EA NHL 27 Wishlist

Introduction

I have a very extensive hockey video game collection. Almost every game from across consoles since the development of video games, I have it. I have every iteration of the EA NHL games, with two exceptions. NHL 15, which was a disgraceful feat of mismanagement and simply should not have been released, and NHL 26, which did not list any new features. I know that people say “that’s true every year, it’s always the same game!” and to some extent that is true- the developers are heavily limited in what they can add, from a combination of funding, time pressure against large changes, and executive pressure away from creative changes and towards microtransactions, in a given year. The addition of icon passing in NHL 24 was a game changer- genuinely the best addition they have made in years, and I’m not sure how any of the more recent titles were playable without it. The pressure mechanic adds an element of realism in a fun and interesting way. I’m not just a gamer either- I have experience coding and developing games myself, and I’m not going to go out and say that I was an amazing hockey player but I had a longer and more successful career than most people do. I know video games, I know hockey, and I really know hockey video games. I’m acutely aware of what is possible, what would be good, and what is holding the games back right now.

I have played NHL 26 on game pass (I still want to play with the newest rosters, I just don’t want to waste space and money on adding the game to my collection) and it’s pretty much what I thought. Some minor, but good, tweaks to the X-factor system, and…literally nothing else.

I suspect none of this is going to happen. BUT, let’s play a fun hypothetical. If I were in charge of the development of EA’s NHL games, here is what I would do in NHL 27.

Gameplay changes

Defenseman Class Rework

Right now, there is an entirely vestigial class, the Enforcer. Only one player in the entire game, Dylan McIlrath, is that class, and I think that it’s unfair to him to categorize him that way. there’s also Defensive Defenseman, which doesn’t mean anything, and Two-Way Defenseman, which doesn’t mean anything either. I propose that we replace the player classes with something with more personality, with a big bruising player class, two “two-way” player classes, and a purely offensive class.

Puck Moving Defenseman replaces Two-Way Defenseman

Two-way forward makes sense. It’s a forward who makes a point to come back hard and play defense. The assumption is that every forward plays offense, so the defense is what makes them two-way. But what’s a two-way defenseman? A defenseman who plays offense? We already have a name for that, the offensive defenseman. But there are defensemen with some skill, guys who play their position solidly, passing the puck around, but isn’t going to score a million goals or waste energy rushing up the ice. On defense, expect solidity and positioning- he will block a shot with his face if he has to, but not physicality. This becomes the new “default” class, because most players that you see these days are this class of player. X-factors about defending in the zone and sending passes.

Good at: Puck skills, Defense

Bonus: Discipline, Durability

Bad at: Physical

All-time: Nicklas Lidstrom, Ray Borque, 

All-star: Adam Fox, Victor Hedman, Jaccob Slavin

80-85 OVR: Jalen Chatfield, Chris Tanev

Mobile Defenseman replaces Defensive Defenseman

What was a “defensive defenseman” for the past few years of EA NHL? It seems like it meant anything from “shutdown defender” to “big guy”. That’s dumb, and it doesn’t really translate to what modern hockey is like. A Mobile defenseman uses skating ability to cover lots of ground on defense, constantly applying pressure to the puck and even laying a big hit every now and again. When they get the puck, they have the speed to carry the thing up the ice and get the offense started. X-factors about defending the rush, body checking, and rushing the puck.

Good at: Defense, Skating

Bonus: Body Checking, Endurance

Bad at: Shooting

All-time: PK Subban, Dustin Byfuglien

All-star: Rasmus Dahlin, K’Andre Miller

80-85 OVR: Jonas Siegenthaler, Dylan DeMelo, Filip Hronek

Crease Clearing Defenseman replaces Enforcer Defenseman

We’ve lost the plot a bit if there is an entire character class that only has one player in it. The thing is, even if there is not much demand for a pure fighting defenseman in the NHL (and I’m not sure there ever was), there are LOTS of guys who want to rip your head off. The Stay at Home Defenseman would be the embodiment of that physical, power style of hockey, with big hits, big fights, big slap shots. X-factors about body checking, grabbing rebounds, and ripping slap shots

