NHL (video game series)


NHL is a series of professional ice hockey simulation video games developed by EA Vancouver and published yearly by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports brand. The game is developed under license from the National Hockey League, which enables the use of the league's team names, arenas and colors in the game, and the National Hockey League Players' Association, which enables the use of the league's player names and likenesses.

Installments

In NHL Hockey from 1991, the game modes were season and playoff, and due to the license, the game was called EA Hockey in Europe and featured 22 national teams instead. NHLPA Hockey '93 was without the NHL license, so instead of NHL team names and logos, there were only cities. Game modes added in NHL 95 were exhibition, training, shootout and the possibility to edit and trade individual players in teams. On PC, NHL 96 was in 3D with 2D player textures, fights are back. NHL 97 was the first full 3D installment, the national teams of Canada, USA and Russia have been added, the other two teams contain a compilation of the best European players. In NHL 98, 18 national teams were already included. In NHL 99, the career mode was added and in NHL 2000, the tournament mode.
TitleYearPlatformsStandard edition cover athletes, worldwideCover athletes, specific regions and editions
NHL Hockey1991GEN–
NHLPA Hockey '931992GEN, SNES–
NHL '941993DOS, SCD, GEN, SNES–
NHL 951994DOS, GB, GG, GEN, SNES–
NHL 961995DOS, GB, GEN, SNES–
NHL 971996DOS, PS1, SAT, GEN, SNES, WINJohn Vanbiesbrouck –
NHL 981997PS1, SAT, GEN, SNES, WINPeter Forsberg –
NHL 991998N64, PS1, WINEric Lindros –
NHL 20001999GBC, PS1, WINChris Pronger
NHL 20012000PS1, PS2, WINOwen Nolan
NHL 20022001GBA, PS2, WIN, XBOXMario Lemieux –
NHL 20032002GCN, PS2, WIN, XBOXJarome Iginla
NHL 20042003GCN, PS2, WIN, XBOX–
NHL 20052004GCN, PS2, WIN, XBOXMarkus Näslund Olli Jokinen
NHL 062005GCN, PS2, WIN, XBOXVincent Lecavalier Tuomo Ruutu
NHL 072006X360, PS2, PSP, WIN, XBOXAlexander Ovechkin
NHL 082007PS3, X360, PS2, WINEric Staal
NHL 092008PS3, X360, PS2, WINDion Phaneuf
3 on 3 NHL Arcade2009PS3, X360-–
NHL 102009PS3, X360Patrick Kane In Switzerland, special slip covers were made featuring a player from each team in the Swiss National League. These were sold through each team's online storefront and limited to 400 copies per team.
NHL 112010PS3, X360Jonathan Toews
NHL Slapshot2010WiiWayne Gretzky –
NHL 122011PS3, X360Steven Stamkos
NHL 132012PS3, X360Claude Giroux
NHL 142013PS3, X360Martin Brodeur
NHL 152014PS4, XOne, PS3, X360Patrice Bergeron
NHL 162015PS4, XOneJonathan Toews Nino Niederreiter
NHL: Legacy Edition2015PS3, X360None –
NHL 172016PS4, XOneVladimir Tarasenko Nino Niederreiter
NHL 182017PS4, XOneConnor McDavid Roman Josi
NHL 192018PS4, XOneP. K. Subban Patrik Laine
William Nylander
Ultimate edition: Wayne Gretzky
NHL 202019PS4, XOneAuston Matthews Patrik Laine
Elias Pettersson
NHL 212020PS4, XOneAlexander Ovechkin –
NHL 222021PS4, XOne, PS5, XSX/SAuston Matthews –
NHL 232022PS4, XOne, PS5, XSX/STrevor Zegras and Sarah Nurse –
NHL 242023PS4, XOne, PS5, XSX/SCale Makar –
NHL 252024PS5, XSX/SQuinn Hughes Jack Hughes
Deluxe edition: Luke Hughes along with his brothers Quinn and Jack. This version wasn't released in a physical format.
NHL 262025PS5, XSX/SMatthew Tkachuk Deluxe edition: Brady Tkachuk and Keith Tkachuk along with Matthew.

Leagues

In addition to the NHL itself, the different installments of the game include development leagues like the American Hockey League and ECHL, major junior leagues like the member leagues of the Canadian Hockey League, European national leagues from Russia, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Czech Republic, and the European Champions Hockey League.

Game covers

As is traditional with EA Sports, the NHL series Computer and [video game packaging|boxes] feature live action photos instead of drawings. As it lacked the NHLPA license, the early titles staged photos without real players. NHLPA Hockey 93, on the other hand, had the rights to use player images, but not of the teams. On this cover, the main action photo features the New York Rangers' Randy Moller checking the Philadelphia Flyers' Rod Brind'Amour while Rangers goaltender Mike Richter makes a save. This photo is surrounded by eight small portraits of players. This changed with NHL 94, which featured a goal situation for Tomas Sandstrom against Andy Moog. NHL 95 featured an in-goal camera during a goal scored by Alexei Kovalev of the New York Rangers during the 1994 [Stanley Cup Finals] against Kirk McLean of the Vancouver Canucks. NHL 96 featured New Jersey's Scott Stevens and Detroit's Steve Yzerman. More recently, Claude Giroux was featured on the cover of NHL 13 and Martin Brodeur was on the cover of NHL 14. On June 24, 2014, EA Sports announced at the 2014 NHL Awards in Las Vegas that Patrice Bergeron of the Boston Bruins would be the official cover athlete for NHL 15. In 2015, during the NHL awards, it was announced that the cover of NHL 16 would feature Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane carrying the Stanley Cup together. However, on August 12, 2015, EA announced that Kane would not be appearing on the cover or participating in any promotional activities for the game in light of a criminal investigation he was involved in. Instead, the cover featured Toews alone. At the 2016 NHL Awards, it was announced that Vladimir Tarasenko of the St. Louis Blues was to appear on the cover of NHL 17. On June 21, 2017, during the 2017 NHL Awards, EA announced that Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers would be the cover athlete on NHL 18. On August 22, 2024, EA announced that Quinn Hughes of the Vancouver Canucks would be the Canadian and international cover athlete, and Jack Hughes of the New Jersey Devils would be the US regional cover athlete on NHL 25. And on the deluxe edition cover of NHL 25, all three Hughes brothers are the cover athletes together, which is for the first time in video game history that three siblings are on a video game cover art together. On August 4, 2025, EA announced that Matthew Tkachuk would be the cover athlete for NHL 26 where he is seen hoisting the Stanley Cup. This is the first time since NHL 16 where a defending Stanley Cup champion, as well as the Stanley Cup itself is on the cover.

