Carolina Hurricanes: A Look at NHL 20 Player Ratings
The next installment of the NHL video game franchise has been announced. How can we expect the Carolina Hurricanes to perform?
Who doesn’t love gaming? I know I do. NHL 19 was my first taste of the NHL video game franchise. With a background in first person shooters and FIFA, I found it pretty tough to get to grips with initially. However, once you get the hang of it, it’s a lot of fun. How else will the Carolina Hurricanes win the cup 17 times in a row?
NHL 20 is being released on 13th September and is available (for those who just can’t wait) to pre-order right away for early access. Me personally, I won’t benefit from any pre-order because I don’t play the Hockey Ultimate Team mode but I do want to get it as soon as possible.
Franchise Mode is where it lies for me. Attempting to take the Caroline Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup. So far, there’s been some success and it’s really exciting watching the young talent that we have in the Charlotte Checkers, grow into stars that are ready to take on the NHL.
How much of an increase will we see in these prospects? Time will tell and we won’t have to wait too long to find out. We’ll get into individual player ratings later on. For now, let’s take a look at the team as a whole.
NHL 19 has been updated fairly recently, so we’ll be working with stats and figures from the most recent update from 23rd April 2019. Upon start-up, the Carolina Hurricanes sit at a modest 89 OVR in the Metropolitan Division. This is equal to the New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders and New York Rangers.
A team OVR rating is based on the mix of all individual player ratings, so we should see some increase to that in NHL 20. It would be hard not to give each player on the team some sort of upgrade. With larger ones coming for a handful of players. I’d expect to see the Carolina Hurricanes at 90-91 OVR at the start of NHL 20.
The ratings over the next few slides are predictions. I wish I was privileged enough to know the actual ratings but sadly, I’m not. Which players are going to have the biggest impact on the Carolina Hurricanes OVR rating? It’s time to take a look.
Jaccob Slavin – Predicted OVR 86
Jaccob Slavin was the Carolina Hurricanes best defenseman in the 2018-19 season. There’s no question about that whatsoever. His all round play as a two-way defenseman has been superb. His OVR rating has remained the same throughout NHL 19 and it’s surely time for an upgrade.
An 86 OVR in NHL 19 would put Slavin in the company of players such as Torey Krug, Aaron Ekblad and Tyson Barrie to name a few. Good company for Slavin, especially considering that you’d chose him over Torey Krug in your team.
Stat wise, I don’t think it would be unfair to ask for an improvement in Def. Awareness and Stick Checking. A rating of 90 in both categories would suffice. Slavin has played every game possible for the last three seasons so I expect to see a small boost to his Durability and Endurance too.
In two games against the New York Rangers this season, Slavin bailed out his goaltender with two incredible goal line saves. He uses his stick very well defensively. This is why I would expect to see his stick checking as his highest stat at the start of NHL 20.
During the Carolina Hurricanes amazing playoff run, Slavin finished 2nd in points with 11 assists in 15 games played. I’d like to see a small increase in Passing and Off. Awareness. He didn’t post groundbreaking numbers in the regular season, but he did show that he has the ability to make the plays offensively.
In order to get him up to an 86 OVR rated player, there will need to be other minor tweaks to his stats. An extra one on Slap Shot Accuracy and Wrist Shot Accuracy keeps it balanced. A current rating of 80 seems a little unfair. I’d imagine we’ll see a few upgrades to all physical stats, with the exception being Fighting.
Overall, I think Slavin is deserving of an 86 OVR rating. In my opinion, this season he placed himself among the best defensemen in the league. He’s also proved to be a perfect example of a gem in the late rounds of the draft, drafted 120th overall in the 4th round.
Brett Pesce – Predicted OVR 83
You could argue that I’m being conservative here. However, this is still +3 on his rating in NHL 19. Brett Pesce has been superb this season and hasn’t had the recognition he deserves outside of Carolina. He’s often been relied upon to be the shutdown guy against the oppositions big line.
Amazingly, during the course of this season, Pesce has been downgraded by two. This is a guy that finished with a team high plus/minus record this season and has been praised to high heaven by Carolina Hurricanes fans all year long. At the very least, Pesce should be returned to the rating he had at the start of NHL 19.
Pesce’s NHL 19 OVR rating is being hampered by low Slap Shot Accuracy, Wrist Shot Accuracy and Hand-Eye. All of which would need a bump in order to get him up a few ratings. He does however, boast great Slap Shot and Wrist Shot Power.
Right off the bat I would improve his Def. Awareness to 90, +5 on his current rating of 85. This is Pesce’s key skill, he’s knows where to go and where to be defensively. Criminally, Def. Awareness was of the the many stats that were downgraded during the year.
Defensive stats should be Pesce’s strength, so we’ll likely see an upgrade to Shot Blocking and Stick Checking. At the very least, these should be returning to 88 each. I’d like to see an extra one point added to each though, taking it to 89.
Pesce’s hockey sense is not to be sniffed at, evidently something the programmers at EA did when they came up with his current ratings. Expect an increase in Off. Awareness and Discipline, Poise tends to remain the say until you’re in your late twenties.
Pesce’s real-world growth this season has been phenomenal. A move to increase his in-game ratings this much would be bold, but still fair. An OVR of 82 is an absolute minimum and he should get at least that.
