Hockey fans spent early access roasting NHL 27 for ugly player models, unfinished modes, recycled gameplay and aggressive monetization. So I bought a new console, played more than 20 games and decided to settle the argument the only reasonable way possible: with a hockey game.
The Truth About NHL 27: I Bought It to See if Hockey X Was Right!
The Leonard Effect
Hockey X spent the beginning of NHL 27 early access absolutely destroying the game.
Player screenshots were everywhere. Some looked pretty good. Others looked like somebody asked a police sketch artist to recreate an NHL player from a description given over a bad phone connection.
I spent a good part of Monday morning laughing so hard that I cried.
And even though I did not own a current generation console yet, I joined the fun.
Then I realized something.
It was easy to roast NHL 27 from screenshots. It was much harder to decide the entire game was terrible without actually playing it.
So I did something financially irresponsible in the name of independent hockey journalism.
I bought a new console.
Then I bought NHL 27.
You are welcome.
My history with EA hockey goes all the way back to 1991. For years, buying the newest hockey game was almost part of the NHL season itself. New season. New players. New rosters. New hockey game.
My most recent purchase, however, was NHL 24. I skipped NHL 25 and NHL 26.
That made all of the NHL 27 outrage especially interesting to me because I was coming back after a few years away.
According to Hockey X, I was about to buy a broken, unfinished, overpriced disaster filled with terrible faces, terrible commentary, terrible AI, recycled gameplay and enough microtransactions to require approval from a mortgage lender.
I expected pain.
Instead, I started playing.
Then I kept playing.
More than 20 games later, I realized Hockey X and I needed to settle this properly.
So we are playing hockey.
I took ten of the biggest complaints surrounding NHL 27 on X and will share my experience in relation to NHL 27. If I agree with the fans, Hockey X gets a goal. If I think the complaint is exaggerated, misleading or has simply become part of the annual social media outrage cycle of hockey fan virtue signaling, EA Sports gets the goal.
Drop the puck.
1. Terrible Player Faces and Likenesses
Hockey X scores first.
There really is no defense for some of these player models.
The strange part is that NHL 27 can look genuinely impressive during gameplay. The lighting looks good. The arenas feel alive. The players can look great while moving around the ice.
Then the camera zooms in.
Suddenly somebody who looked perfectly normal five seconds earlier appears to have been recreated by a forensic artist who last saw him in a Roblox version of NHL 2014.
Not every player looks bad. That is actually what makes the problem more noticeable. Some models are convincing while others barely resemble the person they are supposed to represent.
On a current generation sports game in 2026, recognizable NHL players should consistently look recognizable.
EA needs to make this one of the priorities for future updates.
GOAL: HOCKEY X
SCORE: Hockey X 1, EA Sports 0
2. Connected Franchise Needs More Depth
Hockey X scores again, although some of the complaints surrounding Connected Franchise have been exaggerated.
The mode does not require 32 human players. Smaller leagues are possible, which immediately makes the mode more usable than some social media posts suggested.
There is still a legitimate issue underneath the noise.
Connected Franchise feels like the foundation of something that could eventually become excellent.
EA has the important pieces in place. Human controlled teams can compete across a league. There are commissioner tools, scheduling, trades and multiple seasons.
What I want now is more life inside that universe.
Player development. Aging. More meaningful long term progression. More reasons to care about what happens three seasons from now instead of simply getting through the current schedule.
EA built the house.
Hockey fans walked inside and asked why some of the furniture is still being delivered.
That is fair.
GOAL: HOCKEY X
SCORE: Hockey X 2, EA Sports 0
3. The New Commentary Is Apparently Terrible
EA Sports finally gets on the board.
I went into NHL 27 expecting commentary that sounded like two navigation systems attempting to call a hockey game.
That is not what I heard.
Does the commentary repeat itself?
Yes.
Could there be more excitement, more situational lines and more variety?
Absolutely.
But during my time with the game, I never once stopped playing because the commentary was so bad that it pulled me out of the experience.
I never considered turning it off either.
That matters.
John Buccigross and Darren Pang give NHL 27 a different broadcast personality. EA should continue adding lines and improving the system, but describing the commentary as some kind of catastrophic failure feels excessive.
Nobody walks into a game store yelling, “I heard this year's third period commentary vocabulary increased by fourteen percent. Take my money.”
Commentary should support the game.
For me, it does.
GOAL: EA SPORTS
SCORE: Hockey X 2, EA Sports 1
4. The Arena Presentation Does Not Match the Marketing
We have a tied game.
