The TBL Rosters are changing for the better!

In recent years it has proven challenging to release the new season’s TBL Rosters in a timely manner, with the season opening rosters not being released until the new year and, in the case of last season, towards the end of the regular season. This is frustrating not only for the community but also for those of us that work on the rosters day in day out. Unfortunately the time pressures of real life and a dwindling number of researchers have resulted in fewer man hours and delays in release dates.

Whilst the TBL Rosters have been struggling with resources, we have seen two new modern roster updates over recent years with BK’s semi-fictional expanded NHL/international rosters and xECK29x’s Premier Pivot Rosters. So it hasn’t been all bad for the EHM community. In fact, we now have more actively developed roster update projects than we have had for many years indeed.

Back in March 2019, Manimal and xECK29x first starting talking about the possibility of collaborating. With the Premier Pivot Rosters, xECK29x has developed a highly respected, detailed and frequently released roster update. Both the TBL Rosters and the Premier Pivot Rosters seek to achieve the same goal; a detailed, realistic roster update which seeks to provide a breadth of playing options (such as varied international leagues and age brackets ranging from junior to pro). The duplication of work between the two projects is massive and we’re ultimately spreading the number of researchers between the two projects.

Over the past six months we have been contributing to xECK29x’s Premier Pivot Rosters instead of the existing TBL Rosters (and in fact we have been sharing work between the projects for much longer than that). Effectively the TBL Rosters have been folded into the Premier Pivot Rosters. This should significantly reduce duplication of work whilst allowing us to get more done.

So where does this leave the TBL Rosters? First off, it’s important to emphasise that the Premier Pivot Rosters are xECK29x’s project and not TBL’s. We are simply feeding into xECK29x’s rosters and have no say in the direction of the rosters. Secondly, the Premier Pivot Rosters are what we would describe as “rolling rosters”. In other words, they are kept up to date all season as and when transactions occur. The TBL Rosters have taken a different approach by adopting a “start of season” approach by freezing transactions from the NHL opening night. It is anticipated that this will be the sole distinction between the two roster updates going forward. Every now and then, we will “branch” the Premier Pivot Rosters, reverse the transactions back to the NHL opening night and then release as the TBL Rosters. The community will then have the luxury of there being two ways of playing; either using the rolling updates of the Premier Pivot Rosters or by using the start of season updates of the TBL Rosters. We feel this is really great news for the EHM community. By concentrating our work into a single project, we should see more frequent releases of the rosters and with more in-depth work. Just as importantly, it will mean more choice for the EHM community.