Make Franchise Great not Good
For Franchise mode I'm tired of having a tear down or out of contention for playoffs team in the season and seeing the stands packed with glow up sticks like it's the game 1 of the Stanley cup finals.... when it actually is game 62 of a tankathon season no one want to watch that! I think they should implement adaptive fan attendance depending on team record and status weather it is big market small market that would be pretty cool and visually appealing. Another thing is with the development of voice detection and AI I want to see more custom commentary seriously EA..... you could make this really cool. I'd also love to see a more of a customized scouting panel with scouting teams instead of scouts where you have to rotate through regions you should have a team in each league in the content. Also maybe an overall refresh on FA for example make it a mini game like the trade deadline and fix the AI logic to resign an RFA that has elite or top 6 potential over paying Jeff skinner 5 million dollars and locking themselves in cap hell.
Franchise mode
I love playing Franchise mode. One thing that annoys me, that makes me quit every career, is that players no longer have a player photo from the 3rd draft onwards. Sometimes even before. It would be nice, like in Madden or FIFA, if players had a generated image that matched their face.
NCAA/USHL, and other suggestions
Hello! I'm hoping this gets to the right people Long time fan of the series here. I had an idea that I think could make Be A Pro and Franchise Mode a lot more immersive and realistic, and I wanted to share it. One thing that would really elevate the game is adding college hockey and the USHL to the player development system. The real life path to the NHL is rarely straight to the pros. A lot of players develop through junior and college hockey first. Having that pathway in the game would make the journey feel way more authentic. For Be A Pro, imagine starting your career in the USHL, working your way up and committing to an NCAA program based on how you perform. Schools could recruit you during the season, and you could choose where to commit depending on playing time, team prestige, or development opportunities. You could play multiple college seasons, compete in conference tournaments, and even play in something like the Frozen Four before deciding to leave for the NHL Draft or sign with a team. Your draft stock could rise or fall depending on your performance in juniors or college, and you could choose to stay in school longer to develop or leave early to go pro. That kind of system would make the early part of Be A Pro feel like a real hockey journey instead of just jumping straight into the NHL pipeline. For Franchise Mode, adding leagues like the USHL and NCAA would make scouting and drafting much deeper. Teams could scout players over multiple years, watch them develop in college, and decide when they’re ready to sign them. NCAA players could stay in school for several seasons, giving GMs more long term decisions with prospects. It would make the draft feel bigger and more realistic with a deeper prospect pool. Another thing a lot of people in the community have been asking for is bringing the NHL series to PC. There’s a huge hockey gaming audience on PC, and it would open the door to mods, roster sharing, custom leagues, and a lot of long term community support that could really help the game grow. The NHL series already has great gameplay, but expanding the development path and immersion in Be A Pro and Franchise Mode could take it to another level. Just wanted to throw the idea out there. Thanks for continuing to make hockey games for the community.NHL 27 and on Should Build Around 6v6 – Here’s Why
To the NHL Development Team, I am writing this as someone who genuinely loves this franchise and wants to see it grow long term. The gameplay has improved in many ways. Movement feels better and the pace feels better. However, there are competitive balance issues and a larger direction issue that needs attention if NHL 27 is going to grow instead of plateau. This is not a rant. It is a case for where the franchise has real long-term potential. The 6v6 community, which is the most structured and competitive part of the player base, is struggling with specific mechanics. Truculence is a problem. Most serious 6v6 leagues ban it outright. When organized competitive communities self-ban a feature, that is a sign of imbalance. Back Atcha allowing reverse hits to counter poke checks removes defensive skill expression. Hitting should feel like realistic contact such as bumping, angling, and separating from the puck rather than sending players flying every shift. Too many goals slide under goalie pads. Low quality trickle goals are not satisfying to score or defend. Skill based top corner shots should be more viable and rewarding. Competitive players want balance and skill expression, not arcade overrides. The bigger issue is the 6v6 ecosystem being undersupported. Right now, the franchise feels centered around HUT monetization. I understand why, as Ultimate Team generates strong revenue. However, industry data consistently shows that players engaged in organized teams and social groups have significantly higher retention rates than solo players. Multiplayer research shows that players in organized squads stay longer, social identity increases lifetime value, and competitive ladders increase engagement per session. NHL already has this foundation in EASHL 6v6 Clubs, but it has not been fully built out. Bringing