Warren Foegele – Predicted OVR 79
Warren Foegele had a solid start to life in the NHL. Before the start of this season, Foegele averaged a goal in just under every ten minutes played in the NHL. Okay, he only played twice but picked up three points from his first two NHL games in the 2017-18 season.
This season was his year to breakthrough into the main roster for good. He took his place and never looked back. He was virtually rewarded throughout the season with a juicy +4 to his OVR rating in NHL 19. Upon release, he was sitting in the Charlotte Checkers, with former Hurricanes Phil Di Giuseppe and Valentin Zykov ahead of him.
Despite being upgraded so heavily during the season, it wouldn’t be obscene to think he could go up yet again. Going up two ratings might be optimistic, but still deserved. Let’s hope the guys and girls over at EA Studios were playing close attention to Foegele this season.
He finished the season with 15 points from 77 games played and while those numbers aren’t astonishing, his value to the team certainly was. He scored big goals at very important times for the Carolina Hurricanes, taking them all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals.
For his goal against the Washington Capitals alone, Foegele’s Deking should be 99. Fine, maybe not, but a conservative jump from 80 to 82 will do. It wouldn’t be bad to see some sort of increase to all of his Puck Skills in NHL 20.
Another area for improvement would be his Skating stats. It would be nice to see a little increase in each of these. Foegele is quick for a big guy, I think 84 for Speed and Acceleration is a little harsh to him. Maybe add an extra one onto Agility too, just to be kind.
Off. Awareness seems like that last stat that might need a boost. Only by one point, taking him level with Brock McGinn. Outside of the stats mentioned, I don’t think that Foegele was poorly rated in NHL 19. His improvement throughout the year certainly shows that.
Greg McKegg – Predicted OVR 75
Ah Greg McKegg. Traded to the Carolina Hurricanes for Josh Jooris, remember him? On a side note, Jooris was part of the Toronto Marlies team that were defeated by the Charlotte Checkers on their way to win the Calder Cup.
Over the duration of NHL 19, Greg McKegg remained untouched. He kept his 71 OVR rating from start to finish. Now, after finally gaining some recognition, it’s time for him to get that well deserved bump. NHL 20 will be McKegg’s time to shine.
McKegg’s upgrade should be a simple one. The premise is this, upgrade everything. McKegg is way too valuable to be lumbering around with a 71 OVR rating. So I expect to see pretty much all of his stats increase.
This may only be by one or two extra points each, but it’s bound to have a significant impact on his OVR rating. The most significant boost should come in Faceoffs. For guys that have taken over 250 faceoffs this season only Jordan Staal had a higher faceoff win percentage than McKegg.
As mentioned earlier, unlike other players featured here, McKegg’s increase looks set to keep his stats balanced. His role on the Carolina Hurricanes roster needs to be assured from the off at the start of NHL 20. Unlike this year.
Upon start up in NHL 19, the Carolina Hurricanes best 4th line centre is Clark Bishop, rated 74 OVR. Bishop played a total of 20 NHL games this season, totalling three points during his term. McKegg had double the amount of games played, so obviously the Carolina Hurricanes bosses liked McKegg more.
Still, you’ll find virtual McKegg a whole three ratings lower than Bishop (who I imagine will have a ratings decrease next season). It also means McKegg currently sits below Bishop, Nicolas Roy, Janne Kuokkanen and Martin Necas. Necas is another player who should expect a fairly nice increase next season.
Teuvo Teravainen – Predicted OVR 87
There is a battle raging in Raleigh for Carolina’s favorite Finn. Teuvo Teravainen vs Sebastian Aho. A friendly rivalry mind you and one that got the best out of each player during the 2018-19 season. This year, Sebastian Aho emerged as the victor, but Teravainen isn’t far behind.
Both Aho and Teravainen were rated equally at the start of NHL 19 with an 85 OVR rating. Come the end of the game and Aho has risen way ahead of Teravainen, finishing the year at 88 OVR. Aho also came with a position change from left wing to centre.
Make no mistake, around the NHL Aho is seen as the Carolina Hurricanes elite player. With a contract still to be decided, both he and Mitch Marner are favorites for offer sheets during this off-season. Teravainen on the other hand, was locked into a five year deal, worth $5.4 million per year. A great piece of business from the Carolina Hurricanes. He arguably deserves more.
Teravainen finished second in points scoring, only behind Aho, but led the team in assists. Teravainen showed an eye for goal in the playoffs though, leading the team with seven goals scored. Goal scoring is what hampered his efforts to become leading points scorer this season. Something he’ll look to improve upon next year.
When looking at individual stats, Teravainen’s Aggressiveness holds him back from moving up any higher. I expect to see some kind of boost in this stat. It would also be great to see improvements in Passing (55 assists this season…), Puck Control and Balance. All of these should help him improve to a higher OVR rating.
The battle of the Finns looks set to continue well into the future. The Carolina Hurricanes have picked seven Finnish players over the course of the last three drafts. Firmly cementing some of the better European talent that’s on offer.
Hot. Carolina Hurricanes: Calvin de Haan traded to Chicago. light
Canes fans! Are you excited to get your hands on NHL 20? Let us know your greatest endeavors with the Carolina Hurricanes in NHL games to date!