5 players who will make a case for landing the NHL 20 cover

It’s never too early to try and determine who should be on the cover of EA Sports’ edition of NHL 20.

This past year, EA Sports elected Nashville Predators defenseman P.K. Subban as the cover athlete for NHL 19. Subban has been one of the best in his position within the league for quite some time now, and he’s also one of the most popular players from the league.

Over the course of recent years, it seems Electronic Arts puts players on the cover who will grasp attention based on hockey markets or the popularity of a player. Performance has a part in the decision making, but based off of the amount of superstars that have yet to feature on a cover, it’s likely a minimal factor.

However, performance should be the biggest and probably the only part in the process. Brilliant displays on the ice deserve recognition even it is from a video game.

This list will try to reduce and pinpoint the host of top players in the modern game that haven’t featured on EA’s NHL cover. Five players will be covered in the process, but there are a ton who could still be considered as options. That’s why we encourage you to share your thoughts on who should be on the covers of future NHL titles in the comments section below.

5. Johnny Gaudreau

A lot of what Gaudreau does on the ice is completed with class. Height doesn’t faze the forward at all; instead, he continuously finds ways to use it to his advantage on a game-to-game basis.

To the eye, Gaudreau controls the puck with ease. Gaudreau’s control of the puck is on an elite level; something near the top of the NHL. This is combined with smooth skating, amazing agility and incredible vision.

It all does a huge amount to contribute to the stats of the American. Last season, Gaudreau totaled a sublime 24 goals and 60 assists in 80 games. Scoring trends show that he was putting in more points than games played for more than half of last season.

With almost 20 minutes of ice time per game, Gaudreau is able to add small details such as blocking shots, keeping an active stick, contributing 8.7 total point shares and staying out of the box. Keeping a low PIM total was a big part of Gaudreau winning the 2017 Lady Byng Award.

The 24-year-old is completely balanced. There really isn’t a lot to nitpick when analyzing Gaudreau’s. The Calgary Flames have a complete package in a player they can build around for many years.