NHL 20 Patch Is Coming Soon, Here's What It Adds And Changes

A new patch for NHL 20 is coming on April 3, and it promises a number of gameplay changes based on player feedback. Starting with the general changes, the new update fixes an issue that could cause an injured player from being able to get off the ice. Ouch!

The new update also makes AI defenders smarter in some cases. It delivers a fix for AI that over-commits to the puck carrier in 2-on-1 situations, which should make scoring goals agains the AI more challenging. Additionally, the weak side defender in a 2-on-2 will now prioritize covering their own assignments over the passing lane. The update also "fixe[s] a case where players other than Brad Marchand would lose the puck at the start of a penalty shot," which seems to be a reference to how the real-world athlete really botched a penalty shot back in January.

Elsewhere, the NHL 20 update makes goalies even smarter so they are better able to track the puck behind the net and close to the goal line; goalies are now smarter around passes close to the net.

Players may also notice better-looking shots, as the update includes "further shot angle improvements for accurate release trajectories." You can see the full patch notes below, as posted by EA in the EA Forums.

EA's NHL franchise typically debuts in September with the start of the new season in real life, so that's when you can probably expect NHL 21 to debut. 2020 is an interesting year, given that the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X are both set to debut this holiday, despite COVID-19 concerns. But whether or not the next NHL game comes to next-gen platforms is unknown at this stage.

NHL 20 April 3 Patch Notes

Goalies

- Further improvements to goalie tracking when the puck is behind the net and around the goal line

- Improved goalie reaction to passes on net

- Fixed an issue where a human goalie could get into a broken state when hugging the post and requesting a goalie pull

Skating

- Fixed an issue where despite having the correct top speed, players above 96 speed weren’t staying in the push puck hustle animation

Shooting

- Further shot angle improvements for accurate release trajectories