NHL 26 Review

Every year since 2003, I’ve purchased or reviewed the latest game in the NHL series. It seems like the last handful of years have been so similar that it’s been hard to differentiate one game from the other. EA has made notable improvements to the gameplay aspects of the game, and they’ve actually fared quite well in that respect. The issue arises when they try to fix one thing and end up breaking another. That’s the case in this year’s game. EA attempted to rectify many of the unrealistic goals being scored, but this effort inadvertently created even more issues. Dive into our NHL 26 review to see exactly what I mean!

Gameplay

Offense

Players have tons of tools on offense this year. Dekes seem to be more effective than they’ve ever been. The stride deke consistently beats the CPU goalie, which is absurd. I think I’ve only ever seen someone miss it one time. If you’re playing offline, the game is excellent. The pacing is as good as it has ever been, and you can really set up some pretty passing plays with some patience. Screening the goalie for a tipped shot creates chaos, leading to some entertaining goals and big saves. The player movement is so fluid, and the tic-tac-toe passing has never felt better. Make sure you’re not on your backhand when pressing the button, though. The number of posts you’ll hit is insane, no matter how you’re trying to score.

Defense

The defensive game is a genuine mixed bag this year. The team at EA attempted to nerf poke checking and stick lifting, but they did so to such an extent that it’s now challenging to execute an effective poke or lift. The poke check tends to knock it right back to the opposing player, putting you out of position. The stick lift is useless. It was something I used very effectively in NHL 25, and it hasn’t worked properly a single time this year. Hitting is generally more effective. There are still too many collision detection issues when going shoulder to shoulder with opposing players, which is frustrating for me. There are some good shot-blocking animations this year that aren’t gated under just one X-Factor, which helps mitigate some of these issues. Good positioning takes away most of the problems, but that only goes so far against a good team. Routine techniques should be effective when you’re in a good position to perform them, and they’re not.

Goaltending

As I mentioned earlier, goalies let in the stride deke every time. It’s the latest in a long list of glitch goals that EA can’t seem to fix. Instead, they decided that goalies would become super-human on one-timers and good hockey plays. This means that there are just a bunch of people making their builds as fast as possible online to game the system. It works. This doesn’t apply offline or in 6v6 games, where it feels much more like real hockey, and I’ve had a ton of fun trying to create different types of plays to beat the goalie with point shots, traffic out front, and bumper plays. It’s some of the most fun I’ve had playing an NHL game. The goalie animations this year are fun to watch with the glove behind the back, closing their legs when they’re down on their stomach, and diving across to make a glove save. It’s equally as fun to play as a goalie, even though too many goals still go right through your arms when you’re in a perfect position.

Game Modes

Be A Pro

No More Pond Hockey!

Pricey pond hockey is no more in NHL 26! This is probably music to the ears of many people who play this game yearly. Be A Pro mode has finally received a significant overhaul after half a decade of being relatively untouched. This time, you’re dropped directly into the character creation tool (which is pretty much the same as it has been for as long as I can remember). Once you create your character, you go right into the semi-finals of the U18 World Junior Hockey Championship with the country that you chose in the creation tool. Going through even a piece of this tournament was a nice breath of fresh air, as it’s one of my favorite hockey tournaments of the year. I ended up winning the championship with my home country, Canada, and got to parade the trophy around the ice.

Making it to the Show

Once you complete the tournament, it’s off to the Memorial Cup or Champions Hockey League to try and win a championship to secure your draft position. I chose to go with my hometown Windsor Spitfires of the OHL and won the Memorial Cup. I was a consensus first overall pick, but I decided that I only wanted to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs, which was an opinion I voiced in my interviews. This led to me slipping to 25th overall as the Leafs drafted me. This leads us to a new/old mechanic in NHL 26, built on the conversation system, where you get to participate in press conferences.

Press Conferences

Press conferences allow you to shape your players’ personality and focus on teammate likeability versus brand and management likeability. It’s nothing entirely new for the series, but it is a considerably less annoying feature than when coaches would talk to you almost every day in previous games. It feels more like a refinement of what we already had, and that was sorely needed. Sometimes your choices will negatively affect aspects of your personality for no discernible reason, almost as if EA is trying to push you towards a specific answer. It really turned me off of the system because it didn’t feel as though my choices really mattered.

