July 5, 2022

NHL 22 was the first entry in the ice hockey series to use the Frostbite engine across all platforms, which seems especially impressive given that the game would have been developed through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Next up for the long-running annual series is NHL 23 and players will no doubt be keen to know what advances the game is making to help propel the series to new heights. Sure, NHL 22 looked significantly better thanks to authentic player animations and improved visual upgrades, but it’ll be intriguing to see what else the next game can do to innovate the series beyond simply looking more realistic.

For everything we know so far about the game, including the all-important details on when we can expect to see it launch and who the cover star could be, read on.

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NHL 23 Release Date

At the time of writing EA Sports and the development team at EA Vancouver have not announced a release date for NHL 23.

However, we already have a pretty solid idea of what we can expect to see EA Sports NHL23 release this year.

If you want to get an idea of when the previous games have released, take a look at the table below. As you can see, the game had previously launched in September for a number of years. But more recently EA Sports have shifted to an October launch date.

We expect the team to do the same this year, which would suggest another October release.

Assuming EA follows a similar pattern, EA Sports NHL 23 will be released on October 14, 2022.

Game	Reveal Trailer	Release Date
NHL 19	21 June 2018	14 September 2018
NHL 20	20 June 2019	13 September 2019
NHL 21	26 August 2020	13 October 2020
NHL 22	19 August 2021	15 October 2021

When will the NHL 23 Trailer be revealed?

Well, you probably have a bit of time to wait. As noted in the table above, in more recent years we’ve normally seen the game’s official reveal trailer released in August, a few months ahead of the game’s eventual release.

At the time of writing, it’s slowly approaching the start of July, which would lead us to believe the reveal will not arrive in June 2022. So keep your eyes peeled for an official reveal in August 2022.

NHL 23 Price and Platforms

We’re once again expecting to see NHL 23 released on PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.

Last year EA Sports charged two different price points for the game’s Standard editions. On PS4 and Xbox One the game cost £59.99 whilst PS5 and Xbox Series X|S cost £69.99.

We would imagine the game will once again continue to charge the same price point for NHL 23, as nothing much has changed since the release of the last NHL 22 game.

Will NHL 23 release on PC?

It’s once again looking unlikely we see the game on PC platforms for another year, unless EA Sports decides to surprise fans.

For those wondering, EA Sports hasn’t launched a version of the NHL series on PC in over a decade and there’s little to suggest they’ll change their stance now.

NHL 23 Cover Star

Who is gonna be on the cover of NHL 23? Last year the Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews secured his second NHL Cover, joining the likes of Chicago Blackhawks forward Jonathan Toews (NHL 11, NHL 16) and Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin (NHL 07, NHL 21).

Will Matthews grace the cover for a third time? It might sound crazy but looking at his stats it’s not the craziest suggestion. In the 2020-21 season Matthews scored 41 goals. In the most recent season he improved, scoring 60 goals across the 73 game season. Unbelievable.

EA did cheekily tease that they’ll have to stick Matthews on the cover again in a tweet back in April, but we think the chances that it happens in back-to-back years seems slim.

So expect to see a new cover star. But who could it be? It’s hard to make any predictions with any certainty, but for now we’ll stick to the obvious candidates who made the game’s NHL Team of the Year, which included the following players:

• Connor McDavid – Edmonton Oilers – Forward
• Connor McDavid – Colorado Avalanche – Forward
• Connor McDavid – Boston Bruins – Forward
• Connor McDavid – Tampa Bay Lightning – Defence
• Connor McDavid – New York Rangers – Defence
• Connor McDavid – Tampa Bay Lightning – Goaltender

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That’s everything you need to know about EA Sports NHL 23. If you’re interested in more games coming to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC in the future, check out some of our other guides just below.