NHL 22 will not have New York Rangers’ player on cover after all

Well, that was shocking. EA Sports just completely Rick Rolled the hockey world. After making it seem that NHL 22 would have a New York Rangers’ player on its cover with its teaser trailer, they went in an entirely different direction. Toronto Maple Leafs’ center Auston Matthews will once again be the cover athlete for the game. He previously held this honor in NHL 20.

Matthews is the third player to be on multiple covers from this series. Jonathan Toews was on the covers of NHL 11 and NHL 16. Alexander Ovechkin was the cover athlete for both NHL 07 and the series’ most recent installment, NHL 21. It is worth noting that Matthews was able to secure his second cover in the quickest amount of time. That’s quite the accomplishment.

From a marketing standpoint, putting Matthews on the cover again does make sense. He is an elite talent who plays for one of the most popular teams in the league. This will automatically give it more attention from casual gamers and hockey fans.

Matthews is also coming off of a remarkable season that saw him score 41 goals and record 66 points in just 52 games. Without any surprise, he led the league in goals and was awarded the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy as a result of it. Over 334 career games, he has scored 199 goals and recorded 351 points. It also is sometimes hard to remember that he is still just 23 years old and has a lot of time left in this league.

Honestly, with all of this, it is hard to argue against him being on the cover. However, I think we can all agree that the teaser trailer did not make that seem like a possibility.

There will not be an Artemi Panarin cover… yet

From the teaser, it seemed clear that the mystery skater was Artemi Panarin. The skater had a right-handed shot, so there were three initial possibilities in Panarin, Adam Fox and Mika Zibanejad. However, the one key distinction from it was that he was wearing CCM skates. Panarin is the only one out of the three that sports them, so he was the most likely candidate. The teaser also even used a skate emoji in its caption, so it seemed like they wanted us to take note of that.

However, in disappointing fashion for Ranger fans, Panarin will not be on the cover. Yet, he could very well end up being on one in the future. Much like Matthews, Panarin is the top player on a very popular Original Six franchise. Although he does not put up the same goal totals as Matthews, he is also considered an elite talent by the vast majority of hockey fans.

Since joining the Rangers, Panarin has been even more productive as a player. In his debut season with the Blueshirts, the 29-year-old had 32 goals, 63 assists and 95 points in just 69 games. He then followed that up with 17 goals and 58 points in just 42 games. Thus, he is a top-of-the-line scorer who should at least get consideration in the future.

In 433 career games, Panarin has 165 goals, 308 assists and 473 points. Like Matthews, he has averaged over a point-per-game during his career. Although this is more of a minor detail, it is something to keep in mind. They may be two entirely different players, but they also are both extremely effective at producing offense.

Quick conclusion

Ultimately, this turn of events is very frustrating for Ranger fans. The last time EA Sports used a Rangers’ player on their cover was Alexei Kovalev for NHL 95. It seemed that it was going to change this year, but it sadly will not.

For those who are interested in buying NHL 22, it will be released to the public on the PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S and Xbox One on October 15, 2021. The X-Factor edition will also be available to play on October 12, 2021.