NHL 17 News Post

Top 50 Rated Players in NHL 17

05:30 PM - August 23, 2016 by Steve_OS

EA Sports has just revealed the top 50 rated players in NHL 17. Head over to the official site to see plenty of other attribute ratings.

50. Evgeny Kuznetsov
49. John Carlson
48. Max Pacioretty
47. Oliver Ekman-Larsson
46. Marc-Andre Fleury
45. Corey Crawford
44. Jakub Voracek
43. Ryan McDonagh
42. Brent Seabrook
41. Alex Pietrangelo
40. Kris Letang
39. Joe Thornton
38. Roman Josi
37. Kevin Shattenkirk
36. Mark Giordano
35. Patrice Bergeron
34. Johnny Gaudreau
33. Taylor Hall
32. Pekka Rinne
31. Dustin Byfuglien
30. Claude Giroux
29. Corey Schneider
28. Corey Perry
27. P.K. Subban
26. Marc-Edouard Vlasic
25. Nicklas Backstrom
24. Ryan Getzlaf
23. Joe Pavelski
22. Henrik Lundqvist
21. Tyler Seguin
20. Victor Hedman
19. Brent Burns
18. Braden Holtby
17. Erik Karlsson
16. Jonathan Quick
15. Ryan Suter
14. Evgeni Malkin
13. John Tavares
12. Duncan Keith
11. Vladimir Tarasenko
10. Anze Kopitar
9. Carey Price
8. Steven Stamkos
7. Shea Weber
6. Jonathan Toews
5. Alex Ovechkin
4. Drew Doughty
3. Patrick Kane
2. Jamie Benn
1. Sidney Crosby

Game: NHL 17Reader Score: 8/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS4 / Xbox OneVotes for game: 5 - View All

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Member Comments

# 1 Simple Mathematics @ 08/23/16 06:29 PM

Patrick Kane has a 92 in defensive awareness.

That puts him 6th on that list. So I'm guessing, 6th in the entire league.

Just 2 points below Toews.

1 point behind Doughty.

Tied with Shea Weber and Bergeron.

1 higher than Anze Kopitar.

Please hire me EA.

# 2 NinthFall @ 08/23/16 06:33 PM

Not a single Panthers player. :'(

# 3 BearishRiggs @ 08/23/16 06:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Simple Mathematics


	Patrick Kane has a 92 in defensive awareness. That puts him 6th on that list. So I'm guessing, 6th in the entire league. Just 2 points below Toews. 1 point behind Doughty. Tied with Shea Weber and Bergeron. 1 higher than Anze Kopitar. Please hire me EA.

It's because of that physical category, they gotta boost his overall somehow lol

# 4 mikeq672 @ 08/23/16 08:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Simple Mathematics


	Patrick Kane has a 92 in defensive awareness. That puts him 6th on that list. So I'm guessing, 6th in the entire league. Just 2 points below Toews. 1 point behind Doughty. Tied with Shea Weber and Bergeron. 1 higher than Anze Kopitar. Please hire me EA.

LOL. I didnt look at them that closely. EA remains unchallenged in horrible player ratings across all games.

# 5 Simple Mathematics @ 08/23/16 08:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BearishRiggs


	It's because of that physical category, they gotta boost his overall somehow lol

If their strength system works as they say it does, meaning bigger players will naturally be stronger than smaller players, then I'd rather them boost his strength categories than his defense.

# 6 mikeq672 @ 08/23/16 09:13 PM

Maybe they meant that Kane's defense in the court room is really good. He did avoid any charges.

# 7 Boogee134 @ 08/23/16 09:53 PM

46 players with a rating of 90 +
That's ridiculous.

# 8 Simple Mathematics @ 08/23/16 11:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikeq672


	Maybe they meant that Kane's defense in the court room is really good. He did avoid any charges.

You win. Close thread.

# 9 briguy4747 @ 08/23/16 11:27 PM

Shea Weber # 7 in the entire NHL ??!!

Come on, EA !!!
Get a reality check !!!

# 10 KTBFFH @ 08/24/16 01:57 AM

Where's Kessel?

