With NHL 22’s release on the horizon, we now have details regarding the introduction of X-Factors. X-Factor made their debut in Madden 20 and have been a staple since in EA Sports games. Now, EA has brought them over to NHL 22.
50 players have X-Factor abilities in NHL 22. They are broken down into 6 categories: Shooters, Skaters, Hockey IQ, Passers, Defenders, and goalies.
Some of the best shooters out there and their #NHL22 X-Factors 🏒 🥅
Check out the full list of 50 X-Factor Players here 👉 https://t.co/fgvoLwCtxw pic.twitter.com/q6Hp9SdP1u
— EA SPORTS NHL (@EASPORTSNHL) September 20, 2021
NHL 22 X-Factors
Top Shooters:
Shock and Awe: Auston Matthews
Get exceptional power and accuracy shooting out of, or shortly after, a successful deke.
Make it snappy: Artem Panarin, Nikita Kucherov, Brad Marchand, Alex DeBrincat, Jake Eichel
Get a huge boost to power and accuracy when taking snap shots while skating.
Shnipe: David Pastrnak, Jake Guentzel, Mark Scheifele
Settle shots more easily and get additional shot accuracy and power on shots after settling. Keep calm and place your shots.
One Tee: Alexander Ovechkin, Steve Stamkos
Blast one-timers into the net every time. Get a huge boost to power and accuracy on one-time shots, even if the pass from your teammate was… less than ideal.
Thunder Clap: John Carlson
They’ll hear the buzzer before they even see the puck. Get power and accuracy slap shots from the point when this ability is activated.
Heatseeker: Shea Theodore, Dougie Hamilton
Find the twine with massively increased power and accuracy on wrist and snap shots from the point. Get that perfect placement and speed, even from a distance.
Beauty Backhand: Sidney Crosby
Show off your elite skills and get enhanced power and accuracy for all your backhand shots.
NHL 22 Skaters:
Ankle Breaker: Nathan McKinnon
Deke opponents at top speeds without any penalties whatsoever. They’ll be watching you fly down the ice before they even know what hit ‘em.
Elite Edges: Matt Barzal, Cale Makar
Make tight, seemingly impossible turns anywhere on the ice without sacrificing maneuverability or speed.
Wheels: Connor McDavid, Brayden Point
Beat anyone, anytime with the puck. You won’t get any agility, speed, or acceleration penalties when skating with the puck.
In Reverse: Kris Letang
You’ll be as good at skating in any direction with this ability. You can switch to back skating on a dime without any penalty to speed or acceleration.
Hockey IQ:
Puck on a String: Patrick Kane
Be a magician with the puck, thanks to lightning-quick stickhandling moves and toe drags. Now they see the puck, now they don’t.
Quick Pick: Seth Jones, Anze Kopitar
Snatch the puck from anyone in the blink of an eye. Increase puck interception rate and range.
All Alone: Alexander Barkov
You might be on an island, but you’ve still got moves. Get increased accuracy and power on your penalty shots and breakaways.
Big Tipper: Joe Pavelski
Knock even the most accurate shots away from your goal with improved deflection range, accuracy, and speed
Quick Draw: Ryan O’Reilly
It’s high noon for you every time you line up for a faceoff. Gain a high success rate on faceoffs, with extra quickness on faceoff draws, increased effectiveness on tie-up wins, and a big advantage in defensive zone draws.
Crease Crasher: Gabriel Landeskog
Turn any opportunity into a chance at glory with this uncanny ability to corral bouncing pucks and get a boost to your accuracy after collecting them.
It’s Tricky:
You’ve got more than a few tricks up your sleeves with this ability at the ready. Get a much higher success rate with trick dekes, while also boosting your shooting accuracy immediately afterward.
NHL 22 Passers:
Tape to Tape: Leon Draisaitl, Mikko Rantanen, Jonathan Huberdeau
Handy ability to auto-saucer, and get increased backhand accuracy and reduced power penalties on passes within your vision. See everything, be ready for everything.
Third Eye: Sebastian Aho, Mitch Marner, Elias Pettersson
There are no blind spots for you when your Third Eye activates. Use this ability to hit seemingly impossible passes to teammates outside of your field of vision
Magnetic:
Make that loose puck yours with this brilliant ability to pick them up with speed, as well as coral bouncing or rolling pucks easily, and snatch up poor passes.
Send it: Roman Josi
Pull the strings from anywhere on the ice by getting a huge increase to pass assist and the ability to auto saucer long-distance passes.
NHL 22 Defenders
Yoink!: Mark Stone, Patrice Bergeron
Snatch that puck away with a higher stick lift success rate, and leave them hanging while they take longer than usual to recover from your trickery.
Stick ‘em up: Victor Hedman, Sean Couturier
You’re a master of the ancient art of defensive stick handling. Get a much higher success rate with the Defensive Skill Stick, even against momentum or at speed.
Shutdown: Alex Pietrangelo, Jaccob Slavin
Take on anyone, anywhere as you get a huge boost to your defensive abilities when taking on the puck carrier 1-on-1
NHL 22 Goalies:
Contortionist: Andrei Vasilevskiy
Twist around to make clutch stops seemingly impossible for most humans. When a goalie activates this ability, he gets increased save range, recovery, and ability while in spread V with or against momentum.
All or Nothing:
Take away your opponents’ chance to shoot before they even think about it with a high success rate (including, range, accuracy, and recovery) at poke checks in front of the goal.
Dialed in: Connor Hellebuyck
When you’re Dialed In, it feels like nobody can stop you. After making 15 saves in a game, this ability activates and heavily boosts goalie reaction time, recovery, and save ability for the rest of the game.
Post to Post: Carey Price
Make elite post-to-post saves that most goalies can only dream of doing. Get an impressive boost to reaction time, recovery, and save ability when going post to post.
NHL 22 releases October 15, 2021. Let us know down below how you are feeling with the X-Factor abilities. Which one are you excited to try? NHL 22 will also have early access starting October 7, 2021
