Summer brings with it speculation, excitement, and above all else cautiously placed optimism for the upcoming years NHL video game. Who will be the cover athlete (or athletes)? What new features will the game have? Will GM Connected finally be back? While we don’t know the exact answers to these, here are some educated guesses on when we can expect some of the bigger news will drop.
Cover Athlete
The cover athlete for NHL is the first big step in preparing for the new game. Millions of fans speculate on who it could be, and then argue on social media once that player is revealed on why they did/didn’t deserve it. The cover for NHL 23, featuring Sarah Nurse and Trevor Zegras was revealed on August 24th 2022, one day before the official trailer release. The last few installments also saw the covers released between August 18th - 24th, so we can assume NHL 24’s cover athlete will be announced around this time period.
Official Trailer
It's important to note that there are typically two types of trailers fans anticipate. The reveal trailer gives the public their first hand look at the upcoming game, while the gameplay trailers shows fans how the actual gameplay for the upcoming game looks. Typically both are streamed on YouTube, however the reveal trailer is always the first one to be seen. NHL 23’s reveal trailer dropped on August 25th 2022, viewed by almost 400,000 people to date. NHL 22 and 21 saw their trailers premiere on August 19th and August 24th respectively. Fans can therefore assume the reveal trailer for the next NHL will drop around this time.
Deep Dives
EA Sports over the last few years has posted Deep Dives for every game launched. These are essentially videos that take a further look into certain game modes, features, or aspects of the game. Examples of these include Hockey Ultimate Team (HUT), Presentation, and World Of Chel. These typically start 1-2 weeks after the reveal trailer, and depending on the amount of topics are posted 4-7 days for 2-3 weeks. These can be expected to start in mid September and run until early October.
While all of this information is just an educated guess, don’t be surprised if EA Sports decides to drop news earlier than expected this year. An educated guess on the schedule of important dates is below.
Cover Athlete - August 18th - 24th 2023
Official Reveal Trailer - August 19th - August 25th
Deep Dives - Start Sept 5th - 12th End Sept 26th - Oct 3rd