Everybody’s seemed answer the main point so far. There really isn’t any most important one since balance generally gets people much further than optimizing into a single build. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun to stat dump into one particular trait and gain notoriety for being the best at _______ in the league.

I think some of the traits might not be as clear as to what they do, or completely entail so I’d like to lean into the NHL to help explain to a new user some of the possibilities.

SCREENING

Whether that entails being Tomas Holmstrom or being Big Buff versus the Vancouver Canucks, it’s been interesting to see players across the league invest in a wide range from none to being their highest trait. Don’t know if anybody has hit the 20 Screening mark yet but I have to imagine they’ll unlock the Avery Screening Traith if they do.




GETTING OPEN

Don’t know if I’ve seen a lot of mention for this particular stat which all offensive dynamos love to invest in. While we’re hoping for a visual sim with the introduction of FHM 7 or later, it would be interesting to see a representation of how open some players can get. Maybe similarly with a maxed out Get Open stat, you’ll find your player in these confuddling situations.




PUCKHANDLING

Maybe one of the most important traits on all parts of the rink. Not being able to handle the puck means that your team is down one man when it comes to a passing option. Having great puckhandling can keep possession and create chances out of nowhere. Alternatively, poor puckhandling might mean that you lose out on clear...CLEAR cut chances.




SHOOTING ACCURACY

Who doesn’t like to see snipers just pick the small bit of daylight and see them roof the puck, knocking the waterbottle off the net in the process? Pretty straight forward stat. Good thing we don’t have NHL21 or something as our visual sim otherwise people would be laughing at all the dmen who took shots like these with 5 Shooting Accuracy.



OFFENSIVE READ

Okay so technically the description of this particular stat is knowing how plays will develop when your team has the puck and what to do when you don’t have the puck specifically. Sometimes it feels like in the PBP that players have the puck in a prime shooting spot like the homeplate/slot or just off of a rebound and opt to pass it elsewhere and have a much lower success angle shot attempt be taken. Thankfully we have yet to see anybody go on a breakaway and pull this nonsense.



CHECKING

This one is definitely a bit of a strange one especially for new users. I think most people come into the player building mindset that checking physically means hitting or hard physical engagement which finesse players might avoid. While there is some truth in the real life examples of finesse players like a Gaudreau not necessarily being up in another player’s space making their defensive impact felt, having this ability means at least they’re part of the play and ensuring that their opposition don’t have easy access to receiving passes or taking shots from good, uncontested angles. This is another exaggeration but if I had to describe a lack of Checking, it’d probably be something like what Ovechkin provided here.




HITTING

Maybe one of the least attractive defensive stats despite what people love to see in real life games, I guess that’s the natural of the game’s direction in modern times and how everything is more of a finesse style. Still, that doesn’t stop many teams asking their players to turn up their physical engagement and you regularly see players with more than 5 hits every now and then. I like to think this is what they did because of either the sliders and/or their own hitting stat in getting some double hits here and there.