More of the Same

I expected this mode to feel a lot different this year, but it seems more like a new coat of paint. There are new tunnel walkouts that are pretty cool to see the first few times, and there are some new cutscenes that I like. I wish the bulk of the new stuff weren’t at the very start of the mode. I’m halfway through my first season, and I didn’t notice much difference in things at the NHL level. You play, put your training points in, and do a press conference. Sometimes you add a trait, X-Factor, or perk. It’s very rinse and repeat. I’d be disappointed if this were the only mode I cared about. EA made this feel like it was completely revamped, and that was a massive misrepresentation.

World of Chel

EASHL

Team Imports

To my team’s surprise, we successfully imported our EA Sports Hockey League team from NHL 25 to NHL 26 this year. It was a painless process that allowed us to keep our history with other teams from last year. Unfortunately, you can’t keep your stats from the previous game, which I thought would have been an easy and fun touch, kind of like you in an actual league. The only things you really keep are your name and any Grudge Matches you have with other teams. I thought they’d expand upon that system this year to try and create something more cohesive, but it’s the same.

EASHL remains essentially unchanged from last year, aside from challenges similar to those in HUT. There are more random skins, such as Sharks and Orcas. There’s even a pumpkinhead now. I’m not sure if I’m playing NHL Hitz or NHL 26. I don’t like having stuff like that in league games. It would be better suited to the more arcade-like modes, such as ONES and THREES. I like personality, but let us express it through our jerseys and arenas instead of the stuff everyone seems to wear constantly. There are neck guards available, and you can now choose your goalie skate type. Those are the only differences I’ve seen in terms of customization, which is pretty sad.

X-Factors

The big difference this year is in the X-Factors. They have been streamlined so that you have 100 points to utilize on three X-Factor slots. It’s a fantastic idea that suffers from terrible balancing issues. Everyone uses Wheels (the speed perk) to go on a breakaway and do a quick left-right-left to score. The goalies are worse than ever one-on-one and better than ever at one-timers. The NHL series has always had glitch goals, but 3v3 can be downright unplayable at this point. This is made even worse by the fact that poke-checking and stick-lifting are nowhere near as effective as they need to be, and it’s a recipe for disaster. This isn’t an issue in 6v6

Hockey Ultimate Team

I’m not going to pretend I care too much about Hockey Ultimate Team. It’s a grind that I get bored with rather quickly. I will say I’ve played it more this year than I have in many years, though. This year’s game has a nice tweak for those who like to play the mode against the CPU with Cup Chase, which offers multiple difficulty levels without having to face a human opponent. There is a new ladder system for those who do want to play ranked games. Matchmaking floors mean you don’t lose an entire division once you’ve earned it. There are also line combos, which give boosts for things like nationality or team links. There’s also a salary cap system to ensure it’s not all about 99 overalls. It feels like they’re heading in the right direction with HUT, but I think you either play it or you don’t. Nothing EA does is going to draw in players who don’t care for it.

Presentation

NHL 26 includes numerous minor tweaks to the game’s presentation. You can see the coaches react to certain plays every once in a while, which adds some realism to the play. The new PWHL teams are in the game with their correct jerseys. The Utah Mammoth make their debut after playing last year as the Utah Hockey Club. The lighting looks better than ever, thanks to the pre-game light shows and the lighting on the faceoff circles. The new replay angles and highlights are enjoyable, especially when combined with packages of highlights if a particular player has a standout game. There are even replays of plays that led to a goal, such as a breakout pass or a big hit. ICE-Q 2.0 adds some graphics on where players are scoring most of their goals, player speed, and the number of hits. It’ll also show faceoff percentages, but those have been wrong several times.

The game’s soundtrack boasts an impressive 36 tracks, which seems like a ton of songs. There are artists like Disturbed, The Hives, Turnstile, Spiritbox, and many more. There’s a little something for everyone here. I still wish there were more licensed goal songs, but we get a few along with some in-arena music like Twilight Zone and team-specific chants that sound great. The sound effects in NHL 26 seem more pronounced, with the post having unique sounds that stand out from previous games. There appears to be a deeper sound when the puck hits the goalie’s pad, though this might be in my head. The worst part was hearing Macklin Celebrini’s attempt at voice acting in Be A Pro mode. He really phoned in his lines, and it’s clear he didn’t care.

Final Thoughts

NHL 26 is a good hockey game as long as you stay away from 3v3 online. It’s an improvement over NHL 25 in several key areas. The upgrades are not incredibly flashy, but the ability to cycle the puck around and make plays is what many people have been waiting for. It’s not a perfect game, and there are still many issues that make it a frustrating experience. When it’s good, it’s excellent, and some of the most fun I’ve had with video game hockey. If only it could reach a point where that was the norm, not the exception.