NHL 27 Face Scan Priority List — Launch Roster Snubs & Missing Player Likenesses
EA_AljoLabben67 I’ve updated my original face scan priority list from the NHL 26 forums to reflect which players received authentic likenesses in NHL 27 and which players EA overlooked at launch. I’ve kept my original tiers intact because they reflect where I believed these players should have ranked in priority before NHL 27 released. What’s frustrating is that several players I considered absolute LOCKS still have generic faces, while other players from my lower-priority tiers actually received scans. I’ve marked players who still have generic faces as [MISSING] to highlight the omissions. These are players logging real NHL minutes, filling important roles, producing significant stats, and deserving to actually look like themselves in the game. Many have also attended NHLPA Rookie Showcases where EA has previously captured player likenesses. TIER 1 — LOCKS Ivan Demidov (MTL) Beckett Sennecke (ANA) — MISSING Jack Quinn (BUF) Josh Doan (BUF) Noah Östlund (BUF) — MISSING Matthew Savoie (EDM) Ryan Leonard (WSH) Jimmy Snuggerud (STL) Zeev Buium (VAN) — MISSING Alexander Nikishin (CAR) Artyom Levshunov (CHI) Jackson LaCombe (ANA) Lian Bichsel (DAL) — MISSING Oliver Kapanen (MTL) — MISSING Denton Mateychuk (CBJ) Bobby McMann (SEA) — MISSING Lawson Crouse (UTA) Christian Dvorak (PHI) — MISSING Collin Graf (SJS) — MISSING Roger McQueen(ANA)- MISSING GOALTENDERS Jesper Wallstedt (MIN) — MISSING Lukas Dostal (ANA) — MISSING Dustin Wolf (CGY) Spencer Knight (CHI) — MISSING Logan Thompson (WSH) Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (BUF) — MISSING Filip Gustavsson (MIN) CONFIRMED / UPCOMING PLAYER LIKENESSES Porter Martone (PHI) — Confirmed James Hagens (BOS) — Confirmed Cole Eiserman (NYI) — Confirmed, pending AHL update rosters Gavin McKenna — Confirmed TIER 2 — LIKELY TO BE ADDED Many of these players have attended NHLPA Rookie Showcases, making them strong candidates for authentic likenesses. Cole Hutson (WSH) — MISSING Dalibor Dvorsky (STL) — MISSING Axel Sandin-Pellikka (DET) — MISSING Peyton Krebs (BUF) Fraser Minten (BOS) — MISSING Gabe Perreault (NYR) Berkly Catton (SEA) — MISSING Sam Dickinson (SJS) Matthew Wood (NSH) Justin Sourdif (WSH) — MISSING Easton Cowan (TOR) — MISSING Gage Goncalves (TBL) Mackie Samoskevich (FLA) Jackson Blake (CAR) Anton Frondell (CHI) — MISSING Emmitt Finnie (DET) — MISSING Kiefer Sherwood (SJS) Benjamin Kindel (PIT) — MISSING Sam Malinski (COL) Vasily Podkolzin (EDM) — MISSING GOALTENDERS Jet Greaves (CBJ) — MISSING Daniel Vladar (PHI) — MISSING Scott Wedgewood (COL) — MISSING TIER 3 — FRINGE BUT HIGHLY DESERVING These players may not have been the most obvious priorities heading into NHL 27, but many have established themselves as legitimate NHL contributors. Several should arguably have received authentic likenesses years ago. Zachary Bolduc (MTL) Oliver Moore (CHI) Zayne Parekh (CGY) Igor Chernyshov (SJS) — MISSING Emil Heineman (NYI)— MISSING Alex Turcotte (LAK) Alex Newhook (MTL) — MISSING Will Borgen (NYR) — MISSING Shakir Mukhamadullin (SJS) Marat Khusnutdinov (BOS)— MISSING Calum Ritchie (NYI)— MISSING Michael Amadio (OTT)— MISSING Kailer Yamamoto (UTA) — MISSING Ryan Poehling (ANA)— MISSING Logan Stanley (BUF) — MISSING Ryan Greene (CHI) — MISSING Wyatt Kaiser (CHI) — MISSING Sam Rinzel (CHI) Parker Kelly (COL)— MISSING Ben Chiarot (DET)— MISSING GOALTENDERS Joseph Woll (TOR) — MISSING Joel Hofer (STL) — MISSING Yaroslav Askarov (SJS) — MISSING Joey Daccord (SEA) — MISSING Karel Vejmelka (UTA) — MISSING Anton Forsberg (LAK) — MISSING MY BIGGEST TAKEAWAY FROM NHL 27 EA’s face scan selections remain inconsistent. Several players from my original LOCKS and LIKELY tiers were overlooked despite playing substantial NHL minutes, holding important roles, or emerging as significant contributors. Meanwhile, some players from my FRINGE tier received authentic likenesses. I’m glad those players were included, but it raises questions about how EA determines its priorities. The goaltenders are particularly frustrating. There are established NHL starters still using generic faces, despite being among the most recognizable players on their respective teams. This is not about adding everyone. It’s about making NHL 27 accurately reflect what we’re actually watching on the ice. If a player is logging top-pairing minutes, playing on a top line, starting regularly in net, or putting up significant numbers, they shouldn’t still have a generic face. That’s especially true for established veterans and players who have already participated in NHLPA Rookie Showcases. Hopefully, EA continues addressing these omissions through roster updates rather than leaving prominent NHL players with generic faces for another full release cycle. Curious what everyone thinks. Who am I missing? Which players should move up or down? And which omissions from NHL 27’s launch roster are the most glaring? SURPRISING NHL 27 FACE SCAN ADDITIONS These are some of the players I was pleasantly surprised to see receive authentic likenesses in NHL 27: Liam Öhgren (MIN) Jonathan Lekkerimäki (VAN) Rutger McGroarty (PIT) David Reinbacher (MTL) Luca Del Bel Belluz (CBJ) Matt Rempe (NYR) Seamus Casey (NJD) Frédérick Gaudreau (SEA) Ivar Stenberg (STL) Gage Goncalves (TBL) Nils Höglander (VAN) Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad EA added these players. More authentic likenesses are always welcome. However, some of these selections are surprising when compared to the established NHL regulars, starting goaltenders, and high-impact young players who were overlooked. It makes EA’s selection process feel somewhat random. Why are certain prospects and depth players receiving authentic likenesses while prominent NHL contributors are still using generic faces? Again, the issue isn’t who EA added. It’s who they continue to leave out