Good at: Physical, Defense

Bonus: Slap Shot Power, Balance

Bad at: Puck Skills

All-time: Zdeno Chara, Adam Foote, Shea Weber

All-star: Jacob Trouba, Nick Hague

80-85 OVR: Jamie Oleksiak, Rasmus Ristolainen, Arber Xhekaj

Offensive Defenseman stays the same

This class makes sense. There isn’t really anything I would change. It’s a guy who sacrifices some of his defense in order to be more involved on offense. Guys with great puck skills, who get up and down the ice quickly, and are a real threat to score, and who are a little less strict with themselves on where a “defenseman” is supposed to be on the ice. X-factors about rushing the puck, passing the puck, and shooting

Good at: Shooting, puck skills

Bonus: Speed, Agility

Bad at: Defense

All-Time: Bobby Orr, Paul Coffey, Mike Green

All-Star: Cale Makar, Zach Werenski

80-85 OVR: Shayne Gostisbehere, Quinn Hughes, Tony DeAngelo

Reworked Board Play

Board play has been the same since NHL ’09, which came out in 2008. It wasn’t particularly good then, and in nearly two decades, it has aged poorly. It locks the game into a slow, rigid animation, both the puck carrying player and defenders are frustrated by not being able to do anything, and while players’ strength attribute nominally impacts how long the pin lasts for, there’s not really any difference between players once they get locked into the pin animation. Something better would be more fluid, more skill-based, and let players who are good at board play (your grinders and power forwards) be able to make a noticeable impact. Here are the changes I would make:

Body checks naturally lead to pins. Instead of the current situation where every hit is either a complete failure or a skull-disintegrating earthquake, add more middle ground where players get taken to the boards and possession gets contested.

Pinned players can use the left stick to fight the pin and the right stick to move the puck and protect it. Using both at the same time can risk a fall.

Pinner can use the left stick to hold the pin and the right stick to chop the puck and block passes.

New animations: player stepping on puck to control it, wrestling animations, different levels of pinned (back off boards- offensive player winning, body to boards- tie, defender’s leg between puck carrier’s legs- defender winning)

180 degree passing

Either player can be body checked or stick checked by a third party. Multiple players can become lodged in the pin

Repeatedly body checking the same player leads to cross checking and interference penalties

Roughing

With the new board play, the Y/Triangle button is freed up. Players are MUCH more likely to throw a gloved punch than to drop the gloves and fight, so it should be in the game. Here is my idea:

Pressing the Y button throws a gloved punch. Landing the punch risks a penalty (especially if the referee is looking, much less likely to get in trouble after the whistle) but refills the energy for that player, like they got into a fight. The opposing player may get their energy drained or may have the option to respond, either with a gloved punch of their own (tap Y one time), a hit (B), or with a proper fight (tap Y two times). This can spark all kinds of post-whistle (or behind the play) antics, like a pileup of players, a gloved pseudo-fight, a regular fight, or a complete brawl. It will make the physical side of the game feel more organic, rather than two random players (never the one you actually wanted) squaring up off of a face-off. It will also add some risk/reward gameplay that mimics how desperate players in real life are more likely to take penalties.

New X-Factors

Pest: Body checks and punches reduce opponents’ discipline rating

Elite: Brad Marchand, Tom Wilson

All-Star: Garnett Hathaway, Brady Tkachuk

Specialist: Liam O’Brien, Nazem Kadri

Kingpin: Improved puck control, strength, and stick checking in board play

Elite: Marcus Foligno, Nicolaj Ehlers

All-Star: Sean Couturier, Anders Lee

Specialist: Michael Eyssimont, Ryan Lomberg

Jetski: When traveling at top speed, missed stick checks are more likely to hook this player

Elite: Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon

All-Star: Matthew Barzal, Mika Zibanejad

Specialist: Evgeni Malkin, Jason Robertson

Dump and Chase: Slight speed boost when the puck is dumped in

Elite: Taylor Hall,  Arturi Lehkonen

All-Star: Bryan Rust, Blake Coleman

Specialist: Sean Kuraly, Mathieu Olivier

Utility Player: No penalty to attributes or chemistry for playing out of position (forward to defense). At higher levels, always has a positive chemistry impact