If a specific goal horn, song or arena detail is wrong, fans should absolutely point it out.
Accuracy matters.
But that is different from saying NHL 27 has poor presentation overall.
I think presentation is one of the strongest parts of the game.
The arenas have energy. The lighting looks good. The soundtrack works. The broadcast presentation feels noticeably stronger than what I remember from NHL 24.
Could individual arenas become even more unique?
Definitely.
I want that too.
But if we have reached the point where the main complaint is that Goal Horn Number 17 does not contain the historically accurate amount of emotional damage required by the fan base, we may officially be searching pretty deep inside the complaint drawer.
The overall presentation package is not a complaint high on my list.
GOAL: EA SPORTS
SCORE: Hockey X 2, EA Sports 2
5. NHL 27 Is Supposedly Filled With Bugs
EA takes the lead.
I specifically watched for many of the problems people reported online.
Crashes. Floating celebrations. Strategies resetting. Stuttering. Error codes. Players clipping through objects. Strange game breaking behavior.
After more than 20 games, the giant bug parade I had been promised never arrived.
I had no dashboard crashes. I had no floating celebrations. I had no strategy resets. I had no repeated error codes ruining games.
That does not mean other players did not experience those problems.
They clearly did. However I question if those were caused by connection speeds related to online play? (Which has nothing to do with EA NHL 27)
Different modes and different circumstances can produce different issues.
But this is supposed to be my experience with NHL 27, and I cannot award Hockey X a goal for problems I personally spent hours waiting to encounter and never saw.
Apparently my copy forgot it was supposed to be broken.
GOAL: EA SPORTS
SCORE: Hockey X 2, EA Sports 3
6. Gameplay and CPU AI Feel Recycled
EA scores again.
This was one complaint I expected to agree with because sports game AI has driven me insane plenty of times over the years.
Instead, I have actually been impressed by some of the CPU reactions in NHL 27.
The computer moves the puck well. It finds space. It cycles. It reacts to defensive mistakes. If you start chasing the puck around your own zone like an excited Labrador retriever, the CPU will happily make you look ridiculous.
There are still questionable moments.
I have seen some strange but rare behavior around the player goal line and during penalty kill clear situations. EA should continue tuning those areas.
But the larger argument that the CPU has no creativity or that every opponent behaves exactly the same does not match what I have experienced. Check your sliders X NHL fans!
Sliders matter.
A lot.
If your settings turn your players into the greatest hockey team ever assembled while the CPU resembles five exhausted beer league dads who met in the parking lot ten minutes before puck drop, the gameplay is probably going to feel stupid.
Spend time tuning the game.
The difference can be significant.
GOAL: EA SPORTS
SCORE: Hockey X 2, EA Sports 4
7. Team Playbooks Do Not Actually Matter
EA is pulling away.
I completely disagree with the idea that team playbooks do nothing.
They matter.
And there is something else players should consider.
If you attack the exact same way for an entire period, why should the CPU politely continue pretending it has never seen your strategy?
Change something.
Adjust your attack.
Try another breakout.
Change your pressure.
Move players around.
Use the time between periods for something besides staring angrily at the replay of the goal you just allowed.
The playbook system is actually one of the things I want to spend much more time experimenting with during the season.
Based on what I have played so far, however, saying the system does nothing simply does not match what I see on the ice.
GOAL: EA SPORTS
SCORE: Hockey X 2, EA Sports 5
8. HUT Pushes Too Hard Toward Spending
Sound the horn.
Hockey X desperately needed that one.
This is easily one of my biggest complaints about the game.
Thank God systems like this were not part of hockey games when I was a kid. I would have needed a paper route, a second paper route and possibly an accountant just to build my Ultimate Team.
The problem is not simply that EA sells optional content.
The problem is how expensive spending can become while still giving you no guarantee that you will receive anything you actually wanted.
That makes me less interested in the mode.
Not more.
Playing hockey should provide meaningful rewards. Progression should feel satisfying. Someone who has already purchased the game should not constantly feel like another cash register is waiting behind the next menu.
EA can make money from Ultimate Team without making players feel like they need Visa, Mastercard and a small home equity loan to enjoy it.
Give players more rewards for playing.
Make progression faster.
Make packs feel exciting again.
This one goes comfortably to the fans.
GOAL: HOCKEY X
SCORE: Hockey X 3, EA Sports 5
9. Be a Pro Was Barely Changed
EA is one goal away from putting this game away.