# 11 uni91 @ 08/24/16 12:04 PM

The problem with the OVR rating in this game is that DEF AWR matters more than OFF AWR does! It is silly.....they should be just about the same! I can see it making a little more of a difference for D-Man but for forwards it should be equal! I agree Simple......its a joke that Kane's DEF is 92 while Jamie Benn's is 89!!!! Jamie Benn is waaaaaay more of a 2-way player than Kane.

I usually drop Kane's DEF down quite a bit which might bring him down to a 91 or 92......so what......he will still dominate offensively and put up numbers!

# 12 Qb @ 08/24/16 04:04 PM

Yeah, all those screens of individual ratings illustrate the point I brought up in the Top 10 Defensemen thread. Ratings are skewed toward the perceived overall ability of the player rather than attempting to rate each attribute on its own merit.

Not to pick on Shea Weber -- my GM Connected friends know my fondness for WEBER BOMBS!!! -- but he has 90 passing and 90 puck control. And just as I predicted, 85 speed, 85 agility, and 85 acceleration. Subban has 88/87/87 and Letang 89/89/89. Huh?

And don't get me started on why speed, agility, and acceleration are almost always identical or within a point or two. Why even have three ratings if that's the case? Why not just a single "skating" rating? There are players who aren't exceptionally fast, but are very skilled skaters (high AGL/BAL), good straight line speed (SPD/ACC) but not as skilled; bigger guys can be powerful skaters (ACC/BAL) but not as fast or agile due to their mass. I know data isn't widely available yet to help quantify this stuff, so a lot of it would be the eye test and/or scouting reports & reputation. But it can surely be better than it is with EA's resources.

And nearly every other category suffers from these overrated weaknesses and not using a wide enough range of ratings. Maybe it's a mindset I just don't agree with -- eg, an NHL player must have a hands/deking rating above 75 or he wouldn't be in the league. There's no reason why Rob Scuderi (sorry Scuds) should have anything above 60 for deking. I don't care if AHLers or CHLers have higher ratings; frankly a lot of them have better hands. But they don't have the defensive awareness, shot blocking, stick checking, etc that allowed Scuderi to be an very effective defensive defenseman in his prime.

OK, I'm done being an old man yelling at a cloud.

# 13 Simple Mathematics @ 08/24/16 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Qb


	Yeah, all those screens of individual ratings illustrate the point I brought up in the Top 10 Defensemen thread. Ratings are skewed toward the perceived overall ability of the player rather than attempting to rate each attribute on its own merit. Not to pick on Shea Weber -- my GM Connected friends know my fondness for WEBER BOMBS!!! -- but he has 90 passing and 90 puck control. And just as I predicted, 85 speed, 85 agility, and 85 acceleration. Subban has 88/87/87 and Letang 89/89/89. Huh? And don't get me started on why speed, agility, and acceleration are almost always identical or within a point or two. Why even have three ratings if that's the case? Why not just a single "skating" rating? There are players who aren't exceptionally fast, but are very skilled skaters (high AGL/BAL), good straight line speed (SPD/ACC) but not as skilled; bigger guys can be powerful skaters (ACC/BAL) but not as fast or agile due to their mass. I know data isn't widely available yet to help quantify this stuff, so a lot of it would be the eye test and/or scouting reports & reputation. But it can surely be better than it is with EA's resources. And nearly every other category suffers from these overrated weaknesses and not using a wide enough range of ratings. Maybe it's a mindset I just don't agree with -- eg, an NHL player must have a hands/deking rating above 75 or he wouldn't be in the league. There's no reason why Rob Scuderi (sorry Scuds) should have anything above 60 for deking. I don't care if AHLers or CHLers have higher ratings; frankly a lot of them have better hands. But they don't have the defensive awareness, shot blocking, stick checking, etc that allowed Scuderi to be an very effective defensive defenseman in his prime. OK, I'm done being an old man yelling at a cloud.

I'm in love with this post.

To go along with what you said, it is difficult to rate most players on acceleration vs speed because there just aren't scouting reports out there that always tell you that stuff. For example, a big resource I use for the Revamped Rosters is The Hockey News. They give pretty good scouting reports for all NHL players, but sometimes even for some of the fastest skaters in the league, it will not even mention his speed.

