(PS4) NHL 17

No word on a Connected GM/Franchise Mode, yet again.  Also a terrible, no good, dirty Blues player is on the cover.

Pre-Orders

Standard Edition $59.99 | $47.99 for Amazon Prime members
-- 10 Gold HUT Packs (1 per week)
-- EASHL Equipment Bundle
-- NHL 94 Team Celebration

Deluxe Edition $79.99 | $63.99 for Amazon Prime members
-- 25 Gold HUT Packs (1 per week)
-- EASHL Equipment Bundle
-- NHL 94 Team Celebration

Super Deluxe Edition $99.99 PS4 Store only
-- 50 Gold HUT Packs (2 per week)
-- EASHL Equipment Bundle
-- NHL 94 Team Celebration

Previews

Ask NHL - Ongoing QA with the developers. (No Online Franchise confirmed. No buy here!)
EA Sports Blog - New Game Modes
EA Sports Blog - New Gameplay
EA Sports Blog - Returning Game Modes
EA Sports Blog - Miscellaneous
EA Sports Blog - Soundtrack
EA Sports Blog - Control the Ice
EA Sports Blog - EASHL
EA Sports Blog - HUT
EA Sports Blog - Public Beta

Reviews

TBD...Probably disappointing.

WORLD CUP OF HOCKEY

For the first time in EA SPORTS NHL history, play for national pride in a full International Tournament Mode. Featuring all of the official World Cup of Hockey teams, players and uniforms, take to the ice on a world stage as your national team and heroes.

DRAFT CHAMPIONS

The new Draft Champions mode introduces the thrill of the fantasy draft with fast rounds of superstar picks. Each round challenges managers to choose the best players to build a balanced team. Immediately following your draft, take to the ice and fulfill your team’s potential by winning the Draft Championship.

FRANCHISE MODE

Fan-favorite Be a GM mode expands to complete control of an entire franchise with the addition of unique team owners. Control your favorite team and lead them to Stanley Cup glory by managing the team and the business behind the scenes. Make game-changing decisions from player personnel, ticket prices, marketing, arena upgrades, and even relocation – all from under the watchful eye of a demanding owner with challenging goals.

Own Every Zone with more end-to-end control with authentic goalies featuring positional awareness and Reactionary Save Intelligence, all-new Net Battles for offensive and defensive zone play, and dozens of thrilling new goal celebrations that capture the excitement of scoring the biggest goals on game night.

AUTHENTIC GOALTENDING

With all-new Reactionary Save Intelligence goalies will process their position, angle and the scoring situation before committing to an athletic or technical save. New motion capture replicates the technical movements of goaltenders resulting in true-to-life stances and an ability to use their body to stay big and block versus making a reactionary save.

BATTLE FOR THE ICE

In hockey, games are won and lost in front of the net. All-new Net Battle physics give you the ability to own that crucial piece of real-estate on offense or defense. Authentic battles, tie-ups, and stick play makes the battle for position in front of the net exciting thrilling and bruising chess match.

CELEBRATE WITH STYLE

After you’ve buried the puck into the back of the net all eyes are on you. Bring glory and emotion to the spotlight and celebrate using dozens of all-new player celebrations that give you a variety of ways to rub that goal into your opponent’s face and bring the crowd to their feet.

OWN EVERY ZONE

Feel complete control over the ice with improved tape-to-tape passing, puck pick-ups, and pivots. Manage your gap on the puck carrier and break up passing plays on defense with more responsive skating and stopping. Enhanced hit mechanics allow you to choose whether you close someone off at the boards, push them off the puck, or deliver a devastating body-check.

Take your EA SPORTS Hockey League team to the next level by progressing through ranks to unlock customization items and give your uniform a unique look, or use the all-new Arena Creator to build the home ice you’ve always wanted. Celebrate career defining Moments in Be a Pro and immerse yourself into the most exciting Hockey Ultimate Team ever with the introduction of team Synergy, completely changing the way you build and play your dream team.

CLIMB THE RANKS THROUGH EASHL

Progress through the all-new EASHL Player Rank System to earn badges and unlock new customization items for your players, team - and even arenas – in the most competitive and customizable EASHL ever.

EASHL ARENA PROGRESSION

Start off with a grassroots community rink and grow into an internationally renowned state-of-the-art arena that brings your EASHL team’s identity to life as home ice gets bigger and better the farther you progress.

ARENA CREATOR

Whether you’re in EASHL or Franchise Mode, build the home ice arena you and your team have always dreamed of with the all-new arena creator. Customize every detail from the ice surface, to the goal light, to the scoreboard and even the goal songs and FX that light up your team’s biggest moments.

