This has been a wild week on the NHL calendar. Rookies are showing up to camp for the first time. NHL Media Day brought a ton of storylines, including some from Jack Hughes (but none were about the Devils, ironically). We also had updates on some surprise player retirements, an update on NHL expansion, and Dylan Larkin was stripped of his captaincy.
Some of these stories have a much bigger impact on their team and the NHL as a whole than others, but one story has no real impact on the league; it just got everyone talking.
EA Sports released the latest version of their NHL video game, NHL 27. There have been inconsistent reviews on the game, with some initial excitement around the Connected Franchise mode and an extended focus on arena and fan presentation. However, there are some mistakes and inconsistencies that have really hurt the excitement around the game. There were some goal songs that apparently are no longer relevant to that team, and the online play still has a ton of bugs.
None of that was discussed as much as the one part of the game that was most controversial. The NHL player face scans came out… bad. For the most part, they were pretty awful. They did a few players especially dirty, including New Jersey Devils player Dawson Mercer.
New Jersey Devils face scans in #NHL27 https://t.co/riQqDrnhTf pic.twitter.com/OJ2i9zZPSl
— Johnny (@TestOnAQuest) September 5, 2026
Jack Hughes had a different point of view on the NHL video game face scans
ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski was curious about how NHL players felt about their face scan, writing an article on the subject on Friday. He spoke to a few different players at those media days in Las Vegas, and their reactions were very different. Alexander Ovechkin was happy they picked up on his salt-and-pepper look. Trevor Zegras said his was “one of the better ones.”
However, some seriously did not like their scans. Frank Nazar called his “horrible.” Matty Beniers said they “can't do me dirty like that.” Cole Caufield, who famously had a terrible scan, said: “I look like I need some sleep or some water.” He said the look on his face during the scan made it seem like he'd just seen a ghost.
Jack Hughes was not nearly as critical. He seemed like he actually liked his look.
"I don't hate it. I think maybe there's been [video] games in the past that are closer, but I saw some other [scans] that are pretty funny. Cole (Caufield)'s is not picture-perfect. But I don't think mine's too bad."Jack Hughes to Greg Wyshynski
Of course, Jack Hughes was once on the cover of the NHL game. He joined his broters Quinn and Luke Hughes on the cover of NHL25. Hopefully, any cover curses have worn off by now.
Add us as a preferred source on Google