Hi, everyone! Longtime lurker, even longer player of EA's almost-forgotten PC hockey series (though obviously, I found you all).
If you've been around a long time, then you know this series on PC was pretty much separated into five tiers based on gameplay, graphics, modability and ability to play the game today:
Pre-2000
2000-2003
2004 (The Gold Standard)
2005
2006-2009
It's unfortunate that it appears that NHL on PC simply isn't going to happen, ever again -- I know the reason why (overall sales) -- but it will never make sense to me.
But while most people know that NHL 2004 was probably the best PC game of the series, and NHL 07-09 (which were basically the same game with Roster tweaks and steadily worse AI coding) could be made into beautiful (for their era) games via mods, one game is sneakily a combination of both...if you can get your hands on an actual copy of the game, complete with security code:
Yep: It's NHL 06, with Vincent Lecavalier on the cover.
This game was always weird because it was released during an extremely odd time: During the 2005-06 lockout, which canceled the entire season.
It was basically "out of sight, out of mind."
But oddly, this game is actually the best bridge from 2004's overall greatness from gameplay and modability, to the NHL 07-09's abillty to enhance the graphics.
Does anybody still have this game?
The funniest part about it is that if you do, it easily installs and runs on Windows 10. There's something weird about the security coding that allows that one to install without any trouble whatsoever.
Cheers!