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Montreal Canadiens NHL 18 ratings

EA Sports’ latest edition of their annual game, NHL 18, was released on Friday and the Montreal Canadiens are actually treated very well by the company.

The team itself has an overall of 91. Only two teams have overalls higher than that – the Pittsburgh Penguins and the New York Rangers. The team overalls are pretty close together with the lowest team at 88 and six teams tied with Montreal at 91.

The ratings are also tailored lower than usual. The highest rating in the game is 93, and only 14 players have ratings of 90 or above, so keep that in mind when looking at the ratings of the Habs.

We will be showing every member of the Canadiens organization that is in the game. NCAA players and players in leagues that are not in the game are not represented. That’s why you will see Joni Ikonen and Joonas Nattinen, but not Ryan Poehling or Jakub Jerabek.

Centres

Player Rating Potential Probability
Alex Galchenyuk 83 Elite Low
Tomas Plekanec 81 Top 6 Exact
Phillip Danault 80 Top 9 Medium
Andreas Martinsen 77 Bottom 6 Exact
Torrey Mitchell 76 Bottom 6 Exact
Charles Hudon 77 Top 6 Low
Peter Holland 76 Bottom 6 Medium
Byron Froese 72 AHL Top 6 Medium
Joonas Nattinen 72 AHL Top 6 Medium
Lukas Vejdemo 66 Top 9 Medium
Daniel Audette 63 AHL Top 6 High
Markus Eisenschmid 61 AHL Top 6 Medium
Will Bitten 60 Top 9 Medium
Joni Ikonen 60 Top 9 Medium
Michael Pezzetta 56 Bottom 6 Medium

The game still has Alex Galchenyuk as a C and Jonathan Drouin at wing, but the newest roster update has the lines updated to have Drouin at centre and Galchenyuk on the wing. I doubt throughout the season that their actual primary position will change, though.

Left Wings

Player Rating Potential Probability
Max Pacioretty 87 Elite Exact
Jonathan Drouin 84 Elite Medium
Paul Byron 79 Top 9 Exact
Artturi Lehkonen 78 Top 6 Medium
Daniel Carr 74 Bottom 6 Medium
Jacob de la Rose 72 Top 9 Low
Max Friberg 71 AHL Top 6 Medium

I know of a few people who will think Lehkonen is too low, but he was actually in the mid-70s up until the last roster update last year, so he still gets a bit of a bump for his strong playoff run. The ratings to Pacioretty and Drouin seem low (like Galchenyuk above) until you realize that EA Sports lowered ratings across the board so they are well above average at their current numbers.

Right Wings

Player Rating Potential Probability
Brendan Gallagher 82 Top 6 Medium
Andrew Shaw 79 Top 9 Medium
Ales Hemsky 78 Top 9 Exact
Chris Terry 76 Bottom 6 Exact
Michael McCarron 75 Top 9 Medium
Nikita Scherbak 72 Top 6 Medium
Jeremy Gregoire 64 AHL Top 6 Low
Martin Reway 62 AHL Top 6 High
Jeremiah Addison 61 Bottom 6 Medium
Antoine Waked 60 AHL Top 6 Medium

A lot to take in here. You could say that McCarron and Scherbak are low, but the game tends not to rate young players too highly. Martin Reway’s rating is untouched from a year ago.

Defence

Player Rating Potential Probability
Shea Weber 89 Elite Exact
Karl Alzner 83 Top 4 Exact
Jeff Petry 82 Top 4 Exact
Jordie Benn 80 Top 6 Exact
David Schlemko 80 Top 6 Exact
Mark Streit 79 Top 6 Exact
Brandon Davidson 78 Top 6 Medium
Eric Gelinas 77 7th D Medium
Joe Morrow 77 Top 6 Medium
Zach Redmond 76 7th D Exact
Matt Taormina 73 7th D Exact
Brett Lernout 68 AHL Top 2 Low
Tom Parisi 66 AHL Top 2 Medium
Noah Juulsen 65 Top 4 Medium
Cale Fleury 61 Top 4 Low
Simon Bourque 60 7th D Medium
Victor Mete 59 Top 6 Low
Jarret Tyszka 58 Top 6 Low
Josh Brook 56 7th D Medium
Scott Walford 56 7th D Medium

So many defencemen. I know Marc Bergevin says you can’t have too many defencemen, but he didn’t have to fill this sheet in. Alzner ahead of Petry will definitely be a topic of contention, and the game seems to agree that the Canadiens have a glut of guys who could play some NHL minutes.

The game seems very high on Cale Fleury and less so on Josh Brook but the CHL ratings are very inconsistent.

Goaltenders

Player Rating Potential Probability
Carey Price 92 Franchise Exact
Al Montoya 81 Starter Exact
Charlie Lindgren 71 AHL Starter High
Zach Fucale 70 Starter Medium
Michael McNiven 62 Fringe Starter Medium

I would argue that Lindgren and McNiven are too low, while Montoya is probably a touch high. Fucale is about right but the potentials here are a little all over the place. Price is the best goaltender in the game with his rating.

So there you have it. We’ll have more on NHL 18 this week, including a review with some simulations that will surely generate some discussion.

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