For me it is obvious by now that players have hidden stats. Not only, new players tend to take a while to "integrate" in the team and loyal players / raised players tend to perform better than their skills would justify. So far I believe in the following hidden skills/settings.
- hidden skills (there might be 1 or 2 extra skills we do not see, could be "goal scoaring" that might turn a player with 8 shooting to perform as he had 10 balls in shooting)
- hidden attributes (think of agressivness or determination, more like a personality trait that can positivly or negatively affect all or certain skills, affects overall performance)
- team chemistry (line chemistry maybe) - I tracked statistics of newly arrived players and their performance improves after a few weeks
- loyal / raised player boost - can be the above or it could be an extra factor - my worst player (on paper) is a loyal player but he's not the worst performing player in the team.
- player potential (player potential might affect his actual performance)
and there might be others.
It would be cool if we'd at least know which of these are actually implemented in the game or even have at least one of them visible. It could save some frustrations :).
Here is some statistical evidence:
Player A/B
Play Intelligence 6/5.8
Power 9/9
Skating 9/8
Passing 5/6
Quickness 9/7
Shooting 8/8
Keeping 4/0
Puck Control 7/9
Checking 8/8
Stamina 10/9
Player A is obviously better than player B but when played in the same position of player B he would score less, much less, like 50% less. Player B put on a different line, or even postion, could be C, RW, LW, no mettere where he plays or who his line mates are, his performance does not change, he keeps being the team's top scorer in most cups.
I'd like to hear similar stories from you to understand better this game. :)