While Matthew Tkachuk is Deserving, the NHL and EA Sports Selected the Wrong Cover Athlete for NHL 26

After back-to-back Stanley Cups and battling through some pretty severe injuries in recent years, there's no denying that Matthew Tkachuk deserves a lot of credit.

On Monday, Tkachuk was named as the cover athlete for EA's NHL 26, but according to some, he was not the one who should have been awarded the cover of the anticipated release. @norrie1313 on Twitter put forth a much better submission, suggesting that a tribute to Johnny Gaudreau would have been much more fitting.

Nearly one year ago, Gaudreau and his brother, Matthew, were struck by a drunk driver while on their way home from their sister's wedding rehearsal dinner. In a heartbreaking turn of events, both Gaudreau brothers died as a result of their injuries.

The NHL and EA Sports had the opportunity to do something very special, immortalizing and honouring Gaudreau's name by giving him the cover but opted not to, or simply didn't even consider it. This just seems like a huge miss.

For Tkachuk, as an accomplished star player with plenty of runway left in his career, he could have been awarded the cover of the video game at any point. With the anniversary of Gaudreau's tragic death, naming him the cover athlete would have been a great homage and one that Matthew Tkachuk, his former teammate, would likely have not only understood, but encouraged as well.

Again, we take nothing away from Tkachuk, as he is deserving. But, there was a real opportunity to do something special with Gaudreau and it just seems like a huge miss by the league and by EA Sports.