How to Play NHL 17 Five Days Early

EA Sports' NHL 17 isn't scheduled to come out until September 13, but it's playable now on Xbox One for some. A trial version of the professional hockey game was added to the Xbox One's EA Access catalog today, allowing subscribers to play the full game as much as they want for a set period of time.

It's not immediately clear how many hours the NHL 17's early play period runs for, but if history is any indication, it should be between 6 and 10. EA Access subscribers can grab NHL 17's trial version starting today, September 8, from the EA Access hub on Xbox One.

A version of EA Access called Origin Access is available on PC, but NHL 17 is only available on console. Additionally, PS4 players are left out because EA Access is not offered on that console.

Though NHL 17 isn't out until next week, reviews for the game have started to come online. GameSpot's NHL 17 review scored the game a 7/10.

"NHL 17 is a great game of hockey, but unlike last year, there isn't a standout mode or feature that makes this game substantially better than its predecessor," reviewer Mat Paget said. "It rides off a lot of what NHL 16 did, and the new additions don't add anything crucial to the experience. It's still a lot of fun to trade players in Franchise, build a formidable roster in Hockey Ultimate Team, and actually play matches, but if you were hoping NHL 17 would be a significant step forward for the series, you're out of luck."