The complaint that Be a Pro received almost nothing new does not really survive contact with the actual mode.
NHL 27 added new leadership elements, captaincy progression, media decisions and additional ways your player's standing can influence the team.
Could Be a Pro still become much deeper?
Absolutely.
I want sports career modes to eventually feel like complete careers, with relationships, contracts, rivalries, decisions and consequences that stretch across years.
But there is a difference between saying, “I wanted more,” and saying, “They added nothing.”
They added to my enjoyment!
That is enough for the goal.
GOAL: EA SPORTS
SCORE: Hockey X 3, EA Sports 6
10. NHL 27 Is Just an Overpriced Roster Update
Game over. EA scores 2 goals on this one!
I have heard some version of this complaint about annual sports games for most of my adult life.
Eventually I have to ask what people actually expect.
Players to grow wings?
A four point shot from the parking lot?
A secret fourth period?
A Zamboni boss battle?
Collect all six Infinity Pucks and Gary Bettman appears at center ice and drops his gloves taunitng you for a fight?
Hockey is still hockey.
The rink is going to remain the same basic shape. There are still going to be six players on the ice. Nobody is going to unlock an underground bonus rink beneath Capital One Arena or GTA mini game on the streets of DC with playable Tom Wilson.
The real question is whether enough changed to justify buying this year's game.
That answer will be different depending on the person.
If you bought NHL 26 and NHL 27 does not offer enough change for you, skip the year.
Seriously.
You are allowed.
I skipped NHL 25 and NHL 26.
Coming directly from NHL 24, NHL 27 absolutely does not feel like a roster update to me.
The presentation is stronger. The arenas feel better. Gameplay feels more reactive. Connected Franchise exists. Team playbooks give me more to experiment with. Be a Pro has additional systems.
Could EA add more?
Always.
But I bought a hockey game and received a significantly better hockey game than the one I last owned.
That gets the final goal.
GOAL: EA SPORTS
FINAL SCORE: HOCKEY X 3, EA SPORTS 7
So, Is NHL 27 Actually Good?
Yes.
And that surprised me.
I bought NHL 27 expecting Hockey X to be right.
I was already mentally preparing myself for the possibility that I had just wasted a pile of money.
Instead, I kept playing.
NHL 27 is not perfect.
The player likenesses need serious work. Connected Franchise needs additional depth. Commentary needs more variety. Some AI behavior still needs tuning. HUT monetization is easily my biggest complaint.
But the disaster I had been promised never arrived.
What arrived was a hockey game that I genuinely enjoyed playing.
That matters more to me than whatever opinion happened to be trending that morning.
Social media has developed a strange ability to make people feel like enjoying something incorrectly is some kind of character flaw.
I am not interested in playing games that way.
If I am having fun, I am having fun.
What I Would Change Next
My biggest request is simple: make HUT more rewarding without requiring more spending. Give people better rewards for actually playing hockey.
I would also redesign the Season home screen so league leaders, standings, streaks and major statistical stories are visible immediately. Sports games should make the league feel alive around you.
Injuries could use more personality too. I am not asking NHL 27 to become Mortal Kombat on ice, but hockey is physical. Huge hits should feel huge, and injured players should react like something significant actually happened.
And finally:
Please fix the faces.
There are moments where NHL 27 looks gorgeous, followed immediately by a close up that makes me feel like I accidentally changed the channel to a paranormal investigation.
Spencer Carbery deserves better than slowly evolving into Freddy Krueger between periods.
The Bottom Line
NHL 27 is not perfect.
It is also nowhere near as terrible as parts of the hockey internet convinced me it would be.
If you purchase this franchise every single year, your opinion may be different.
That is completely fair.
Skip a season when the improvements are not enough for you.
Coming back after NHL 24, however, NHL 27 has been an excellent return to the franchise for me.
I bought it expecting to prove Hockey X right.
Instead, Hockey X lost 7 to 3.
There is probably a valuable lesson somewhere in there about forming your own opinion instead of allowing social media to form it for you.
But NHL 27 is running in the other room, so somebody else can write that article.
Now if you will excuse me, I have hockey to play.
After 8 comes 9....
I have no connection to EA Sports or the NHL franchise, nor was I provided with any incentive to write this.
Last but not least - I did have one user inflicted account issue that EA Customer service rep Paolo was excellent and fast in fixing. I was shocked at the ease and level of customer service I was provided.
Paolo you my boy blue!