Would have Matthew Tkachuk been a better cover athlete for NHL 25?

For the first time since 2014 there’s a New Jersey Devils player on the cover of the NHL video game. Why not one Devils player when you can have two?

The brothers of Jack Hughes and Luke Hughes of the New Jersey Devils and Quinn Hughes of the Vancouver Canucks are this year’s cover athletes for the legendary NHL video game, NHL25 from EA Sports.

They’re the first brothers to be featured on the cover. The last Devils player to earn cover honors was Martin Brodeur for NHL 14.

Someone made an interesting point to me about this year’s choice of cover athlete. While I’ll fully admit that I’m biased as a Devils fan, would Matthew Tkachuk have been a better option? Tkachuk is one of the sport’s best and most recognizable young American talents.

Matthew Tkachuk would have made a great NHL cover athlete too

His Florida Panthers are the reigning Stanley Cup champions. Remember last season when he became the face of the NHL during the Panthers' run to the 2023 Stanley Cup final? He earned a Hart Trophy nomination while his fame landed him places like a guest spot with “Inside the NBA”.

You can’t use the “he’s a Stanley Cup champion” argument here since preparations for the Hughes brothers to be this year’s cover athletes likely began well before the Panthers defeated the Edmonton Oilers in game seven.

Then again, Tkachuk was never more popular, especially to the casual hockey-watching audience, than he was during the 2023 playoffs.

That year’s playoff performance by Tkachuk en route to the cup final should have convinced the league and EA Sports to make him the upcoming year's cover athlete.

They would have had plenty of time to prepare. The 1995, 1996, and 1997 editions of the video game featured players from that previous year’s Stanley Cup final so Tkachuk would have fit the bill for those years.

If we wanted to defend the “Hughes vs Tkachuk” argument with their performance from the last year that would be an imperfect task. Tkachuk didn’t break 100 points like he did the previous two seasons but still finished with a more than respectable 26 goals and 62 assists in the regular season.

Jack Hughes missed 20 games this past season with injuries, finishing with 74 points when he flirted with the century mark with 99 points in 2022-2023. Jack’s shortcomings are evened out with Quinn being the reigning Norris Trophy winner. Luke was also a Calder Trophy nominee.

The Hughes family does check a lot of boxes. With Quinn on the Canucks and Jack and Luke on the Devils the game found a way to represent both Canadian and American fans.

A few years ago I said something similar when Auston Matthews was chosen as the cover athlete in 2020 (including the fact he spent his first professional season in Europe).

Tkachuk is an American playing on an American team. There are a few cities in Western Canada (here’s looking at you Edmonton and Calgary) that wouldn’t want to see him bestowed with hockey’s highest “unofficial” honor.

The likely reason the Hughes trio beat out our hypothetical candidate of Tkachuk comes down to the league’s marketing efforts to show off the Hughes family. Even before Quinn, the oldest of the three, getting drafted ESPN dubbed them “America’s first family of hockey”.

Quinn was announced as a major participant in Amazon’s NHL documentary series coming this fall. Choosing the Hughes family as cover athletes presented too much NHL marketing synergy for the league to pass up.

The NHL cover athlete is awarded based on marketability, not on-ice performance, after all. Three Hughes are better than one Tkachuk. Ask Matthew and we’re sure he prefers having the cup anyway.

Goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck remains the only Florida Panthers player to grace the cover of the NHL video game which he did in 1997.