TEAM EDITOR

You can’t judge a team by their looks, but it doesn’t hurt to look good. Use the all-new team customization tool to edit to your team’s entire uniform, including patterns, colors, patches and logos to use in season play, when relocating a team in Franchise Mode, or to build your EASHL team identity. Progress through the EASHL to unlock even more items for your team.

CAREER DEFINING MOMENTS

When a player looks back at their career it’s filled with moments that they’ll never forget – their first goal, their first fight, stepping onto the ice surface for their first NHL game. Bring these moments to life like never before in Be a Pro and other modes by celebrating the career-defining milestones that hockey players remember for the rest of their lives.

HUT SYNERGY

The most played mode in EA SPORTS NHL gets even better! Introducing HUT Synergy, an all-new “Team Building” system designed to challenge the way you build and play as your Ultimate Team. Pair player strengths together to create synergy in your roster and grant perks across your lineups.

HUT DYNAMIC SETS

The all-new HUT sets mechanic takes collecting to a new level that replicates the biggest real-world hockey moments. Collect sets to unlock rewards, including new thematic sets, to constantly build and improve your team. With Dynamic HUT Sets, if it happens hockey, it happens in NHL 17.

ECHL

The ECHL makes its debut in NHL 17, featuring all 27 authentic teams, jerseys, and rosters.

Whether you’re competing online for elite status or lacing up the skates for the very first time, the next generation of the critically acclaimed Visual On-Ice Trainer and Coaching Feedback tools return to teach you the skills needed to sharpen your game. Unprecedented control over gameplay settings and sliders give you the tools to go from fast, action-packed gameplay all the way to the most authentic simulation so you can play the style of hockey you love.

VISUAL ON-ICE TRAINER

The critically acclaimed Visual On-Ice Trainer is back and has been revamped to make improving your skill level easier and faster than ever before. Whether you’re taking your pro status to an elite level or lacing your skates for the first time, the On-Ice Trainer will perfect your play in every mode.

COACHING FEEDBACK

Coaching tips to perfect your game are deeper and more dynamic in NHL 17 with finely tuned feedback created just for you. Work the zone defense, get the puck deep or know when to unleash to the net with the help of a personal coach designed to elevate your play to the pro level.

COMPLETE GAMEPLAY CUSTOMIZATION

Whether you’re a seasoned pro or brand new to EA SPORTS NHL, more control over game difficulty settings, rules, and details allow you to create the perfect hockey experience for your playstyle. Go from fast, arcade fun all the way to authentic simulation hockey and everything in between with 100-point sliders that deliver precision control over your hockey experience.

The EA SPORTS NHL team is proud to present the first look at gameplay in NHL 17. Own Every Zone with more end-to-end control with authentic goalies featuring positional awareness and reactionary save intelligence, all-new Net Battles for offensive and defensive zone play, and dozens of thrilling new goal celebrations.
Check out the Gameplay Series: Control the Ice Trailer below to see what else is new:

Producer, Ben Ross highlights some of the new additions to gameplay this year for fans looking for an even deeper dive on NHL 17:

PLAY YOUR WAY

This year we’ve added a new difficulty setting called ‘Semi-Pro’ so that users find an AI opponent that better matches the challenge they are after. We’ve also added new Gameplay Presets which control the Game Style, Period Length, Rules, etc. for specific experiences. This allows us to offer everything from Arcade (3 min periods, no rules, bigger hits) to Full Sim (10 min periods, ultra-realistic gameplay). This has also given us the opportunity to offer up brand new Be a Pro presets which give the best recommendation for Game Style and Gameplay tuning for the length of games users prefer to play. Play anything from Quick Games where you can get through more games in a shorter time period, all the way to full length games where shift lengths are exactly that of a real world NHL player while maintaining realistic statistics.
To give even more control over play styles, we’ve updated Gameplay Sliders from 0-6 to 0-100. This allows users to tweak everything from skating (agility, speed, acceleration) to checking (aggression, hit power, size effect, stumbles) to match their desired play style. If someone wants to play full 20 minute periods with realistic shot totals and goal scoring, the tuning power makes that possible.

GAMEPLAY IMPROVEMENTS

We've done a lot of fine-tuning to the on-ice experience in NHL 17 :

Skating

• Updates to Vision Control on offense and defense for improved facing and positioning.
  
• Better control over stopping and holding your ground vs pivoting and accelerating in a new direction.
  
• Improved ability to step out and accelerate in a new direction if you are traveling at a lower speed.
  
• Updates to how a skater gains or loses momentum during carving and cross-over turns.
  
• Alignment between skating without the puck, skating while protecting the puck, and stick handling so that turning works the same and feels more consistent. 
  
