- EA Sports dropped the NHL 27 defense and goalie ratings on Wednesday
- Zach Werenski, Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes all landed on 95 overall
- Read below for the full top 10 at both defense spots and in net
EA Sports could not settle on one best defenseman in hockey, so it went with three.
The NHL 27 blue line numbers came out Wednesday, and Zach Werenski, Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes all checked in at 95 overall. Werenski and Hughes are deadlocked at the top of the left defense list. Makar owns the right side by himself.
Here are the graphics EA put out:
Werenski is the only one of the three who moved. He sat at 92 in NHL 26 and got a three-point bump after a season that ended with the Norris Trophy, the first one in Blue Jackets history. He scored 22 goals and added 59 assists for 81 points in 75 games.
Take a look at the day Columbus finally got a Norris winner:
Makar and Hughes both held at 95, the same number they carried a year ago. Makar put up 20 goals and 59 assists for 79 points in 75 games, which is 13 off his career high. Hughes split last season between Vancouver and Minnesota and finished with seven goals and 69 assists for 76 points in 74 games.
Right defense, top to bottom:
- 1. Cale Makar, Colorado Avalanche: 95
- 2. Evan Bouchard, Edmonton Oilers: 91
- 3. Adam Fox, New York Rangers: 89
- 4. Charlie McAvoy, Boston Bruins: 89
- 5. Moritz Seider, Detroit Red Wings: 89
- 6. Noah Dobson, Montreal Canadiens: 89
- 7. Brock Faber, Minnesota Wild: 88
- 8. Erik Karlsson, Pittsburgh Penguins: 88
- 9. Ryan Pulock, New York Islanders: 88
- 10. Brett Pesce, New Jersey Devils: 87
Left defense runs deeper. Eight of the 10 sit at 90 or better, and Islanders sophomore Matthew Schaefer already cracks the group at 91.
- 1. Zach Werenski, Columbus Blue Jackets: 95
- 2. Quinn Hughes, Minnesota Wild: 95
- 3. Rasmus Dahlin, Buffalo Sabres: 93
- 4. Miro Heiskanen, Dallas Stars: 93
- 5. Matthew Schaefer, New York Islanders: 91
- 6. Jaccob Slavin, Carolina Hurricanes: 91
- 7. Roman Josi, Nashville Predators: 91
- 8. Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay Lightning: 91
- 9. Josh Morrissey, Winnipeg Jets: 90
- 10. Lane Hutson, Montreal Canadiens: 90
EA dropped the goalies at the same time, and Andrei Vasilevskiy took the top spot at 94. He went 39-15-4 with a 2.31 goals-against average last season and won his second Vezina Trophy, seven years after his first. We had him back at No. 1 on the NHL Network list earlier this month too.
- 1. Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay Lightning: 94
- 2. Ilya Sorokin, New York Islanders: 93
- 3. Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets: 92
- 4. Igor Shesterkin, New York Rangers: 91
- 5. Logan Thompson, Washington Capitals: 90
- 6. Jeremy Swayman, Boston Bruins: 89
- 7. Jake Oettinger, Dallas Stars: 88
- 8. Jesper Wallstedt, Minnesota Wild: 87
- 9. Lukas Dostal, Anaheim Ducks: 87
- 10. Dustin Wolf, Calgary Flames: 87
Vasilevskiy is not even the highest-rated player on his own team. That belongs to Nikita Kucherov, who came in at 97 when EA released the forwards on Tuesday.
Connor McDavid is still the only 99 in the game. The rest of the NHL 27 ratings are up now, with deluxe edition early access starting Sept. 4 and the standard release on Sept. 11.
