Matthew, Brady, and Keith Tkachuk will grace the deluxe edition cover of NHL 26. 

A five-time All-Star and 1997 Maurice Richard Trophy winner, Keith Tkachuk will appear on the cover in a St. Louis Blues jersey. He played 543 regular season games for the Blues over parts of nine seasons and currently serves as the team's Director of Recruitment. 

The last Blues player to be on the cover was Vladimir Tarasenko in NHL 17.

A four-time All-Star and captain of the Ottawa Senators, Brady Tkachuk becomes the first Senators player to appear on the cover of an EA NHL game. Craig Anderson was available as a custom cover on NHL 14, and Jason Spezza was on the cover of NHL 2K8.

Matthew Tkachuk was announced at the standard edition cover athlete on Aug. 4.

The father-son trio have combined for 969 career goals.  

From backyard battles to the front of the game, honored to be on the#NHL26 cover with my dad and my brother.
Pre-order #NHL26 to get 7-day early access and check my game:https://t.co/maVv4hu9dspic.twitter.com/nXSc5fv2Nr

— Matthew Tkachuk (@TKACHUKycheese_) August 6, 2025

NHL 26 is set to release Sept. 12, those who pre-order the deluxe edition get access Sept. 5. 

For more NHL Gaming news make sure you bookmark The Hockey News Gaming Site or follow our Google News Feed.  

Photo Credit: EA SPORTS NHL

EA SPORTS NHL 26 will officially release worldwide on Sept. 12, 2025.

This is nearly one month earlier than NHL 25 which released on Oct. 4 and is the first NHL title to receive a September release date since NHL 20.  Those who pre-order the Deluxe Edition will be able to play one week early on Sept. 5. 

The reveal trailer is available on EA SPORTS' YouTube, and more information on how to pre-order on the EA website. 

Per EA, those who pre-order the deluxe edition receive: 

• 7-day early access (starting September 5)
• 4600 NHL Points
• HUT Starter Choice Pack (83 OVR)
• HUT NHL Player Pack
• HUT Icon Choice Pack (86 OVR)
• HUT Heroes Choice Pack (84 OVR)
• Matthew Tkachuk 99 OVR item* (available immediately in NHL 25 with digital pre-order)
• World of Chel Vanity Set
• World of Chel Battle Pass XP Boost (x2)

Those who pre-order the standard edition receive: 

• HUT NHL Player Pack
• World of Chel Battle Pass XP Boost (x2)
• Matthew Tkachuk 99 OVR item (available immediately in NHL 25 with digital pre-order)

EA Play members receive 10 hours of early access beginning Sept. 5. 

We will breakdown what is new in the trailer later today. 

For more NHL Gaming news make sure you bookmark The Hockey News Gaming Site or follow our Google News Feed.  

Photo Credit: EA SPORTS NHL

New Pre-Season cards are available in NHL 25 HUT. 

14 new base Pre-Season cards were added on Aug. 5 led by four 98 overall cards, Miro Heiskanen, Kyle Connor, Kevin Pasche, and Linus Hulstrom.

97 overall Adam Fantilli and Matty Beniers and 96 overall Jonathan Lekkerimaki and Yaroslav Askarov were also added. Askarov is a good card for those looking for a right-handed catching goalie.

Related objective and HUT moments were also added, week two of the event will go live on Aug. 8 at 5pm EST. 

Matthew Tkachuk was named the NHL 26 cover athlete, the NHL 26 reveal trailer goes live at 12 EST Aug. 6.

For more NHL Gaming news make sure you bookmark The Hockey News Gaming Site or follow our Google News Feed.     

Matthew Tkachuk of the back-to-back Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers has been announced as the cover athlete for the standard edition of NHL 26. 

The NHL 26 revel trailer will go live on EA SPORTS NHL's YouTube channel at 12pm EST Aug. 6.