• Loose pucks in the offensive zone are now considered an offensive situation for the purposes of vision control. 
  
• Improvements to back skating when holding vision control and accelerating from a stop. This allows you to stay square when you have the puck on the blueline and allows you to face the puck when accelerating from a standstill on defense. 
  
• Improved trigger sensitivity for vision control. Various improvements to responsiveness by updating animation blend windows.
  

Passing

• Faster pass animations for more control and responsiveness.
  
• Ability to pass to players and have them stay still and not move into every puck. This will help offensive zone passing when you set up in the zone or if you want to pass D to D during a regroup.
  
• Various improvements to pass accuracy and targeting.
  
• Improved pickups for close range passing.
  

Shooting

• New shooting context for in-close deke shots. This will help you get the shot you expect when deking to forehand or backhand.
  
• Improved five-hole targeting while shooting.
  

Puck Pickups

• Addressed situations where seamless pickups were triggering when not desired. Players now can press hustle to get accelerating pickups, press and hold vision control to get pivoting and strafing pickups.
  
• Added new backward acceleration pickups so you can get moving backward with the puck as you receive it instead of having to wait until you have possession. This gives you more control at the point when passing D to D.
  
• Added more coverage in turning pickups, giving you more control of the angle you want to take so you can pick up the puck without losing momentum.
  
• Revised tuning for receiving passes and picking up loose pucks.
  

Goalies

• Added in Blocking vs Reactionary saves.
  
• Improved ability to handle weak and long shots or passes on the net.
  
• Improved wrap around save/post positioning. 
  
• Improved responsiveness and better branching between transitions.
  
• Updates to goalie AI for how multiple bodies affect a goaltender vs open sight lines.
  
• Improve short side save logic and positioning.
  

Checking

• Improved hit targeting and tracking.
  
• Improved low-speed hits and push checks.
  
• Players will now respond to missed hits more realistically. You can now attempt a push check if an opposing player has avoided a shoulder check and is skating past you. 
  
• Pucks will now come free earlier when you hit the player away from the puck for better separation.
  

Interceptions, Deflections, and Stick Contact

• Even if your skater can’t control a pass (due to passing power, angle, etc.) players will try to bobble the puck in the direction they are skating so that they don’t just leave it behind them if they don’t receive it clean.
  
• Defensive deflections won’t stop you from skating where you want and will only trigger if you are trying to glide or hold your ground.
  
• Improved control for interception pickups so players will receive pucks cleanly when they are capable.
  
• Moderate defensive deflection ability based on skating speed vs control.
  
• Various improvements to puck collisions and incidental collisions when jarring a puck loose.
  

AI

• Weak-side defenders will do a better job covering the front of the net and when to commit to a puck carrier.
  
• Improved AI fatigue so it is consistent with human players.
  
• More control over AI penalty logic with gameplay sliders.
  
• Tuned AI’s recognition of pass lanes to prevent them from making risky passes when there isn’t a great scoring opportunity. 
  
• Factor in power up time for AI passing - incorporates awareness, power up time, offensive awareness, passing attributes, and skill level. This makes them feel more human when passing.
  
• Updated logic for how the AI uses vision control on both offense and defense for better positioning and gap control.
  
• Revised logic for where the AI will send the puck when being pinned to the boards so they are making less risky plays on defense and looking for the advantage on offense.
  
• Better AI puck support if a human player gets pinned in board play.
  
• Revised logic for AI puck retrieval on dump ins and pucks deep in their zone.
  
• Better back-checking assignment.
  
• Additional AI logic for line changes based on time left on the clock.
  
• Updates to AI pass decisions so they pass less into traffic when there isn’t a scoring opportunity.
  
• Updates to AI decision-making with the puck both on the rush and in the zone.
  
• Various changes to AI decision-making on breakouts both with and without the puck.
  
• Revised AI faceoff logic by difficulty level. 
  

The EA SPORTS NHL team is proud to present the first look at the EA SPORTS Hockey League in NHL 17.
Take your EA SPORTS Hockey League team to the next level and build your brand by completing games, and leveling up your player and team to unlock customization items. Give your uniform a unique look or use the all-new Arena Creator to build the home ice you’ve always wanted.
Check out the EASHL trailer below to see what else is new:

Assistant Producer, James Capadouca highlights some of the new additions made to EASHL for NHL 17:

PLAYER AND CLUB PROGRESSION

Competing in EASHL games will earn you EXP for you player and club, winning games and earning milestone badges get you leveling up even quicker. As you level up and earn badges you will unlock customization items for your player and/or club, such as goal celebrations, new hair styles, jersey styles, shoulder patches and more. 