# 14 Caniac94 @ 08/24/16 10:07 PM

This probably won't help much but I just want to quickly input that I like to keep the speed up high because when you see a game (especially in person) guys are skating around pretty fast, even slower guys as well. I like to keep that speed element there. What I felt makes the most difference is acceleration. When I did my own roster edits I just generally made older guys slower by giving them a slower acceleration and younger guys faster with better acceleration, which is pretty obvious that younger guys are gonna generally be faster anyway. I also wanted most defensemen to be a touch slower than forwards. (I did mine pretty quickly based on what I know about each player, so they're not perfect but the game plays better than it did before).

I made Zuccarrello a pretty fast skater and he's fun to control when he has the puck. I can really feel the difference between players with just some simple edits. Now what I would just like to feel is the difference after using Revamped Rosters with this game since Simple Mathematics really does detailed edits. (C'mon EA we need roster sharing!) Anyway I just wanted to post this regardless.

# 15 Qb @ 08/25/16 11:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Simple Mathematics


	I'm in love with this post. To go along with what you said, it is difficult to rate most players on acceleration vs speed because there just aren't scouting reports out there that always tell you that stuff. For example, a big resource I use for the Revamped Rosters is The Hockey News. They give pretty good scouting reports for all NHL players, but sometimes even for some of the fastest skaters in the league, it will not even mention his speed.

Without advanced player tracking metrics -- which the upcoming World Cup will feature -- it is hard to quantify. When I had the time to watch a lot of hockey and do a deeply edited roster of my own (NHL08?), I went with a combo of scouting reports, my "eye test", and stats (for things like checking, blocked shots, and faceoffs).

Skating is a tough one, but there a ways to create some differentiation without going wild. Take a guy like Lidstrom later in his career; not a speedster by any stretch, but a very smooth skater and quick to the puck (more due to his intelligence but hey). So I'd go with high agility, slightly above average acceleration, and average speed. With my skating scale -- I considered 80 "NHL quality" -- that worked out to something like 90AGL/84ACC/80SPD. Nothing drastic from the 85-85-85 (or higher) he probably had, but definitely something you'd feel in gameplay switching from him to young Darren Helm at 80AGL/90ACC/89SPD (IDK, just pulling that out of hat).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caniac94


	This probably won't help much but I just want to quickly input that I like to keep the speed up high because when you see a game (especially in person) guys are skating around pretty fast, even slower guys as well. I like to keep that speed element there. What I felt makes the most difference is acceleration. When I did my own roster edits I just generally made older guys slower by giving them a slower acceleration and younger guys faster with better acceleration, which is pretty obvious that younger guys are gonna generally be faster anyway.

I feel you. I didn't use a very wide range for speed ratings, with most NHLers falling between 80-90. As I said above, I considered 80 NHL quality, so only guys who known for being slow or the common scouting phrase of "below average skater" (which I interpreted as AGL rather than SPD) would dip much below 80. I agree acceleration makes a big difference and like the idea of younger guys having more explosiveness, but also agility is a great way make the great skaters stand out, or conversely, the bad ones.

Crosby and Kane or two good examples; I'd say they both have above average speed (85+), but what sets them apart is how quickly they can change speeds and direction (AGL & ACC!). That's part of what makes them great IRL, and if the entire league was rated on a similar scale, it'd make them stand out when you're on the sticks too.

# 16 thejudicata @ 08/25/16 10:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Qb


	Without advanced player tracking metrics -- which the upcoming World Cup will feature -- it is hard to quantify. When I had the time to watch a lot of hockey and do a deeply edited roster of my own (NHL08?), I went with a combo of scouting reports, my "eye test", and stats (for things like checking, blocked shots, and faceoffs). Skating is a tough one, but there a ways to create some differentiation without going wild. Take a guy like Lidstrom later in his career; not a speedster by any stretch, but a very smooth skater and quick to the puck (more due to his intelligence but hey). So I'd go with high agility, slightly above average acceleration, and average speed. With my skating scale -- I considered 80 "NHL quality" -- that worked out to something like 90AGL/84ACC/80SPD. Nothing drastic from the 85-85-85 (or higher) he probably had, but definitely something you'd feel in gameplay switching from him to young Darren Helm at 80AGL/90ACC/89SPD (IDK, just pulling that out of hat). I feel you. I didn't use a very wide range for speed ratings, with most NHLers falling between 80-90. As I said above, I considered 80 NHL quality, so only guys who known for being slow or the common scouting phrase of "below average skater" (which I interpreted as AGL rather than SPD) would dip much below 80. I agree acceleration makes a big difference and like the idea of younger guys having more explosiveness, but also agility is a great way make the great skaters stand out, or conversely, the bad ones. Crosby and Kane or two good examples; I'd say they both have above average speed (85+), but what sets them apart is how quickly they can change speeds and direction (AGL & ACC!). That's part of what makes them great IRL, and if the entire league was rated on a similar scale, it'd make them stand out when you're on the sticks too.

