EA Sports has released Update 1.2.0 for NHL 26, and it’s a beefy one. The update is intended to refine gameplay with smarter goalie behavior, improved penalty box transitions, and tweaks to passing and energy mechanics, while Be a Pro sees major progression and dialogue fixes that should smooth out the career experience. World of CHEL players benefit from better stability and matchmaking, as well as fixes to customization and party bugs. Hockey Ultimate Team receives major quality-of-life improvements, including multi-select for Sets, easier lineup building, and support for multiple Captains per season.
Rounding out the patch are hundreds of visual updates across uniforms, logos, and center-ice art for NHL, AHL, and CHL teams, alongside new Bauer and True equipment options. Below are the full patch notes for Update 1.2.0. If you wish to view the source, click this link.
NHL 26 Update 1.2.0 – Patch Notes
Gameplay
- Decreased minimum saucer pass speed.
- Tuned the likelihood of shifts for 4th line players in Be a Pro.
- No longer allow reverse hits to be performed on a faceoff win.
- Fixed an issue where Second Wind X-factor was able to re-trigger before the player reached max energy again.
- Improved cases where exiting the penalty box players would only focus on changing and not defending if they were in good position.
- Improvements for goalies sealing the post while in Reverse VH on slow moving pucks.
- Improved situations where goalies were not dropping to butterfly if the puck was moving slow or was possessed by teammates near them.
Be A Pro
- Adjusted form score challenge requirements for 3rd/4th line and scratch rotation challenges to better match difficulty expectations.
- Fixed an issue where users could interact with health activities while injured.
- Resolved an issue where background visuals displayed incorrectly if the user simulated, intervened, and then quit out of a match in Be a Pro.
- Timeline widget now correctly displays three games instead of eight when goalie in preseason.
- Added missing logic ensuring U18 players are required to wear cages during U20 Championship matches.
- Addressed an issue preventing BAP Goalies from being sent back down to the AHL after being called up.
- Fixed issue that showed the user passed the “Become Starting Goalie” challenge in the summary screen without meeting required form score.
- Adjusted logic so Form Score Last Game is correctly used instead of Season Average after losing the World Junior gold medal game challenge.
- Fixed impacts in “On Track to Make the Playoffs” media side quest responses.
- Corrected several endorsement conversations decline responses that incorrectly referenced the cover athlete endorsement.
- Fixed incorrect brand, management, and team likability icons displayed in the Activities widget in Be a Pro Hub.
- Fixed Anaheim Ducks’ home arena incorrectly displaying Memorial Cup center ice logo during gameplay in Be a Pro mode.
- Fixed an issue where some conversations with challenges to move up the lineup or get promoted to the NHL may not trigger in year 2+ throughout the season.
- Fixed an issue where some of the secondary objectives shown in the challenge did not line up to the statistic that was being tracked in the “Move up to the 4th line” challenges.
World Of CHEL
- Fixed a bug preventing non-party leaders from entering club games alongside the party leader.
- Uber avatar now updates correctly when changing loadout handedness in World of CHEL.
- Corrected an issue where selected pro skaters were not reflected in NHL Arcade Club matches; casual skaters were being used instead.
- Resolved a display issue where equipped special characters did not appear correctly in World of CHEL Live Events.
- The STATS tab no longer incorrectly highlights instead of the Season Pass tab in navigation.
- Fixed a bug where custom colors did not update correctly on logos after saving changes in World of CHEL Club Identity.
- Resolved issue where objectives re-ordered based on progress instead of retaining intended display order.
- Fixed error message “Failed to retrieve data. Please try again later” occurring when a club member exited and another player attempted to lock a position.
- Resolved issue in EASHL 3v3/6v6 Open Practice Mode where only one user could mute another player.
- Fixed issue where one deep link caused selection highlight to appear off-screen and not centered.
- Updated Ones and Threes Eliminators Winners Bag content to ensure correct gear; previous versions were incorrectly using items from NHL21.
- Fixed a rare crash in the World of CHEL store when previewing a player animation.
- Fixed an issue where selected equipment categories from the World of CHEL store would often take you to the wrong items (i.e. selecting a skate takes you to helmets).
- Fixed a bug where goal horns were playing when previewing goal songs in club creation zone.
- Fixed a rare crash in EASHL 3v3 when pausing the game.
- Fixed an issue where Player Names were missing from the Report Content screen which made it difficult to know who to report for toxic content.
Miscellaneous
This section includes global fixes for stability, achievements, and general post-match performance.
- Addressed a blank screen issue appearing after tapping “Play” in the Action Tracker post-match.
- Corrected an issue where Pettersson’s career stats were showing another player’s AHL stats.