This marks a return to a one-man cover star after the Hughes brothers graced the cover of NHL 25. 

Tkachuk finished tied for the team lead in scoring in both the 2024 and 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs. He has 88 goals and 254 points in 211 regular season games and 69 points in 67 playoff games in three seasons with the Panthers. 

Florida have made the Stanley Cup Finals all three years Tkachuk has been on the team. 

He is the first Florida Panther to be on the cover since John Vanbiesbrouck in NHL 97. Olli Jokinen appeared on several editions of NHL 2005 is Europe.  

He’s loud. He’s relentless. He’s a problem. Now he’s the face of the game.
See the full #NHL26 reveal August 6th: https://t.co/dXmeA7gpdwpic.twitter.com/2s2cneeJMs

— EA SPORTS NHL (@EASPORTSNHL) August 4, 2025

Given Tkachuk's recent success, his personality, and popularity in the sport this is a good choice for the cover. 

NHL 26 is expected to release in early September. 

Photo Credit: EA SPORTS NHL 

EA SPORTS will announce the cover athlete for NHL 26 on Aug. 4, the company said in a release Friday.

EA SPORTS NHL changed all of their profile photos and banners on social media to a generic NHL 26 logo, finally acknowledging the games existence, as well as a standard and limited edition version of the game. 

With Season 8 set begin in NHL 25 on it will be interesting to see if there are any tie-ins with NHL 26. 

Appears August 4th is the @EASPORTSNHL 26 cover reveal! pic.twitter.com/M8dBfpcEj2

— Cam / NoSleeves (@NoSleevesGaming) August 1, 2025

In a recent earnings call and in the Events and Presentations tab on the EA website NHL 26 is schedule to release in Q2 before EA FC 26. It was recently announce EA FC will be released Sept. 26, meaning NHL will likely release early to mid September. 

Comment below you think the cover athlete will be. The Hughes brothers were revealed to be the NHL 25 cover athletes in a leaked trailed on Aug. 19, 2024. 

Check out the new 99 overall HUT Team Builders.

For more NHL Gaming news make sure you bookmark The Hockey News Gaming Site or follow our Google News Feed.   

Two new 99 overall Team Builder cards are live now in NHL 25 Hockey Ultimate Team. 

A 99 overall Zdeno Chara and Jaromir Jagr are now available, as well as 14 new Chelebration cards.

The Team Builders can be built in sets, one 99 card can be acquired by trading in any 10 92+ cards. This is a good deal and a much cheaper way to build 99s than past events. 

The new Chelebration cards are led by four 97 overall players, they are Wayne Gretzky, Daniel Alfredsson, Mikko Rantanen, and Zach Werenski. 96 overall Mathew Barzal and Patrik Laine, 95 overall Jordan Kyrou and Adam Lowry were also added. 

Screenshots of Chara and Jagr via HUTContent on X.

The Season 7 XP Path is now live,  Check out the new Chelebration Event. 

For more NHL 25 news make sure you bookmark The Hockey News Gaming Site or follow our Google News Feed.      

A new Chelebration Event and Community Request cards are live now in NHL 25 Hockey Ultimate Team.

The four Community Request cards are 97 overall Eric Daze, Milan Hejduk, Kaiden Guhle, and Rasmus Ristolainen. A screen will pop up when players open NHL 25 and you make your vote there. 

The five new master set players for the Chelebration event are 97 overall Doug Weight, Matt Rempe, Sheldon Souray, Tyler Myers, and Jacob Markstrom. 

These MSPs can be acquired by trading in any thre 94+ Chelebration cards and any two 94+ cards. Players can also trade in MSPs with their corresponding team jersey for a fan pack. 

Players can trade in any three 90+ cards for a 92+ Chelebration card and any three 92+ Chelebration cards for a 94+ player. 

A free redeemable collectible pack is available daily in the HUT Store. Players can trade in collectibles for Chelebration player packs. 