Elite: Brent Burns

All-Star: Mark Pysyk

Specialist: Nicolas Deslauriers

Reworked Controls

I like the trick shots. Having them immediately mapped to buttons you use all the time is frustrating. Throwing a body check and then immediately flinging a through the legs pass, even if it’s a skill issue, is immersion breaking. Here is my suggestion:

LB+B through the legs

LB+Y Michigan move

LB+X auto toe drag

B: Reverse hit

A: Fire pass (hardest possible pass in direction of aimed stick)

Forced Line Changes

Sometimes, your players have to change, but the AI is convinced that they don’t, or can’t. This has a simple fix. By holding down the D-Pad, the corresponding unit (left for forwards, right for defenders) immediately get off the ice and put the designated line on.

Strategy Systems

Face-off Set Plays

Offensive zone face-offs have a madden-style playbook popup and the user can pick a play

Different coaches run different playbooks

Every play is either a “Tip” play meant to set up a deflection or a “One-T” play meant to set up a one-timer.

Every play is also a “Pressure” play, leading to a forecheck off of a loss, or a “Man” play, leading to man to man coverage off of a loss.

Formations: Default, Overload (wings on inside), Wing shooter (weak side wing flexed back), Stack (weak side wing flexed back but on strong side), Strong side shooter (inside D comes down), Weak side shooter (outside D comes out), Invert (LW on right side, RW on left side), Crash (one D lines up like a winger).

Each formation would have 5-10 plays, and each playbook would use 3 or 4 formations. Ideally, players would be able to add and remove plays to make custom playbooks.

New Tactics

Man to Man Defense

So many teams in the NHL play a man to man defense now. It should be in the game, supplementing but not replacing the current collapse/spread defensive direction.

Man to Man: Players are assigned to an opponent and follow them around the ice

Mixed: Wingers and D play zone, the C plays man to man on the opposing C

Zone: All 5 players play zone

A collapsed man to man would not look very different from a collapsed zone, but it would be a bit blobbier and less structured. A tight point man would see the wingers completely tagging the opposing defenders, while a tight point zone just has the wingers starting higher up in the zone. For the mixed defense, the defense is varying degrees of collapsed box, with the center always playing a tight man to man defense.

New Neutral Zone Defenses

Wingers Man: LW matches up on opposing RW, RW matches up on LW. C forechecks, LD and RD stay back at defending blue line

Left Wing Lock: Old-school defense where the LW drops back to play defense. The C and RW forecheck

New Forechecks

Positional: LW defends left, C defends middle, RW defends right, all can either pressure or block passing lanes depending on where the puck is and how it moves

Carolina: Something in between a 1-2-2 and a 2-1-2, with a D pinching and the weak-side forward coming all the way across the ice to fill for them

New Offenses

Downhill: Defensemen cut to the net and forwards cover high for them. Then the forward cuts to the net too

Spread: Two forwards spread out to the corners, one in front of the net, defensemen wide too. Wide forwards try to get loose pucks and rebounds, center forward screens.

Specialist Quick Subs

With the X button freed up, it opens an avenue for a fun new strategic system. Teams are not always rolling out their standard 4 forward lines and 3 defense pairs. My idea is that each team can assign a player to be the “quick sub” and by pressing that button before, they can get that player on the ice. Pressing it again, they’ll get off, and the player is supposed to be in their position on that line comes on. There are a fun number of ways a team could use this. A defensively limited goal scorer, a shutdown matchup defenseman, a face-off specialist, an enforcer. Whatever it is, it can have interesting ramifications in both single player and multiplayer.

Line Roles

Right now, every team manages their lines in exactly the same way. You can always expect to play your 1st line against the CPU's 1st line, 2nd vs 2nd, etc. If you as the player decide you want to line match, the CPU doesn't fight you- you just get the matchups you want no matter what. But you also have to do it manually. There is some coach AI about how much different lines play, but it's not significant. In order to make a bigger and more noticeable impact on the game (and to handle a lot of the strategy automatically) users should be able to designate lines as certain roles, and the CPU will try to get the matchups you want automatically.

