NHL 16 News Post

Patrick Kane No Longer NHL 16 Cover Athlete - New Cover Revealed

02:38 PM - August 12, 2015 by RaychelSnr

Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks is currently under police investigation for alleged events that involve him and a woman in her 20s. This obviously put EA in a tough spot, and a spokesperson from the company responded today with an official statement cutting all ties with Kane:

Quote:


	"In light of the ongoing investigation involving Patrick Kane, he will no longer be a spokesperson for the launch of EA Sports NHL 16. He will not appear on the EA Sports NHL 16 cover nor participate in other EA Sports NHL 16 promotional activities."

It will be interesting if EA replaces Kane with another star or just goes with Jonathan Toews as the lone cover athlete.

UPDATE: The NHL 16 pre-order page has new cover art, featuring Jonathan Toews.

UPDATE #2: Another view of the new NHL 16 cover.

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Member Comments

# 21 peter21 @ 08/12/15 03:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jhawkfootball06


	Patrick Kane hasn't been arrested. No charges have been filed. Since when is it "guilty until proven innocence"?

EA is under no obligation to await an innocent or guilty verdict, or even wait to see if the case goes to trial. Patrick Kane isn't an employee of EA, he's essentially a spokesman for the game. An investigation is currently underway, one in which Kane felt the need to secure a lawyer for, and this publicity from it will undoubtedly affect his public standing in a negative way. EA would prefer not to have that kind of publicity reflected in its video game, so this is really an easy decision on their part.

# 22 ChaseB @ 08/12/15 03:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jhawkfootball06


	What do you personally think is more probable? That Kane indeed raped her, or her having full well known who he is in a bar seeing an opportunity.

This is an absolutely gross "either or" statement. Like again, some vile ish. And again, a gross amount of victim blaming is going on here as well. And truthfully this question does not even matter, it's about showing at least a modicum of respect and trying to ease the stigma of "rape culture" that leads to these sorts of questions being okay to even ask with a straight face.

# 23 kehlis @ 08/12/15 03:22 PM

His been banned, let's move on from that discussion.

# 24 Freakywwe @ 08/12/15 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jhawkfootball06


	What do you personally think is more probable? That Kane indeed raped her, or her having full well known who he is in a bar seeing an opportunity.

I don't know about you, but when I first heard the Kane news I thought "I'm surprised it took this long"

Patrick Kane is a great hockey player, he's also got a lot of growing up to do and if he was found guilty it would not surprise me one bit

# 25 kehlis @ 08/12/15 03:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jhawkfootball08


	For what reason would I get banned? Not sharing the same opinion last time I checked is not a bannable offense.* That was a 6-year old account. Sheesh.*

Its for the inappropriate language. My ban reason wasn't very clear and that was my fault for multi tasking at work.

# 26 AdamJones113 @ 08/12/15 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jhawkfootball08


	For what reason would I get banned? Not sharing the same opinion last time I checked is not a bannable offense.* That was a 6-year old account. Sheesh.*

Bye. Making a second account is, too.

# 27 adayinthelife @ 08/12/15 04:02 PM

Probably a wise choice. They did the same thing with Heatley on the NHL 2004 cover. You want to sell games, not controversy.

Honestly, the cover itself looks a million times better like this vs. how it was, if we're gonna talk aesthetics.

# 28 Pezell04x @ 08/12/15 04:04 PM

make it happen EA

# 29 snc237 @ 08/12/15 04:10 PM

Well the cover already looks better. The original cover look awful in my opinion.

# 30 Cubfan @ 08/12/15 08:15 PM

As a Hawks fan I really disagree with changing the cover. However with the game due out next month I understand why the cover was changed. If EA had left the cover as it was and Kane was charged they would have looked really dumb and would have to pull the game off the shelf and release the game again with a new cover. So just best to avoid all of that now.

# 31 Vikes1 @ 08/12/15 08:49 PM

I like the new cover better. But what a sad turn of events to make it happen. At least possible rape....man, that's rotten stuff. Hopefully Kane isn't that rotten.

# 32 spidertour02 @ 08/12/15 10:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dazraz


	I would much rather developers stopped spending money on cover stars & invested more in the quality of the game. A game cover means nothing. Would you decide or not decide to buy a game based on a cover star? Surely not.

The point of choosing a cover athlete is that he/she will usually be involved in the promotion of the game somehow. Bergeron did a couple of commercials for NHL 15, made an appearance at the NHL Store here in New York City to play the game and sign autographs, etc. That's obviously rather valuable.

# 33 Freakywwe @ 08/13/15 06:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spidertour02


	The point of choosing a cover athlete is that he/she will usually be involved in the promotion of the game somehow. Bergeron did a couple of commercials for NHL 15, made an appearance at the NHL Store here in New York City to play the game and sign autographs, etc. That's obviously rather valuable.

Not to mention developers and the marketing team are on two completely different levels. Neither have an affect on the productivity of one another

# 34 Stormyhog @ 08/28/15 12:09 PM

I actually prefer the PS3 cover for the the legacy edition.

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