Game Speed vs Reality: NHL 25 vs NHL Edge Data and the Missing Speed Gap
First off, I want to commend EA on doing a great job bringing the speed down to reality with its latest games. The game plays at a much more realistic pace which opens the door to a lot more creativity over simply being a sprint fest. That said, there are two glaring issues.
1. The devs aren't taking advantage of NHL Edge statistics to create speed attributes based in reality
2. The gap between the fastest and slowest NHL players should be twice as wide as it currently is in NHL 25
Before we start, some info you should know. The NHL's slowest players hit a top speed of ≈20 mph. The NHL's fastest players hit a top speed of ≈24.5 mph. The NHL average speed is 22.18 mph. More NHL players hit a top speed above this average than below (399 to 299). The slowest in-game NHL 25 player is at 80-speed. The fastest is at 96-speed.
Now, these players don't hit their top speeds constantly, so EA shouldn't strictly use top speed as a guide for their top speed in game. However, there should be a 4.5 mph gap from fastest to slowest player.
1. The dev team is not taking advantage of NHL Edge statistics to create attributes based in reality
Attached is a chart of the top 50 top-speeds from the 2024-25 season according to NHL Edge compared to each player's current speed rating in NHL 25.
----- See NHL 25 Speed Rating vs NHL Edge Attachment (Green Banner) -----
- The highlighted numbers are at or below NHL 25 median speed (midway between 80-96)
All the players on the chart are above the 93rd percentile in NHL top speed and within 1.5 mph of each other, yet nearly half are closer to the slowest NHL player's 80-speed than the fastest player's 96-speed. The solution here is simple. Use the data that's available to you. Guys like Carlsson and Hutson should not be 86 and 87 speed by the end of the season.
If you're wondering what initially motivated this deep dive, it's that Carlsson, Gauthier, and Vatrano (every Duck in the Top 50 fastest NHL speeds) are 87-speed or below. Meanwhile, Strome (our slowest player) is our 2nd fastest player in the game. It's not even close to accurate.
2. The gap between the fastest and slowest NHL players should be twice as wide as it currently is in NHL 25
Out of curiosity, I measured the in-game speed of 80-speed (slowest NHL 25 player) vs 96-speed (fastest NHL 25 player). To do this, I set all other stats equal and boosted acceleration, so they were always at top-speed. Then, I measured blue-to-blue speed. The 80-speed player clocked in at 20.2 mph. The 96-speed player clocked in at 22.7 mph. The current gap between fastest and slowest player is only 2.5 mph when it should be 4.5 mph.
Interestingly, the slowest player matches their actual real-life top speed. But the fastest player, is over 2 mph slower than their real-life top speed. Again, you don't have to match top-speed 1:1. It's not like Q. Hughes is flying around at 24.5 mph constantly. But the gap should still be 4.5 mph.
If anyone's interested, measuring these speeds also allowed me to put together attribute-speed map for NHL 25 in its current tuner which is attached below:
----- See NHL 25 Attribute-Speed Map (Blue Banner) -----
I've also attached an alternative attribute-speed map that I hope EA considers. It also includes total player distribution at each attribute based on NHL Edge data.
----- See Proposed Attribute-Speed Map (Pink Banner) -----
My proposed attribute-speed map would plot every player in the NHL from 80-95 speed. So functionally it's a 15-point system that should be easier on the devs to maintain year-to-year. This gives clear and easy to understand increases at each attribute level. It also allows for flexibility if you wanted to create someone faster than the fastest player.
Keep in mind this is meant to be an intuitive baseline. If the game feels too fast, you can lower the global speed sliders which is totally fine because that will still maintain the 4.5 mph gap that should be present from the fastest to slowest players no matter what.
