Should Connor McDavid be the NHL 25 cover athlete if Edmonton wins the Stanley Cup?
Connor McDavid looks like a 99 overall player playing on rookie difficulty in these Stanley Cup Playoffs. The goal he scored last night to open the scoring in Edmonton’s series-clinching win was video game-like. Only the best player in the world could dangle his way to the crease and around one of the best defensemen in the game (Miro Heiskanen) in a game of its magnitude.
The Oilers superstar is coming off a season where he was the first player to record 100 assists in a season since Wayne Gretzky did it back in 1990-91 with the Los Angeles Kings. And some of the assists he’s made this year look like he’s playing with the Third Eye NHL 24 x-factor ability.
His dominance has carried over into the post-season as he and the Edmonton Oilers will look to end Canada’s 31-year Stanley Cup drought against the back-to-back Eastern Conference champs, the Florida Panthers.
McDavid leads the playoffs in points with 31 points. 26 of those points are assists, which puts him tied for fourth in Edmonton history for most assists in a single playoff year. He sits only five back of Wayne Gretzky’s record of 31 assists. And the ‘Great One’ gave him a few words of encouragement after last night’s win.
It’s a tight race in Edmonton as to who would be the favorite to win the Conn Smythe Trophy awarded to the Stanley Cup Playoffs MVP. Evan Bouchard is also breaking records with the post-season he’s been having. And Leon Draisaitl has been just as deserving.
In a year where Connor McDavid could win the Hart Trophy, Conn Smythe, and Stanley Cup, one has to wonder how that doesn’t make him a shoo-in to be the cover athlete for NHL 25.
McDavid is the face of the league, and what could drive in more sales for EA Sports? The Edmonton Oilers captain hoisting the Stanley Cup on the cover of their next NHL video game. I’m sure they have already approached players, and maybe they already have their NHL 25 cover athlete. But if you were EA, wouldn’t you call an audible if Edmonton wins the cup?
If McDavid is to be on the cover of the next EA Sports NHL video game, it would be the second time he graced the cover. He was the cover athlete for NHL 18 after he recorded 108 points and won consecutive Art Ross and Ted Lindsay Trophies. Additionally, he captained Team Canada at the World Championship to a fourth-place finish and led them in scoring with 17 points.
EA has announced the cover athlete for the next installment of their NHL video game series in August for the past four years. So there is time for them to call that audible to make McDavid the cover of NHL 25.
Let’s hope they don’t already have a deal in place with another NHL player and Edmonton wins the Stanley Cup so we can all get a cover that Canada will remember — unless you’re a Calgary Flames fan.