EA Sports has not exactly rolled out the red carpet for the Calgary Flames in NHL 27. When the game’s latest player ratings started coming out ahead of the September 11 release, Calgary wound up with just three forwards inside EA Sports’ top 299.
That group is headlined by Matt Coronato, who checks in at No. 206 with an 85 rating. Morgan Frost is right behind him at No. 212, also sitting at 85. Captain Mikael Backlund is the third Flame on the list at No. 298 with an 84.
Compared with last year, there’s some movement, but not a dramatic leap. Coronato went from 84 to 85, Frost made the same climb from 84 to 85, and Backlund held steady at 84.
The drop-off from last season’s top Calgary forwards is hard to miss. Nazem Kadri led the club with an 87 rating a year ago, with Jonathan Huberdeau close behind at 86. Kadri has since been traded, while Huberdeau missed a significant chunk of last season, later had surgery, and saw his production fall enough that he didn’t land among EA Sports’ top 299 players this time despite carrying one of the NHL’s largest contracts.
If the forward group looks thin in the ratings, the rest of the roster may still provide some help once EA Sports gets to defensemen and goaltenders. Last year, Calgary’s blue line was paced by MacKenzie Weegar and Rasmus Andersson, both at 88, though neither is with the club anymore. Kevin Bahl was the highest-rated defender still in Calgary for this season at 84.
There are still a couple of names worth watching when the rest of the rankings are revealed. Simon Nemec and Zach Whitecloud could shake up the picture, with Whitecloud arriving through the Anderson trade with the Vegas Golden Knights and Nemec coming over from the New Jersey Devils in the spring.
The biggest card left to play for Calgary is likely Dustin Wolf. He was the team’s highest-rated player last year at 87, though that came before a rough season for both him and the team.
No matter how the ratings land, NHL 27 could still give Flames fans a pretty compelling franchise-mode sandbox. With general manager Craig Conroy pushing youth in real life, players can fast-track the rebuild, rework the roster, and try to chase a Stanley Cup while skating through the Saddledome’s final season.
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