Colorado Avalanche: EA Sports Ranks Nathan MacKinnon #13 of Top 50

EA Sports ranks Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon #13 of their Top 50 with an overall score of 90.

Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon had a career season last year — you could even say a breakout season. He carried the team on his back all the way to the playoffs and even elevated the play of linemate Mikko Rantanen so that he, too, had a banner year.

MacKinnon’s play earned him top consideration for the Hart Trophy as team MVP, a race he narrowly lost to the New Jersey Devils’ Taylor Hall.

As a result, MacKinnon has been getting a lot more media attention. In fact, NHL.com even named MacKinnon a top-five center among all current players. It’s good to see Nate getting some recognition.

And now EA Sports has ranked him #13 among all NHLers for the upcoming NHL19 game. His overall rating is 90. Here’s how the company describes MacKinnon in his ranking:

"“Nathan MacKinnon took his game to a new level this past season, notching 97 points for the best statistical totals through his first five years in the NHL. A rating of 93 in skating gives MacKinnon one of the quickest and most powerful strides in NHL 19, and at number 15 on our list, the center for the Colorado Avalanche is amongst the absolute best players in hockey.”"

Well, I’m not going to say that the EA Sports ranking is on par with the NHL.com one. However, many hockey fans like to play the popular NHL game, so let’s look at MacKinnon’s ratings in each category.

Puck Skills

Deking: 93
Hand-Eye: 92
Passing: 93
Puck Control: 93

Yes, MacKinnon has elite puck skills, and EA Sports acknowledges that. For fun, let’s compare those ratings to Hall’s — who was #16 overall. Hall also scored 93 for puck control and 92 for hand-eye coordination. However, he dropped down in deking and passing, scoring 92 and 91 respectively.

Defense

Defensive Awareness: 90
Faceoffs: 77
Shot Blocking: 80
Stick Checking: 90

Well, it’s no surprise this is where MacKinnon’s score drops off a little. That faceoffs score is actually a little generous — he was at 41.92% last season, which is pretty brutal. I’ll also give you the shot blocking — he only blocked 22 last year. That said, you don’t want your elite scorer risking injury by blocking shots.

I’d say the other two scores are equally accurate, though I don’t know how exactly you score defensive awareness. What’s funny, though, is Erik Karlsson, who’s an actual defenseman, only scores a couple points above Nate’s 90. (He’s also ranked one lower than MacKinnon at #14.)

Senses

Discipline: 84
Offensive Awareness: 92
Pose: 90

Speaking of qualities that are hard to quantify, next we have the senses category. I’m not sure why MacKinnon drops all the way to 84 for discipline… except maybe that our Irish Sniper does have a bit of a temper. That could be why his poise mark falls to 90.

Offensive awareness… I’d definitely put Nate higher than 92. Anze Kopitar — who’s ranked #15 — received the same score. And I wouldn’t call him as offensively minded as Nate.

Skating

Acceleration: 93
Agility: 93
Balance: 86
Endurance: 88
Speed: 93

Here’s where EA Sports goes off the rails. If the raters were being honest, MacKinnon would have scores in the high 90s for all of those categories. MacKinnon is renowned for his skating, especially his speed and agility. And what does a score of 88 for endurance even mean? Nate came into camp in conditioning above what even coach Jared Bednar required — and conditioning continued to be emphasized throughout camp.

And a score of 86 for a player as agile as Nate? That doesn’t even make sense. The only thing that makes me feel a little better is that the game scored Vladimir Tarasenko (ranked #17) with 87 for balance. And we all know how good Russian skaters are.

Shooting

Slap Shot Accuracy: 90
Slap Shot Power: 92
Wrist Shot Accuracy: 92
Wrist Shot Power: 91

More from Mile High Sticking

There we go, EA Sports. There’s the Nathan MacKinnon love. Heaven knows he earned those scores with his shooting last season. Although I’ve never heard it said he has a particularly hard slap shot — and I question giving him one more point on his slap shot than his wrist shot for power.

He’s better off than #18 Patrice Bergeron, who got 88 for slap shot power and wrist shot power.

Physical

Aggressivelness: 80
Body Checking: 83
Durability: 85
Fighting Skill: 70
Strength: 86

Nathan MacKinnon was scored lower on almost every one of those qualities than Mr. #20, John Tavares, which is silly. Has Tavares ever even been in a fight? (I didn’t Google that, but I’m guessing not much of one.) MacKinnon picked one of the most aggressive goons ever for his first NHL fight. And no way is Johnny stronger or more aggressive than our Nate Dogg.

If I’m not comparing MacKinnon to another player, though, I’d acknowledge those ratings are relatively accurate. I would probably bump up the aggressiveness a notch or two.

Next. 5 Amazing MacKinnon Goals. dark

EA Sports’ NHL19 will be out September 14 for PS4 and XBox One. Nathan MacKinnon will be with the Colorado Avalanche starting September 13 when he reports to training camp for his medical. Presumably, though, he’ll be at the Avalanche Charity Golf Classic on September 11.

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