Franchise questions
Is there any chance that the devs would unlock franchise mode? Similar to season mode. Since there hasn’t been any real updates to the mode in years, why not unlock the mode and allow overrides? I’ve played the mode literally the entire existence of the game. We should be able to override and customize player positions, types and attributes freely during the mode. We should also have the ability to override and customize strategies too. Like we could in previous versions. The devs added so many sick options to the strategies but locked them behind the arbitrary coaches and now playbooks that it’s actually infuriating. Also, playbooks, great play now idea. Very terrible in franchise mode. I want to have control of MY team. (It’s an offline mode give me control) id love to hear from a dev on why we can’t do this. Or why these abilities got taken away. Or if this mode is going to get some actual love soon. It is getting exhausting paying for the same thing and being locked out of the updates yall added. EA_AljoPlayer Customization
HeyEA_Aljo Please answer this. Why is it not possible, or why can’t it be made possible, to edit and change the faces of players who already have assigned generic faces? To fully edit them, just like in Create/Customization Mode? I genuinely don’t understand why. Are there any restrictions or rules that need to be followed? Even though the creation and customization options are extremely limited, there are still plenty of rookies whose appearances you could recreate fairly accurately using the limited options available. And since we never get face scans for rookies and young players, being able to edit their appearances ourselves would be absolutely incredible, especially considering that you aren’t doing it yourselves. It’s incredibly frustrating to have to recreate these players every time a roster update comes out, or to end up with an entire team full of blank silhouettes after just 1–2 seasons in Franchise Mode. This feature would solve two of your existing problems with a relatively simple fix. So why not implement it? I’d genuinely love to hear your thoughts on this, because I really don’t understand why this isn’t possible.NHL 28 WISHLIST
So I throw this out there every year, and sometimes maybe someone reads it and an update gets made (I was throwing out the idea of ‘Who They Pass the Cup to Next’ for years, and they finally added it! I know, it wasn’t me, but it felt like a win) First Off, The Plusses: Love the pregame tunnel walk-ups, something they had for years, then cut for whatever reason, and showing the starting goaltenders and their season stats before face-off. The wide, switching shots of the crowd, then them blurred as background, is a welcome change, and again ‘key’ to be able to click through them as they become monotonous. I love the animated avatar next to the player’s name after they score a goal, distracts from how little they look like their real-life profile pic (in some cases), and keeps you ‘in the game.’ And I LOVE the new stats Font (hopefully Madden can copy it, because I can’t read theirs for the life of me…is it a 6 or an 8? As I walk closer and closer to the screen). They fixed the ‘hitting the post’ frequency (seems to me), so it’s more realistic and tolerable, and stopped with the ‘showing the coach’s reaction’ that you couldn’t click through, so improvements (minimal, but appreciated). And now, the Wishlist: Player Editing (if you give us nothing else, Please THIS): We should be able to edit CPU-created players in Franchise Mode. Especially now that they've blocked being able to change Player Roles or Position. In Madden (apples and oranges, I know), you can edit names, faces, potential, contracts, even ages. Complete Control, should you want it. In NHL, you luck out with a draft pick who's a Medium-Elite at 18, but his potential is an Elite 'Grinder'? What even is that? And too often they have these goofy hairdos or are 19 and grey already, or you wind up with three draft prospects that have the same default face. Oh, but you can change his skate-lace color! And if a player is a First Position LW, and you move him to the RW for a game, when you win the face-off, he skates all the way across the ice to get back on the LW (who does that?). We should at least have the same edit access that we do at the Main Menu level (add a Second Position, change a Playmaker to a Two-Way as they age). The Draft: I still don’t get why we can’t just see players’ ratings like you can in the Main Menu’s Rosters section. So before you start a Mode, you can see that a Junior player is a 62 Medium-Top 6, but on Draft Day it’s a bunch of question marks or a “Possible” Top 6? Then as soon as you select him, he's a Low-Top 9, rated 58 Overall. Thanks. You can see exact ratings in Free Agency, why not on draft day? I turn off Fog of War for this reason, it should extend to draft picks. I love that we got Career Totals back, and that they added Team Abbreviations as to where they played, but can't that be added for AHL stats as well? I know they keep track of them, as they show when they’re on the bench after milestones, so why not a running total? I'll get 10 years into Franchise Mode and some career AHLers