My late Papa got me into hockey, by introducing me to the NHL and its Toronto Maple Leafs, as well as by taking me to my cousins’ games when I visited. He didn’t know that it would turn me into an overly passionate and far too obsessed fan of a depressing franchise, or that it would become one of my favourite things. Then again, he couldn’t have foreseen their ineptitude for the next thirty years or so.
Here’s hoping things are starting to improve on that front. My fingers and toes are crossed, but I had to step away a bit because I cared too much.
My cousins owned NHL 94 for their Super Nintendo, and I was the only one who liked playing it. Not long after, I got a used copy of NHLPA 93 — the first EA hockey game — at a yard sale by the local mall. Afterwards, I hardly missed a hockey game, and that streak continues to this day. Hell, when the N64 was new and my most modern console, I still kept my SNES hooked up beside it so that I could play NHL 96.
My most played NHL games are definitely 96, 07, 14 and 01. I can’t begin to count the number of hours I’ve spent playing these games. The Skill Stick really did a lot to change things up for the better, and it brought a lot of excitement to the series. It was the perfect new control scheme, and such a great idea. However, I feel that, in recent years (which means close to two decades since that system was implemented), this franchise has lost its way a bit. It saddened me to not enjoy NHL 26 much, or feel disappointed things about some other recent entries, but I had to be honest with myself and our readers.
When I was asked to take part in a preview ‘event’ for NHL 27, I worried that I would feel the same about this year’s instalment. However, after spending a good amount of time with it — including most of one day — I’m happy to report that it’s a big step in the right direction.
With rising San Jose Sharks superstar, and once highest paid NHLer, Macklin Celebrini, on its cover, NHL 27 looks forward. The developers listened to fans, and implemented one of the most requested modes; that being Connected Franchise. They also tweaked the gameplay, made things feel more unique and polished other elements. The result is a game that is, thankfully, a good amount better than its disappointing predecessor.
NHL 27 is a revamped experience, because it begins with a new play-by-play team, which consists of American commentators John Buccigross and Darren Pang. The latter is Canadian, yes, but he tends to mostly do stateside broadcasts, and has over his long, post playing, career.
In this new commentary system, Mr. Buccigross does the play-by-play while Mr. Pang does the colour commentary. There are moments where this shines, such as at the end of the Memorial Cup, when Panger talks about his experience winning it and keeping in contact with his former teammates after all of these years. However, while this commentary team provides a fitting, relaxing and appreciated change, I hope it’s just the start of a planned evolution. This play-by-play and colour is more soothing and nicer to listen to than in recent years (although I don’t mean to insult the previous commentators, whom I’ve always liked), but it lacks depth at times. I wish there were more insights and originality from Darren Pang, and that we wouldn’t keep hearing the same lines from Buccigross. Every time a player scored his first goal, he’d say that they’d opened their account. It would also always include year or season, as opposed to tournament, and it was often said during the World Juniors and Memorial Cup.
With a new commentary duo comes refreshed presentation, which is a notable improvement. Now, we get to see players interacting with one another in the tunnels before coming out onto the ice, and also get to see them skate out of things like San Jose’s shark head. There are visual presentations, team specific things (like Vegas’ fortress and the Blue Jackets’ cannon), and stuff like that. Furthermore, you’ll see mascots like Carlton the Bear dancing in the stands. The crowd has also been improved greatly, from what it used to be, and the detail on many of the crowd members the camera focuses on is impressive. Some hold signs and, sure, one had the sign backwards, but that happens.
The game features real-life coaches, too, and they are often shown when the camera focuses on the benches. You’ll see trainers and other staff, too, including when a trainer is given the puck after a rookie scores his first goal. Plus, there are a lot of highlight packages, and even some chatter about how you’ve done (during menus) in Be a Pro. It’s a lot better than that repetitive radio broadcast from not too long ago, and the expensive pond hockey that we got so sick of.
A day one patch is going to add actual jumbotron videos from each team, and change the Truculence X-Factor strength. I was not able to experience that yet, but it’s been promised. I did, however, get to hear all of the team specific goal songs, many of which played during the menus. It was nice to hear the Leafs’ goal song coming out of my controller, and man was it loud. Not nearly as loud as the goal horns, though, which could definitely be toned down. I only had the controller speaker volume at 5/10 too.
