Just like the title says. The game will be behind the 8 ball on release if icon player switching without the puck isn't implemented. It's been 2 iterations of icon player passing now. It needs to be implemented for NHL 26 to allow faster defensive swaps instead of having to hold the trigger and down and hope the sticks registers to the right player at the right time. Icon player switching without the puck is must for 26
Community ManagerHey there. I really don't know if this will ever be added as the manual switching works very well. Not to mention, you most always get the right player when just be using the standard switching without manually aiming. If you're most often getting the wrong player though, it would be good to see some video showing this. Thanks!
After a couple more days this response is laughable at best. Not only does player switching not work flawlessly just by pressing the trigger as you imply. Especially when the player has no stamina it will not let you switch to the drained the player. Regardless of stamina it should allow to any player at any time (again icon player switching solves this) furthermore icon passing doesn't even work correctly. The biggest flaw is the icons switching on rotation. The rw should always be circle regardless of where he is on the zone and LW square (ps5) and same the D. Way too many times the icon changes when rotating in the zone and then you press the button the player had and it's switches the icons and sends the pass to a player changes lines or something absurd. Lock the player changing to positions regardless of where they are on the ice. Would be a huge QoL improvement for NHL 26.
Not only does player switching not work flawlessly just by pressing the trigger as you imply. Especially when the player has no stamina it will not let you switch to the drained the player
This is incorrect. Pressing the trigger will absolutely 100% always switch to the player closest to the puck carrier. If the current selected player is the closest to the puck carrier, then control will switch to the next closest player.
You are not prohibited from selecting a player with zero stamina.
Regardless of stamina it should allow to any player at any time (again icon player switching solves this)
Hold Right Trigger and move the Right Stick in the direction of the player you want to switch to from the perspective of the currently controlled player.
For example; A common scenario is blocking the one-timer at the point. If I'm controlling a D-man trying to dig the puck out of my own corner while my opponent has it - and I know they're just trying to work it back to the point for a d-to-d one-timer, I can hold Right Trigger and move Right Stick up and to the left (for my Left-Wing) or right (for my Right-Wing) and effectively shut down any one timer.
If I'm controlling a forward and know I'm going to get burned through the neutral zone - hold right trigger and click the right stick (R3) to take control of the last-man-back. This way, I know for certain I will get control of the player closest to my own goalie, allowing me to posture up defensively in good time versus frantically hitting right trigger, hoping that the game knows I want to control the d-man.
icon passing doesn't even work correctly
Icon passing is almost flawless. My only gripe with it is that if trying to execute an icon pass in close, it seems the recipient is often handcuffed in receiving it cleanly as it's too charged up.
The biggest flaw is the icons switching on rotation. The rw should always be circle regardless of where he is on the zone and LW square (ps5) and same the D. Way too many times the icon changes when rotating in the zone and then you press the button the player had and it's switches the icons and sends the pass to a player changes lines or something absurd. Lock the player changing to positions regardless of where they are on the ice. Would be a huge QoL improvement for NHL 26.
The Right wing will always be circle, unless they just received a pass. The pass recipient will always adopt the same icon as the player who passed the puck. This allows you quick passes (like a give and go) as you can just hit the same Icon you just pressed to pass it directly back to the player who just passed the puck. This is the ONLY thing that causes the icons to 'rotate' overtop of the players. Otherwise, Right-Wing is always Circle(B), Left-Wing is always Square (X), Centre is always Triangle (Y), LD and Right D will always be X (A) and/or the original icon of the current puck holder.
It took me a few months to wrap my head around how to use Icon passing effectively. The biggest breakthrough came when I realized you can hold Right Trigger even after you've sent a pass to retain the icons above the players. This allows you to make very quick passing plays by quickly pressing something like X(A), Square (X), Circle (B) to make a quick 3 passes.