Yeah I agree a lot with what you say. EA's interpretation of "skating" is very one-dimensional and not accurate.

A lot of the top players in the game don't necessarily have the best straight line speed. What really separates them is their change of direction ability combined with anticipation.

As a Stars fan, I've seen Hemsky or Eaves skate extremely fast in a straight line towards the net....where they crash into eveybody, make a mess, and squander a chance. Meanwhile Benn lacks straight line speed, baits a player and then quickly out-accelerates to get body position and its a goal.

Actually Trevor Daley was the guy that probably drove me the most nuts with his crazy straight line speed that never materialized into much. Glad he put together more with Pitt.

# 17 SocialAssassin @ 08/26/16 07:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boogee134


	46 players with a rating of 90 + That's ridiculous.

And after year one of franchise, those guys will all make 10 million dollars each, and everyone's cap will be effed up. With the ratings this high, everyone is making 5-6M each. It makes a complete mess of franchise.

# 18 il_tedesco @ 08/27/16 05:45 AM

Do you remember when NHL had realistic Ratings? https://youtu.be/z5LhBN9-5IQ

Today there is no difference between players. 87+ for Superstars. 83-87 first Liner. 78-82 Second Liner. 72-77 third liner. 71- 65 fourth Liner. Just like Fifa or NBA 2k. That's how it should be.

# 19 SocialAssassin @ 08/27/16 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by il_tedesco


	Do you remember when NHL had realistic Ratings? https://youtu.be/z5LhBN9-5IQ Today there is no difference between players. 87+ for Superstars. 83-87 first Liner. 78-82 Second Liner. 72-77 third liner. 71- 65 fourth Liner. Just like Fifa or NBA 2k. That's how it should be.

Hell, go back to NHL 94, the reason why the rosters are the way they are now.....there were guys rated 2. And because of that, the PA has this rule where the ratings are like this.