Once you progress past Level 50 for the first time, you will earn Prestige 1 and start at Level 1. Your progression continues from there as you unlock prestigious items for your player and team as you strive for the maximum level of Prestige 3 – Level 50. 
The success you have on the ice also affects your Competitive Player Rating which helps rank players in the EASHL community and ensures that you’ll always find fair, competitive matchups in both club and drop in games.

CUSTOMIZATION

EASHL Team Editor

Use the all-new team customization tool in Creation Zone to make your team into a brand by editing your team’s uniform, pants, socks, shoulder patches and logos to build your unique EASHL team identity. With thousands of different possible combinations, this is your chance to make your team stand out from the rest of the hockey world.

EASHL Arena Progression

As you play games in EASHL you will level up your club to earn more arena customization options. When you first create your team, you’ll have access to two brand new community rinks which are only available in EASHL. From there you can unlock larger arenas as well as customize options like scoreboards, goal songs, LED stanchions, horns and more. As your team gains more experience and unlocks more customizable options, your team arena can evolve from a low-tech community rink to the latest NHL-caliber arena. 
*You will be able to use the Create Team/Create Arena feature outside of EASHL and that will not need you to unlock said content.

EASHL Arena Types

Small Community Rink: A practice-sized rink without bleachers or seats. This rink is truly grass-roots and does not allow for any customization.
Large Community Rink: This rink can hold a small set of hometown fans and allows for a moderate amount of customization, such as branding your team logo at center ice and having goal horns and songs play after goals.
Junior Arena: Large enough to seat several thousand fans and allows for a significant amount of customization such as entry props and LED stanchion effects.
Semi-Pro Stadium: Here is when you start to feel like a professional hockey team. A semi-pro stadium allows for a larger capacity crowd and even more customization options.
Pro Stadium: There are 10 different pro stadiums to unlock and these allow for the biggest crowds and the most amount of customization options such as scoreboards and signature effects.

PLAYER CLASSES

Returning to EA SPORTS Hockey League in NHL 17 is the ability to choose specialized player classes, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. A good team should have a mix of these player classes, with each contributing to a team's success in different ways. This class system helps deliver a balanced competitive experience on the ice, where player skill and your ability to play as a team now determines who wins and loses hockey games.
We will be using the NHL 17 Beta to tune both earlier and new player classes, so make sure to give feedback during the beta.
Forward Player Classes
-Sniper Forward
-Power Forward
-Playmaker Forward
-Grinder Forward
-Enforcer Forward
-Two Way Forward
-Dangler
-Hitting Sniper *NEW
-Jumbo Playmaker *NEW
-Two Way Dangler *NEW

Defensive Player Classes
-Offensive Defenseman
-Defensive Defenseman
-Two Way Defenseman
-Enforcer Defenseman
-Puck Moving Defenseman *NEW

Goalie Classes
-Butterfly Goalie
-Stand-Up Goalie
-Hybrid Goalie

ANTI-GRIEFING IMPROVEMENTS

To make our EASHL online experience as fun and accessible as possible, we’ve listened to community feedback from our social channels and forums and will be implementing the following anti-grieving features for NHL 17.

Goalies Quitting - In EASHL Club games, any game started with two (2) human goalies requires those goalies to finish the game otherwise their team is given a loss. For Drop-in games, any team that has their goalie leave is then replaced with a backup goalie who is smaller and has a lower skill rating to level the playing field.

Improving Team Play - For drop-in games, our Coach Feedback System will keep tabs on your team play grade for skaters and goalies. If you aren't being a good team player and are intentionally creating a poor playing environment for other players the coach may boot you from the game. Examples of creating a poor playing environment are: going intentionally offside, continuously icing the puck, removing goalies from the net, etc.

Reduced Number of Pauses - We have reduced pauses to one (1) per team regardless of mode or the number of players on the team. Each team will have one (1) 30 second pause. This will not consume your regular timeout that refreshes your lines. We have also surfaced the visual settings option in the limited pause menu so you don’t have to use your full pause to make those last-minute camera adjustments. We recommend you make those settings changes in the EASHL HUB so they are active for every EASHL game you play.
Reduced Grace Period Before the Game Counts – Once the puck drops the game is officially on! Any teams that quit as this point earns a loss, while the team still playing earns the win.

GENERAL EASHL IMPROVEMENTS

Drop-In Games
Improved Matchmaking - New to NHL 17, select the general position you would like to play before starting your matchmaking search. This will help bring players together and allow them to play their desired position. Matchmaking will also factor in your Competitive Gaming Rating to help find the best balance of skill and experience for both teams.
Group Matchmaking - Introducing the new Drop-in Dressing Room that now allows you to invite up to five (5) other friends to join your team for a cooperative yet competitive experience against other drop-in players.
Persistent Game Sessions - Players from the same team will stay in a Dressing Room after the end of each EASHL Drop-In game, to help improve consistency and chemistry between players.

