Hey it’s me Sandip and welcome back to SG Reviews. NHL 26 is bringing a lot of new content such as new cards, events and two new modes to Hockey Ultimate Team (HUT). So, let’s hop into the deep dive.
Game Modes
Cup Chase
First things first, let’s start with the game modes. Cup Chase is a new mode designed to give a deeper offline experience on community requests. It will be an 18 game season and playoffs at the end, featuring best of three rounds of matches. Every win brings players closer to the trophy and every loss will increase the stakes. Squad Battles is gone now and it’s replaced by Cup Chase. It’s nothing but just grinding through random CPU games.
Cup Chase is a connected format season, where performance matters and there are no leaderboards or weekly resets. It has its own reward track system, separate from XP, making each step meaningful. If you progress in Cup Chase it can also contribute to the overall XP path, which ensures continuity in the game.
As we already know, the Cup Chase will have 18 regular season games played against CPU. Then there will be two rounds of playoffs and the winner will receive the HUT Cup. It’s unclear if there will be a trophy celebration for HUT, which would be kinda fun. There are three types of rewards packs in the game. The playoffs reward, the champion reward, and lastly the undefeated reward.
Reward Distributions
Obviously, the champion reward will be received by becoming champion or for winning the championship. And I think playoffs reward likely comes from simply making it to the playoffs. The undefeated reward will be received on completion of the tournament without losing any match. But the exact content of the pack is not yet known. It is expected that the Cup Chase will be repeatable, giving players the opportunity to receive the reward multiple times.
Playoffs & Progression
Only the top four teams can make it to the playoffs, so make sure you are in the top four. It is important to maximize the rewards. Yes you can get XP while playing but you also have to focus on getting maximum rewards. It’s not confirmed whether there are objectives tied to the mode, but if it’s true then it will be fun. There are many players that play games offline and they need meaningful rewards. Three reward packs for every Cup Chase, depending on the rewards, is not enough.
HUT Ranked
This is what we know about the HUT Cup Chase. Now let’s move on to the next game mode which is named as HUT Ranked. It will replace the HUT Rivals, meaning both Rivals and Squad Battles are removed. HUT Ranked offers a structured ladder system for competitive play. Their goal is to create a fair, consistent and rewarding experience regardless of how much you play.
Ranked is built to show where you stand. New matchmaking floors are built to prevent you from dropping an entire division once you achieve it. It helps you to reduce your frustration of losing progress. According to them progress is focusing on moving forward instead of regaining lost ground. Divisions are organised into different tiers like bronze, silver, gold and so on.
And once you achieve a new rank, you will not lose it for the rest of the season. Every new tier will give you a reward. And once you finish the season, all your ranks will reset, which means you have to achieve ranks again. And lastly, once you reach the qualification division, there is no need to unlock champs again for that season.
Yes, it’s confirmed that HUT Champs is returning to NHL 26. Now you don’t have to grind weekly, you just have to grind to a certain tier per season to play every single week. Other than Cup Chase and Ranked, we are also getting wild cards, HUT moments and a casual playlist. There was no mention of the Champs reward, so let’s hope they made a change regarding Champs rewards in NHL 26.
Chemistry System & Salary Cap
The biggest change in NHL 26 HUT is a new salary cap and chemistry system. It is going to change how players create and organise their teams, not just collect the strongest cards. I think some players may dislike this salary cap but this is at least something new. The Chemistry system will give you bonuses like ability points, cap space and overall boosts. It only works when you link players by nationality, team or card type. And the good thing is it forces balance and creativity instead of only loading up stars.
For instance, if you want to add more top players but your team is already hitting the salary cap, you can shuffle or rearrange the lower line players. It will increase your chemistry bonuses and these bonuses will give you extra salary space. That ultimately allows you to add more star players. Yes I know it will take time to adjust but it could freshen up the mode. Nationality, team, and salary cap are important roster details that will be shown on each card which affects chemistry bonuses.
New Content & Chelweeks
Each season of NHL 26 HUT will feature four core programs: heroes, captains, rookies and icons. Every season will bring new versions of these card types. Alumni items will have their own card type, which makes them more valuable. And there is no mention of X factor or power up icon, which suggest that this feature is removed. Also, Captains are new cards with special chemistry boosts.
The event will start with Fresh Ice and it is tied to early access. Fresh Ice will include objectives, moments, collectibles, and rewards. It also connects into a worldwide launch event, though it’s unclear if items will carry over. Chelweeks is the new addition, which is a live content program with daily drops around a theme. We will get objectives, buildable players, spotlight items, collections, and community votes in every Chelweeks. Chelweeks won’t happen every week but gives you a reason to play daily.
New Menu, Alumni & Icons
The menu of HUT is redesigned and it is faster, requires fewer clicks, and highlights the most used features. Wildcard’s lineup screen is now added to the edit lines section which gives a clear view of the whole team and chemistry. If you hold down L2, you’ll be able to swap between lineups, which means even less menus you have to go through.
Several new alumni players like Fedorov, Hagelin, Rinne, Kronwall and Craig Anderson are also added. Icons like Wayne Gretzky are not power-up. I am 99% sure power-up icons are officially gone from Hockey Ultimate Team. Even the main game menus outside HUT have been refreshed now and look improved. So, these are the new things introduced in NHL 26. Are you happy with them or not? Do tell me in the comments.