- Fixed issue preventing the “Most Interesting Person Alive” trophy from unlocking on PlayStation platforms.
- Fixed issue preventing the “Golden Years” achievement from unlocking after triggering the retirement ceremony NIS with a gold legacy status.
- Active Rosters screen now supports viewing all available official rosters beyond the previous 20-limit cap.
Hockey Ultimate Team
This update introduces multiple quality-of-life improvements and fixes across HUT Sets, Line Combinations, Chemistry, and Captains, alongside broad stability updates.
Chemistry Glossary, Cheat Sheets & Filters
We have made several quality-of-life improvements to help players more easily find and remember which Captains or players fulfill Chemistry links, with quicker access to line combinations and related team info.
Line Combinations
We have made several quality-of-life improvements to help players more easily find and create line combinations.
Set Multi-Select
We have added multi-select functionality into Sets to reduce friction and make managing Sets faster.
Sets Quick Inbox Access
After this update, players will be able to quickly access their Inbox directly from Sets.
Multiple Captains per Season
With this update, players can now include multiple Captains in their lineup, while designating one as active.
Fixes and Improvements
- Fixed a crash when finishing Cup Chase games.
- Fixed a crash during Ranked NIS sequences.
- Fixed a crash when creating new lineups.
- Fixed a crash that could happen when Couch Co-op matches started.
- Fixed a crash that could happen during Pack openings.
- Fixed potential hang or soft lock when selecting “Play Next Game” in Wildcard or during matchmaking transitions.
- Fixed a soft lock in the Line Combinations tutorial tooltip.
- Fixed a soft lock in reward descriptions within Sets.
- Fixed OVR display issues when switching Captains.
- Fixed inactive Captains not showing badges.
- Fixed abilities resetting or reactivating after lineup changes.
- Fixed missing or empty Captain Chemistry tabs.
- Fixed debug text appearing in Captain Chemistry screens.
- Fixed missing save prompts after changing Captains.
- Fixed Quick Lines not reflecting chemistry and salary cap bonuses.
- Fixed Autofill not completing valid lineups.
- Fixed inflated OVR values after renaming lineups.
- Fixed animations replaying after viewing player info.
- Fixed navigation issues returning to the correct sub-hub.
- Fixed avatars freezing after canceling ready-up in Cup Chase.
- Fixed loops and input locks when posting auctions or confirming actions.
- Fixed Cup Chase player stats not counting correctly for boosted players.
- Fixed Champion rewards refreshing slowly after being claimed.
- Fixed unclaimable HUT Champs rewards when new seasons started.
- Fixed Season Records display not progressing past 10 wins.
- Fixed misaligned player cards and overlapping filters.
- Fixed stretched or incorrect tile backgrounds.
- Fixed untranslated or incorrect text in English and French screens.
- Fixed X-Factor tier and ability panel alignment issues.
- Fixed missing or incorrect event logos and icon placement.
- Fixed inconsistent colors and lighting in Ranked, Sets, and Moments tiles.
- Fixed lineup rollover issues for Captain Chemistry and Line Combinations.
- Fixed errors when adding items to Sets containing active lineup players.
- Fixed auto-fill failures requiring multiple attempts.
Art
This section includes visual updates, logo corrections, and uniform detail adjustments to maintain accuracy across leagues.
- Fixed an issue with the 2023–24 Seattle Kraken Home Uniform that was missing socks.
- Fixed an issue where the Wenatchee Wild (WHL) had the Kootenay Ice logo on their helmet.
- Fixed an issue that had the wrong Anaheim Ducks logo on their Home, Away, and Third helmets.
- Fixed an issue where the name bar on goalies would appear distorted.
- Updated the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings logos to use their current versions in creation zone.
- Updated Creation Zone NHL team content to have correct primary logos.
Goalie Sets
- True Catalyst Nitro
- True Hzrdus L95
Player Sticks
- Bauer Proto 2
- Bauer Proto 2 (White)
- Bauer Pulse
The following center ice designs and line art have been added or updated in NHL 26
NHL
Boston Bruins
Dallas Stars
Florida Panthers
Los Angeles Kings
Montreal Canadiens
Nashville Predators
San Jose Sharks
Seattle Kraken
St. Louis Blues
Tampa Bay Lightning
Utah Mammoth
Vancouver Canucks
Vegas Golden Knights
AHL
Henderson Silver Knights
Milwaukee Admirals
Ontario Reign
San Jose Barracuda
ECHL
Florida Everblades
Toledo Walleye
Canadian Hockey League
(Full OHL, QMJHL, and WHL updates as detailed in original patch)
Uniforms
(Full list of NHL, AHL, ECHL, CHL, and international league uniform updates retained as in original patch notes.)