That said, there was a Black Keys song that kept saying it was a highlight at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. However, it had the Canucks logo underneath. That needs to be changed.
The menus, themselves, feature players like William Nylander. It depends on who your favourite team is, of course. That’s something that you always have to select when starting one of these games.
The development team has also created and included different, mode-specific, videos like a long cutscene before Be A Pro that features the Utah Mammoth. It acts like a hype video, and was a nice touch even though it started with suiting up for Team USA while I’m Canadian. We beat them in the first game of the World Juniors, though, and went on to win it all against Sweden. I wish the whole tournament had been presented.
Last year, I criticized Be a Pro mode regarding how every game felt the same even though one of the game’s bullet points was unpredictable play. This time around, things feel more organic and do not feel so stale. I’ve really enjoyed my time with the mode this year. It also worked out that the Leafs had the first overall pick like in real life, as I was the number one draft prospect and eschewed choosing my team to see if I actually went first. That didn’t happen last time.
Be a Pro has received new cutscenes, has a strong system of realistic press conferences and dealing with the media, your GM and your coach, and also features interesting off-ice stuff like spending your money. A lot of these things were in the last game, but it’s all better now. This is especially true of the energy meter, which was a big problem in 26 when I reviewed it. After just a few games over the course of months, my young player was exhausted. That didn’t occur this time around, and even when his energy slipped a bit, I was able to spend batteries I’d accumulated from playing to increase it to peak and keep it there. This battery system also allowed me to increase my management, teammates and brand likability, as well as earn more X-Factor and ability points for upgrading things like my shot power and accuracy. Those upgrades aren’t new, but I like this system.
NHL 27 did first bring me to Hockey Ultimate Team, though. It’s a mode that I love in principle, but don’t have the time or interest to play regularly. I also don’t want to spend money on cards (which is not necessary) to speed it up.
While in HUT, I focused on Cup Chase, and that was the first thing I played. In my first game, the pro difficulty goalie was unbeatable. Then, a server issue, that said I’d lost connection, caused me to be kicked from the game despite it being a single player match. I got charged with a loss, and then ended up restating the Cup Challenge. After that, I had no connection issues or such losses.
Of course, this game features all of the familiar modes. You can head online and play Ones or Threes, with a customized and outfitted online pro. The same is true of other facets of CHEL, like EA Sports Hockey League. Meanwhile, there are offline options, like Franchise, HUT, Be a Pro, and Play Now. There’s also clubs, drop ins, an online shootout mode and more.
The most requested mode has been Connected Franchise, which lets up to thirty-two players compete in one created league. There, it’s possible to compete for free agents, make trades and keep track of both standings and stats with ease. There are both commissioner and customizable options, and it’s possible to move on if someone isn’t coming online to do their part.
I didn’t think that I would be able to play this mode before launch, and was worried that my review wouldn’t be thorough enough as a result. However, EA provided me with three review codes, so that I could play Connected Franchise with two good friends. They were both on XBOX, whereas I played on PS5, but it worked flawlessly. We had no issues during our matches, or with setting things up and making trades. My one friend tried trading me Zeev Buium for Auston Matthews and John Tavares, and said that he loved the game because he could punch Leafs. How rude. However, he was new to the franchise, apart from playing NHL 94, and said that it was not very newcomer friendly.
My other friend plays CHEL a lot.
The second friend set up the Connected Franchise while I was at a family dinner, and shared the code with us. We used it to ask for acceptance into it, and once he approved us we were in. He’d already chosen our teams (my Leafs, his Habs and the other guy’s Canucks), so we just had to confirm our teams. Then, we were in control of those organizations in this created League.
I think it said that things were set up for a 20 game season. I thought that would mean schedules, but all I had to do was press cross and then choose to play against one of them (provided they were online). This would ping them, and they could accept. Soon after, we were picking jerseys and getting ready.
Controlling a team involves more than just playing, making trades and editing lines (which needs to be done manually for some reason, especially after trades mess them up and leave holes the computer won’t fill). NHL 27 also introduces each team’s playbook, as if it’s the NFL, so you need to pick a playbook for your team. However, it’s essentially the systems each team plays. I assume these will be adjusted when the season starts, given that some organizations had coaching changes, and coaches don’t always reuse the same systems. It depends on players.
