Taking a look at Joe Pavelski's player ratings over the years in the EA Sports NHL video game series
Joe Pavelski didn’t officially announce his retirement Tuesday afternoon when speaking to the media in Dallas, but he did say that he has probably played his last game.
Pavelski went from being a seventh-round pick by the San Jose Sharks in the 2003 NHL Draft to becoming one of the greatest American-born players in NHL history. He is a four-time all-star and an Olympic silver medalist with USA in 2010, there’s an excellent chance he will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame someday.
Over 18 NHL seasons, he played in 1,332 regular season games and scored 476 goals and 1,068 points. However, where he made his biggest impact was in the playoffs. In 201 career post-season games, Pavelski recorded 74 goals and 143 points. His 74 goals are the most playoff goals scored by an American-born player.
He made it to two Stanley Cup Finals, once with the San Jose Sharks (as their captain) in 2016 and then again in his first season with the Dallas Stars in 2020. He does hold an unfortunate record of being the only player in history to play over 200 playoff games and not win the Stanley Cup.
Joe Pavelski has appeared in the EA Sports NHL video game series for the last 17 years. His first appearance was in NHL 08 as a lowly 75 overall player. He peaked in NHL 16 and 17 with him achieving that 90 overall rating in 16 and then a bump up to 91 in 17.
His overall started to drop in NHL 20. He started as an 87 when NHL 20 was released but by the end of the game and before NHL 21’s release he had dropped to an 85.
In NHL 21 he started as that 85 overall but then after putting up 25 goals and 51 points in 56 games, EA bumped him back up to an 86.
Usually, when a player gets past 35 years old, their game starts to drop off and so does their video game rating adjacently. That wasn’t the case for Pavelski. His performance from the 2020 NHL playoffs and onwards put him back in EA’s good books.
Pavelski had a career year with the Stars at the ripe age of 37 in the 2021-22 season. He had a career-best 54 assists and 81 points and went from an 86 overall up to an 88 during NHL 22’s cycle.
When the developers introduced the x-factor ability, Big Tipper, it was meant for players like Joe Pavelski. EA not only gave him that as his zone ability, but they also equipped his player with 98 hand-eye.
He finishes his career in the NHL video game series as an 88 overall, which is incredibly impressive as a 39-year-old.
There is no doubt in my mind that he will reappear in future NHL video games as a legacy player. I’m sure the developers for Hockey Ultimate Team are already planning on giving him a ‘Gallery of Greats’ card sometime soon.