Commentary

In NHLPA '93 and NHL '94, Emmy award-winning sportscaster Ron Barr gives a pre-game scouting report prior to each game. In the Genesis version of NHL 95, KNBR radio sportscaster John Shrader replaced Ron Barr in that duty. Live play-by-play commentary was introduced in the PC version of NHL 97. Jim Hughson, former play-by-play man for CBC's Hockey Night in Canada and also one of Canada's best-known hockey announcers, provided the play-by-play for much of the series. The last games in which he is one of the announcers are the PC and PS2 versions of NHL 09. Bill Clement was the sole commentator in the Nintendo 64 version of NHL 99. Gary Thorne provided the play-by-play commentary in all Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions from NHL 07 through NHL 14. NBC Sports commentator Mike Emrick and Eddie Olczyk provided the play-by-play and color commentary on all platforms, with their first appearance together being in NHL 15 and last in NHL 19. James Cybulski is the current play-by-play commentator, starting with NHL 20. NHL 15 was also the first game to introduce an ice level analyst, with TSN analyst Ray Ferraro appearing in the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions of the game. Color commentary has been provided by Daryl Reaugh, Bill Clement, Don Taylor, Craig Simpson, Eddie Olczyk. Ferraro made the jump from ice-level analyst to full color commentator in NHL 20. Ferraro was replaced by Cheryl Pounder as color commentator in NHL 24.
GamesCommentary Team
NHL 97Jim Hughson
NHL 98Jim Hughson, Daryl Reaugh
NHL 99Jim Hughson, Daryl Reaugh and Bill Clement
NHL 2000Jim Hughson, Bill Clement
NHL 2001Jim Hughson, Bill Clement
NHL 2002Jim Hughson, Don Taylor
NHL 2003Jim Hughson, Don Taylor
NHL 2004Jim Hughson, Craig Simpson
NHL 2005Jim Hughson, Craig Simpson
NHL 06Jim Hughson, Craig Simpson
NHL 07Jim Hughson, Craig Simpson
Gary Thorne, Bill Clement
NHL 08Jim Hughson, Craig Simpson
Gary Thorne, Bill Clement
NHL 09Jim Hughson, Craig Simpson
Gary Thorne, Bill Clement
NHL 10Gary Thorne, Bill Clement
NHL SlapshotGary Thorne, Bill Clement
NHL 11Gary Thorne, Bill Clement
NHL 12Gary Thorne, Bill Clement
NHL 13Gary Thorne, Bill Clement
NHL 14Gary Thorne, Bill Clement
NHL 15Mike Emrick, Eddie Olczyk, and Ray Ferraro
NHL: Legacy EditionMike Emrick, Eddie Olczyk, and Ray Ferraro
NHL 16Mike Emrick, Eddie Olczyk, and Ray Ferraro
NHL 17Mike Emrick, Eddie Olczyk, and Ray Ferraro
NHL 18Mike Emrick, Eddie Olczyk, and Ray Ferraro
NHL 19Mike Emrick, Eddie Olczyk, and Ray Ferraro
NHL 20James Cybulski, Ray Ferraro
NHL 21James Cybulski, Ray Ferraro
NHL 22James Cybulski, Ray Ferraro
NHL 23James Cybulski, Ray Ferraro
NHL 24James Cybulski, Cheryl Pounder
NHL 25James Cybulski, Cheryl Pounder
-James Cybulski, Cheryl Pounder
-James Cybulski, Cheryl Pounder

Controversy

One idea that has been widely discussed over many years within the fan community is a purported automatic built-in gameplay mechanism called ”ice tilt”, which modifies skaters' and/or goalies' and/or the referee's penalty-decision-making behavior irrationally to favor a worse player, a player on a losing streak or a player who is down by multiple goals. EA Sports has openly denied the existence of any such mechanism, instead saying that winning is a product of skill and the quality of the team's roster. However, EA once published a document about a feature called "Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment", which was interpreted by some as confirming the existence of ice tilt. EA has not denied this. In fact, they patented the software for it.

Soundtracks

NHL 99 was the first game in the series to feature fully licensed music from David Bowie for the intro video. Since then, each game has had soundtracks of licensed music known as EA Sports Trax, with selections of punk, alternative, and rock music. Electronic and hip hop music was later added to the mix in later games. NHL 15 and NHL 16 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One use an original orchestral score instead for the menus, while the soundtrack continues playing in the arenas. NHL 17 returned to the traditional EA Trax feature and also allowed the option to switch back to the original score from NHL 15.