NHL 18: HUT Heroes and Exclusive Gameplay Footage

Evening NHLGamers,

Yesterday (September 5th) turned out to be a big day for fans of the game mode Hockey Ultimate Team, HUT. As one of the core game modes in EA SPORTS' series of NHL games, HUT usually draws a heavy interest from fans in the weeks leading up to release. 

What then could be better than suddenly finding out who all the new "HUT Heroes" are for NHL 18? Maybe getting to experience over 15 minutes of exclusive gameplay from the new edition of HUT?

Here at NHLGamer we say: why not both? 

Before we get to the gameplay, lets start off with the announcement of all the new HUT Heroes. Yesterday, EA SPORTS released this article presenting all 30 NHL 18 HUT Heroes: https://www.easports.com/nhl/hockey-ultimate-team/hut-heroes

To break it down for us and provide a proper NHLGamer analysis, we enlisted one of our resident HUT experts and hardcore gamers: @esdor . Take it away Adam!

NHL 18 HUT Heroes - Analysis

Gamers, 

I have been asked to give you my thoughts on the new HUT Heroes for NHL 18 so, here we go! 

In total there are seven new HUT Heroes that differ from the roster we had in NHL 17. As a first impression, I must say that I was hoping for a few more new Heroes. Three of the "new" ones were actually already in the game for 17 but only obtainable from packs as "legends". These players are Cam Neely (Boston), Jeremy Roenick (Chicago) and Wendel Clark (Toronto).

Personally, the card I am looking forward the most to trying in the new game is new San Jose Sharks hero Owen Nolan. Those who have seen me play HUT know that I am a big fan of strong righties in the vein of Ovechkin.

Sadly this means the previous hero from San Jose (Doug Wilson) is out. He will be sorely missed seeing as he was one of my favorite defenders that I used all year in 17. Another missed hero for me is going to be Red Wings hero Brendan Shanahan that I used a lot in the begining of NHL 17.

It will be very interesting to see how good Rick Nash (Columbus) will be as a HUT Hero. The last two HUT Heroes that are new this year are Shane Doan (Arizona) and Tampa Bay defender Dan Boyle.

In the start of the game I believe that the Heroes will be very effective cards even though their overall got reduced from 94 to 90. I would actually say that a few of the new Heroes will be used the entire game, like in NHL 17 with Heroes Ron Hextall and Olaf Kolzig. In my opinion, both those goalies were among the best goalies in HUT throughout NHL 17 and might continue to be in 18.

Last but not least I want to really praise EA for the design on the cards in HUT, they have done a great job on making the new cards look fresh and exciting.

Exclusive NHL 18 HUT Gameplay Footage

Lets pick this up by thanking esdor for an excellent breakdown of all the new HUT Heroes. When he is not contributing content for NHLGamer, you can find him at https://www.twitch.tv/esdor.

Finally, as I hinted at in the beginning of this article, yesterday also saw the release of over 15 minutes of exclusive HUT gameplay footage on the NHLGamer YouTube Channel. This content was captured during NHLGamers recent visit to the NHL 18 Producers Tour in Helsinki and was then edited and produced by our very own @Kenu - just like the NHLGamer On The Road video from Helsinki. 

It is with great pride and joy we can say that this video has been watched almost 5.000 times since it was released less than 24 hours ago.

Wow!

Without further ado, here it is: 

That is all for now. Until next time, later skaters.
 

@The_Alpha_Furyan, @Kenu and @esdor for NHLGamer.com