EA Screws Sid out of NHL 08 Cover

EA Sports, maker of the NHL series of games, made their announcement as to whom would grace the cover of NHL 2008.

The NHL's leading scorer and best player? Nope.
The NHL's Conn Smythe winner? Nope.
Somebody from the NHL finals? Nope.
Alexander Ovechkin, again? Hell, no!

Instead of having Sidney Crosby market the product, EA decided to go with the NHL's 40th (!!!) leading scorer: ERIC STAAL!

WTF?

Carolina Hurricanes centre Eric Staal will be the cover boy for Electronic Arts' "NHL 08" video game.

"I am a huge fan of the NHL franchise and played 'NHL 07' fanatically," Staal said in a statement.

Staal won the Stanley Cup with Carolina last year and was part of the Canadian team that won the IIHF World Hockey Championship in May.

NHL 08 is the 16th version of the EA NHL hockey franchise, and is being developed by the company's Vancouver studio. It will be released in September.

Would Sidney have been cursed with this honour?

Over at The NHL Fanhouse, JP runs through the list of previous cover boys, and shows that there is no real curse to speak of.

Perhaps EA did this to save money. Hopefully, they'll take this extra money and make the game NOT SUCK! Perhaps a little realism to the defensive play? Maybe AI that doesn't run around like headless chickens? Is that too much to ask?