Updated Sens Ratings IMO before 2024-25 Playoffs
Tkachuk: 90 OVR Stutzle: 90 OVR Ullmark: 89 OVR Sanderson: 88 OVR Chabot: 87 OVR Giroux: 87 OVR Cozens: 86 OVR Batherson: 86 OVR Pinto: 85 OVR Zub: 85 OVR Perron: 85 OVR Jensen: 83 OVR Zetterlund: 82 OVR Greig: 82 OVR Amadio: 81 OVR Forsberg: 81 OVR Matinpalo: 78 OVR Gaudette: 77 OVR Kleven: 76 OVR Hamonic: 76 OVR Highmore: 75 OVR (LTIR- Cousins: 79 OVR)
Handshake line / team photo suggestion
I only play franchise mode so this suggestion is for that mode... Let us show the full handshake line in playoffs, it's a 5 second scene now. Also for the team photo, save it for every cup win so you can go back to look at that in a menu somewhere with the player names signed on the picture. Also, please fix the audio glitch. Arena music cuts off for that annoying crowd clap/chant on xbox. (It never cuts off on full pressure music, only the regular songs.) I also want to thank the devs for all the visual options you added this year so we can turn off things for extra realism.
NHL 26 WISHLIST
I'm a big fan of the games and am a Be A Pro merchant. I've played the last 10 NHL games, and have been wondering why it's so easy to become the captain in Be A Pro. The few things I want for NHL 26 Be A Pro are very simple: NHL 19 mechanics where it took 3-4 seasons to get the A, and 2-3 seasons after that to get the C. Since then, you could pretty much immediately become captain after a single season in every Be A Pro. I would love to see them implement these mechanics into the next game. It not only gives you something to work towards, but also adds a level a realism to the game. Please give less dialogue in Be a Pro and make it easier to sim. With so many random side missions and interactions, it makes it difficult to want to really grind the career and play for a while. NHL 19 is a perfect example of what my ideal Be A Pro would look like. Fix the Low, High, and Fixed camera angles to make them not spin in 360 degrees. Why not just make it like the FIFA career camera?
What is EA doing?
It seems the company is purposely self sabotaging their development over the years. It's pretty obvious at this point. The job postings are for lead devs of the game engine and "1 year contracts". EA Sports does not care about this franchise to have any form of gainful employment. There is no hiring requirement for even being knowledgeable about hockey at all. You join the club, then you're out the door the game is made. Then new devs come in and we are wonder why nothing gets fixed? The game other than HUT and WoC haven't been touched in 4 years now? There are a ENDLESS list of problems but the response is "maybe it will be fixed next year." That's not going to fly. I am done with EA Sports. You guys had better make sure this doesn't get deleted. This is constructive criticism that is being brought to the attention on deaf ears. This is very disappointing. The community wants change. You're not getting a cent out of me ever again.
Suggestions for Career and Franchise Mode Improvements in NHL 26
The Career mode in NHL 25 lacks several key elements to make the experience more immersive and realistic. It would be beneficial to add richer interactions between the player, the coach, the managers, and the team. Currently, the training sessions are too limited and could be much more realistic and impactful on player development. Additionally, allowing players to start very young, at age 14, in summer camps or junior leagues, would add a deeper dimension to a player's career. Furthermore, the Franchise mode could be improved by allowing players to start in any league, including those not currently available in the game. This would provide more diversity and strategic choices, allowing players to build a career at their own pace and create new dynamics for each team. These improvements would greatly enrich the overall experience of the game, offering more flexibility and opportunities to shape the player's journey. While it may be too late for NHL 25, these suggestions could be considered for NHL 26 if the developers are open to them. I hope a dev will answer my message or not :DAdd better mechanics for switching players
I'm getting so tired of trying to switch to a defencemen that is the closest player to the puck and for some reason I can't switch to them. So many times I've been scored on because I can't switch to the one person that is closest to the puck to try and poke the puck or block a shot, instead I switch to someone chasing the puck and a few times someone thats just not anywhere close to the puck at all. This system needs to be reworked, possibly something similar to icon passing but for switching players that way we can switch to the player we actually are wanting to switch to without the game deciding.
This is hockey not Fortnite
For 26 can we PLEASE stop with these micro transaction costumes and ridiculous emotes. I think we all remember loading into a game back in the good old days when it showed the stadium rockin’, the players skating out of the tunnels, and it felt like a big game. Now playing EASHL feels like I’m deciding where to land in a battle royale with alien and skeleton characters and the weird animation where it shows all the players in a line doing supernatural dances and whatnot. I really don’t care about the idea of micro transactions. If people want to spend the money and EA wants to make it, that’s fine. As long as it still feels like I’m playing a hockey game. When and why did we go away from that? CoD just announced they’ll give players the ability to turn off skins so while other people might be using ridiculous characters, any users with them turned off would see just regular looking soldiers to give the game an actual realistic feel. At the very least NHL 26 should have this option. I just want to play hockey… Also while I’m on a rant, playing with EASHL CPUs is brutal. That’s basically the only game mode I play, but I messed around with the Four Nations on superstar and was shocked to discover that CPU defensemen CAN actually stop a rush and on offense they CAN actually make a decent play. Why not instead of having whatever it is 56 OVR CPUs all the way through they maybe get progressively better as you move up in divisions? The AI is capable of being at least somewhat useful, but as it is now they are invisible as long as the users speed is above like 86 and the breakaway attempts are comical. Just make them at least decent. Also, just two more quick things, teams should be able to customize their CPUs. We shouldn’t need to see Lee, Jackson, Wagner, Lehmann, etc. every game. Let me customize it the other guys on the team. To include name, number, gear, celebrations. Why not? And finally, this is a small one, when I create an EASHL team, please let me choose a logo right off the bat. I like the team progression with unlocks, but it’s so frustrating to have to wait forever with hockey bags to finally get our team logo. We’ve had the same team and same logo for years, why am I waiting around for months of gameplay in order to finally put the logo on our jerseys just because we didn’t luck out and open it in a bag early on…
details for swedish teams in custom franchise.
I've noticed some things in NHL 25 when i play with swedish teams in custom franchise mode. I understand that the devs got other stuff to focus on, but small stuff like this can be a bit boring to notice when I enjoy to play all my games and not sim them. Most of the teams from hockeyallsvenskan get Anaheim ducks center ice logo when they play as the home team in custom franchise. Some minor details on team equipment such as wrong colour on team gloves or wrong colour on captains letters. (Frölundas gloves and Skellefteås C/A letter on top of my mind) Not related to teams, but right handed goaliesticks (Bauer is the most noticeable imo) doesn't mirror properly, so the bauer logo isn't visible. been like this since NHL 23 at least. Some players got the wrong height and weight, but this isn't that bad. You used to be able to edit stuff like that yourself back in the older NHL games. How come that got taken away from the games? Love custom franchise mode! Being able to play more than 1 season with my hometown team from SHL and edit the player ratings to match the real world SHL has been great since NHL 24 :)