SAN JOSE – San Jose Sharks forward Macklin Celebrini still has some things to prove as he prepares to play his first game in the National Hockey League.
One thing is that he deserves to be considered one of the top 300 overall players in the NHL, at least in terms of a video game.
Celebrini, the first player taken in the NHL Draft this past June, has an overall rating of 82 in EA Sports’ NHL 25 game, just missing the video game maker’s top 300 list. The cutoff was 84.
Comparatively, last year’s No. 1 pick, Conor Bedard, is rated an 88 this year. He had a rating of 83 last year.
Sharks players that made the Top 300 OVR rating list include Tyler Toffoli (86), Mikael Granlund (85), Logan Couture (85) and Jake Walman (84).
Over 60 players had an overall rating, or OVR, rating of 84, including Matty Beniers of the Seattle Kraken, Matthew Knies of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Simon Nemec of the Carolina Hurricanes.
Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid leads all NHL players with an OVR rating, fittingly, of 97. McDavid, a three-time Hart Trophy winner as the NHL’s Most Valuable Player and a five-time Art Ross Trophy winner as the league’s leading point-getter, wears No. 97.