Each line can be designated with a role:

Shutdown Line (matches up against top opposing scoring lines)

Checking Line (plays more defensive zone face-offs)

Scoring Line (tries to get matchups against weak opposing defensemen)

Sheltered Line (plays more offensive zone face-offs)

Energy Line (plays shift after powerplay, tries to get matchup with opposing 4th line)

That will make the AI more likely to sub that line on for an offensive or defensive zone face-off, change how the lines get managed in a game, and try to react to the opposing team’s line management. Different coaches can be better or worse at actually getting their line matches, and players will be aware of the kind of line they are on and react accordingly- your star goal scorer does not want to play on a checking line, and you may have to have a conversation to try and convince him it’s best for the team. The roles shouldn’t be mutually exclusive, so it should be possible to have two shutdown forward lines or two sheltered defense pairs, for example.

Game Mode Changes

Franchise Mode

Connected Franchise

People have been wanting this for YEARS. There isn’t any reason not to have it. Adding this feature instantly makes the game the best seller in years.

Integrate ECHL to NHL teams

All this effort went into putting ECHL players and teams into the game, but they aren’t integrated into the long-term offline modes at all. In franchise mode, the GM should be able to send players all the way down to the ECHL. It would have equivalent development impact as juniors, making it worthwhile for players who age out of juniors but aren’t getting time in the AHL yet, high potential but low overall lottery ticket prospects, or extra positional depth that just can’t fit anywhere else (particularly goalies). This could also add some fun meta-gameplay, like a surprise real-life ECHLer randomly developing to be NHL caliber.

Offseason Rookie 3s Tournament

Something similar to this exists in EAFC, and it’s a nice addition. Here’s how it works: sometime in the offseason, your prospects will play in a threes tournament. If your team wins, your prospects get a bump to their max potentials and current attributes. It’s a refreshing change from the usual grind, gives players without playoff hopes some higher-stakes gameplay, and (crucially for executives) gives offline players a taste of those lucrative online modes. I think it would be nice to have these once per month in the offseason.

Reworked Training and Player Conversations

More taken from EAFC. I don’t want to talk to every single player to tell them I want them to learn a new position or work on their defense. The EAFC system is perfect: set each player to a program and forget about it. The programs can be either a play style (upping relevant attributes for that style and eventually turning them into it) or a position change, and training can be focused on growth (with a penalty to performance), performance (with a penalty to growth), or a mix. It’s one menu, very few clicks, and all the information is visible at once.

Players would still come to you with requests. Things like “I want to be dressed this game” or “I want more ice time” or “I don’t like playing on a line with X”, and then those conversations could be meaningful and fun decisions, rather than a tedious trek through 25 of the exact same menu.

Player Mentors

This system exists in NBA 2k and I LOVE it. The way it works is an older player with an x-factor is assigned to mentor a younger player. They impart their knowledge onto the younger player, over time they can give the youngster their skill or raise the level of the X-factor. Then, they can remove the ability to cheat and add whatever X-factors you want to every player and actually integrate them into the game. There would be more reason to keep aging veterans around, and it would make player development feel more natural.

Reworked Scouting

Having a million scouts who don’t do anything is not fun gameplay. Instead, I propose only two staff slots. One for pro scout, one for amateur scout. They will each have biases (ie players from Europe vs North America, favorite player types, Big vs Little, Ceiling vs Floor). These biases, not ratings, impact the information they give you. Each scout will be doing multiple things. They will reveal ratings of any players in your shortlist (based on their skills), find players who may be worth drafting, and make suggestions to you. A good pro scout could help convince players with NTC’s to waive and join your team, or reveal the potential of free agents.

Improved Injury Handling

As it is now, when a player gets injured, you get a pop-up telling you they’re ok to play and a pop-up telling you they’re fully healed. You can either edit the lineup yourself or revert to what the coach wants (which is very destructive unless you have gone through the tedious task of assigning players to preferred positions).

What would be better is having a depth chart for each position on your team, similar to how it’s handled in Madden. Those positions would be LW1, LW2, LW3, LW4, all the way through the lineup, with things like PKLD, etc. For each, it could be handled automatically or adjusted manually. If the “next player up” is a minor leaguer, the CPU would adjust the rosters automatically. This would give players something to tinker with if they want, potentially going down and setting up 20-deep plans for injuries, but it would also reduce the mount of work a player has to do if they don’t want to. Set it once and forget it.

