NHL 23 trailer & preview: new gameplay, modes, online cross-play revealed

It’s not always the case that an annualized sports video game’s cover athletes signal what’s new and improved this year. But it’s true for NHL 23 and its two cover stars, Trevor Zegras of the Anaheim Ducks and Sarah Nurse of the Canadian women’s national team — each one tells you something about the areas of focus for EA Vancouver this time around.

“Trevor and Sarah are really inspiring a more accessible, inclusive future of the sport,” said Sean Ramjagsingh, vice president and general manager for NHL, UFC, and baseball at EA Sports, during a presentation to the media earlier this month. He added that the game’s developers are “taking inspiration from players like Trevor that are pushing the limits.”

Any sports fan who hasn’t been living under a rock for the past year has likely seen some of Zegras’ highlight-reel plays. Standing behind the net, facing five of his opponents, Zegras flipped the puck to Sonny Milano. He whipped the puck into the air and passed the shocked netminder by surprise. What was that flip pass? It’s in NHL 23, along with one of Zegras’ other favorite moves, the lacrosse-style goal known as “The Michigan,” which EA added two years ago in NHL 21.

This year’s main gameplay feature is designed to assist NHL 23Zegras-esque play is made by players. Last Chance Puck Movement is the name of the animation created by developers. It allows puck carriers to still make moves despite their inability to stutter. They’re meant to address a longtime frustration: getting stuck in a jostle animation that momentarily robs you of the ability to control your player. The fan community refers to this issue as “stun lock,” borrowing a term from action and fighting games.

“We’re giving actually a few frames back in responsiveness and control for the player to decide on, OK, I’m bumped now. OK, I’m bumped now.” said Clement Kwong, lead producer on NHL 23Interview with Polygon, Zoom. “So I think in that extra… call it extra second, it changes the way the game flows and plays completely.”

If you can make a big play with the puck, you’ll hear it from the fans in the arena. Last year’s transition to EA’s Frostbite engine allowed the developers to make some major upgrades to the game’s graphics and visual presentation, and they’re ramping up the audio side in NHL 23Some much needed improvements were made to improve the atmosphere among crowd members. Now, the in-game crowd reacts to the action in real time in the same manner as fans in real life. And it’s not just for key goals or big hits; the fans will get amped up as you maintain pressure on the power play or penalty kill, and will convey an excited sense of holding-their-breath anticipation during odd-man rushes and breakaways. They’ll count down out loud with the last 10 seconds of a big home-ice win.

There are many other exciting improvements that will be available on the NHL’s ice, including the franchise mode. This allows players to personalize the NHL in any way they like. Leagues in the mode can have anywhere from six to 48 teams, and you’ll also have control over the conferences, divisions, salary cap, schedule of opponents, season format, playoff format, and season length — the latter of which can be as short as five games.

Grid View

Franchise is a solo mode, of course, but EA Vancouver will be putting a major focus on social play with a patch that’s currently scheduled for November, the month after NHL 23Launches: Online modes World of Chel, including EA Sports Hockey League and Hockey Ultimate Team, will allow cross-platform matchmaking to fulfill a long-standing community demand. This feature, in addition to increasing the player pool and reducing wait times for matchmaking, will also be beneficial. Matchmaking was often slow, sometimes taking several minutes. NHL 22.

However, there are some limitations and caveats to consider. The developers stated that they must first build a foundation to continue building on it. For now, online play will be available across platforms but not generations — for instance, people on PlayStation 5 won’t be able to game with friends on PlayStation 4. Cross-platform play will only be available for competitive and not cooperative play. One six-player EASHL squad could play on Xbox Series X with six PS5 gamers; the team must have all six players on one platform.

As for a feature like full cross-platform play with mixed-platform parties, Kwong couldn’t make any promises that it’ll be in NHL 24 next year, but said, “One of our top priorities is starting to address that gap.”

Image: EA Vancouver/Electronic Arts

Cross-platform matchmaking isn’t the only new feature coming to HUT. With Nurse being the first woman to appear on the cover of EA’s NHL franchise, the publisher is bringing women’s hockey to the fore through the HUT mode: Expanding upon the debut of national teams for both men and women in a midseason patch for NHL 22EA Vancouver fully integrates women in HUT. NHL 23Players to create mixed-gender teams.

Women are thus “part of the HUT experience from the get-go,” said Mike Inglehart, creative director of NHL 23During the presentation. And EA will continue to put a “heavy focus on raising the profile of the women’s game” in live updates to HUT throughout the season, Kwong told Polygon, such as by including women alongside men in Team of the Season and Team of the Year content.

NHL 23The game will be available on October 14th for Xbox Series X, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox One.