Big NHL 20 Update Out Now, Fixes A Gruesome Glitch And More

EA Sports has released a big new content update for NHL 20 that makes a series of changes and bug fixes across the professional hockey game’s various modes, and more.

Starting with gameplay changes, the patch notes confirm that NHL 20 has added the real-world NHL rule change for the 2019-2020 season for when the puck goes out of bounds. The rule change states that when the attacking team sends the puck out of bounds in the attacking zones, the ensuing face-off will take place in one of the two dots in the attacking zone. This should now happen in NHL 20.

Additionally, the NHL 20 patch fixes an issue where the skaters in some situations were unable to pick up the puck after a penalty shot in Threes mode. Outside of these changes, the new update makes some physics fixes, one of which eliminates a gruesome-sounding bug that could cause players to get their limbs stuck in the net. Ouch. There were also instances of when the puck could magically move through the goalie’s pads, but that bug has also been fixed.

There are also AI improvements in the newest update, including defenders making smarter plays on odd-man rushes. Additionally, the new NHL 20 update makes goalies smarter by improving and expanding on goalie animations.

Elsewhere, the social hub–World of Chel–has been updated with reduced requirements for the weekly challenge card, while a number of new jerseys for multiple teams have been added. You can see the full patch notes below, as written by EA Sports.

EA typically releases a tuning update around this time, but that isn’t happening this year because the baseline gameplay is “in a good place,” EA said in a blog post. That being said, EA is still looking into a few areas and asking players for advice on how to improve them. These include:

• Interceptions from behind
• Inconsistency of low relative speed hits from console to console
• Puck loss when pivoting at high speed

NHL 20 was originally released in September for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. GameSpot’s NHL 20 review scored the game a 9/10.

NHL 20 October 1 Patch Notes:

Gameplay

General

• Added NHL 2019-2020 season rule change for puck out of bounds
• When the attacking team is responsible for the puck going out of play in the attacking zone, in all instances, the face-off will be conducted at one of the two face-off dots in the attacking zone
• Fixed a case where the player is sometimes unable to pick up the puck after a penalty shot in Threes

Physics

• Fixed a case where players could get their limbs stuck in the net
• Fixed multiple cases where the puck could go through the goalie’s pad
• Improved cases where slap shots would be missed when taken near the boards

AI

• Improved a case where the weakside defender would overcommit on an odd man rush allowing the puck carrier a breakaway
• Fixed a case where AI players would start to accelerate when passed to without player input

Goalie

Various goalie animation fixes

• Fixed cases where goalies were sometimes trying to perform controlled/redirect saves when the puck had a high chance of being deflected and would leave them more vulnerable than they should be
• Improved goalie tracking when the puck is behind the net

Shooting

• Improvements to shot angle selection logic for some rare cases
• Improved cases where players on loose pucks would perform a snap shot when a slap shot would be expected
• Fixed rare cases where one-timers would miss the puck completely

Presentation

• Added ability to preview the play-of-the-period replays in action tracker
• Various environment camera clipping fixes
• Player lineup animation and camera improvements
• Play-of-the-period/game animation and camera improvements
• Various Play of the Game/Play of the Period selection logic fixes
• Multiplayer hug improvements
• Fixed cases where penalty replays in EASHL don’t show the penalty being taken

Franchise Mode

• Added the season standings to the calendar screen
• Added Auto Staff Setting that allows the CPU to assign scouts for the user team
• Fixed an issue where Alumni Player’s Ages don’t show correctly in a fantasy draft in Franchise Mode
• Fixed an issue where the PP and PK columns in Hire staff were reversed
• Misc stability improvements

Art

NHL

• Updated Nashville Predators Scoreboard
• Center Ice Changes
• Updated the following Center Ice layouts

AHL

• Binghamton Senators
• Canadian Hockey League
• London Knights
• Cape Breton Eagles

Uniforms

The following uniforms have been added to NHL 20:

NHL

• Buffalo Sabres Alternate
• Chicago Blackhawks Home and Away
• Edmonton Oilers Alternate
• Carolina Hurricanes Away

Canadian Hockey League

• London Knights Home and Away
• Tri-City Americans Home and Away
• Cape Breton Eagles Home and Away

SHL

• Farjestad BK Home and Away
• HV71 Home and Away
• Rogle BK Home and Away

Liiga

• Mikkelin Jukurit Home and Away
• Lahti Pelicans Home, Away and Alternate
• Tappara Tampere Home, Away and Alternate

EBEL

• Dornbirn Bulldogs Home and Away
• EC Panaceo VSV Home and Away
• EC-KAC Home and Away
• EC Red Bull Salzburg Home and Away
• EHC Liwest Blackwings Linz Home and Away
• Hydro Fehervar AV19 Home and Away
• HC TWK Innsbruck Home and Away
• Graz 99ers Home and Away
• SPUSU Vienna Capitals Home and Away

HUT

General

• Fixed a desync issue which was causing the opening faceoff to loop in some Online Games
• Fixed an issue where players could see their opponent’s PSN ID/Gamertag before loading into a Competitive Seasons/HUT Champs games
• Fixed an issue where Goalie Mask items may have become invisible when navigating the Apply Consumable screen
• Fixed some issues where items may have not been properly revealed in Choice Packs

Squad Battles

• Save last-used difficulty as default (complete games only)
• Now display ‘Possible Points’ for each opponent as difficulty is selected

World of CHEL

Improvements

• Having heard the community feedback, we are reducing the requirements for the World of Chel weekly challenge card. Now, user will only need to complete a reduced number of the 5 columns to earn that week’s Special Reward.
• Added a link to Edit Player from the Recent Items screen so the user doesn’t have to manually back out and enter the flow from the WoC HUB
• Added the ability to have EA Custom Stock Team Branding uniforms be equipped by clubs. Stay tuned throughout the year for future uniform releases that can be earned by clubs through hockey bags.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where the current leader in Ones was not displaying correctly after the user has won the final Ones Eliminator round
• Fixed an issue where we display the wrong error message if a club is in a Threes Eliminator dressing room, and the session falls below the minimum users
• Reskinned the “Waiting for All Users to Resume” screen that comes after the pause menu so that the text is more legible
• Fixed various clipping issues and enabled several additional goalie intro animations that previously had clipping issues
• Fixed a failed to retrieve data issue that could occur when trying to enter any Dressing Room without the Lead Profile
• Fixed an issue where a user could crash upon another user closing the game while loading into gameplay
• Fixed a timing issue where desnyc’s could occur when a Player Class Tuning file or a Gameplay Tuner Set upload happens while games are about to get underway from the Dressing Room
• Fixed an issue where very long club names could overlap each other in the dressing room after matching up in a clubs game