# 20 SocialAssassin @ 08/27/16 09:59 PM

NHL 94 ratings

Team-Highest Rated-Lowest Rated-Team Overall

Anaheim, Terry Yake 66, Stu Grimson 37, 51

Boston, Ray Bourque 99, Jim Wiemer, 41, 76

Buffalo, Alex Mogilny 96, Gord Donnelly 43, 73

Calgary, Theo Fleury 86, Greg Smyth 29, 75

Chicago, Ed Belfour 98, Stu Grimson 37, 78

Dallas, Mike Modano 82, Enrico Ciccone 38, 67

Detroit, Steve Yzerman 95, Jim Hiller 45, 75

Edmonton, Petr Klima 76, Louie DeBrusk 42, 67

Florida, Gord Murphy 63, Bill Lindsay 42, 52

Hartford, Zarley Zalapski 80, Mark Greig 36, 66

Los Angeles, Wayne Gretzky 87, Rene Chapdelaine 32, 74

Montreal, Patrick Roy 94, Todd Ewen 40, 73

New Jersey, Scott Stevens 76, Myles O'Connor 32, 68

New York I, Pierre Turgeon 82, Dennis Vaske 38, 66

New York R, Mark Messier 85, Mike Hartman 40, 74

Ottawa, Norm MacIver 61, Gord Dineen 39, 55

Philadelphia, Eric Lindros 84, Dave Brown 35, 69

Pittsburgh, Mario Lemieux 100, Jay Caufield 36, 75

Quebec, Joe Sakic 83, Tony Twist 33, 71

San Jose, Doug Wilson 65, David Maley 38, 56

St. Louis, Brett Hull 81, Kelly Chase 37, 69

Tampa, Brian Bradley 71, Chris Lipuma 35, 56

Toronto, Doug Gilmour 89, Ken Baumgartner 38, 72

Vancouver, Pavel Bure 90, Tim Hunter 46, 71

Washington, Peter Bondra 78, Jason Woolley 39, 70

Winnipeg, Teemu Selanne 90, Andy Brickey 44, 72

Anaheim: 90's - 0, 80's - 0, 70's - 0, 60's - 3, 50's - 1, 40's - 11, 30's - 3

Boston: 90's - 2, 80's - 1, 70's - 3, 60's - 7, 50's - 8, 40's - 4, 30's - 0

Buffalo: 90's - 2, 80's - 1, 70's - 1, 60's - 5, 50's - 6, 40's - 10, 30's - 0

Calgary: 90's - 0, 80's - 3, 70's - 5, 60's - 4, 50's - 6, 40's - 6. 30's - 0, 20's 1

Chicago: 90's - 1, 80's - 3, 70's - 4, 60's - 3, 50's - 6, 40's - 6, 30's - 2

Dallas: 90's - 0, 80's - 1, 70's - 3, 60's - 4, 50's - 6, 40's - 9, 30's - 1

Detroit: 90's - 1, 80's - 3, 70's - 1, 60's - 7, 50's - 10, 40's - 3, 30's - 0

Edmonton: 90's - 0, 80's - 0, 70's - 3, 60's - 7, 50's - 6, 40's - 9, 30's - 0

Florida: 90's - 0, 80's - 0, 70's - 0, 60's - 3, 50's - 3, 40's - 11, 30's - 0

Hartford: 90's - 0, 80's - 1, 70's - 2, 60's - 6, 50's - 4, 40's - 11, 30's - 1

LA: 90's - 0, 80's - 3, 70's - 4, 60's - 4, 50's - 5, 40's - 8, 30's - 1

Montreal: 90's - 1, 80's - 1, 70's - 4, 60's - 7, 50's - 2, 40's - 9, 30's - 0

New Jersey: 90's - 0, 80's - 0, 70's - 4, 60's - 9, 50's - 3, 40's - 8, 30's - 0

New York I: 90's - 0, 80's - 1, 70's - 2, 60's - 5, 50's - 7, 40's - 9, 30's - 1

New York R: 90's - 0, 80's - 3, 70's - 4, 60's - 8, 50's - 2, 40's - 8, 30's - 0

Ottawa: 90's - 0, 80's - 0, 70's - 0, 60's - 3, 50's - 5, 40's - 16, 30's - 1

Philadelphia: 90's - 0, 80's - 2, 70's - 3, 60's - 1, 50's - 8, 40's - 8, 30's - 3

Pittsburgh: 90's - 1, 80's - 1, 70's - 5, 60's - 2, 50's - 3, 40's - 11, 30's - 2

Quebec: 90's - 0, 80's - 1, 70's - 5, 60's - 5, 50's - 5, 40's - 7, 30's - 2

San Jose: 90's - 0, 80's - 0, 70's - 0, 60's - 3, 50's - 6, 40's - 14, 30's - 2

St. Louis: 90's - 0, 80's - 1, 70's - 5, 60's - 2, 50's - 5, 40's - 11, 30's - 1

Tampa Bay: 90's - 0, 80's - 0, 70's - 1, 60's - 1, 50's - 9, 40's - 11, 30's - 3

Toronto: 90's - 0, 80's - 1, 70's - 6, 60's - 4, 50's - 6, 40's - 6, 30's - 1

Vancouver: 90's - 1, 80's - 0, 70's - 4, 60's - 7, 50's - 6, 40's - 7, 30's - 0

Washington: 90's - 0, 80's - 0, 70's - 5, 60's - 7, 50's - 3, 40's - 8, 30's - 1

Winnipeg: 90's - 1, 80's - 1, 70's - 3, 60's - 5, 50's - 6, 40's - 9, 30's - 0

90's - 10, 80's - 28, 70's - 77, 60's - 112, 50's - 137, 40's - 230, 30's - 25, 20's - 1

Now? 46 90's, the rest are 80's and a very select few are 70's. Think about that? 38 people were rated higher than 80. 38.

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Top 50 Rated Players in NHL 17