As the Toronto Maple Leafs prepare to begin the preseason ahead of the 2026-27 NHL season, some of the team’s stars have gone viral on social media in recent hours for an unexpected and amusing reason.
EA Sports announced that NHL 27 will be released worldwide on Sept. 11, 2026, at 12 p.m. Eastern Time, or 9 a.m. Pacific Time, for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.
Ahead of the release, face scans of certain players around the league have begun to leak, and, interestingly, some of the most popular players on the Toronto franchise have caused quite a stir because they resemble their real-life counterparts so little.
Maple Leafs Stars Go Viral for Hilarious NHL 27 Face Scans
Among the players who have attracted the most attention for their face scans in EA’s video game are William Nylander, Sergei Bobrovsky, John Tavares and Auston Matthews. The cases of Bobrovsky and Nylander are probably the most striking, as fans have pointed out; they look absolutely nothing like their real-life counterparts.
“It looks like EA is using human models from Shrek,” one user commented ironically on X, responding to a post showing the face scans of Bobrovsky and Nylander.
“This can’t be real…” another fan commented on a post showing Matthews’ face. “How have they not, for years, got the right mustache?” another user wondered.
The account LeafsLatest even wanted to remind EA that both Bobrovsky and Nylander are 2x Cup champs, including one of the league’s most popular players, and that it is incredible they still don’t get their faces right.
These are some of the ratings of the Leafs’ roster in NHL 27:
| Rank | Player | Position | Team | OVR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | William Nylander | RW | Toronto Maple Leafs | 93 |
| 25 | Auston Matthews | CEN | Toronto Maple Leafs | 92 |
| 88 | Matthew Knies | LW | Toronto Maple Leafs | 88 |
| 96 | John Tavares | CEN | Toronto Maple Leafs | 88 |
| 119 | Darren Raddysh | RD | Toronto Maple Leafs | 87 |
| 182 | Jake McCabe | LD | Toronto Maple Leafs | 86 |
| 189 | Oliver Ekman-Larsson | LD | Toronto Maple Leafs | 86 |
| 201 | Morgan Rielly | LD | Toronto Maple Leafs | 85 |
| 234 | Sergei Bobrovsky | G | Toronto Maple Leafs | 85 |
| 256 | Christopher Tanev | RD | Toronto Maple Leafs | 85 |
EA SPORTS NHL 27 will be released worldwide with a launch price of $69.99 for the Standard Edition. Some players already got early access through the Deluxe Edition, priced at $99.99.
Meanwhile, Toronto will begin its preseason on Saturday, Sept. 19, when they visit the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Center in Montreal.
Maple Leafs Stars Go Viral for Unexpected and Hilarious Reason