EA SPORTS™ NHL
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EA SPORTS™ NHL® 27: Connected Franchise Deep Dive Blog

August 12, 2026

EA Sports NHL 27 Connected Franchise promotional graphic featuring an Anaheim Ducks player in a red uniform and helmet, with game mode branding over a blurred arena background.

BREAKDOWN

Connected Franchise is making its debut in NHL 27!

Not just a mode for playing games online. A mode where your group creates its own hockey world. The trades, the rivalries, the group chat arguments, the commissioner decisions, the playoff pressure, the "there's no way you let them fleece you" moments.

That's what Connected Franchise is about: building long-running communities where groups of friends can compete head-to-head.

In this blog, we'll walk through what you can do in Connected Franchise, how we're thinking about Year 1, and how your feedback will help shape the mode's next steps.

BUILD YOUR LEAGUE

Connected Franchise is designed to get your group into a league quickly, while still giving you complete control over how that league plays.

Under the hood, the mode is built on a brand-new infrastructure engineered to be lightning-quick during league creation and navigation, delivering a significantly faster, smoother experience than in the old GM Connected days.

Getting Started & Pre-League Organization

Getting your league off the ground is easier than ever:

  • Joining & Creating: Commissioners can easily create a new league and share its automatically generated League ID directly or via group chat apps. Commissioners can also send direct invites to users, allowing them to choose from available open teams upon accepting. When users request to join a league via a League ID, they can select their preferred team, and the commissioner can accept or decline the request.
  • Pre-League Hub: Before the season kicks off, a dedicated pre-league state allows commissioners to invite users via EA Connect, share League IDs, review join requests, and make sure everyone is ready before hitting start.

Deep Customization & Custom Rosters

NHL 27 Connected Franchise league creation screen showing settings for 32 league managers, two conferences, and four divisions, with recommended league sizes and setup options.

From league size to structure, you have total control over how your hockey world operates:

  • Custom & Shared Rosters: Start your league with default EA rosters, updated EA rosters released throughout the year, or full custom rosters. The custom roster utility lets you create players, move players between teams, and design custom teams and arenas. Best of all, roster sharing features full crossplay support—ensuring everyone in your league builds from the same setup, no matter what console they play on.
  • Tailored Structure: Set up your league for anywhere from a tight 3-friend group to a full 32-team league. Select your schedule formats, establish playoff formats, configure salary cap rules, customize division and conference setups,  tweak rule sets, and modify gameplay sliders.

NHL 27 Connected Franchise Play screen showing Florida versus San Jose, with flexible scheduling, online league managers, games played, and team standings.

Leagues are built for unlimited seasons and flexible scheduling, so your group has the freedom to keep things moving. You don't have to wait for every game to be played in strict order. If a matchup is available and both players are ready, jump in and play. This helps your league avoid getting stuck when schedules, time zones, or real life get in the way.

Whether your group wants a fast-paced competitive sprint, a slow burn, strict house rules, or chaos, Connected Franchise gives commissioners and players the flexibility to make the league their own.

RUN YOUR TEAM

NHL 27 Connected Franchise lineup screen showing the San Jose Sharks forward lines, player ratings, X-Factors, salary cap, and offensive strategy settings.

Connected Franchise puts you in total command of trade negotiations, free-agent bidding, and lineup decisions as you build toward a championship and carry your squad into future seasons.

Daily Operations & Lineup Management

NHL 27 Connected Franchise My Team screen showing the San Jose Sharks roster tools, team status, available free agents, salary cap, and team leaders.

  • In-Depth Team Controls: Edit lines, swap playbooks on the fly, and scout opponent lineups before hitting the ice to exploit tactical match-ups.
  • Salary Cap Flexibility: Trades can help you exceed roster/cap limits, but all violations must be resolved before stepping onto the ice for a game, either through more trades, claims, or commissioner roster override transactions

Trades & The Trade Block

NHL 27 Connected Franchise trade screen showing an approved player trade between the San Jose Sharks and Vancouver Canucks, with ratings, salaries, and salary-cap impact.

  • Propose Trades: Negotiate complex deals involving up to five players per transaction.
  • Broadcast Your Trade Block: List up to five players on your team's Trade Block and explicitly state your positional, age, or salary requirements to the rest of the league, so rival GMs know exactly what you’re looking for and what you’re looking to give up.

