Changes for NHL 26 you want to see

My wishlist:

• auction house: more filters - did you ever search for a goalie mask? Besides, why don´t have these cards a team name anymore?
• Rivals: 
  • there should be a database where you can view all your games (and opponents)
  • each game should be fully recorded and saved
• matchmaking:
  • I don't believe in the randomness principle when it comes to matchmaking (there are streaks of games with the same goalkeeper, the same jerseys or club emblems, or from the same countries…). While searching for an opponent, it would be nice to have a matchmaking table where the search is displayed. On one side, my team would be shown, and on the other side, potential opponents would scroll through
  • An overview of the players who are currently online, including their statistics and origin
• Why is the goalkeeper only allowed to change his mask? Why not also the pads? 
• The players' movement patterns should be adapted to the game situations
  • When players come off the (penalty) bench and enter the game, it seems like they are only focused on getting to their position. If I'm not controlling the player, he will even try to skate into the offensive zone during a counterattack, even though the opponent already has the puck in the neutral zone
• When the goalie plays the puck behind the net, he occasionally gets stuck on the goalpost when returning (even if I'm not controlling him myself)

Gotta say, that list is on point as far as useful feedback for EA. 

for auction house filters and rivals suggestions they are an easy update as it's more likely than not being tracked already if matchmaking is being tracked by skill level as that database would exist. However I'm not certain how much data actually is needed to give everyone that kind of access as far as larger servers for storage. I wouldn't think it would be a ton as its merely text files that I'm 99% certain already exist to track who's still playing the game, who isn't and who to match you up against as far as who's currently looking for an online game. Perhaps it's not being shown so players need to actually work to find out how many users are currently playing as it would decrease sales (which I truly understand from EA's perspective). Would definitely slow down game sales if people could instantly lookup average users per day.

Matchmaking is kinda a double edged sword if I'm understanding your comment correctly. One way you get your matchup chosen by EA's process of elimination but seeing the team your playing prior to the game may lower actual games as people will undoubtedly wait for the easiest team to play. But I'm no expert, only sharing my opinion on something I have no idea how it would play out. (This is all assuming you mean something like the single player HUT that shows the 4 teams).

The last points you made are updates that should have happened well before the game updates we're given up on and pushed towards NHL 26. I'm starting to think all major updates happen before the end of release year and the new version is then the primary concern.

I think as far as graphical updates and stuff like that is concerned NHL may have hit it's peak as far as quality like probably every game out there. Video card, monitor/tv speeds and such are gonna be negligible in the next little bit anyhow, some may even say that graphics are capped and probably can't get better or clearer than we have now. I think our display already shows more colors than the human eye can even see lol. 

Love the feedback and even more folks to get involved. Would also like it if anything I said there you can correct me on. Hoping for an open conversation and not a "let's bash EA thread" so we can all hopefully make some kind of impact, even if it's a small one.

Just thought that perhaps we should include positives from this 2025 version of the game. 

• These moments in HUT have been phenomenal this year in the playoffs where playoff performance changes ratings in my opinion as it really made me think about who to get that would go up in level the fastest but was also entirely reliant on the players performance that was all guess work or picking your favorite.

rockstar8080​ 

You´re right, there are many positives for me too: I like the gameplay, I almost play HUT and love the challenges to earn good players for free.

The ability to start at the end of the season in franchise mode or update franchise rosters based on real life trades and signings 

Add all WHA logos not under copyright, make a more advanced teambuilder,  be able to use the minor league stadiums for the regular teambuilder not in any mode, more commentating options and that's it for me besides getting rid of "pricey pond hockey" GET RID OF IT RIGHT NOW RIGHT NOW RIGHT NOWWWWWW and IMO, the gameplay of hockey itself its perfectly fine.

Can you imagine what commentators will be like once AI makes its way into the game? I’m kind of excited to see how it plays out as I know nhl hockey won’t be the first for AI announcers but **bleep**, I think it would make me play with commentary on. 

I get that. We can update for gameplay at home if we download the updated rosters but I think franchise would need to stick with whatever ratings were when you started the franchise kinda thing. As a former be a pro all the time player I always thought it would be cool to carry your team and roster over to the next expansion but I can see the challenges EA would face trying to make that happen for such a small amount of people interested in doing that.  

#1 Bring back online franchise. We can do it in Madden, NCAA, MLB, 2k...but not NHL. Best part, we had it in 2014. Bring back the winter classic/outdoor games. EA already has licensing to all of the football stadiums for this so the only hurdle would be to get the baseball stadiums. Honestly, EA, go play nhl 14 for about a month. See how you made that game, the features it had, the stat tracking, the ins and outs, and give us an nhl game like that again.  As for updates to NHL 25. The playoff mode is broken. You have to sim every game to get to your playable games. It doesnt make sense how it works. Go try it and you'll see what I'm talking about. It should be scheduled and calendared like the season is, but in playoff format. It used to be this way back on the ps3 gen of nhls. It showed the entire 7 game series on the calender. Not just the next game.

Online Franchise is something we really want to bring back. I don't know if/when it will happen though.

Here's the thing about the Winter Classic. It's a very expensive and resource heavy addition that doesn't get played much. It's something most people play once and move on from. We have to get the licensing for the arena and authentically replicate it. It's a pretty big expense for something that doesn't really get a lot of use. So, the money and resources that go into that can be put to better use in other, more popular, areas of the game. 

Hopefully, we'll have the bugs you're talking about addressed in the next game. Thanks for the feedback. It's genuinely appreciated.