There's no doubt that one of NHL 12's best features is the team-focused goodness of the EASHL. As has been detailed before, there's a great deal of depth in the mode, and the proverbial carrot of additional XP points for your skater or goalie keeps things interesting. Additionally, the playoff system that has been introduced in the last two iterations of the game has provided a nice goal for teams of all abilities.

However, this doesn't mean that the mode is without fault. There are certain areas that still annoy many users on a consistent basis, and other feature omissions prevent the EASHL from truly becoming the “RPG” mode that EA would like it to be. What would make the EASHL better?

1. Fix Lingering Issues

As always, the EASHL still has a litany of odd technical issues here and there. Faceoff resets still happen from time to time, as do EA server disconnects and hangups that sometimes punish the winning team and allow the losers to slip away unaffected. There's no doubt that these issues have been improved over the years, but they still happen enough to be frustrating. It shouldn't be too much to ask for EA to police these incidents a bit better, especially considering how much money users spend on boosts and HUT cards.

2. Explain Attributes Better

One aspect of player creation that has been murky since the beginning of the EASHL has been what effect each attribute actually has on gameplay. Some users have cleverly spaded up details that loose-lipped EA devs have mentioned regarding which attributes affect gameplay and which affect AI-controlled behavior, but all of this should be much clearer to a user when making these key choices.

Some areas have obvious impacts — speed, shot power, passing — but what, specifically, does offensive awareness do? It very likely affects the player's ability to make accurate passes in tight areas, but this should be clear to the user when they are spending points in that area. There should also be ways of qualifying and quantifying the differences between, say, a 75 agility and a 90 agility. As it is, users are forced to guess and assume where the magical line is that allows their player to turn more quickly, etc. Make these benchmarks clearer, and let the user know what they'll gain by adding points to specific areas.

3. Where's my “C?”

It's a small feature, but there's no reason that after several iterations of the EASHL that teams shouldn't be able to have a designated captain and a couple of assistants on the ice. If people can have individual gloves, sticks, skates and helmets, then there is no reason this obvious feature shouldn't be in there by now. Also, with players having specific numbers on their jersey, it doesn't seem that technically difficult to add yet another area on the jersey for the letters “A” or “C.”

4. More Team Jersey Customization

Speaking of putting something on the jersey, how about a truly custom logo? Clearly EA can't just let people put whatever they want on there — the thought of a Second Life-esque phallus district comes to mind — but some additional options for creating a logo out of pre-defined shapes and objects seems reasonable. Also, some additional color and detailing schemes would be nice. EA could verify all of this stuff like they already attempt to do with player names, which would prevent silly stuff from showing up.

5. GameFace Support

Just like more customizable jerseys and logos, users should be able to scan in a face for their EASHL player. FIFA 12 has this somewhat implemented for its online league, so there's no reason that NHL 13 should fall behind in this regard. Being able to see your actual face was great in Fight Night series, so there's no reason it should absent in future NHL releases.

6. Give the Goalies Some Love

Much like the FIFA series did a couple of years ago, NHL 13 needs a boost to its goalie position for the EASHL. It would be nice if EA developed a camera solution that truly allowed for full vision during all parts of a game (powerplay, slot play, lateral movement at the point), and there really should be more explanation for when to use certain save animations and how to play better positionally. The feature has always really been for hardcore goalie fans and advanced users, but some accessibility would be nice.

7. Improve the Practice Mode

The practice mode has been a welcome addition to the EASHL feature set, but it can be better. Removing the timer on “games” in the practice session would be a nice start. Also, allowing teams to set up proper drills and additional scenarios would be great. How about making it more realistic by having multiple pucks on the ice?

8. More Celebrations

FIFA 12 has tons of celebrations, so it's a shame that the NHL games have been much more limited in that regard. Even more puzzling, though, is EA's removal of some of the celebration combinations from NHL 12. At the very least, these combinations should be restored (doing multiple moves at once), and this feature should really be expanded on.

9. Improve the Player Loadouts Even More

It was certainly a welcome addition when EA finally got around to allowing position-specific loadouts this year, but it would be nice if the feature went even further. For starters, allowing two defensive loadouts (one for each side or play style) would accommodate those players who move around to different positions constantly. Additionally, some of the menus for attributes, equipment and boosts should be combined. All of the loading required for the EA servers makes waiting for menus a chore. Finally, is it really necessary to dump out all points (change player type) to reset attributes? How about just being able to add or remove them without the extra step? It certainly would save time.

10. Think Bigger

It is somewhat of a pipe dream, but it would be nice to allow all of those teams that have lots of players a chance to stretch their legs. Maybe a point model could be introduced that would allow teams to field multiple squads again without having them climb the rankings quite so fast. Clearly, EA doesn't want to discourage the smaller teams who have fewer players and less time, but there could be a compromise here.

In addition, it would be nice to see EA think about adding multiple lines to a single game. It would require a large amount of technical innovation, but it would be cool to see, nonetheless. As for even crazier stuff within a season? How about an All-Star Game, Olympic tournaments and series-style playoffs? EA seems like it wants to move in that direction, so hopefully it isn't far off.

Final Thoughts

The EASHL is still a ton of fun to play, even with a few warts and annoyances. It's a testament to how rewarding it can be when thousands of people continuously play season after season and invest money into their characters. It's a bit worrying that EA is focusing so much energy on the HUT mode — a mode that, coincidentally, makes them lots of money for far less effort — so let's hope they keep improving on the EASHL in meaningful ways.