	A tight box protects the slot and gives up the perimeter. Stick work, not chasing the puck.	Defense-minded players who hold their ground.
Wedge	Three players collapse into a rotating triangle in the slot while the fourth roams the perimeter.	Smart, mobile players who work hard.

How the opponent matters

Every system is stronger against some systems than others. In each game your defense meets the opponent’s offense, and your penalty kill meets their power play. A good matchup makes your team harder to score on. A poor one opens up chances. Use the tables to pick a defense for the offense you expect to face, and weigh it against what your team already knows.

At even strength

How each defensive system holds up against each offense:

Your defense	Crash the Net	Dump & Chase	Puck Possession	Transition Rushes
Conservative Trap	Even	Weak	Even	Strong
Aggressive Forecheck	Slightly weak	Strong	Slightly strong	Weak
Moderate Forecheck	Strong	Strong	Weak	Slightly weak
Left-Wing Lock	Strong	Strong	Weak	Even
Spread	Even	Strong	Weak	Even

Read from the other side, Puck Possession has the most good matchups of the four offenses and Dump & Chase the most poor ones. Dump & Chase still has its place: it asks the least of your players’ puck handling.

On special teams

How each penalty kill holds up against each power play:

Your penalty kill	Umbrella	Overload	1-3-1	Spread
Diamond	Strong	Weak	Strong	Weak
Box	Weak	Strong	Weak	Strong
Wedge	Weak	Weak	Strong	Strong

Your goalie

What your goalie needs most changes with the system he faces. Against Puck Possession his reflexes matter most. Against Crash the Net it is his positioning first, then his puck control and Spirit.

Reading the opponent

You don’t see the opponent’s tactics before the game. Before a game, the Assistant’s report… on the pre-game page describes how the opponent has played in their recent games, how they create chances and how they defend. It is a read of their habits, not their plan for tonight. After the game, Our game plan in the game report sets both clubs’ tactics side by side. See games.

The report describes how they create chances by the offense they played most, and says so when their last few games have changed. If it says they get the puck deep and send their forwards in hard, every defense but the Conservative Trap reads Strong against that. If it says they want the puck and cycle it low, the Aggressive Forecheck and the Conservative Trap hold up better than the rest. If it says they go the other way fast, the Conservative Trap reads Strong and the Aggressive Forecheck Weak. If it says they score from in close, the Moderate Forecheck and the Left-Wing Lock read Strong.

Changing systems to counter each opponent costs familiarity, so weigh the matchup against what your team already knows.

Match details

Match details are three settings beside your systems: how far your players push the rules, how quickly your goalie is pulled, and how your team plays depending on the score. You find them below the four cards.

Fair play

Fair play sets how far your players push the rules. Choose one of five settings, from Safe to Dirty.

• Safe and Fair: your players hold back. They take hardly any penalties and are less likely to injure an opponent, but they give up the edge in the battles at both ends.
• Normal: tough when needed, without unnecessary penalties.
• Hard: physical as often as possible. An edge in the battles at both ends, and more penalties.
• Dirty: cheap shots to knock the opponent off balance. The biggest edge in the battles, a lot of penalties, and a higher risk of injuring opponents.

Fair play counts at both ends of the ice, when your team attacks and when it defends. Playing hard also wears an opponent down for the games that follow: Dirty leaves their skaters more worn out, and Hard and Dirty both leave their goalie more tired. Safe and Fair spare the opponent’s skaters. A major penalty can turn into a fight.

If your team takes too many penalties, move a step toward Fair or Safe. Hard gives you the edge in the battles at the cost of more penalties.

Switch goalie

Switch goalie sets how quickly your goalie is pulled after a bad start. A goalie is only pulled when your team is behind, only once a game, and only when a backup is dressed.

• Normal: he can be pulled in the first or second period if he is having a bad night.
• Rare: he is only pulled in the first period, and only after a very bad start.
• Never: he plays the whole game.

If you want your starter to play through a bad night, Never keeps him in net all game; Rare pulls him only after a very bad first period, and Normal sooner.

Pulling a goalie can swing the momentum back to your team, and the backup goes in with a lift in confidence. The goalie who was pulled loses confidence.

Game-state focus

The game-state focus sets how much your team attacks or defends depending on the score. There are five sliders, from Defensive to Offensive, one for each situation: Behind 3+, Behind, Even, Ahead and Ahead 3+. The two outer sliders take over at a gap of three goals or more. The focus applies at even strength. On the power play and the penalty kill, the team plays the way the situation demands.

If you want to protect a lead, move the Ahead sliders toward Defensive; if you need goals, move the Behind sliders toward Offensive.

How each setting changes your play is explained under team spirit and focus. Each line’s and pair’s own focus is set in the lineup and works together with your players’ roles.

Worth knowing

• Familiarity only ever helps, and veterans get more out of a familiar system than young players do.
• Behind and Ahead cover a gap of one or two goals; Behind 3+ and Ahead 3+ take over only from three.
• Hard and Dirty leave the opponent’s goalie more tired for the games that follow, and Dirty also wears down their skaters.
• Your systems decide what your players work on in practice.
• On the power play, a player shooting from his off side now and then gets a better look at the net.