The Chelebration base cards are full of tall players and are led by 97 overall Henrik Tikkanen, 96 Gordie Howe and Logan Stanley, and 95 overall Tyler Seguin and Valeri Nichushkin. 

The Season 7 XP Path is now live,  Check out the Origins Event Week 2 here.

For more NHL 25 news make sure you bookmark The Hockey News Gaming Site or follow our Google News Feed.      

Photo Credit: EA SPORTS NHL 25

The Season 7 XP Path is officially live in NHL 25.

The reward cards are 91 overall Henrik Lundqvist, Erik Karlsson, Nicklas Backstrom, Ryan Suter, and 98 overall P.K. Subban. 

Subban can be acquired by reaching level 40 or 325,000 XP on the XP Path, previous paths required players to reach level 50 to acquire the highest rated reward. 

This XP Path is available for 35 days. 

Multiple packs, choice packs, and players can be acquired throughout the XP Path.

You can trade in five Season 7 XP Collectibles for one XP Token which can be used to upgrade one of the five 91 overall players mentioned above. 

100 collectibles total can be acquired throughout the path and can be used in sets to acquire packs. 

Check out Tuesday's and Wednesday's HUT Content. 

For more NHL 25 news make sure you bookmark The Hockey News Gaming Site or follow our Google News Feed.    

New NHL Draft, Transactions, and Crowned cards are now live in NHL 25. 

The six new master set players this week are 96 overall Radim Mrtka, Caleb Desnoyers, Jackson Smith, Jake O'Brien, Roger McQueen, and Anton Frondell. 

Each master set costs three 93+ NHL Draft cards and any two 93+ cards. 

A 93+ NHL Draft card costs three 91+ NHL draft players, a 91+ card costs any three 89+ cards. 

There are also NHL Draft Collectible sets where players can trade in 30 event collectibles for a 95 BND Draft Player, a 93 UT players, a tradeable 91 player, or players can trade 40 collectibles for 4x 89+ players.  

Other elite cards that were added include 96 overall Evander Kane and Marie-Philip Poulin, 95 overall Jamie Benn, J.J. Peterka, Reilly Smith, Kashawn Aitcheson, Braedon Cootes, Sarah Fillier, Ann-Renee Desbiens, and Renata Fast.

There is a 96 overall Louis-Antoine Denault card available for purchase in the HUT Store. 

The NHL 25 Jumpstart Objectives as discussed last week are available until Friday July 4 at 5pm EST. This allows players to earn rewards in NHL 26. 

New HUT Moments were added that grant players a 93 overall card if completed. 

All new cards are pictured below. 

For more NHL 25 news make sure you bookmark The Hockey News Gaming Site or follow our Google News Feed.  

Justin "Regs" Reguly has won the Caps Gaming Heatwave HUT Summer Showcase in NHL 25. 

The tournament had five days of qualifying rounds with players using base HUT cards before the 16 top players advanced to a best-of-three playoff bracket.  

On his run to the finals he defeated Babs91babs91 2-1, Geimer 2-0, and Erikeu1989 2-0. He then defeated Sauceshow 2-1 in the finals to take home the $1,000 grand prize. 

Regs was the runner-up at the NHL 24 Gaming World Championship and won the CBJ Gaming Winter Cup in February. 

It is great to see NHL Esports tournament like this in a year where there will be no NHL Gaming World Championship.

Congratulations to our Caps Gaming Heatwave HUT Summer Series Presented by @McDonalds Champion: @regs_84!

Shoutout to the runner-up Sauceshow, our signed jersey winner Shlarchey, and our signed puck winner Capitals SC.

See you all in the next one!

Powered by @leaguegamingpic.twitter.com/SPKAJkdClj

— Caps Gaming (@capsgaming) June 23, 2025

For more NHL 25 news make sure you bookmark The Hockey News Gaming Site or follow our Google News Feed.   

Photo Credit: Caps Gaming