Free Agency & Transactions

NHL 27 Connected Franchise free-agent screen showing a bid and claim for a player, with salary offer, claim priority, available free agents, and salary-cap details.

  • Free Agent Claims: Submit bids on available free agents, establish transaction priority lists, and drop players on the fly to accommodate incoming talent.

This is where the best stories happen, not just from who wins but from how they got there: the team built through smart depth moves or the underdog roster that made all the right trades.

Connected Franchise is built to create those stories.

COMMISSIONER TOOLS

NHL 27 Connected Franchise commissioner screen showing multiple league matchups with options to simulate or override scheduled game results.

Anyone who has run an online league knows the commissioner is the backbone of the experience.

Connected Franchise includes a robust Commissioner Tool Suite designed to keep leagues organized, fair, and moving smoothly:

  • Centralized Transaction Oversight: All proposed trades and free-agent claims are reviewed and processed centrally by the commissioner. Every action triggers automatic notifications sent straight to the league inbox.
  • Oversight & Game Controls: Commissioners can force a 1-0 game result or override game results to handle disconnects or correct unfair outcomes.
  • Roster & Rule Overrides: Commissioners can perform roster overrides to move players between teams, tweak rules mid-season, modify gameplay sliders, and send broadcast announcements straight to every GM's in-game inbox.
  • The "Play" Tab & Stats Tracking: Track season history with comprehensive data screens, including head-to-head match details, updated standings, team stats, and complete individual game box scores.

Momentum is everything in online leagues. If a league stalls, people drift. If tools are too limited, commissioners end up bogged down in external spreadsheets. We focused heavily on these tools because we know many of the most dedicated Franchise players are organizing communities around their leagues, and a good commissioner is the difference between a league that lasts one week and one that lasts for years.

PLAYOFFS AND OFFSEASON

NHL 27 Connected Franchise League screen showing commissioner controls, season progress, league settings, pending claims, management tools, and league leaders.

When the regular season ends, Connected Franchise seamlessly transitions into high-stakes postseason play and offseason setup.

  • Playoff Hub: Monitor the path to the Stanley Cup with a dedicated playoff hub. Track series matchups, keep an eye on key postseason statistics, and review updated game box scores as the pressure rises.
  • Offseason & Reset: Once a champion is crowned, commissioners can refine league settings, realign divisions, and reset the league for a brand-new season using instantaneous transition speeds to keep momentum rolling year after year.
  • Reducing League Size: Commissioners can decrease the number of teams in the league during the offseason. Only non-human teams may be removed, and players from removed teams are immediately moved to the free-agent pool.

JUST THE START

EA Sports NHL 27 Connected Franchise Mode title graphic featuring bold blue text over a dark, hockey rink-inspired background with glowing lines and interface-style accents.

Connected Franchise isn’t a one-off feature; it’s a foundation we’ll continue to build on, and we're also excited to evolve it hand in hand with the community. Stay tuned to the official EA SPORTS NHL 27 social channels for the latest news and updates on everything Connect Franchise and more.

Connected Franchise in Year 1 is built around one goal: making it as seamless and exciting as possible to play with your friends. From setting up leagues in seconds to gathering your group for epic trade talks and head-to-head showdowns, every feature is designed to connect your circle of friends. With rock-solid systems in place, your entire crew can dive right into the competition, chase ultimate bragging rights, and build your own league tales season after season.

As we look ahead, our goal is to expand Connected Franchise into a richer, more flexible experience guided directly by you. Once you dive in, we want your hands-on feedback: Which commissioner tools and settings are vital to your league? Where can we eliminate friction? What features should we prioritize next?

Year 1 is just the beginning of a journey we're excited to take alongside you.

BUILT WITH THE COMMUNITY

Image showing the EA SPORTS NHL 27 logo and the words Feedback Portal on a dark blue textured background.

Connected Franchise is part of NHL 27 because of you, and we’re committed to shaping its future hand in hand with our players.

To ensure your ideas aren't lost in social media threads or DMs, we’ve created the NHL 27 Feedback Portal. It’s your direct line to the development team. Tell us about your league size, the tools you need, or what would elevate your overall NHL 27 experience.

Make your voice heard every step of the way, before and after NHL 27 launches in Early Access on September 4 and worldwide on September 11. We’re excited to review your feedback, and we'll see you on the ice!

EA SPORTS™ NHL® 27 is now available for pre-order on PlayStation®5 and Xbox Series X|S. Stay in the conversation by following on X, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook.