Nashville Predators Win Stanley Cup in EA Sports Simulation
The Nashville Predators have a long-standing tradition of being undersold by the media, so leave it to a video game to hand hockey’s ultimate prize to Smashville.
The Nashville Predators finally have a media outlet on their side- EA Sports. In the video game company’s annual season simulation, NHL17 crowned the Nashville Predators as both the Stanley Cup champions and new owners of the President’s Trophy, earning 110 points through virtual regular season play.
Not only does the simulation have the Cup in Smashville, but it has it being won in dramatic fashion- in six games against the Montreal Canadiens. With the two teams being involved in easily the most sensationalized trade of the year (if not past few years) it’s P.K. Subban‘s new squad who will be hoisting the cup on Shea Weber‘s home ice in Montreal.
The game paints a heartbreaking picture for our old Captain, but then again, isn’t Alexander Radulov on that Montreal roster? How very, very sweet that would be. The game predicts Filip Forsberg to be the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as the playoff’s Most Valuable Player.
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In NHL17 the Nashville Predators feature a Top-10 rated player at nearly every position. Forsberg, rated an 88 overall, is the 8th highest ranked left winger in the game while James Neal shares that 88 rating as the 10th ranked right winger.
P.K. Subban earned his way to a 91 overall rating, coming in as the 9th highest rated defenseman in the game- while Roman Josi is marked a notch below with a 90 overall. It’s worth noting here that former Captain Weber is the second-highest rated defenseman in the game with a whopping 94 rating, which is well deserving of some head scratching.
Here comes a flaw that’s tough to admit as a tremendous fan of guy- but the NHL17 simulation has Pekka Rinne leading the team to the Cup as the highest rated Predator player, with a 91 overall rating that features a bit more well-roundedness than Subban’s. While we would all love to see Rinne playing to that level this season (and post-season), the folks over at EA Sports may have a bit more faith than the Fanged-Faithful themselves in this regard.
In more news that you might want to look away from- the EA Sports Stanley Cup Championship prediction has been inaccurate for a number of years now, choosing the Washinton Capitals last season, the Anaheim Ducks the year before that, and the Boston Bruins before that. But they’ve got to get one right eventually, so why not start now?
It says something about the general lack of positive media about our Nashville Predators when a video game simulation gets Smashville this excited- when in all honesty, the real excitement is going to take place out on the real ice all season long.
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