Early access for NHL 26 is here. This means that not only are players who pre-ordered a special edition of the game now how full access, but that players who still haven’t made up their minds can play a 10-hour trial, should they have EA Play. With that in mind, it feels important to talk about what the early impressions of NHL 26 have been in the sports game community.
Using the impressions posted in the Operation Sports forums, we’ve put together a consensus of how people are feeling about NHL 26 at launch. Here’s what players are saying.
On-Ice Feel Is An Upgrade
One thing that several users have seemed to pick up on early is the changes made to the game’s pace — it’s slower than it has been in the past. “The speed definitely feels slower,” OS user docdan8404 said. “To me, at least, it just seems like a more polished, somewhat less arcadey NHL.” After a first game on Superstar, MizzouRah added, “It feels more sloppy than 25… CPU did dump the puck in quite a bit,” and overall “more like hockey and less like NHL Hitz.”
Power users see broader systemic gains, too. TopThrillAnthony calls it the “largest step in the right direction” in years, citing improved cycling, smarter clears, increased stick checking, and more effective shot blocking.
Goalie Improvements Are Massive, But AI Needs Work
Last year’s whiff animations were immersion-breaking. Multiple posters say that’s fixed in NHL 26. OS user Phillyfan23 calls goaltending “the biggest improvement” this year, stating that he hadn’t seen a single whiff in any of the games they had played in early access. According to more feedback, desperation blends still look awkward, but the consensus is that shots beat goalies for the right reasons more often than not.
However, one area where the community is a bit split is in terms of the AI. Plenty of users have seen cleaner team play and more realistic dump-ins/zone pressure, but many say that preexisting AI issues from past titles remain prevalent.
User TheEVHL was most critical. “Yet again, this game and its AI continue to be worse than NHL 20,” EVHL said. “The lanes they ‘fill,’ the lack of a center drive… and now the weakside D don’t move from the middle of the ice in the offensive zone when you’re walking the line with the puck as the strong-side D, so they just stand in the way and aren’t an option.”
Another long-running nitpick — defensemen leading the rush — seems to be contested as to whether or not it’s been rectified. According to Fiddy, it has. According to Sadler, however, it isn’t.
Penalty Sliders Need Tuning
Out of the box, NHL 26 players on the OS Forums are reporting that penalties aren’t called enough throughout games. User SlyBell reported that he had played four games without seeing a single penalty call. To anyone who’s familiar with NHL hockey in real life, that is preposterous.
According to MizzouRah and MiracleMet718, this is due to the penalty slider in NHL 26 being pretty much broken. The fix seems to be moving the CPU AI teammate penalty sliders up and playing longer quarters. Even so, for there to be no penalties by default, that’s a problem. And it’s an issue players shouldn’t have to manually fix for a better experience.
