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As we creep closer and closer to the opening game of the 2018-2019 NHL season, one of the checkpoints along the “off-season journey” is the release of the NHL video game courtesy of EA Sports. Now that the game has been available to the general public since last Friday, we get to see what EA Sports thinks of this season’s edition of the Chicago Blackhawks.
With last season’s outcome being far less than ideal for Chicago, we were curious to see what the game developers would rate the current Blackhawks roster. EA Sports released ratings on the top 50 players in the game during their debut of the game, so we only know Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews are 91 and 87 overall, respectively.
Remember, these are dynamic ratings based on the player’s performance during last year’s NHL season. So as an example, Duncan Keith dropped from a 90 overall in “NHL 18” to an 86 this year. The highest rated player in the game this year is (go figure) Connor McDavid at 94 overall.
If you’re wondering why the likes of Henri Jokiharju, Adam Boqvist, and others aren’t listed below, EA Sports cannot add players to the game until they’ve played at least one professional game, per their agreement with the NHLPA. So those guys will added after the beginning of the season.
The Winnipeg Jets are the highest rated team at 93 overall in the Central Division, and are tied with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs and Columbus Blue Jackets as the best teams in the game. In the Central, the Dallas Stars, Colorado Avalanche and Blackhawks are tied at the bottom with a 90 overall rating.
Chicago is rated 89 overall on offense, 90 on defense, and (with a healthy Corey Crawford at 88 overall right now) 92 in goaltending (good for 90 overall). Here are the individual player ratings:
‘NHL 19’ Blackhawks player ratings
| Position | Player | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| Position | Player | Rating |
| Forward | Patrick Kane | 91 |
| Forward | Jonathan Toews | 87 |
| Forward | Nick Schmaltz | 83 |
| Forward | Brandan Saad | 83 |
| Forward | Alex DeBrincat | 83 |
| Forward | Artem Anisimov | 81 |
| Forward | Chris Kunitz | 80 |
| Forward | Marcus Kruger | 78 |
| Forward | John Hayden | 78 |
| Forward | David Kampf | 76 |
| Forward | Andreas Martinsen | 75 |
| Forward | Victor Ejdsell | 73 |
| Forward | Dylan Sikura | 73 |
| Forward | Jordan Schroeder | 73 |
| Forward | Matthew Highmore | 73 |
| Forward | Henrik Samuelsson | 71 |
| Forward | Anthony Louis | 71 |
| Forward | Matheson Iacopelli | 70 |
| Forward | Luke Johnson | 70 |
| Forward | Tyler Sikura | 69 |
| Forward | Terry Broadhurst | 68 |
| Forward | Jordan Maletta | 68 |
| Forward | William Pelletier | 67 |
| Forward | Graham Knott | 67 |
| Forward | Alexandre Fortin | 67 |
| Forward | Nathan Noel | 66 |
| Forward | Radovan Bondra | 62 |
| Defenseman | Duncan Keith | 86 |
| Defenseman | Brent Seabrook | 82 |
| Defenseman | Jan Rutta | 80 |
| Defenseman | Connor Murphy | 80 |
| Defenseman | Brandon Manning | 79 |
| Defenseman | Erik Gustafsson | 77 |
| Defenseman | Carl Dahlstrom | 77 |
| Defenseman | Gustav Forsling | 76 |
| Defenseman | Brandon Davidson | 75 |
| Defenseman | Luc Snuggerud | 72 |
| Defenseman | Andrew Campbell | 71 |
| Defenseman | Darren Raddysh | 71 |
| Defenseman | Blake Hillman | 70 |
| Defenseman | Josh McArdle | 60 |
| Goaltender | Corey Crawford | 88 |
| Goaltender | Cam Ward | 81 |
| Goaltender | Collin Delia | 66 |
As the leading fan blog of all things Blackhawks, we promise to run a full in-depth simulation of the 2018-2019 season once the first roster update is loaded into the system. When that happens, what do you think Jokiharju, Boqvist, and other will be rated? Tell us in the comment section below!
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