Online Connection
Connection Quality Bar - Connection quality bar will now be highlighted in the pre-game matchup screen.
Real Time Connection Quality - A real-time connection graph will now be highlighted in the pause menu and will show your connection quality from the last two minutes of game time.
Game Server Selection - We will automatically find which game server is best for your entire team based on their ping times to each game server.

Club Invitations
Club GMs can now invite players to join their club by manually entering their friend’s profile names or by selecting a profile name in different in-game locations such as leaderboards or the Drop-in Dressing Room. Club GMs can effectively use Drop-in to scout players and recruit them to join their team.

Viewing Club Rosters
You can now select to view another club’s roster from within our Leaderboards screens and Recent Games screens.

The EA SPORTS NHL team is proud to present the first look at Hockey Ultimate Team in NHL 17.
Build. Trade. Compete. The most played mode in EA SPORTS NHL gets even better! Introducing HUT Synergy, an all-new team building system designed to challenge the way you build and play as your Ultimate Team. Check out the Hockey Ultimate Team trailer below to see what’s new this year:
Associate Producer, Jesse McLean highlights some of the new additions made to HUT for NHL 17:

SYNERGY

Replacing our previous chemistry system, HUT Synergy is an all new team-building system that challenges you to pair player strengths across your whole lineup. Players are now linked by playing style and can be placed anywhere in your squad, regardless of position. There are two types of Synergies: Player Synergy and Team Synergy.

PLAYER SYNERGY

Player Synergies, such as Relentless Forecheck, will grant a bonus only to players who share this synergy when activated. Activating Relentless Forecheck will require 4 points and when active will grant a +3 boost to Acceleration, Endurance, Stick Checking and Body Checking. Points can be attained by collecting player items with specific synergy traits.

TEAM SYNERGY

Team Synergies, such as One-timer Efficiency, will grant a bonus to ALL players on the team when activated. Activating One-timer Efficiency will require 8 points and when active will grant a +3 boost to Hand-Eye, Passing, Off. Awareness and Slap Shot Power. Coach items will grant points to team synergies.

DYNAMIC SETS

Our all-new HUT Dynamic Sets mechanic takes collecting to a new level that replicates the biggest real-world hockey moments. Collect and complete Dynamic Sets to unlock rewards, including new and limited time thematic sets, to constantly build and improve your team. Players will no longer receive mini packs for completing collections but will now earn collectibles, coins, packs and elite items depending on which set you complete. Every item has value, so whether they slot into your lineup they’ll benefit the long-term growth of your team.
Another new Hockey Ultimate Team feature is the addition of HUT Heroes. Once you complete NHL team themed sets, you will be rewarded an elite HUT Hero player item featuring a retired fan favorite player from that specific market. These players are local legends and can only be obtained by completing these sets. We’ll be releasing the full HUT Hero roster for each NHL team closer to launch.

TRADING POST

Sets in this collection will let you trade in unwanted items (bronze, silver or gold) for upgrades and other collectables. For example, you can complete the ‘Gold Coach Trade In’ set by turning in any 10 Gold Coach items for a Gold Collectible Pack, which contains one gold collectible item. Similar sets are available for jerseys, logos, arenas, players and more. All items that are turned in through Dynamic Sets or the Trading Post will be removed from your collection.

ITEM MANAGEMENT IMPROVEMENTS

Player Biography Screen: All core stats and attributes (wrist shot power, faceoffs, stick checking, etc.) will now be displayed for each player item, giving you a complete breakdown of your player’s strengths and weaknesses.

A new unowned item filter will allow you to see items you are missing from your collection.
No more restrictions on owning duplicate player items, you can now collect more than 1 copy of any item.
Improved consumable item management with duplicate items now stacking in your inventory.

OTHER HOCKEY ULTIMATE TEAM UPDATES

NHL Points: You will now be able to purchase NHL Points which can be used to open packs in Hockey Ultimate Team. NHL points can only be obtained through real world currency and cannot be earned through in-game rewards, milestones or achievements.
Training Items: Hockey Ultimate Team will no longer feature training items, this includes: Change Team, Change Position, Captain Items and Player Boost items.
Non-Player Items: All non-player items found in packs will be classified as common items, there will be no longer be rare non-player items in HUT.
Standard Packs: Depending on the pack you open; Standard Packs will contain either 10 or 20 items.