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‘Same s**t different year’: Fans voice displeasure as first NHL 26 trailer drops
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Photo credit: Screengrab/EA Sports/YouTube
Woz
By Woz
Aug 6, 2025, 16:00 EDTUpdated: Aug 6, 2025, 17:32 EDT
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We’re deep into the NHL off-season.
Since the early parts of July, it’s been relatively quiet from the Edmonton Oilers, but the world of hockey has had a lot to say this past week. That comes in thanks to the recent announcement of NHL 26 and its cover star Matthew Tkachuk.
But when it comes to the game itself, hockey fans had mixed reactions to the next NHL title to be released by EA Sports.
This literally could’ve been the trailer for any NHL game of the last 10 years. –OviClapBomb via X
Is this the 2015 trailer? Cause I swear they all look the same. –Ivandemigoal via X
oh cool this looks exactly the same as last year! –OilersDaily via X
Rinse and repeat – players are still showing holding their stick the wrong way in warmups. –Brad1794 via X
NHL 26 Be A Pro is FULLY REVAMPED! – New story lines, cutscenes, and characters – Play in World Juniors before draft – Can be sent down to AHL I think it’s safe to say Pricey Pond Hockey is no more. –TactixHD via X
btw this is the 2nd year in a row that a player is on the deluxe cover because they have family members who are infinitely better than them at hockey. –woodenwaffers via X
I don’t care what team you root for, anyone who doesn’t think this is fucking awesome is dumb  This is pretty damn awesome! –MiamiUGurl via X
Connor Hellebuyck just won the f***ing hart but go off ig –Chytil4Hart via X
Ovechkin really does the impossible so that brady tkachuk gets on the nhl cover lmao. –SirSlimySnow via X
Same s**t different year, if you spend $90 on this glorified roster update you’re part of the problem, EA has been robbing and mocking the NHL customer base for far too long,I hear they changed the Be A Pro intro which I’ll believe when I see, it’s likely the only change they made. –Tommy Ryan via X
Don’t waste your time watching. Same game as 26. Imagine dropping a trailer for a game and not highlighting a single new thing. Have 0 interest in buying this. –VoggzzzTV via X
The common sentiment around NHL 26 is that the game looks the same as previous editions as hardly anything looks to have changed to differentiate from earlier versions. Over the years, there have been criticisms towards the gameplay, game modes, and nearly every area of the game, other than Hockey Ultimate Team and EASHL, which tends to get the most attention.
One mode that is getting some love is Be A Pro, where you get to create your character and build an NHL career with them. It’s a feature of the NHL games that hasn’t undergone significant changes over the years, so fans are glad that EA has made an effort to improve the mode.
From my experience of playing the games, you can tell there’s a difference in the gameplay when you haven’t picked up one of the titles in ‘X’ amount of years. But if you pick it up each year, you’ll likely feel it plays and looks the same. They apply minor tweaks to the game year over year, but rarely do you notice what they’ve added to the gameplay.
From what I’ve read online, many want drastic changes and major overhauls to everything not named Hockey Ultimate Team. But that isn’t easy to do with a game that has such a tight development window and they can only do so much within twelve months. Who knows how large the development team is for a video game franchise that is relatively small in the grand scheme of things compared to the Madden’s, FC, and Battlefield games all under the EA banner.
NHL 26 is set to release on September 12th, 2026, but you can get seven days of early access by pre-ordering the deluxe edition.
Maybe this is a year where the franchise turns a corner when it comes to gameplay and impresses fans, but only time will tell.

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