A new generation of talent led by Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews and Patrik Laine has not only energized the NHL, it has forced video game developers to up their game.

鈥淣HL 18,鈥� the made-in-Vancouver hockey title out Friday, features an array of slick moves including one-handed dekes, puck flips and between-the-leg shots and passes.

鈥淥ur goal this year is really to capture the speed, the skill and the creativity that you鈥檙e seeing in the new NHL with all those young player coming in,鈥� game producer Sean Ramjagsingh said in an interview.

launches today! We've got some copies to give away, RT this for a chance to win. trailer here:

鈥� Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks)

It鈥檚 not just a tribute to the young guns. Ramjagsingh reels off a list of moves including the (Peter) Forsberg tuck and the (Pavel) Datsyuk flip.

In the past, Ramjagsingh had been reluctant to include such glitz because he felt hard-core fans would think they were too rare or arcade-like. The new generation of player has changed that.

鈥淏ut now you鈥檙e seeing those kids pulling those moves off at high speeds strategically to create new passing lanes or to get shots off in traffic. So they鈥檙e part of the sport, you see them every night as part of the highlight package.

鈥淪o for us, we saw that and used it as an inspiration for 鈥楴HL 18,鈥� bringing those moves into the game.鈥�

Ramjagsingh says the special moves are 鈥渆asy to learn how to pull off, but difficult to master in the right situation at game-speed.鈥�

鈥淣HL 18鈥� features the fledgling Las Vegas Golden Knights. You can play as the real team or build it from scratch yourself. You can also create a 32nd team in another city 鈥� your own expansion franchise, complete with logo, name and everything else associated with a new franchise.

The arrival of the Knights forced developers to revamp some of the game framework.

鈥淭he way our game was developed, the code itself wasn鈥檛 meant to handle more than 30 teams,鈥� said Ramjagsingh, who has been with EA Sports since 2000 and was first involved with the franchise with 鈥楴HL 09.鈥�

Developers headed down to Las Vegas to take pictures of T-Mobile Arena from just about every angle to be able to recreate the Knights鈥� new home. Edmonton鈥檚 Rogers Place had previously got the same treatment.

鈥淔or us building an arena in the game is almost like building an arena in real life, in terms of the way that we build it 鈥� looking at the schematics of it, building the geometry out and then putting the textures in to make it look (like) the right colour, the right fabrics inside the arena.鈥�

Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press