Will this franchise survive

Yes, but not for the right reason without going into specific details om why this game and previous years are not any better, from audio track resampled gameplay replays digitally enhanced to match new engine and consoles. Let's not mention the problems with AI goalies are unable to make a save,  with most average player are shooting above 40% over 500 games. IF an NHL goalie let 4 goals in on every 10 shots they would never make it there. With more updates and bugfix then games that have 10 times the amount of details, not to mention that offline be a pro mode  has no audio files for the players game interactions and basically we have a 2015 recycled game for the last 10 years and if you were a player in 2010 or prior you probably remember having games 6 on 6 everyone had mics and there was rarely a wait time to start a game.  We had lobbies and people even formed their own leagues.  Now at peak times we can wait between 4 to 8 minutes and any other times we might wait up to  10 or 15 minutes just to find enough players for a 6V6 game with most times only ending up having 2 or 3 human players on each teams with AI players to fill the open positions.  So why is the franchise going to survive you might say, well the same reason that teams like the Canadiens or leafs and other teams from diehard cities in North America who never seem to want to spend money on expensive yet demanded players because owners would be wasting money on them when the arenas can fit more people they sale out whether they win or lose so why spend more if you only make the profits go down well the answer is because the players and fans of this game will keep on buying it even if the change the colors and pictures on the box and call it NHL 26.