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] | Olli Jokinen (Florida)[2] |
NHL 06 | 2005 | GCN, PS2, Win, Xbox | Vincent Lecavalier (Tampa Bay)[1] | 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) | Nino Niederreiter (Minnesota Wild) |
NHL: Legacy Edition | 2015 | PS3, X360 | None (Stanley Cup pictured instead) | – |
NHL 17 | 2016 | PS4, XBO | Vladimir Tarasenko (St. Louis) | Nino Niederreiter (Minnesota)[17] |
NHL 18 | 2017 | PS4, XBO | Connor McDavid (Edmonton) | 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) | Patrik Laine (Winnipeg)[19] William Nylander (Toronto)[19] |
NHL 20 | 2019 | PS4, XBO | Auston Matthews (Toronto) | Patrik Laine (Winnipeg) 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 Denmark; ^FIN in Finland; ^RUS in Russia; ^SWE in Sweden; ^SUI in Switzerland; ^CZE in Czech Republic
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 2.00 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.
- ↑ 3.0 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.
- ↑ 4.0 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].
- ↑ 5.0 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.
- ↑ EA Sports. Stanley Cup Champion Jonathan Toews the New Face of EA SPORTS NHL 11 [press release]. 21 June 2010 [cited 21 June 2010].
- ↑ Jonas Elfving (2010-06-23). Sedin-bröderna på NHL 11-omslag (sv). Retrieved on 2010-06-23.
- ↑ The Swiss And The Swedes Get Their Own NHL 11. 24 June 2010 [cited 24 June 2010].
- ↑ / Jonas Hiller en couverture de NHL 12. 27 June 2011 [cited 27 June 2011].
- ↑ Henrik Sedin at NHL 13 Midnight Launch [Pictures]. 604 Now (September 12, 2012).
- ↑ Uudesta änäristä Jari Kurrin arvoinen erikoisversio (fi). Pelaaja.
- ↑ Här är omslagen till NHL 14 EA Sports Club Edition - SHL.se (Swedish)
- ↑ Archived copy.
- ↑ «El Nino» est prêt à faire chauffer les glaces de NHL. 22 July 2014 [cited 23 July 2014].
- ↑ Spelarna som pryder specialomslagen av EA SPORTS NHL 15 (Swedish)
- ↑ EA julkaisee NHL15 –pelistä Liiga Edition -keräilyversion (fi). Liiga.
- ↑ Minnesota Wild's Nino Niederreiter to appear on Swiss cover of NHL 17. FOX Sports (July 28, 2016).
- ↑ Roman Josi PS4 Cover. EA Sports (October 11, 2017).
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 William Nylander pryder NHL 19-omslaget i Sverige (sv) (2 August 2018).
- ↑ Mike Cole (2015-08-12). EA Sports Pulls Patrick Kane From 'NHL 16' Cover Amid Reported Rape Investigation. NESN. Retrieved on 2015-08-15.