Miller won't be on NHL 08 cover

[Carl J. Ironsides]

Disappointing, to say the least. How is Eric Staal, coming off a 70-point, minus-6 season, deserving of the cover over guys like Miller and Crosby? Staal's point total fell by 30. Terrible choice.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=210558&hubname=nhl

REDWOOD, Calif. (CP) - Carolina Hurricanes centre Eric Staal will be the cover boy for Electronic Arts' "NHL 08" video game.

The 23-year-old is an avid gamer and follows Alexander Ovechkin on the cover.

"I am a huge fan of the NHL franchise and played 'NHL 07' fanatically," Staal said in a statement.

Staal won the Stanley Cup with Carolina last year and was part of the Canadian team that won the IIHF World Hockey Championship in May.

NHL 08 is the 16th version of the EA NHL hockey franchise, and is being developed by the company's Vancouver studio. It will be released in September.

Florida Panthers goalie John Vanbiesbrouck was the first player to be featured solely on the cover in 1997. Others who have appeared on the box since include Peter Forsberg, Mario Lemieux, Jarome Iginla, Joe Sakic, Markus Naslund and Vincent Lecavalier.

Dany Heatley was slated for the cover in 2004, but was replaced by Sakic after the car accident that killed teammate Dan Snyder.

[emo]

Dany Heatley was slated for the cover in 2004, but was replaced by Sakic after the car accident that killed teammate Dan Snyder.

awesome, he will never get away from that

[smashingt2312]

Not cool.

[Scary Good]

Bullshit.

[joeystrass]

EA sucks at picking cover athletes

[deconstruction]

Good, avoid any potential curse.

[SHINEdown30]

Wow............that sucks.

[TallskiWallski83]

wait, when did the EA fallout happen with miller? whats the story behind that?

[Papaduke]

Dany Heatley was slated for the cover in 2004, but was replaced by Sakic after the car accident that killed teammate Dan Snyder.

awesome, he will never get away from that

Actually, 1st shipped copies of the game included Heatley as the accident happened the week the game shipped, subsequent copies contained Sakic. IIRC, Heatley was a replacement for Joe Thornton who had assault charges pending.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NHL_series
Picking a cover athlete for NHL 2004 proved to be problematic. Joe Thornton was the original choice but after he was brought up on assault charges, he was removed and replaced by Dany Heatley for the game's first shipments. After Heatley's car crash that killed his Atlanta Thrashers team-mate, Dan Snyder, EA removed him and replaced the cover with Joe Sakic but not before a large number of units had already been shipped. As a result, both covers (Heatley and Sakic) made it into circulation.

[drews]

the miller cover was just a local promotional ad...the good news about this game is for the first time ea has the rights to the ahl teams and will include them in nhl 2008.

[smashingt2312]

the miller cover was just a local promotional ad...the good news about this game is for the first time ea has the rights to the ahl teams and will include them in nhl 2008.

I didnt know that, that makes it even cooler.

[emo]

that is awesome I hope eaputs the rookies from this year into the game

[D34dm4n]

i'd rather not see any sabres players on any EA games because i am a believer of the curse considering its happened to all their cover athletes like the fight night and NASCAR guys

[bduff54]

was miller supposed to be on it or something? i don't think he is a big enough star for that cover yet, i agree that staal should not be on there either.

[г]

http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/nm/20070603/2007_06_02t233922_332x450_us_nhl_stanley.jpg

This was the cover that came second in voting

[Thumper]

Is that supposed to be funny?

[Papaduke]

If a Senator should make the cover it should be a pic of Redden stuffing the Cup clincher in his own net.

[Carl J. Ironsides]

If a Senator should make the cover it should be a pic of Redden stuffing the Cup clincher in his own net.

You'd have nailed this joke if you got the right Senator. It was Chris Phillips. However, Wade Redden did get his Dmitri Kalinin on throughout the Cup Finals. He's Public Enemy No. 1 among Ottawa fans.

[Papaduke]

I could care less who it was... they are all peanut encrusted shit to me.

[aWinAgainov]

I bet Staal is a big discount cover athlete. Crosby probably needs more for an endorsement deal. Miller is good but he's not a cover guy. If NHL 08 comes out for Wii and you can use the wiimote like a hockey stick i am totally getting the wii and it. Call me a dork but that would be soooo cool!!

[IlluminatusUIUC]

After every EA sports game comes out, people photoshop their own favorite athletes into the cover art and print replacements. That's what I plan to do.