NHL 17 Season Simulation: Pittsburgh Penguins Repeat as Cup Champions
Puck Prose’s NHL 17 Season Simulation: Pittsburgh Penguins on Top of Hockey World Once Again, Repeat as Stanley Cup Champions
With the NHL season right around the corner (set to begin October 12th), I decided to simulate the upcoming 2016-17 campaign via EA Sports latest version in the NHL franchise. NHL 17 is developed by Electronic Arts (EA) Canada, with this year’s version marking the 26th installment in the series.
How did it go? The Pittsburgh Penguins repeated as Stanley Cup Champions, defeating the Minnesota Wild in six games. Marc-Andre Fleury was a brick wall throughout the playoffs, winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. In other playoff notes, goaltenders Carey Price (Montreal) and Cam Talbot (Edmonton) helped their teams make it to the big dance, with Price’s Canadiens making it to the third round.
Regular Season Stats
The Tampa Bay Lightning dominated the regular season, with Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos sharing the Art Ross Trophy at 97 points apiece. Sidney Crosby, who lorded over last year’s postseason and September’s World Cup of Hockey, struggled with just 68 points despite avoiding injury.
How did the Shea Weber-P.K. Subban swap pan out after the blockbuster deal was made in June? Surprisingly, the deal leaned heavily in Montreal‘s favor, at least for the first season. Weber had an offensive explosion in Montreal, with a mind-boggling 78 points in 82 games.
Speaking of offensive explosions, Washington Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin scored 60 goals for the second time in his career, boosting center Niklas Backstrom‘s point output to 92, seventh best in the league.
A quick note before running to the comment section: the rosters were unchanged throughout the simulation as CPU trading was turned off.
How accurate will this NHL 17 simulation be? Well, I can see the Penguins repeating as Stanley Cup champions, but a 78-point campaign from Shea Weber in Montreal? I think we’ll see a blue moon before that happens.
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