Ratings
How NHL 27 ratings actually work
Every player carries one number from 0 to 99. This page is about the two dozen numbers underneath it: which ones matter for which position, what an Overall is worth on a roster, and why two 88s can play nothing alike.
The skater sheet, group by group
The series has graded skaters on the same two dozen attributes since NHL 21, sorted into five groups. EA has not published the NHL 27 list yet, so this is NHL 26's set. The names change rarely, and when they do it is usually one attribute rather than the structure.
Skating
5How fast you get there and whether you stay upright when someone objects.
- Acceleration
- Agility
- Balance
- Endurance
- Speed
Shooting
4Power decides whether it beats the goalie. Accuracy decides whether it hits the net.
- Slap Shot Power
- Slap Shot Accuracy
- Wrist Shot Power
- Wrist Shot Accuracy
Puck skills
5Everything you do while the puck is actually on your stick, plus reading the play before it arrives.
- Deking
- Puck Control
- Passing
- Hand-Eye
- Offensive Awareness
Defense
5Taking the puck back, and not taking penalties while you do it.
- Defensive Awareness
- Stick Checking
- Shot Blocking
- Faceoffs
- Discipline
Physical
5Hitting, surviving hits, and how often the player goes looking for one.
- Body Checking
- Strength
- Aggression
- Durability
- Fighting Skill
Position changes the weighting
The Overall is not an average. Each position weights the groups differently, which is why a defenseman with a 70 wrist shot can still sit at 90 while the same number would sink a winger.
Practical version: for a center, read Faceoffs and Offensive Awareness first. For a defenseman, read Defensive Awareness and Stick Checking. For a winger, read Speed and shooting. Everything else is texture.
Goalies are graded on a different sheet
A goalie barely touches the skater attributes. Their sheet is built around where the puck goes and what happens after the first save, which is why signing one on Overall alone goes wrong so often.
Five attributes are just parts of the net
The save-location attributes map onto the goal itself. A goalie with a weak stick side leaks goals to that corner all season, and good opponents find it within a period.
Goal line: the five graded save locations, seen from the shooter
Angles
Positioning and depth. Cuts down how much open net a shooter can see in the first place.
Aggressiveness
How far out of the crease the goalie challenges. High is great until someone passes across.
Rebound Control
Whether the first save ends the play or hands the slot a second chance. The one most worth paying for.
Breakaway
One-on-one and deke situations, where the goalie is on their own and the number shows.
Poke Check
Breaking up plays with the stick near the crease before the shot ever happens.
Shot Recovery
How quickly they get back set after a save. Decides most scrambles.
What an Overall is worth
The number means nothing until you know how rare it is. Roughly where each tier lands across a 32-team league, and what that player does for a lineup.
Franchise player
Drives a line on their own and wins you games you had no business winning. You build the cap sheet around this contract.
A handful league-wide
First-line star
Top-line minutes on any club, power play, last shift of a tied game. Most contenders have two or three.
A few per contender
Solid top six
Genuinely good, and where the value lives. Two of these often cost less than one 88 and cover more ice.
Several per club
Depth
Third line, bottom pair, the shifts you are not watching closely. Depth is what breaks first when the cap gets tight.
Most of a roster
Prospects and filler
Fourth line, press box, or a 19-year-old who is a 90 in four seasons. In Franchise, the difference between those two is the whole job.
The rest
These bands describe how the series has distributed ratings in recent years, not an official EA scale. No NHL 27 ratings exist until EA publishes the roster, so any specific player number you see quoted right now was made up by someone.
X-Factors: the abilities that break the rules
Attributes decide how a player performs. X-Factors let a few of them do things the attribute sheet does not allow. They are the reason a star feels different rather than just higher-rated.
Playmaker
Skating and puck movement. Wheels is the famous one: separation speed that turns a half-step into a breakaway.
Offensive
Getting the puck to the net and through the goalie. Quick Release and Rocket are the two that change how you defend a player.
Defensive
Taking the puck back, finishing checks, and staying upright in the third period. Second Wind is quietly one of the strongest in the game.
Goalie
Post to Post covers the cross-crease pass, which is the play most goals come from online. Worth more than a couple of Overall points.
This list is NHL 26's. EA re-tunes abilities most years and drops or renames a few, so read it as the shape of the system rather than a confirmed NHL 27 roster. We will update it after the reveal.
How to read a card without getting fooled
The Overall is a summary, and summaries lose things. Here is the same number describing two players you would use completely differently.
Two 88s, nothing alike
Winger
88Scores. Does not backcheck. Put them out when you need a goal, not when you are protecting one.
Defenseman
88Kills plays and finishes checks. Will not score. Exactly who you want on the ice up one with a minute left.
Same Overall, opposite jobs. This is the misread that sends people to the wrong free agent every July, and the reason the attribute sheet is worth two minutes before you sign anyone.
Position (C, LW, RW, LD, RD, G)
Playing someone out of position costs them effectiveness. A left defenseman on the right side is not the same player.
Handedness
Matters more than newcomers expect. Handedness decides one-timer angles and which side of the ice a defenseman is comfortable on.
Height and weight
Feeds into checking and balance outcomes. A 6'5" defenseman wins board battles a 5'10" one loses, whatever the Strength number says.
Adjusted Overall
The Overall recalculated for the position you are actually playing them at, rather than their natural one. Check this before you shuffle lines.