The Edmonton Oilers season is still over a month away, so today we can highlight a video game that fans will want to play this year.
EA Sports announced the next NHL game in their lineup. NHL 22’s trailer launched a few days ago and the cover athlete is none other than Toronto Maple Leafs’ star Auston Matthews. Was one Edmonton Oilers star robbed?
Connor McDavid just put up a crazy amount of points in such a short period of time, and he had just as much playoff success this past season as Matthews, and yet Matthews got the nod for the cover. While Matthews did have a great season that could warrant being the cover athlete, he was on the cover just two years ago for NHL 20.
McDavid has been on the cover of the NHL video game once before, for NHL 18. There were a lot of athletes this season that could have been on the cover of the NHL video game, but the decision to go to Matthews this summer is interesting, to say the least.
While the cover athlete position doesn’t mean a lot, it does show what teams are getting the most recognized around the entire league. Jonathan Toews was on it twice during the Blackhawks dynasty in the early 2010s. The only way McDavid will be on the cover again is if his team can find a way to make it farther in the postseason.
Apparently not even putting up over 100 points in 56 games can get a player on the cover. This coming season should be fun for the fans of the Edmonton as the team should be better than ever thanks to the offseason moves they made. They built out a more fleshed-out lineup that can have success in the next few seasons.
I can’t wait to see what the Oilers overall will be in NHL 22. Obviously, McDavid will be the highest on the team followed by Draisaitl, but some of the other players definitely could get a bump in their overall.
NHL 22 is currently available for preorder and launches on October 15th.