will retire and nothing. You play 1,000 AHL Games…that’s something. Ability to decide Awards: Too often, in Franchise Mode, if you’re playing your best players to pad stats, you’ll win the Hart or Norris every year, even though another player would be the obvious choice. It would be great to decide winners so that the highest scoring defenseman doesn’t win the Norris every year, or the Hart going hand-in-hand with the Art Ross more often than not, or Connor McDavid winning the Selke based on whatever algorithm they’re using. Franchise (Owner) Mode used to have a screen that displayed your team’s seasons, so you could see your history: 103 Points, Third Round; 98 Points, Lost Finals; etc. I’d like to see that back. Winter Classic: I miss the Winter Classic venue they created a few years back. You could only play a single game, but wouldn't it be awesome if the team you select in Franchise Mode got to play the Winter Classic every year? Just make it the first game you play in January and you get that outdoor setting with weather selections like they have in Madden, or just default cloudy skies with flurries. They used to have the All-Star Game jammed in there, so can't they just use that same approach for the Classic? When you're simming between games and it alerts you that an injured player is available, you have the option to skip for the moment and not address the lineup. But when its 'multiple' players returning, there's no skip and you're forced to go into Edit Roster. Sometimes there's still 3-4 days left before the next game and a chance for other players to return. You should be able to skip that as well and address it when you want. Can’t we make the ‘switch between teams/screens’ buttons work like they do in Madden? Madden lets you click-skip between teams, you don’t have to hold-click and arrow-down select. And I thought me setting the game to Manual Line Changes meant I would, you know, manually ‘change the lines,’ only to have the game be like, “They look tired, here, let me-” No thanks, I got it. They make millions of (virtual) dollars, they can suck it up and get back to work. I have to force an offsides just to get the guys I want back out there. And lastly, two things that are specific only to my sad-sack Flyers: 1 st Round Pick (yeah) Maksim Sokolovskii isn’t linked to the Flyers as Drafted By, so I had to put him in the AHL as just to have him (losing a contract spot). And there are ECHL teams with Third Jersey/Alternate Uniforms, can’t my Lehigh Valley Phantoms get those awesome white/orange creamsicle alt-unis? Or the throwback purples? Simple add-ins while you work on all the hard stuff I laid out for you 😉My candid thoughts on NHL 27
Well,weve all had over a month to digest NHL 27 and all of its new features and heres what I have to say....... The New presentation package is ONLY alright but admittedly an improvement nonetheless VERY LITTLE improvement in Creation Modes which is VERY disappointing The game has actually taken a step back in gameplay Its harder to score! The game is like a pinball machine where you cant get any natural flow going. Everytime you turn around theres another of your opponents hitting you and it doesnt take much to knock you down! The defenders always seem to close the gap no matter how faster your player is then them, which is unreal! It used to be the odd man rushes like 2 players against the goalie would ALWAYS result in a goal BUT NOW it very rarely results in a goal.Successful SLAPSHOTS are almost totally gone! The backhand sometimes seems to be the only goal that is successful! I have many fast and quick players and NO matter what they cant seem to evade their defender. My opponent(CPU teams) always seem to complete their passes while my team constantly has incomplete passes which is unrealistic. My team will be lucky to have a 80% passing completion rate while my CPU opponent team routinely has in the 90% completion rate which is also NOT realistic either. In past titles like 20-21-22 and so on my players would be as good as their ratings showed but now,even players with a 90 rating struggle to score. I would so like to talk to the development team about many ideas I have and I have talked about some of those ideas before but its only talk! I want to see my ideas which would greatly improve the realism of this game!So many errors
Playing on ps5 and Jesus 4 times today while adjusting lineups and chemistry in franchise mode just for an error to hit me when I’m nearly done. Then I have to redo the entire lineup from season goals or chemistry changes for lines. Idk what you guys are up to this used to work fine add it to the list I guess. And why isn’t there a goalie coach search function yet? It’s there for all the other coaches it’s no brainer.
Missing names pronounce by commentator and analyst in NHL27
Hello programmers and management team, I would like to mention this . Pleas add a name pronunciation preview button in Create/Edit Player, like MLB The Show has. In The Show, you can hear how the commentators will say a player's name right when you type it. NHL needs this too — players could check if their created player's name is in the audio database instead of discovering in-game that the commentary team goes silent on it. » There is some names that the commentator and analyst are not pronounced in the games Even if the names are in the audio database, like as an example like Beaudin, Godin, Beauchamp, Castillo and Lacoste as example. CAN you add those names that was already working in NHL25 and NHL26, they were working fine Thanks
