{"id":924288,"date":"2026-08-02T09:16:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T14:16:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/02\/nhl-27-is-bringing-back-connected-franchise-for-first-time-since-the-xbox-360-era\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T09:16:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T14:16:18","slug":"nhl-27-is-bringing-back-connected-franchise-for-first-time-since-the-xbox-360-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/02\/nhl-27-is-bringing-back-connected-franchise-for-first-time-since-the-xbox-360-era\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL 27 Is Bringing Back &#8216;Connected Franchise&#8217; For First Time Since The Xbox 360 Era"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"body\">\n<article id=\"article\">\n<header>\n<section>\n<p>Along with a massively revamped presentation suite<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<ul>\n<li><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.purexbox.com\/users\/253452\/avatar.jpg?v=1583410392\" width=\"30\" height=\"30\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"FraserG\">by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.purexbox.com\/authors\/FraserG\">Fraser Gilbert<\/a><\/li>\n<li><time data-days=\"5\" datetime=\"2026-07-16T16:00:00+00:00\">Thu 16th Jul 2026<\/time><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/section>\n<\/header>\n<section>\n<p>Another year brings another entry in EA Sports&#8217; NHL series, and there are two big highlights with this latest edition that&#8217;s dropping on <strong>September 11th<\/strong> &#8211; it includes revamped presentation and the long-awaited return of Connected Franchise.<\/p>\n<p><strong>NHL 27<\/strong> will mark the first time since the Xbox 360 era that the series has incorporated a Connected Franchise mode, which is the term for playing an online season with other people. It was originally removed due to a supposed lack of interest shortly after <a href=\"http:\/\/www.purexbox.com\/games\/xbox-360\/nhl_14\">NHL 14<\/a>, but fans have been clamouring for its return ever since.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Connected Franchise lets you create your league, build your team, manage your roster, and spark new and old rivalries with friends across a full online season. With up to 32 human-controlled teams, league customization, flexible scheduling, roster management, and commissioner tools, your group has the foundation to run the league your way.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Meanwhile, presentation is another area that&#8217;s come in for significant criticism over the past few years \u2014 I mentioned that they&#8217;d &#8220;really struggled on the presentation front with this series&#8221; in my review of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.purexbox.com\/games\/xbox-series-x\/nhl_26\">NHL 26<\/a> for Pure Xbox \u2014 but that&#8217;s now also being addressed with &#8220;Authentic Atmospheres across all 32 NHL arenas&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s even a couple of new commentators thrown in the mix:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Experience Authentic Atmospheres across all 32 NHL arenas, each designed to capture the sound, spectacle, and identity of its home team. Real-world goal songs, new pregame introductions, and a fully overhauled crowd bring every building closer to its real-world counterpart.<\/p>\n<p>A fully refreshed broadcast package featuring John Buccigross and Darren Pang brings new voices, modern broadcast graphics, updated visuals, and more contextual storytelling to every matchup, giving games a cleaner, more authentic NHL feel from puck drop to final horn.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Honestly, while I don&#8217;t think the Frostbite Engine lends to an <em>amazing<\/em> game of hockey, I&#8217;ve been much more disappointed in the off-ice aspects of NHL in recent years, and these improvements sound like exactly what I&#8217;ve been hoping for.<\/p>\n<p>Fingers crossed, eh? NHL 27 will be playable for 10 hours as part of your Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription in early September if you&#8217;re interested, and it&#8217;s available to pre-order now on the Xbox Store ahead of September 11th.<\/p>\n<p><em>Will you be facing off with NHL 27 in a few months&#8217; time? Tell us down in the comments section below.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.purexbox.com\/users\/253452\/avatar.jpg\" width=\"80\" height=\"80\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Fraser Gilbert\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Fraser is the News Editor at Pure Xbox, where he spends his time reporting on the biggest stories in the world of Xbox and beyond.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.purexbox.com\/authors\/FraserG\"><span><\/span> Author Profile<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a onclick=\"return replyTo('FraserG');\" href=\"http:\/\/www.purexbox.com\/#\"> Reply<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p> Erasmo Pepper <br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.purexbox.com\/news\/2026\/07\/nhl-27-is-bringing-back-connected-franchise-for-first-time-since-the-xbox-360-era\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Along with a massively revamped presentation suite by Fraser Gilbert Thu 16th Jul 2026 Another year brings another entry in EA Sports&#8217; NHL series, and there are two big highlights with this latest edition that&#8217;s dropping on September 11th &#8211; it includes revamped presentation and the long-awaited return of Connected Franchise. NHL 27 will mark<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":924289,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2561,32642],"tags":[5355,9280],"class_list":["post-924288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bringing","category-connected","tag-bringing","tag-connected"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=924288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/924289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=924288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=924288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=924288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}