EA last night announced during the NHL Awards show that Blackhawks C Jonathan Toews and RW Patrick Kane will appear on the cover of EA Sports’ “NHL 16.” This marks the first time the game's cover will feature two teammates, as well as the first appearance of the Stanley Cup. Toews and Kane are shown on-ice holding the Cup shortly after defeating the Lightning earlier this month. The teammates become the first players to appear on the franchise's cover twice -- Toews graced the front of ”NHL 11,” while Kane had the honors the previous year (THE DAILY). EA Sports said that having both players together "embodies the new game's emphasis on team play." The slogan of this year's game is "Play Together, Win Together." This year's cover selection differs from the last three versions, which have "used a fan vote to determine the cover athlete" (CP, 6/24). USATODAY.com's Kristen Shilton noted the chance to "appear on the cover of hockey’s best-known video game a second time, and with a teammate, was an unexpected surprise for Toews," who found out about the plan during the Stanley Cup celebration on the ice. Toews: "We had a bunch of people coming to us, the EA people, the NHL people, and Kane and I both work with the same agent, and they told us what was going on. We had to take the Cup and try to get a quick picture with it in the corner, and that’s when I realized that they were telling us we were (really) going to be on the cover of the video game." He added, "I just hope the gamers out there aren’t getting sick of us. I think we were both pretty psyched the first time around" (USATODAY.com, 6/24).
