NHL 27's bizarrely inaccurate player face scans horrified hockey fans

Early access for NHL 27 has been live for a few days now but all hockey fans are talking about are the player's faces.

NHL 27 is the latest entry in EA Sports' long-running hockey video game franchise. While it's still early days for the game, so far it seems as if hockey fans aren't pleased with the game's presentation or the lack of shakeup for existing systems that needed more fine tuning.

MORE: Gavin McKenna’s reaction to his NHL 27 rating should excite Maple Leafs fans

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However, EA Sports certainly can't be happy that something else has gone viral from NHL 27's early access period. Given the graphical power of the current video game systems on the market, hockey fans expected players like John Tavares, Connor McDavid and more to be rendered

pretty accurately. Unfortunately, that hasn't been the case, as hockey fans discovered pretty quickly that a good number of NHL 27's player face scans are unintentionally horrifying.

NHL 27 face scans are looking… interesting 💀 pic.twitter.com/jPZWpNTYUp

— NHL82 (@YardsAndContext) September 6, 2026

Though some of the face scans hold up pretty well, like Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, many others were so off the mark that they quickly went viral on social media.

Okay, turns out Will Smith was definitely NOT done the dirtiest 😭😵‍💫

(h/t @TestOnAQuest, @KingKhusy, @tomwilsonglazer) https://t.co/zzqSmPM93k pic.twitter.com/aOSg99JNmP

— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) September 6, 2026

What did NHL 27 do to Cole Caufield?😭💀 pic.twitter.com/iXEJ6pAl85

— Maietta Sports Media (@MaiettaSports) September 6, 2026

EA Sports NHL 27 did John Tavares ABSOLUTELY DIRTY with this face scan 😭

H/T: @ProtectPckOffL3 #leafsforever pic.twitter.com/uXDW2BbftZ

— Leafslatest (@Leafslatest) September 4, 2026

What do you guys think of Mason Lohrei’s face scan in NHL 27? 👀 pic.twitter.com/npiyjybWMy

— Daily Faceoff (@DailyFaceoff) September 6, 2026

i cannot stop laughing at these EA what have u done pic.twitter.com/seBbRS66oL

— arya ³¹ (@5each4fighting) September 4, 2026

Talk about a rough first impression. It remains to be seen if EA Sports will work on the player face scans in an upcoming patch, but the team has yet to acknowledge the bizarre, yet hilarious, goofs.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: NHL 27's bizarrely inaccurate player face scans horrified hockey fans