Alternate Gameplans

This is a bit of housekeeping and a bit of role playing. The player-GM gets a few slots. Each slot can be named (ie “Penguin Killers” or “Youth Team”). In each slot, you pick your lines and strategies. Then, at the pick sides screen, you can choose one of the gameplans: either the default, or one of your alternates. If an alternate is not available because a player is injured or not on the team anymore, those will be greyed out and skipped.

Reworked Coaches

I like that coaches are finally a part of the game, but I don’t love how they’re implemented. Having them prevent you from setting strategies is a step backwards, not forwards, and having to enter the obnoxious conversation screen to get anything done is frustrating. They all feel the same, there are no interesting decisions to be made (only “good expensive coach” and “okay cheap coach”). In real life, most NHL coaches are effectively the same skill level with only a few notable exceptions, with distinct personalities that cause them to fit or not fit with a given team.

Coach X-Factors

Every coach can have up to 3 x-factors. Instead of arbitrary stats (how good is an A vs an A-), these are discrete, and give coaches more distinct personality compared to one another.

Active Stretch: bonus to durability and endurance

Lead the charge: increased development for wingers and centers

Strong base: increased development for centers and defensemen

Wall builder: increased development for goalies and defensemen

Shot doctor: increased development for wingers and goalies

Powerplay magician: all players get increased attributes on the powerplay

Tactician: all players get increased stats on the PK

Power skating: all players get increased skating attributes

Old School: every player gets a buff to their physical ratings

System Guru: instantly convinces players to be able to play in roles they don’t like (ie on a checking line or on the PK instead of the PP)

Believer: Improved morale for every player, reduced morale loss for not playing

Counterattacker: Increased energy after opponent runs out of full pressure

Coach Weaknesses

Every coach has a weakness. It’s like a reverse X-factor

Goon squad: reduced discipline for all players

Rookie Crusher: reduced growth for young players

Choke artist: reduced attributes when leading in a playoff series

Stone hands: players’ deke moves have a chance of failing and fumbling the puck

Smudged Whiteboard: players can forget plays and run the wrong play

Mind games: goalies start the game with reduced attributes for the first 10 minutes or until they face 5 shots

Improved Team Creation

New Logos

Any time you create a team, you are staring at the same logos that have been in the game for years now. It’s not like they aren’t adding new textures to the game every year: just look at the World of Chel. I would just hope that they put a tiny bit of those resources into logos. New logos, more variety in the designs, logos to match play-by-play names that exist in the game (I want to be the Bullfrogs, damnit). While we’re at it, I would love to see more retro logos too: the Atlanta Thrashers logos very much belong in the game, and if that’s a licensing problem, they need to get that figured out, but I would love to see all kinds of old logos that they can scrape up from ancient hockey teams.

New Play-By-Play Names

So many of the play by play names are garbage. They’re clearly designed to be used by trolls in online play. But there’s not even play-by-play names for every logo in the game. 

Reworked Cities and Placenames

There just need to be more placenames in the game. I want to put an expansion team in Mexico City! I want to put a team in Puerto Rico and have it be called San Juan! There should be more cities, even boroughs and suburbs of cities already in the game.

Automatic Taxes and Fanbases

How much income tax does the game think a team in Ontario should pay? How about Puerto Rico? I can’t look it up, because a) that’s a pain, b) taxes are more complicated than that, and a player on league minimum is not paying the same in taxes as a player making ten million. The game knows what the values are for the existing NHL teams, it should have those be built in for each place name (maybe with the option to change them, but it needs to at least start at the correct value).

Faster Gear Customization

Many years ago, there used to be an “apply to all” shortcut. Making goalie gear? Make one color scheme, apply to all, now your goalie’s stuff matches and it’s applied to every uniform so you don’t have to do it 3 times. We have the technology.