Speaking of players, I was disappointed to see that Nick Robertson was still on the Leafs despite being traded month(s) ago to Pittsburgh. Hopefully they’ll update the rosters soon. I ended up on the third line out of camp in BAP, and it had Robertson and Domi, who’s out with complications from surgery, though these games don’t normally factor in real life injuries. Unfortunately, Gavin McKenna isn’t on the Leafs yet either. That’ll likely change when the season begins.
Connected Franchise is a really good addition that will get better over time. It needs human players, though. I would never have asked for three review codes, but would not have been able to try the mode without them. The Crossplay worked flawlessly too.
When I tried to matchmake in other modes before launch, there was nobody to connect to. As such, it was good to be able to try the multiplayer against friends, one of whom lives a 40-45 hour drive away, on Canada’s coast.
The on-ice gameplay has been improved too, and not just in terms of presentation. I found that the Skill Stick controls were better, and liked being able to use buttons for hits and the lacrosse goal if I wanted. There’s a special move button, too. It all felt more polished, and I was able to play more like I used to before the engine and physics changed so drastically.
I still had issues with NHL 27, though. For one, hitting still feels overly difficult and, at times, useless. I miss the controls for hitting that existed before the big change, and enjoyed those games more overall. The current hitting system is better than it was at the time of the change, and last year, but sometimes doesn’t work well. It can often feel like light bumper cars, and you don’t get the puck back enough from hitting. I miss being able to hit easily and properly.
My one friend complained that the hitting was pointless. I wouldn’t say that, but it still needs a lot of work.
Pokechecks and stick lifts also don’t feel as precise, or as good, as they did years ago. They’re better than last year, though. At least I don’t get as many tripping penalties as I did in the past.
The goalies sometimes feel unbeatable, and make some frustratingly great saves. I guess that’s similar to real life though it can be frustrating.
With its presentation overhaul, NHL 27 is a marked improvement over its predecessors. The new presentation package is pretty great, and home games feel like home games now. I was really impressed with how a lot of the character models looked, and thought the game looked very good overall. The crowd looks excellent, too.
Certain players still don’t look as much like their real life counterparts as I’d hoped, but many looked great. This was especially true of Joe Thornton, and some of the other legends I played against in Cup Chase. You see, it pitted me up against computer created teams that were themed after organizations, meaning a team of current and former Devils players (Brodeur, Elias, etc.) or Sharks players, or a team made up of players from British Columbia. That team was more fitting for Morgan Rielly than the Toronto Maple Leafs. Meanwhile, I had chosen Brad May as my captain, due to the Atlantic Division bonuses, and my goalie was Patrick Roy. I also had Celebrini and Gary Roberts, thanks to packs I was given. Of course, they provided the Deluxe Edition for review.
Games felt more electric than before, and it all felt more realistic. I also heard a lot more music, and hearing the goal songs and in-arena songs really added to the experience. The game’s soundtrack is also pretty good, but you aren’t in the menus long enough to hear much of it. At least, I wasn’t. That said, the arena announcer was harder to hear. I probably could have tried to adjust the sound more though.
I mostly played NHL 27 close to a couple of weeks before release, meaning it had yet to receive its day one patch. As such, hopefully these its issues will be addressed. That said, I do need to note that I saw the odd glitch. For instance, a player skated through another one during a cutscene as if he was a ghost. There was that sign glitch in the crowd, too, but that’s minor. Then, during the Memorial Cup Final, there was a visual glitch that caused a banner announcing my goal to stay there in place of the scoreboard. It only went away when someone on the other team scored.
I also wish they’d used a more unique and less basic font for some of the in-game overlays, as well as the scoreboard and things like that. I’m nitpicking though.
With all that having been said, I’m happy to say that I’m enjoying NHL 27 after not liking NHL 26 all that much. It’s a big step forward, but still has room for improvement in terms of commentary, hitting, pokechecking and visual bug fixes. The overall package is quite strong, though, and gets really fun once you get used to it. I like that they overhauled the presentation, made the games feel more lifelike, focused on sound and added Connected Franchise. This is a good step forward.
This review is based on the PlayStation 5 Pro version of the game, which we were provided. We received three review codes to test out online play.
GO LEAFS GO!