Make NHL games great again (NHL 27 wishlist)

Combine Free Skate With the Club Lobby

Let's make the lobbies and dressing rooms more interactive.

When you enter the Club lobby, you spawn on the ice in a Free Skate state. You can skate, shoot, and warm up immediately. As other club members join, they appear on the ice as well, letting you pass the puck around and interact instead of sitting in a static menu.

The Club lobby menu would function as a clean overlay on top of the Free Skate session, similar to how menus work in other live environments. You can manage loadouts, ready up, invite players, or adjust settings without ever leaving the ice. Closing the menu drops you right back into skating with no transitions or loading screens.

While matchmaking runs, music plays through the arena speakers and the rink slowly comes to life. Fans begin to populate the stands, building atmosphere naturally while you continue skating. Free Skate remains active the entire time matchmaking is searching.

Once a matchup is found, the transition is seamless. Music fades, players drift toward their benches, and the scene flows into the anthem or team introductions before loading straight into the game. No hard menu breaks and no abrupt cutaways.

This keeps players engaged, makes waiting less frustrating, and helps teams feel connected before the game starts. The lobby feels like arriving at the rink rather than waiting on a screen.

Most of the systems needed already exist. This would simply unify them into a more immersive and natural Club experience.