NHL 21 launches on October 16, and the title's iconic game mode, Hockey Ultimate Team, will be a little different in 2020. While much of HUT will still look familiar to NHL players, the NHL team announced several new changes to come. in October to the franchise, including new online and offline functionality.
With that said, let's go over all the new additions coming to Hockey Ultimate Team in NHL 21.
Adding HUT RUSH
In August, EA Sports, in its official release announcement for NHL 21, unveiled HUT RUSH, a brand new mode within Hockey Ultimate Team. HUT RUSH will have a condensed format, as the games inside will feature unique rules and twists. Rather than attempting to score more goals than your opponent in 60 minutes, various victory conditions, such as “Winning First Goal”, Money Battles, or shorter games, can be set in HUT RUSH actions.
In addition to the different victory conditions, other features that will be in HUT RUSH include style point additions in some goal scoring games, NHL mascots, and outdoor hockey rinks. But just like other built-in HUT modes, playing HUT RUSH games will also earn you Hockey Ultimate Team rewards which can be used to acquire new cards.
No contract or injury
Contract and injury cards have been a staple of Hockey Ultimate Team for years. In previous NHL games, users had to apply new contract cards to players after their current contracts expired. This has been the norm for years, since the Xbox 360 / PlayStation 3 days of the NHL franchise. And just like with expired contracts, NHL users also had to apply consumable injury cards to their skaters who had suffered injuries during Hockey Ultimate Team action in previous installments.
That will change in NHL 21, however. An EA Sports community manager confirmed on September 28 that injuries and contracts have been removed from Hockey Ultimate Team for NHL 21.
More HUT announcements are expected to be made over the next few days and weeks, leading up to the release of NHL 21 on October 16. This article will be updated to reflect new additions to HUT that have been made public by the NHL team.
