Electronic Arts revealed theNHL 23cover athletes in early August, and the Anaheim Ducks' Trevor Zegras will share the cover with Canadian women’s star Sarah Nurse. They are great choices to represent where both the NHL itself and theNHLvideo game franchise want to go in the future, and fans should start to see the benefits whenNHL 23launches in October.
The National Hockey League has seen two significant trends take hold and shape its direction in recent years. The first is an infusion of young, ultra-skilled talent that has changed the way the game is played on the ice. Highlights from players like Trevor Zegras, Kirill Kaprizov, Connor McDavid, Cale Makar, and many more are dramatically different from the NHL of old. High-end skill hasinfused the NHL with creativitythe game hasn’t seen before, and it has made for a much more exciting product for fans. At the same time, the Hockey Diversity Alliance (HDA) was formed in the summer of 2020 in the wake of the social unrest surrounding the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, signifying the sport’s growing focus on inclusion.
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Representatives of Change in NHL 23
The HDA has been a partner with the NHL in advancing diversity and inclusion efforts across all levels of hockey, working to make hockey a better experience for everyone who plays, regardless of race, gender or background. The NHLseries has sought to capture both the creativity and inclusion movements as cornerstones ofNHL 23, and Trevor Zegras and Sarah Nurse are ideal representatives of those efforts.
Trevor Zegras of the Anaheim Ducks only finished second in the voting for the Calder Trophy as the best rookie in 2021-22, but his dynamic play captured the attention of fans around the league all year long. An innovative flip pass he made to a teammate for a goal against the St Louis Blues last season went viral and became known as “the Zegras,” while his antics in Average Joes garb at the NHL All-Star Skills Competition made him a household name among hockey fans. At just 21 years of age, Zegras represents the young, skilled, and personality-filled group ofyoung stars in the NHL.
Meanwhile, Sarah Nurse has been a hockey legend for the Canadian National Team for years, winning gold medals in both the Olympics and World Championships and serving as an ambassador for both women and minorities in the sport of hockey. Nurse, 27, has demonstrated both the excellence and inclusion that EA Canada is striving to make thecenterpiece of the NHL series. As a 90 Overall player whenNHL 23launches, Nurse has a higher overall rating than Zegras and is one of the most highly rated skaters in the game, so she will continue breaking glass ceilings inNHL 23.
Creativity in Gameplay
EA Canada isn’t just giving fans lip service either, as the inclusion and new creativity are being showcased in both game modes and gameplay. The IIHF Women’s World Championships are beingincluded inNHL 23for the first timein the series, and women’s hockey players will now be a part of the popular Hockey Ultimate Team mode. Gamers will now be able to build true hockey dream teams comprised of the best men’s and women’s players in the world, and on top of advancing inclusion in the game, it should make for a lot more content in Ultimate Team, too.
On the ice, the team at EA Canada has been hard at work adding new ways to showcase individual players' creativity with the puck, even working to program “the Zegras” move into the set of moves players can do.NHL 23’s last-chance puck interactionsdemonstrate players' athleticism and hockey IQ as they make desperate attempts to get the puck towards the net while being defended, something that has been missing from prior games.
EA’sNHLseries has led the way in terms of a creative and community-focused approach to gameplay in the past with World of Chel, EASHL, and Be-A-Pro modes. Choosing Trevor Zegras and Sarah Nurse as cover athletes signals that the team at EA Canada is ready to take its commitments to gameplay and inclusion to the next level withNHL 23.
NHL 23is scheduled to release on October 14th, 2022 for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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