Discussing NHL 24's TOTY selections of Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar
Discussing NHL 24's TOTY selections of Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar
EA Sports NHL Men's Team of the Year selections were released back on Jan. 5. Considering they can only name five skaters and one goalie, the players who were named weren't a huge surprise.
NHL 24 TOTY:
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Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers
What else can be said about Connor McDavid at this rate? Scoring 153 points in this era is flat-out crazy. He started this season a bit slow out of the gates, but has returned to form lately, riding an 11-game point streak and is top-10 in points. Combining his points total from last year and this year so far, McDavid is currently at 211 points in 120 regular season games — that is 26 more points than the second-highest player.
EA Sports started the six-man TOTY in NHL 20. McDavid has gotten a card every year except for in NHL 21 when his teammate Leon Draisaitl beat him out for a spot.
Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalache
Depending on who you ask, Nathan MacKinnon could be the front-runner for the Hart Trophy at the midway point of the season. He's currently tied for first in points with 72 in 45 games and leads the league in even strength points with 43. In the past two seasons, MacKinnon also ranks third overall with 183 points — and ranks first in even strength points with 120 (eight more than McDavid).
MacKinnon has been voted onto the TOTY in back-to-back years and is ready to complete the trifecta.
Matthew Tkachuk, Florida Panthers
Matthew Tkachuk earned this card through his clutch ability in the playoffs for the Florida Panthers. He had a terrific regular season, cracking the 100-point mark. But it was in the playoffs, where he put the Panthers on his back and led them to the Stanley Cup Final, where he really stood out. Tkachuk's 24 points in the playoffs were seven more than the second-highest on his team. He had four game-winning goals. Three of those were overtime winners and the fourth was the go-ahead goal in game four against Carolina with five seconds left to complete the sweep.
Tkachuk is having a solid year sitting fourth in scoring for the Panthers with 42 points in 43 games. However, he will have to go on a second-half tear and be another elite playoff performer if he is to make TOTY next year.
Cale Makar, Colorado Avalanche
NHL 24's cover boy, Cale Makar, earned his third TOTY card. Makar missed most of February last season due to a concussion, causing him to only suit up in 60 games. To no surprise, he still finished over a point per game and finished the year with 21 points in his final 14 games. A special talent already at 25 years old, Makar will be one of the top five faces of the league for many years. Makar is having another Norris Trophy-caliber season as he sits in a tie for first in defenceman scoring with 52 points. He is well on his way to earning another TOTY card. It would be his fourth card in five years.
Miro Heiskanen, Dallas Stars
Now, I wouldn't say Heiskanen didn't deserve this award, but there's room for debating it — especially with the season that Vancouver's Quinn Hughes is having. His ice time per game of 27:48 was the highest on Dallas. He's relied upon in all situations and to handle the tough matchups every game. He finished the 2022-2023 regular season with career highs in assists (62) and points (73). Where the debate gets started is that his 73 points finished him T-5 among NHL defencemen last year.
EA Sports took a liking to Heiskanen's well-rounded game and his ability to shut down the opposing teams' top players with his elite skating to close gaps quickly and disrupt possession with his stick, hence why they gave him a gold Shutdown zone ability.
Linus Ullmark, Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins put together the most successful regular season in NHL history and goaltender Linus Ullmark was a huge reason for it. Let's put his season in perspective. The last goalie to register at least 40 wins, have a SV% above .930, and a GAA below 2.00 was Carey Price in the 2014-2015 season. It is worth mentioning that Price played 66 games that year, and Ullmark only played 49. Still, putting together a statistical year like Ullmark did is very rare. Oh, he also scored a goal so maybe EA Sports should give his card Heatseeker or something right?
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