back the spirit of GM Connected in a 6v6 League Connected format could change everything. Imagine built in commissioner tools, scheduled games, draft systems, player trades, integrated stat tracking, promotion and relegation between major and minor leagues, smart CPU fills that are actually competent, and a built in social hub similar to Discord. Right now the community builds all of this manually outside the game, which means engagement is happening off platform. If NHL owned that infrastructure, it would increase retention, streaming content, rivalries, community growth, and organic esports pathways. I am not saying remove HUT. However, 6v6 could be monetized in long term ways through custom arenas, goal horns, ice projections, club banners, jersey alternates, league branding packs, arena cosmetic upgrades, and championship prestige cosmetics. Players will pay for identity, especially when it represents their team. The emotional attachment to a club over multiple seasons is stronger than attachment to a temporary card lineup, which creates long term monetization rather than annual reset monetization. Offline modes also need attention. Be A GM and Be A Pro have not meaningfully evolved in years. Offline modes are entry points into the ecosystem, and if offline stagnates, the pipeline shrinks. The NHL franchise does not need to chase arcade shooter energy. It already has something stronger: structured, social, competitive hockey. The 6v6 community is not asking for chaos. We are asking for infrastructure. If you build around 6v6 identity, league systems, and social retention, you will strengthen the entire franchise's long term health.Offline PC Port
I wanted to raise a suggestion that I think could be a practical, lower-risk way to bring the NHL series back to PC without immediately taking on the full complexity of online modes. Rather than a full-featured PC release with HUT, EASHL, and competitive online play, I’d love to see EA consider an offline-focused PC version that includes: Quick Play / Exhibition Franchise Mode Be a Pro I’ve seen it mentioned in other discussions that there may not currently be enough demonstrated interest on PC to justify a full NHL release. An offline-first approach could serve as a much lower-cost way to gauge real PC demand, without the ongoing risks and expenses associated with online services, anti-cheat, and cross-platform matchmaking. From a technical and operational standpoint, an offline-only PC release would avoid many of the hardest challenges that make PC ports risky, such as: Anti-cheat and competitive integrity concerns Cross-play population fragmentation Matchmaking and backend service overhead Input fairness issues between PC and console At the same time, these offline modes actually align very well with PC players: Franchise Mode and Be a Pro support long, simulation-focused play sessions PC players already expect and accept controller-recommended sports titles Performance expectations are high, but easier to meet without online synchronization constraints There’s also precedent for a strong PC audience for sports simulations that focus primarily on offline depth. Football Manager is a great example of a franchise that thrives on PC by emphasizing management, simulation, and long-term engagement. While football’s global popularity is much larger than hockey’s, it still demonstrates that PC players are willing to invest deeply in well-supported, offline-centric sports experiences. This kind of release could: Provide real data on PC interest at a much lower cost Let the team focus on performance, stability, and input feel Establish a PC foundation that online features could potentially build on laterEarly NHL 27 Franchise Mode Wish List
EA, please make some much needed changes in your Franchise Mode for 27. It’s one of the most neglected aspects of this franchise, and a **bleep** shame. Here’s a few things I think could be easily done in 27: Enable arena updates like when you go to create a team so you can at least change the scoreboard, center ice logo, and lighting/effects. Enable team rebranding (NOT relocation) where you can change the nickname, mascot, logo, uniforms, colors, etc, in Franchise Mode. This could easily be done as an offseason option similar to relocation option. With that, update the available options for team names (including matching announced names), logos, etc. Update the goalie mask options (including adding the real designs) and get more creative with them. Or at least allow customization like with the rest of the goalie gear. Get all REAL coaches in the game. It’s fine to have created ones of course. And I know there’s some real coaches in the game. But get all the current NHL and AHL coaches in the game so it’s more realistic (just as you have it in the Madden games). When setting up the franchise, put an option to allow us to increase the owners budget for spending. Improve the blog posting to be more realistic. Include non-transactional news on players, teams, and such like you’d see on a TSN or ESPN blog.My Early NHL 27 Create-A-Team Wish List
EA, please make some much needed changes in the create a team for 27. Here’s a few things I think could be easily done in 27: Please get some better logos to choose from. I think there were a few new ones this year. But so many terrible ones. With that, get the list of team names, Nicknames and announced names to match up to the logos so there’s a name for each logo that can be announced. Bring back ALL defunct team logos and add those team cities and names to the announced names.
