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EA Sports NHL 23 Charlie McAvoy Rating Causes A Stir

Published

2 years ago

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Boston Bruins

The Top 10 right-shot defensemen ratings for EA Sports NHL 23 caused quite the stir with Boston Bruins fans on Twitter and rightfully so.

In their preseason rankings, EA Sports NHL 23 had 24-year-old Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy with an 89 overall rating and ranked fourth overall. McAvoy, 32-year-old Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, 26-year-old Florida Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad and Los Angeles Kings 32-year-old veteran rearguard Drew Doughty were all given the same rating of 89. Ahead of them were 32-year-old Washington Capitals defenseman John Carlson (90 overall rating), at third overall; 24-year-old New York Rangers defenseman Adam Fox (90 rating overall), at second overall and 23-year-old Colorado Avalanche defenseman and reigning Norris Trophy and Conn Smythe Trophy winner Cale Makar first overall with a 94 rating.

There is no proof that it was in response to the initial backlash from Boston Bruins and Charlie McAvoy fans on Tuesday afternoon when the rankings were released, but four hours later, the EA Sports NHL Twitter handle put up a tweet pointing out that McAvoy’s rating has continually risen over the course of his first five NHL seasons.

While that’s great and all, does that somehow justify putting the 32-year-old Carlson ahead of McAvoy? While Carlson had more goals (15), and assists with 54 helpers, McAvoy and his 10 goals and 46 assists still came in higher in voting for the 2022 Norris Trophy. McAvoy finished fourth in voting for the 2022 Norris Trophy with one first-place vote, seven second-place votes, 22 third-place votes and 55 fourth place votes. Meanwhile, Carlson finished tenth in voting with zero first, second and third place votes, and just four fourth place votes.

Also, how do Doughty, Ekblad, and Pietroangelo all have the same 89 rating overall. Out of those three players, only Ekblad finished in the Top 10 for Norris Trophy voting at sixth overall. Even Fox finished behind his childhood friend Charlie McAvoy in Norris Trophy voting at fifth overall.

Given that McAvoy will miss the first two months of the 2022-23 regular season, it may be hard for him to move up the EA Sports NHL rankings and finish higher a year from now, but we’ll see.

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