Media LG Overdrive: Special Goalie Edition

Ah.... I see you have finally read my critiques.

 

Here's the thing (and I think I've said this many times before): the goalies didn't really get better while putting the onus on the rest of our team to provide BETTER defense for us. So we can move faster, we can make better saves while in position, but it's harder to make saves where we have to reach for the puck and our ability to "push into" a save got decreased substantially (in order to "help" with the cross-crease sniping issue which is still there, so it didn't really help).

Yet even with this "re-balancing" of the goalie mechanics, we still have to deal with all the glitches, bugs and weird happenings that lead to awful goals. Pucks still slide under or through our pads. Opponents can still crash into us and push the puck into the net without getting called for Goalie Interference. Shots from a 178° angle on the goal line find the back of the net with alarming ease even though the goalie is covering the post. Deflections always go towards the back of the net with pin-point accuracy, even when they come from a player casually flying by the front of the net with his back to the play. Rebounds are more easily picked up by a rushing forward 10 feet away from the play than a defender standing 2 inches from a stationary puck.

Lastly, there wasn't anything really done to help the human goalie's effective save range, especially when the puck is in close as many times the game will decide to give you a "blocking" save animation (close to the body) rather than extend a leg or an arm to stop a puck passing by one or two feet away. And don't even get me started on the puck cover mechanics...

All in all goalies were re-balanced, but not really "improved". EA made it so that our defense has to play a bigger part in our success in nets, but they didn't give them any tools to help them help us do it. Meanwhile the attacker with the puck still retains all of the nonsense they've had for years now. It's not likely (read NEVER) that EA will come out with another patch and/or tuner until the next game comes out, so if we're looking for more improvements, we're not gonna get it until NHL 18. Still, the Dev does seem to understand where the core of the problems with the goalies are so hopefully next year we get some much needed improvements in the form of more save animations and better post interactions. And hopefully we also get more differentiation between the goalie builds instead of just some different "attribute" points.

There's still so much that needs to be done to make goalies actually be rewarding to play.

 

I still cant believe how much we have over cover shortside. I leave just a little bit open and get sniped. pretty much have to put your glove touching the post to cover it.

 

I just hope they fix the AIDS hug post animations and crap goals that happen while hugging the post in NHL 18 (which they won't), because they sure haven't made an effort to fix it in NHL 17.

 

Great video to watch, it was very interesting to see some of your different perspectives about goalies. It was nice to hear some different content. Just an interesting thought though, you guys should consider looking at the advanced goalie stats such as goal support, gaa in wins vs losses, and goalie reliability.

I personally don't believe win loss is a determinate factor in a goalies skill level because as you guys said if you take goalies off the top teams and swap them with lower ranked teams their record and stats will take a hit. These advanced stats in my opinion are hard to read, but if they are paired up with a goalies sv% and gaa you may come up with some interesting results that may sway your rankings.

Just an idea that I had while watching your show, great job for putting this content out here every week.

 

I'm still waiting for a goalie to pass me for most wins in a season. I doubt it will come this season.

 

great episode keep up the good work!