CHEL26 Be A Pro Feedback (Player Growth and X-Factors)
Alright so I gave Be A Pro a try after the update and I actually do like it more than I thought. It’s still nothing compared to NHL19 personally, as you could play two full seasons of Junior and then get drafted, play AHL, no form score, (essentially a sandbox), etc etc but I digress. Regardless, as for NHL26, while I do enjoy lighting up the league, I’ve got some issues and they are primarily tied to player growth and X-Factors. Alright so I go in with my normal build I use for most of my Be A Pros. A 5’7 Left-Shot Sniper who plays Centre. Now I knew I’d have a choice between Quick Release and One Tee, being someone who prefers scoring off the rush and someone who used Schnipe/Shock&Awe/MakeItSnappy from 22-25, naturally I went with Quick Release. Anyways my next objective was to get Wheels, which I did, and then went for Elite Quick Release. Alright, sounds good. My next course of action was Backhand Beauty, by far my favorite X-Factor and a key part of my playstyle as a left-shot Sniper. However despite looking through all the available X-Factors, it wasn’t even in the menu. I hear that different player types have different X-Factors available, yet why is this particular one excluded from a Sniper of all player types? I chose a Sniper partly because I like scoring on the backhand. Yet it’s not even selectable for a Sniper? You have 20+ of the around 28 X-Factors available, even ones you wouldn’t expect for a Sniper like Send It and Hipster, yet one of the primary shooting X-Factors isn’t even available to be used? That really frustrated me, especially when I went into a Grudge Match game and got to use Backhand Beauty for the duration of one game and it felt great, only to realize I can’t even unlock it normally. Alright, nothing I can do about that unless the game gets updated, alright. So I decided to go for Elite Wheels next instead. Only to find out that it is quite literally impossible to obtain Elite Wheels even with a 5’7 Sniper, all speed and acceleration traits unlocked, and all salary perks active, as well as peak health. Heck, you can’t even get All-Star Wheels unless you have literally every speed and acceleration trait unlocked with full health and perks, and you lose it after one game when you go from peak health to energetic. Normally to fix this, I’d turn my attention to the weekly off-ice training, except now that, the one thing that you could use to max out your skating stats, is completely gone. There is literally no way to get more than 90 Acceleration on a 5’7 Sniper, which means it’s impossible to get Elite Wheels and mostly impossible to keep All-Star Wheels. Okay, so what am I saying needs to be done? Well, first off, every X-Factor should be available to unlock regardless of player type. If I want a Sniper with Quick Release, Wheels, and Backhand Beauty, I should be allowed to work towards that. Secondly, there needs to be a way to actually upgrade your base acceleration and speed stats outside of traits. The temporary bonuses from peak health don’t last anymore than a single game, and the salary perks seem more like boosts than anything. Bring back the off-ice training, or let me grind out XP just by hustling during gameplay. The only way you can even increase speed through gameplay is via beating icing, something that is nearly impossible to do consistently. Third, make it so once you unlock an X-Factor, you can always apply it regardless of your stats. They are X-Factors for a reason, they’re supposed to give you an edge. I’m playing on Winnipeg, Kyle Connor has Elite Wheels but only 91 Speed and Acceleration, why do I need 93? Even if I somehow got 93 acceleration (which as I said, is literally impossible since off-ice training is gone), if it was because of peak health bonuses or late-career aging, I’d lose it. I ask kindly that this is updated in the near future. I should be able to work towards an elite version of every X-Factor, and some not even being selectable for certain player types even when it would make sense is absurd. Just let me have Elite Wheels and Backhand Beauty on my 5’7 Sniper. I’d be happy then. Let me grind out my player to 99 base skating stats. Thank You.CHEL suggestion for the future
The NHL World of CHEL allows players multiple player build slots. Perhaps allow teams to select multiple builds to use in each game and assign them to dedicated lines. This would allow a little bit of diversity, while still allowing players the option to use similar builds if they choose. But furthermore, would add a more immersive experience bringing more strategy into play in the game. Endurance would still be a major factor, which would require teams to make the line changes to maintain energy.This is STILL an issue in Franchise mode with NHL 26
I don't know why this still hasn't been fixed year after year, but the CPU teams in Franchise mode still won't make call-ups if there are injuries, until they are forced too (ran out of healthy scratches). For example, if a CPU team has 3 d-men as healthy scratches, and 2 forwards get hurt, they'll just put d-men in their spots, instead of calling up a forward. In my Franchise with Utah, the Devils had Simon Nemec playing 4th line center because of this. The way to fix it in the past was to make a minor trade with the team doing this (7th round pick for 7th round pick), and the CPU team would auto-adjust and call up the correct position player, but I feel like doing that too much screws up the trade system (CPU won't make trades). Update: Kurtis MacDermid got hurt so the Devils had no one left, so they finally called up two forwards to fill in (Brock McGinn and Angus Crookshank). Also one of their goalies got hurt, so they had to call up Daws, so that may have also triggered the CPU to make the correct call-ups.
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