Quick Look: NHL 18

I always enjoy when a new NHL game drops, solely for our annual Jeff Bakalar Quick Look!

Yeah, annual hockey quick look!

J E F F L O O K YEAH!

LGR!

Well, the Devils' creepy mascot is still creepy as hell.

Sports game Quick Looks are some of my favourite Quick Looks

Fuck yeah, the annual Jeff Bakalar NHL Quick Look! The best time of the year!

Good job Vinny! I like how the last minute of that first game with the goalie pulled echoed the anxiety and tension of the real thing.

"Hey did ya hear? The Vegas Golden Knights went their entire inaugural season without winning a single faceoff. Damnedest thing."

Couple things with what @alex talked about: The all-star game is now absolutely a 3-on-3 tournament between the four divisions, with the winning team getting $1m. Much more watchable than what it used to be, which was more sluggish than.. this game. But that's why the all-star teams are default in Threes mode!

And yeah, you're probably right about a 32nd team being on the way at some point. Almost certainly in Seattle, where they've just announced a massive arena renovation, to make it 16 Western teams. This is echoed in NHL 18's Franchise mode, where as well as going through the expansion process with Vegas, you're invited to create a 32nd team, with all the fun and games with customisation that they brought in in last year's game. The Birmingham Boats will rise again.

I think Vinny playing NHL is my new favorite thing. "GO HOCKEY"!

I have always loved the irony of video games based around activities us nerds were never good at.

I'm with Alex though, an uneven amount of teams really bugs me, so I hope they get that taken care of in the next couple seasons. A return to Quebec, please.

@simpo The Hartford Whalers will rise again!!!

Maybe...

Probably not

I would love to try one of these, but they never release it on PC for some reason.

Hell yeah!

I'd totally watch a series of this trio just trying to win a damn game of threes against the CPU, "this is the run" style.

Seconded.

Any news on that Giant Bomb hockey jersey?

Hat Trick

Face Off! Wait is this hockey or the Exquisite Corps? Always happy to see Jeff Hockeyalar in on a quick look.

"Say welcome to Giant Bombs Jeff Bakalar"

Sorry, I'm going to take that contractually binding and going to celebrate the new duder Jeff Bakalar and will like the welcome him into the fold.

Welcome, Bakalar!

Happy to hear Circa Waves in a big budget deal like this. When I started working at my college's radio station we got their original demo and it was such a good surf rockish sound. Not as happy to see a virtual Perron not wearing the Blues jersey.

That was some bad hockey, boys :)

SPOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRTSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Hopefully Edzo has a speedy recovery and is able to commentate this season. He was diagnosed with colon cancer in late July/early August.

Threes seems like a novelty to play with friends once or twice but could get old real fast. I haven’t picked up the game since 16 and I feel from watching this that not a lot has changed.

@madmatt213:

Now tot wait for the hocky Danny quick look and the official sportteam doing the fifas and PES!

Vegas and NJ - the two worst teams in the league.

Time to get mah Bak on.

@curufinwe: NJ is at least better than Colorado.

@curufinwe: The Avalanche and Canucks are both way worse than the Devils.

Let's go oil!

@simpo: I (being from Seattle) would love to see the next team go to Seattle but that "arena renovation" has nothing to do with hockey or basketball directly. It will be more for performing arts. There are too many traffic complications that would come from using the Key Arena for basketball or hockey again but the hope is that by doing this renovation on Key Arena it paves the way for a new facility to be built in a different location.

Seattle, home of your 1917 Stanley Cup Champions!

Jeff you need to move the stick right to left to "stick handle" and make a deke on the goalie on breakaways. Using the right stick to go back and "dangle" it is importtant skill to master (this is when you use the right stick to slide back from your forehand or backhand to fake shots, take strong wrist shots and pull the puck back to protect it or make through the legs tricks). You should use more "LB" deke moves on break outs and break ins to the offensive zones. Don't use the leg kick "right stick press" that never does anything.

This year the big add-on is the between the legs shots and passes "LB" while using the right stick dangle back then hit LB then move right stick towards the direction you want to move the puck (between legs around back, etc). You did see the poke check improvements but poke check is way to "OP" in this game (like always) and yes the game feels so slow with their current default settings. 3 on 3 plays faster with the hitting sliders maxed out. If they change the game speed and poke check effectiveness, it will help a lot in online ranked play. Fighting has been bad and the puck physics are in need of change.

I know it was for the good of the team, but it still hurts to see MAF in a VGK jersey.

Bakkalaaaaar is in da house !!!! :D

@bungalowbill79: I see, I see. I still think the NHL is really desperate to get a team in Seattle given the right circumstances. There's a wealthy group who have been courting the league for a while, and it'd be a great natural rivalry with the Canucks! (see avatar ;) )

As someone who buys this game every year, I have purchased this game once again this year.... lol I enjoy the quick looks though. =)

ETA of when Bakalar poops on the Rangers?

We need an East vs West Threes tournament.

Those menu buttons and font look very Overwatch. Also love PlainOldJeff.

Jeffy B. in the house!

"Are you color blind?"

"Yes"

This has been missing from the NHL for FAR TOO LONG.

Look, move the Coyotes to Seattle, take Panthers and get them back to Quebec. Create a team in Pittsburgh or bring back Hartford. Boom, roll credits. Also, eff the commissioner. He's a scummy piece of scum.

I'm glad Jeff has the same thoughts as most do with NHL 18. The god damn puck physics each year get nerfed to the point where the goal line will stop an incoming puck from going in.

Offside! Singular. Not Offsides.

Signed,

Canadian Hockey Fan

Score a touchdown!

Yes.

It's been a while since I've watched a hockey match - I usually just catch the world championship games, except I've skipped them the past several years. This was really fun to watch though. Maybe I should catch them next year.

HIRE THAT GUY!

The only thing that had me really excited about this year was the expansion mode, but that 3v3 looks good too. Despite that I think I'll wait for a Boxing Day sale to pick this up.