The annual iteration of EA Sports NHL is out, and we figured it would be fun to take a look at the respective ratings for all of the Montreal Canadiens players. Coming off their worst season in a long time, it should come as no surprise that the Habs aren’t the strongest team in the eyes of the EA Sports brass.
What I’ve included in this breakdown is the ratings of every player by position, but I’ve also added something else. EA Sports has also provided their projection of each player’s potential, and the probability of them realizing said potential. With that provided, it just had to be included in this piece.
Without further ado, here are the ratings for all of the Montreal Canadiens players, starting with the forwards.
Centres
| Player | Overall | Potential | Probability |
| Alex Galchenyuk | 87 | Elite | Medium |
| Tomas Plekanec | 87 | Top Six | High |
| David Desharnais | 82 | Top Nine | High |
| Phillip Danault | 79 | Top Nine | Low |
| Torrey Mitchell | 79 | Bottom Six |
Medium |
Alright, not much to be angry about here, as this is essentially the exact order that almost any Habs fan would place the centres on the roster. I’d argue that Galchenyuk has earned more than 87 overall coming off his first 30-goal season, but good on them for maybe trying to drive the price down on that next contract…
I wonder if Marc Bergevin paid them to do that.
Left Wing
| Player | Overall | Potential | Probability |
| Max Pacioretty | 89 | Elite | Low |
| Paul Byron | 80 | Bottom Six | High |
| Jacob de la Rose | 79 | Top Nine | Low |
| Daniel Carr | 78 | Bottom Six | Medium |
| Brian Flynn | 78 | Bottom Six | Low |
| Stefan Matteau | 78 | Top Nine | Medium |
| Artturi Lehkonen | 67 | Bottom Six | High |
Plenty of things to gripe about here. Pacioretty has elite potential but a low probability of getting there? Not sure how that makes any sense, since he already is an elite left winger, but you do you, EA Sports.
Beyond that, the left wing corps is just unbelievably weak by EA Sports’ standards. By their account, our second line winger on the left would be Paul Byron, which is very cringeworthy. One can only hope and pray that Artturi Lehkonen makes them look foolish for rating him under-70.
Right Wing
| Player | Overall | Potential | Probability |
| Brendan Gallagher | 86 | Top Six | Medium |
| Alexander Radulov | 83 | Top Six | Medium |
| Andrew Shaw | 83 | Top Nine | Medium |
| Chris Terry | 80 | Bottom Six | Medium |
| Michael McCarron | 79 | Top Nine | Medium |
| Sven Andrighetto | 78 | AHL Top Six | High |
Okay, Brendan Gallagher has a “medium” shot at becoming a top six player? Apparently EA Sports missed him being one of the best Right Wingers in the entire game last season. And Sven Andrighetto is the bottom of the barrel with AHL potential at best? EA Sports really does not like the Habs it seems.
At least the outlook is better on the right than it is on the left. Radulov was probably like a 52 overall last year, and his play-by-play name was probably “attitude problem.”
Defenders
| Player | Overall | Potential | Probability |
| Shea Weber | 94 | Elite | High |
| Andrei Markov | 85 | Top Four | Low |
| Alexei Emelin | 85 | Top Four | High |
| Jeff Petry | 85 | Top Four | Medium |
| Nathan Beaulieu | 83 | Top Four | Low |
| Zach Redmond | 80 | 7th D | Low |
| Mark Barberio | 79 | 7th D | Medium |
| Greg Pateryn | 78 | 7th D | Low |
| Mikhail Sergachev | 66 | Elite | Low |
Shea Weber has the highest pedigree of the group, so I’ll have to agree with him being number one. However, the rest of this is a whole bag of laughs. First of all, Alexei Emelin has the same rating as Markov.
Emelin being the same rating as Petry? Sure. I guess by that logic we could give Kris Russell the same rating as Mark Giordano and pretend that it isn’t ridiculous. Jeff Petry is significantly better than Alexei Emelin. EA Sports is trolling us here, for sure.
Mikhail Sergachev is, in my opinion, far better than 66, but I suppose they have to temper expectations when it comes to unproven Junior players, so I’ll let that one slide.
The Goaltenders
| Player | Overall | Potential | Probability |
| Carey Price | 93 | Elite | Exact |
| Al Montoya | 81 | Fringe Starter | Medium |
| Mike Condon | 79 | Fringe Starter | Low |
| Zachary Fucale | 74 | Starter | Medium |
| Charlie Lindgren | 72 | AHL Starter | High |
Carey Price is the top goaltender by a long shot, so I suppose some points must be given to EA Sports in that regard. My only point of contention would be that under potential they should have put “greatest golden god of goaltending,” since I do believe we can aptly call him that.
That being said, I’ve got a bone to pick with the lower part of the table here. if Condon is a potential “fringe starter” with a low probability of becoming that, and Fucale is a potential starter with a medium probability of realization, how is Condon the higher rated goalie?
Experience is my guess, which would also explain how Charlie Lindgren is the lowest on the totem pole, despite the fact that he seems to have more potential than several of the guys above him. In any case, the man at the top of the order is a stud, so there exists a finite number of games for the rest to cover.
So here you have the full ratings from EA Sports for the 2016-17 Montreal Canadiens. Agree? Disagree? Have at it in the comment section.