More Arenas

In World of Chel, there are these wonderful community arenas and small arenas. When creating a team, we should be able to assign one of these. Then if we try to use it in franchise mode

Be a Pro Mode

Playing Center

The game right now desperately does not want you to play center. You can tell it that you want to play center and left wing, and it will play you on the right wing. Teams have centers on them. I saw some gobleddegook awhile back from an EA comms person about “earning your place” as a center, which, fine- let the Be A Pro play center on the 4th, then 3rd, then 2nd line, then promote them to winger (on their preferred side) on the 1st line, then to center on the 1st line. That’s a more natural progression, and it lets players play the position they actually picked. I think this could be a good mechanic for wingers as well: There is a difference between playing on Ovechkin’s line and unseating Ovechkin at his position, so imagine a left winger goes 4, 3, 2, 1RW, then it’s a big deal to be promoted to 1LW. But if you pick a position to play, you should be able to play that position. Why even have the player pick one at the start of the mode if not?

Custom Pro Gear

This was a features in the past, and I think it would add some depth to the mode. Let players pick a low stick flex that gives +10 slap shot power but gives a slower release and makes it more likely to break, or a high stick flex that uses up energy with every shot in exchange for more puck control and harder passes. Let players pick a flat curve that makes the backhand more accurate but makes forehand shots drift low, or a toe curve that improves deking but ruins the backhand. There are so many elements of the gear that could help players tweak their build just so: skate blades (agility vs speed), shin pads (shot blocking vs acceleration), and I think part of the being a pro experience is getting to fiddle with all of that gear. Talking to the equipment manager to say, actually you didn’t like how those skates were sharpened, put the other steel back in. It would be a relatively easy change to put in, since attribute buffs and debuffs are already in the mode with the money feature.

Starting Scenarios

Instead of starting every game as the next great prospect vying for first overall, there can be some variety in the game experience. It would make it more compelling to come back to the mode again and try a new character or playstyle out, and it would just be more immersive to let players have a bit more control over the role-playing element of the mode.

Greatest Prospect: current path. Start in CHL or Europe, play the playoffs, and then get drafted

Champion of Europe: start as a mid-career player in Europe. Play the champions league tournament, then sign as an unrestricted free agent with an NHL team.

The grind: Miss getting drafted. Play one or two seasons in the CHL, then work way up from (depending on performance) AHL or ECHL up to the NHL

Journeyman: start in the AHL as an aged veteran. Work way into the NHL as an old rookie and try to have a career before it’s too late

Suitcase: No matter what you do, you keep getting traded. Start on the 3rd line of an NHL team of your choice, but then constantly get traded (once or twice a year) until you win a championship and a team decides they want to keep you around

City-Based Endorsements

Different cities should have different levels of endorsement available depending on player actions. Philadelphia Steak Company and Boston Donuts want to endorse players who throw hits and get into fights. Montreal Bagels and Detroit Auto Company want to endorse players who block shots and get assists. San Jose Silicon Chips want to endorse players who make flashy dekes and say crazy things in interviews, while Toronto Jamaican Patties wants players who dump the puck in and keep to themselves in interviews. There could be a whole other layer to picking a team.

More value for Money

As it is right now, the money system is fine. I don’t hate it. However, I think there could be some more realistic options involved. Spend money on a boxing gym membership to build up endurance and fighting skill, spend money on a yoga gym membership to build up balance and durability, at a karate gym to get discipline and hand-eye, or a strongman gym to get strength and body checking. Spending money on things you keep, like a dog (to buff media relations), a jacuzzi (to buff teammate relations) or a nice suit (to buff management relations) would be nice too. Being able to buy lessons from former greats to increase stats faster- learn how to pass from an old Henrik Sedin, learn how to skate faster from an old Pavel Bure. There could be some fun video cameos of those players explaining why they think they were good at that skill, and it could even tie into old NHL games (showing their ratings and even their character models in older editions).

Realistic roster management

Be a Pro mode needs to have realistic cap management. If my player signs for $15 million, the team needs to suffer in some way to make that happen. If my player is a superstar and plays left defense, the team should want to bring in a great right defenseman to play with me. If my player sucks and plays right wing, the team should try to find right wingers to replace me.

Conclusion

What do you think about the current crop of EA NHL games? What would you change about them? What of my ideas do you like, and which do you think suck?