Look, you know for fans of the Winnipeg Jets…well, fans of the NHL in general, know that EA Sports’ NHL series is a yearly investment, for better or for worse.
The Winnipeg Jets may have gone home empty when it comes to major NHL awards. But they got the award for NHL nerds around the world. Well, they received a third of it.
Patrik Laine will be the cover athlete for the newest edition, NHL 19. Well, he’ll be one of them. You may have heard, P.K. Subban will be the standard edition cover athlete.
The same P.K. Subban that was eliminated by Laine’s Jets. But! In the Finnish version of the game, we get to see the bearded wonder. You can see it in the link, there. You will also notice they have a Swedish version of the game, featuring William Nylander of the Maple Leafs.
I mean, they could’ve picked a better Swede, but I’m not here to pitch a fit. I guess Erik Karlsson and Henrik Lundqvist are old news. It’s good to market the young blood.
I know it’s Finland, where Patrik Laine is already a star, but it’s nice to see a Jet get some notoriety somewhere. With a tiny market and stars that deserve a huge stage, it’s up to the NHL, and the Winnipeg Jets, to properly market their players.
We’ve already seen the MLB struggle with finding a face for their league. I’m not sure its due to the Canadian push or the lessened importance in hockey among the American markets, but hockey seems immune to the issue of ‘branding’.
At the same point, some players on the Jets should be household names. Patrik Laine? Check. This will only help, although, if you’re Finnish and unaware of Laine, there’s already a whole other set of problems for you.
In all fairness, who buys the physical copies of the game any longer? I only exactly four physical Xbox games, and I’ve had that thing since day one. And it came with one!
It’s awesome to see him get a cover. I wish it was the main release cover (mostly so I could have it), but I totally get it. Connor Hellebuyck, Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler all seem like they should be household names.
And hey, if they keep playing the way they did last season, maybe they’ll get an NHL cover sometime soon. And hey, they’re all North American, so we’ll all be able to get our hands on that version fairly easily.