On Monday, EA officially unveiled their new NHL 21 trailer for the upcoming hockey simulation game. That provided some glimpses of the animation ahead of the release. In addition, gamers got to see which NHL star will grace the cover of the game when it arrives in a few months. We also learned about the official release date for the game, with pre-orders officially going live online.
Official NHL 21 trailer revealed online
Over the past few months, fans were getting nervous when there was news arriving about other EA games such as Madden, FIFA, and UFC, but not NHL. Even EA Play featured two of those games with next-gen talk. In late July, EA finally gave an NHL 21 release update, indicating the game would be out later than normal this year. Now over a month later, we get our first official NHL 21 trailer (below) along with several other key details.
The new trailer checks in at under two minutes. We see a Russian flag at the start and narration begins. Soon we realize it’s none other than Washington Capitals star Alexander Ovechkin. He continues to narrate throughout the NHL 21 trailer, talking about the path towards greatness. We see a few real-world video clips mixed in with shots from the upcoming game and the cover reveal at the end.
There wasn’t a ton of gameplay or footage to unpack, though. The trailer seemed to be more of a teaser that more will be on the way, similar to EA’s other games like Madden 21, FIFA 21, and UFC 4.
So that means we will probably see a lengthier video detailing gameplay and new features in the coming weeks. There are likely to be a few other trailers for Ultimate Team and possibly World of Chel coming too.
New cover athlete is Alexander Ovechkin
About five months ago, we gave our NHL 21 cover athlete predictions including Leon Draisatl, David Pastrnak, Artemi Panarin, Nathan MacKinnon, and goalie Tuuka Rusk. However, EA revealed that it will be the Russian sensation, Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals. He follows in the footsteps, or skates, of last year’s cover star, Auston Matthews of Toronto.
In a note on their website about the new cover athlete, EA states:
From top Russian prospect, to goalscoring rookie sensation, to young-at-heart elder statesman of the NHL, Alexander Ovechkin has continued to evolve since he entered the league.
Ovechkin has been a member of the Capitals since the 2005-06 season, making him a safe choice as a recognizable star for the cover.r Throughout his career, he’s been a part of 12 NHL All-Star teams, won three Hart trophies, was the 2005-06 Calder winner, and won the Stanley Cup in 2018.
Along with the new trailer and cover athlete reveal, EA also made the official release date revealed. It’s been revealed as Oct. 16, 2020, but gamers who pre-order select editions can play three days earlier. There’s the Standard, Deluxe, and Ultimate Edition. See more details for the pre-orders here.
For more game updates, visit our NHL news page here.