Quinn’s Questions: Who Would Be the Next Canucks Cover Athlete?

Quinn’s Questions is a new, hopefully regular feature where you the fans tell us your thoughts, through your vote and hopefully in the comments, as well. It’s named after Quinn Hughes, Pat Quinn, or both, depending on your age and era.

Results of Previous Quinn’s Question: After Hughes, OEL, and Myers, who is the Canucks fourth best defenceman?

Luke Schenn - 46%

Travis Dermott - 27%

Jack Rathbone - 23%

Tucker Poolman - 4%

EA Sports recently announced their next cover athlete(s): Canadians women’s hockey forward Sarah Nurse and Anaheim Ducks winger Trevor Zegras:

Now, I’m not a big gamer (as I discussed in Friday’s Wake With Elias), but I do think this is a really cool idea. It also got me thinking, when’s the next time we’ll see a Vancouver Canuck on the cover of an official NHL game? And when it happens, who will it be?

The last Canuck to be on the cover of an EA Sports game was Markus Naslund on NHL 2005 (which, in my diligent research, I found you can apparently buy for $2.95 USD on ebay). Neither Sedin or Luongo ever made it onto a cover. But, will this next core bring us a new Canucks Cover Athlete? Who knows. I honestly don’t know how these things are decided these days. It’s fun to think about, though, and there are some interesting candidates. So, imagine EA Sports announces the NHL 24 cover must feature a Canuck — who do you think they’re picking?

My money is on Elias Pettersson, and for a few reasons. One, he’s obviously a great player. When he’s on, he’s a legitimate star player and could conceivably be the face of the Canucks for this generation. Two, he’s flashy! As Canucks fans we know the kind of stuff Pettersson is capable of with the puck, and in an age where vitality is King, those dekes could make him a star among the genera population. And three, he’s marketable. Beyond the skill and the raw hockey talent, he loves the social media game (even if some old school types think it’s a “distraction”). He loves wearing the interesting clothes, and doing engaging things online, and like Zegras, it makes him a promising commercial quantity across the league. Personally, I think he’s the obvious pick.

You could reasonably argue for Hughes, as well, for some of the same reasons. He’s a dynamic player with high end skill, who already is cementing himself as maybe the greatest Canucks defender of all-time (and the Hughes dynasty thing certainly doesn’t hurt). Demko could also conceivably develop into a star league-wide if he continues to develop as a premier net minder. I will say, though, I’m skeptical around goalies as name brands. Who was the last true star goalie? Not from a talent perspective, but from a fame perspective. Prime Carey Price? For whatever reason, it’s just hard for goalies to become faces of the league, working against Demko. The last goalie on the cover of a game was Martin Brodeur on NHL 14, and before him, John Vanbiesbrouck on NHL 97. Maybe it’ll Miller, too. Maybe he’s a consistent 100-point guy from now on and makes the cut. I won’t get into the obvious “What if he’s not a Canuck!!!” angle, but yes, that would be a concern.

I don’t know who else you’d pick, but I included “Other” for the massive Brock Boeser or Conor Garland fans among you. Or, knowing the Nucks Misconduct readership after last week’s poll, you people probably want Luke Schenn on the cover. Anyways, have your say as to who you think would (or should) be on the cover if they had to pick a Canuck. Feel free to talk NHL video games more broadly, too. Comment (and vote) away!