With NHL 26‘s release right around the corner, the early days of its Ultimate Team content cycle have already begun to emerge. The first of those reveals? Heroes and Icons.
Similar to how EA FC uses its Heroes and Icons cards, NHL 26 has its own similarly modeled cards that celebrate the legends of the past, whether through the stylized Heroes series or the premium Icons tier. This year, it seems EA has provided a good mix of cards that will be useful on either side of the puck, allowing dedicated HUT players to quickly build out their squads.
Here are all of the Heroes and Icons cards that will be available in NHL 26.
All Heroes And Icons Cards In NHL 26
Heroes Cards
- Rob Blake (RD, Los Angeles Kings)
- Zdeno Chara (LD, Boston Bruins)
- Jeremy Roenick (C, Chicago Blackhawks)
- Keith Tkachuk (LW, St. Louis Blues)
- Markus Näslund (LW, Vancouver Canucks)
- Ales Hemsky (RW, Edmonton Oilers)
Icons Cards
- Sergei Fedorov (C, Detroit Red Wings)
- Teemu Selanne (RW, Anaheim Ducks)
- Joe Thornton (C, San Jose Sharks)
- Chris Chelios (RD, Chicago Blackhawks)
- Chris Pronger (LD, St. Louis Blues)
- Henrik Lundqvist (G, New York Rangers)
Each series will have 6 cards upon NHL 26‘s release. I’m sure that more will be added over time,
Overall, each series has plenty of cards that will be worthy for your HUT squad, especially early on. The Heroes provide great stylistic variety for mid-tier roster building, while the Icons offer some of the best all-around cards to chase early.
Luckily for those who want early dibs on these cards, EA is offering one of each series to whoever preorders NHL 26. Unfortunately, it’s gonna be costly. From the looks of it, only the players who preorder the Deluxe Edition of the game will be given the Heroes and Icons choice packs. And if you want the Deluxe Edition of NHL 26, it’s going to cost you $99.99, a full $30 more than the standard edition of the game. If you have EA Play, you can get a small discount.
Preorder pay-to-win (or pay-to-quickly-unlock-elite-cards) nonsense aside, these 12 cards should be exciting for long-time HUT players and could provide an early boost to their cycle, should they be willing to spend a little extra. Personally, I wish we were getting a Scott Stevens, but we can’t always have what we want.
Be sure to check out our additional NHL 26 content before its release on September 12, 2025.
