EA Sports announced their cover athlete for NHL 26 a few days back, hinting that a trailer wasn’t too far away. And guess what? The moment has arrived!
This year, Matthew Tkachuk was unveiled as the game’s cover athlete, making him the first Panther since John Vanbiesbrouck on NHL 97; excluding a special edition featuring Olli Jokinen in NHL 2005. In simpler terms, it has been quite a while since a Panther graced the cover of an NHL game.
Despite constant debates over who adorns the cover of each annual release, it’s the gameplay itself that should be a primary focus, as it has fallen short in hockey games for quite some time. Can NHL 26 buck this trend and deliver an improved experience?
From the trailer, not much is revealed about this aspect, except for brief glimpses of PWHL and Utah Mammoth uniforms. However, the press release and video description provide more intriguing details.
In essence, we’re looking forward to an update for the narrative-focused gameplay mode, Be A Player. Although the details of these updates are yet to be revealed in a dedicated video, it’s clear that the mode could use some freshening up. If this overhaul turns out to be significant, it’s undoubtedly a positive development. The mode has been lacking recently, and it seems that a revamp is long overdue. The announcement also hints at including the World Juniors as a playable event, which definitely sounds exciting!
This season, some modifications to the goalie position are being introduced, one of them being the ‘Crease Control System’. Adjusting a goaltender’s performance has always been tricky due to player input, and often feels like a gamble from year to year. While some years have felt fantastic, others haven’t. Fingers crossed that these changes will improve things for the better.
Among other topics, it’s mentioned that NHL 26 will employ a revised version of ‘ICE-Q 2.0’ and real-world sports data from ‘NHL EDGE’ for defining player characteristics and skills. This leads us to wonder what was used in the past. Additionally, new X-Factor abilities are being incorporated into the game as well.
Alongside our annual tradition of bringing new Ultimate Team updates, there’s an extra addition on the horizon. We’ll delve deeper into these enhancements as we approach the anticipated launch date on September 12th.
Are you considering getting the new version of EA’s NHL (NHL 23, perhaps)? Or are you thinking of passing on it and moving straight to NHL 24 or another future edition instead? Feel free to share your thoughts below!
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2025-08-07 01:06