No member of the Dallas Stars will appear on the EA Sports’ NHL 22 video game cover. The only Dallas Stars players to be featured on video game covers were Mike Modano and Marty Turco. Modano was featured on the cover of NHL Championship 2000, an obscure game produced by Fox Sports Interactive for PlayStation consoles.
Turco’s cover was for 2K Sports’ NHL 2K6. The 2K6 cover was memorable for some of us because the Stars net-minder posted a career-high 41 wins that season. 2K discontinued their NHL 2K series after their 2K11 release that featured Ryan Kesler on the cover. NHL 2K was alway cheaper than EA Sports’ NHL, but less popular due to inferior game play functionality and graphics.
Happy #NationalVideoGameDay with @mturco35 gracing the cover of NHL 2K6!#GoBlue pic.twitter.com/sgeR0z9JLc
— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) July 8, 2019
EA Sports’ NHL series has remained the only licensed game on the market since 2012. And, to the dismay of every fan outside of Toronto, Auston Matthews will be the EA Sports’ NHL 22 cover boy. EA revealed Matthews as their featured player during last week’s game reveal trailer.
Get ready to experience breakthrough hockey in #NHL22 🏒🎮
— EA SPORTS NHL (@EASPORTSNHL) August 19, 2021
Pre-order now 👉 https://t.co/yZi5eDMasf pic.twitter.com/rI36Y049RT
Matthews’ selection is puzzling because he was the featured player for the game’s 2020 release. Such has us wondering why EA Sports is recycling their cover athletes so quick. In addition to Matthews, Patrick Mahomes will make an appearance on the Madden 22 cover alongside Tom Brady. Mahomes was featured on the Madden 20 cover and Brady donned Madden 18, albeit in a Patriots uniform..
Blackout Dallas would (obviously) much rather see a Dallas Stars player on the cover of EA Sports’ NHL 22. The good people at EA Sports might struggle with ideas of what Stars talent would look good marketing their game. EA need not worry; we have them covered.