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EA Sports is a brand name used by Electronic Arts to distribute video games based on sports. They have created, produced and distributed video games featuring the National Hockey League players, teams, and arenas since 1991.

The cover spot had become a status symbol of sorts as many of the top players in the league have appeared on the cover of either standard releases or specialized local covers for certain markets.

Installments[]

Title Year Platforms Cover athletes, worldwide Cover athletes, specific regions
NHL Hockey 1991 SMD
NHLPA Hockey '93 1992 SMD, SNES
NHL '94 1993 DOS, SCD, SMD, SNES
NHL 95 1994 DOS, GB, GG, SMD, SNES
NHL 96 1995 DOS, GB, SMD, SNES
NHL 97 1996 DOS, PS1, Sat, SMD, SNES, Win John Vanbiesbrouck (Florida)[1]
NHL 98 1997 PS1, Sat, SMD, SNES, Win Peter Forsberg (Colorado)[1]
NHL 99 1998 N64, PS1, Win Eric Lindros (Philadelphia)[1]
NHL 2000 1999 GBC, PS1, Win Chris Pronger (St. Louis)[1]
NHL 2001 2000 PS1, PS2, Win Owen Nolan (San Jose)[1]
NHL 2002 2001 GBA, PS2, Win, Xbox Mario Lemieux (Pittsburgh)[1]
NHL 2003 2002 GCN, PS2, Win, Xbox Jarome Iginla (Calgary)[1]
NHL 2004 2003 GCN, PS2, Win, Xbox
NHL 2005 2004 GCN, PS2, Win, Xbox Markus Naslund (Vancouver)[1][3] EU Olli Jokinen (Florida)[2]
NHL 06 2005 GCN, PS2, Win, Xbox Vincent Lecavalier (Tampa Bay)[1] EU Tuomo Ruutu (Chicago)[2]
NHL 07 2006 X360, PS2, PSP, Win, Xbox Alexander Ovechkin (Washington)[1]
NHL 08 2007 PS3, X360, PS2, Win Eric Staal (Carolina)[1]
NHL 09 2008 PS3, X360, PS2, Win Dion Phaneuf (Calgary)[1][4]
3 on 3 NHL Arcade 2009 PS3, X360 None
NHL 10 2009 PS3, X360 Patrick Kane (Chicago)[1][5]
NHL 11 2010 PS3, X360 Jonathan Toews (Chicago)[6]
NHL Slapshot 2010 Wii Wayne Gretzky (Edmonton)
NHL 12 2011 PS3, X360 Steven Stamkos (Tampa Bay)
NHL 13 2012 PS3, X360 Claude Giroux (Philadelphia)
NHL 14 2013 PS3, X360 Martin Brodeur (New Jersey)
NHL 15 2014 PS4, XBO, PS3, X360 Patrice Bergeron (Boston)
NHL 16 2015 PS4, XBO Jonathan Toews (Chicago) SUI Nino Niederreiter (Minnesota Wild)
NHL: Legacy Edition 2015 PS3, X360 None (Stanley Cup pictured instead)
NHL 17 2016 PS4, XBO Vladimir Tarasenko (St. Louis) SUI Nino Niederreiter (Minnesota)[17]
NHL 18 2017 PS4, XBO Connor McDavid (Edmonton) SUI Roman Josi (Nashville) (The Josi cover was officially released as a downloadable cover by EA Sports, but the McDavid cover was sold at retail in Switzerland)[18]
NHL 19 2018 PS4, XBO P. K. Subban (Nashville) FIN Patrik Laine (Winnipeg)[19]
SWE William Nylander (Toronto)[19]
NHL 20 2019 PS4, XBO Auston Matthews (Toronto) FIN Patrik Laine (Winnipeg)
SWE Elias Pettersson (Vancouver)
NHL 21 2020 PS4, XBO Alexander Ovechkin (Washington) -
NHL 22 2021 PS4, XBO Auston Matthews (Toronto)

^† as NHL Hockey
^‡ Joe Thornton was originally chosen, but EA switched to Dany Heatley after Thornton was accused of assaulting two police officers. Thornton's cover was never produced. After the 2003–04 season had begun, Heatley was involved in a car crash that killed teammate Dan Snyder, prompting EA to switch covers to one featuring Joe Sakic.[2]
^‡ Patrick Kane was originally slated to share the cover with teammate Jonathan Toews, however, following sexual assault claims made against Kane, he was dropped from the cover.[20]
^EU in Europe; ^DEN in Flag of Denmark Denmark; ^FIN in Flag of Finland Finland; ^RUS in Flag of Russia Russia; ^SWE in Flag of Sweden Sweden; ^SUI  in Flag of Switzerland Switzerland; ^CZE in Flag of the Czech Republic Czech Republic

  1. 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 Bonanno, Rocky (2009-06-22). Kane lands on EA SPORTS NHL 10 cover. NHL.com.
  2. 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 Brown, Erin (2009-08-11). EA's NHL series: cursed or not?. CBS Sports.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 NHL 10 cover athlete: Nicklas Bäckström. NHL Informer. Archived from the original on June 26, 2009. Retrieved on 2010-06-29.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 Dion Phaneuf named worldwide cover athlete of EA's NHL 09 [press release]. Redwood City: Electronic Arts Inc.; 2008-06-09 [cited 2010-06-15].
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Samit Sarkar (2009-07-13). Watch the NHL 10 international cover athletes do their thing. Destructoid. Retrieved on 2010-06-14.
  6. EA Sports. Stanley Cup Champion Jonathan Toews the New Face of EA SPORTS NHL 11 [press release]. 21 June 2010 [cited 21 June 2010].
  7. Jonas Elfving (2010-06-23). Sedin-bröderna på NHL 11-omslag (sv). Retrieved on 2010-06-23.
  8. The Swiss And The Swedes Get Their Own NHL 11. 24 June 2010 [cited 24 June 2010].
  9. / Jonas Hiller en couverture de NHL 12. 27 June 2011 [cited 27 June 2011].
  10. Henrik Sedin at NHL 13 Midnight Launch [Pictures]. 604 Now (September 12, 2012).
  11. Uudesta änäristä Jari Kurrin arvoinen erikoisversio (fi). Pelaaja.
  12. Här är omslagen till NHL 14 EA Sports Club Edition - SHL.se (Swedish)
  13. Archived copy.
  14. «El Nino» est prêt à faire chauffer les glaces de NHL. 22 July 2014 [cited 23 July 2014].
  15. Spelarna som pryder specialomslagen av EA SPORTS NHL 15 (Swedish)
  16. EA julkaisee NHL15 –pelistä Liiga Edition -keräilyversion (fi). Liiga.
  17. Minnesota Wild's Nino Niederreiter to appear on Swiss cover of NHL 17. FOX Sports (July 28, 2016).
  18. Roman Josi PS4 Cover. EA Sports (October 11, 2017).
  19. 19.0 19.1 William Nylander pryder NHL 19-omslaget i Sverige (sv) (2 August 2018).
  20. Mike Cole (2015-08-12). EA Sports Pulls Patrick Kane From 'NHL 16' Cover Amid Reported Rape Investigation. NESN. Retrieved on 2015-08-15.
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