The Chicago Blackhawks are looking pretty good in real life, but there are more important matters to handle right now. Namely, “NHL 17” is now out on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, which means hockey fans are diving into the latest edition of EA Sports’ wacky physics simulator.
The Hawks should once again be fun to play with in the game, which I recently discussed here. If you want the summary: “NHL 17” is pretty good, but single player modes feel like they get the short straw a bit. Still, as someone who loves hockey, I’ll be playing the game a lot over the coming year.
With all of that in mind, here’s a look at the Blackhawks’ player ratings in “NHL 17,” as well as their potential ratings for franchise mode. There are definitely some ratings that I disagree with, which isn’t surprising considering EA reportedly uses just a single scout to determine those numbers. But if they want to still consider Brent Seabrook and Marian Hossa as two of the best players in the league, fine, I’ll take it.
It’s also worth noting that the developers are forced to wait to add rookies to the game until they’ve actually appeared in the NHL due to a quirk in their agreement with the NHLPA. So we’ll have to wait on ratings for Nick Schmaltz, Tyler Motte, Michal Kempny and more, which obviously makes this situation look a bit more dire than it’ll be soon.
Centers
Player | Overall | Potential | Probability |
---|---|---|---|
Jonathan Toews | 94 | Elite | Exact |
Artem Anisimov | 85 | Top 6 F | Exact |
Mark McNeill | 81 | Top 9 F | Medium |
Andrew Desjardins | 80 | Bottom 6 F | Exact |
Marcus Kruger | 80 | Top 9 F | Low |
Dennis Rasmussen | 80 | Bottom 6 F | Medium |
Sam Carrick | 77 | Bottom 6 F | Medium |
Most of this makes sense, but I think you can already see where the rating system has trouble in bunching up lower-tier players. McNeill, Desjardins, Kruger and Rasmussen almost certainly should have wider variance than that. Kruger only gets 3.5 out of 5 stars on defense, which makes no damn sense. His puck skills are higher than his defense! You don’t need a professional scout to tell you that’s whack.
Left wingers
Player | Overall | Potential | Probability |
---|---|---|---|
Artemi Panarin | 86 | Elite | Medium |
Brandon Mashinter | 75 | AHL Top 6 F | Exact |
Pierre-Cedric Labrie | 73 | AHL Top 6 F | Exact |
Kyle Baun | 70 | AHL Top 6 F | Medium |
Artemi Panarin!!! And uhhhhhhhhhhhh … yeah the developers really need to add those rookie forwards soon.
Right wingers
Player | Overall | Potential | Probability |
---|---|---|---|
Patrick Kane | 94 | Franchise | Exact |
Marian Hossa | 88 | Top 6 F | Exact |
Jordin Tootoo | 81 | Bottom 6 F | Exact |
Richard Panik | 80 | Top 9 F | Medium |
Ryan Hartman | 79 | Top 9 F | Medium |
Vincent Hinostroza | 76 | Top 9 F | Medium |
Okay, so now I have another question. Why is Kane’s potential rated as “franchise” while Toews is rated as “elite” even though they’re both 94s? Seriously someone explain this stuff to me because it seems like nobody in EA really thought too hard about this. Also, I’m pretty sure Vincent Hinostroza is way better than Jordin Tootoo, but that’s just me.
Defensemen
Player | Overall | Potential | Probability |
---|---|---|---|
Duncan Keith | 94 | Elite | Exact |
Brent Seabrook | 90 | Elite | Exact |
Niklas Hjalmarsson | 88 | Top 4 D | Exact |
Brian Campbell | 84 | Top 4 D | Exact |
Michal Rozsival | 82 | 7th D | Exact |
Trevor van Riemsdyk | 81 | Top 6 D | Medium |
Ville Pokka | 81 | Top 4 D | Medium |
Erik Gustafsson | 80 | Top 6 D | Low |
Viktor Svedberg | 78 | 7th D | High |
Brent Seabrook is considered significantly more valuable in trades than Keith even though the latter has a higher rating and a lower salary. Any explanation there? Why is Rozsival considered a 7th D with an 82 rating? I don’t mean to harp on this stuff, but, well, I kind of do. The Blackhawks’ defense should be very, very good in this game, though.
Goaltenders
Player | Overall | Potential | Probability |
---|---|---|---|
Corey Crawford | 90 | Elite | Exact |
Scott Darling | 80 | Fringe Starter | Exact |
Mac Carruth | 66 | AHL Starter | Medium |
Corey Crawford: Elite. Take that, haters.