The millennium installment in the NHL series brought as usual updated rosters, featuring for the first time the Atlanta Thrashers, plus enhanced graphics and sound.

The two main features of the game are the new Dynasty mode, allowing a player to lead a team to success for 10 straight seasons, while keeping an eye on the new talent on the yearly drafts and trading with other teams, and the face import feature, which gives the chance to assign each custom player their own face based on a photo. To do so, a photo must be placed in a folder, imported and then hotspots (head shape, eyes, nose and mouth) must be set, to define how the texture will be mapped into the face model.

Gameplay became a lot faster and tougher, and two new moves were included: "Big Hit", to flatten the oppositions' golden boy, and "Special Movement", to go around those tough defenders with ease. Other new features include individual player and goalie boost (to give an handicap for a team), jersey selection, including classic throwback jerseys.

One of the most important changes done to the game was how the game timer worked: before, the period length on the clock matched the time set by the player, but starting with NHL 2000, every period has 20 minutes which are compressed into the time set by the player. This makes penalties a lot shorter (a minor elapses in just 30 seconds in a five minute period setting) thus reducing the powerplay percentage, which experienced players could keep in the high 90's in previous games, but also fixes the handicap of goaltenders in played games (a goaltender that suffered a single goal would have his GAA a lot higher than a goalie that suffered more goals in a simulated game).

The rest of the game remains as usual: 28 teams can play in a season (with the ability to choose between a short, medium or long season length), setting the then new NHL overtime loss point, playoffs (with best of 1, 3, 5 or 7 matches), international tournament and shootout. The beginner mode continues to be featured, and allowing players to feel the ice for the first time without having to deal with complicated controls, penalties or tough opponents.

Bill Clement replaced Daryl "Razor" Reaugh in colour commentary, and Jim Hughson remains in play by play. Alternative rock band Garbage provided the lead track (Push it!, from their Version 2.0 album).

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Screenshots

NHL 2000 Windows The players in the bench go wild! (software mode)

NHL 2000 Windows Strong shots leave a trail (software mode)

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Promo Images

NHL 2000 Magazine Advertisement pp. 40-41

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Part of the Following Groups

User Reviews

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Critic Reviews

GameStar (Germany)	Windows	Oct, 1999	92 out of 100	92
GameSpot	PlayStation	Oct 08, 1999	9.2 out of 10	92
NUKE Computer Gaming	Windows	2001	9 out of 10	90
Power Play	Windows	Nov, 1999	90 out of 100	90
PC Gamer	Windows	Dec, 1999	89 out of 100	89
Mega Fun	PlayStation	Oct, 1999	87 out of 100	87
The Video Game Critic	PlayStation	Jan 30, 2008	B+	83
GameGenie	Windows	1999		80
FiringSquad	Windows	Sep 28, 1999	80 out of 100	80
Game Revolution	PlayStation	Nov, 1999	B	75

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Incomplete credits?	10	Rwolf (20027) Nov 10, 2020

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Trivia

Cover

The North American release of NHL 2000 has defense man Chris Pronger of the St. Louis Blues on the cover. The European release has Markus Näslund of the Vancouver Canucks.