Connor McDavid has spent years making the impossible look ordinary, and now he’s taken that same kind of control into a different arena. EA Sports has given the Edmonton superstar the first 99 overall rating in franchise history for NHL 27, a move that finally puts the video game’s scale in line with what McDavid has already been doing on the ice.
That’s a pretty fitting twist for a player who has been the defining force of his era for so long. Edmonton’s 2015 Draft Lottery win changed the direction of the franchise, and the Oilers have been riding that break ever since. Back-to-back Cup Final trips in 2024 and 2025 only strengthened the case that McDavid is the league’s face, the player most capable of dragging a team toward a title by sheer talent alone.
The numbers behind his career already read like something out of a different sport. In the 2024 playoffs, McDavid broke Wayne Gretzky’s single-postseason assist record with 32 and finished with 42 points.
He also became just the sixth player - and only the second skater - to win the Conn Smythe on the losing side. He led the next-closest scorer by 20 points, the biggest gap in playoff history, and was the first player ever to post back-to-back four-point games in a Stanley Cup Final.
At 29, he’s still piling up milestones at a ridiculous rate. McDavid is one of only three players in NHL history to record nine 100-point seasons and reach 1,200 career points.
He’s collected three Hart Trophies and six Art Ross trophies, and he also delivered the Golden Goal at the Four Nations. None of it has slowed him down.
Leon Draisaitl put it plainly:
“Watching [Connor McDavid] evolve from an 18‑year‑old phenom into the person and player he is today… I mean, he just does things on the daily that no one else in the world can do.”
That kind of awe has followed McDavid everywhere, and this latest honor is really just the latest sign of how far ahead of the curve he is. EA Sports has long faced criticism from players who wanted a true 99 Club in NHL, the way Madden has embraced its top-end ratings for years. McDavid himself had wondered why the hockey series never made the leap.
Now it finally has. And of course, it went to him first.
For years, McDavid had been stuck at 97 in the game, a number that matched his jersey but never really matched his impact. This rating changes that.
It’s a symbolic nod, sure, but it also feels overdue. McDavid has been a 99 in every real sense for a long time - the most electrifying player in the league, the standard everyone else is chasing, the guy who has bent the sport to his will.
EA Sports didn’t invent that reality. It just acknowledged it.
For McDavid, it’s one more line on a career resume already stuffed with them. For fans, it’s confirmation of what they’ve known for years. And for the game itself, it’s the moment the ceiling finally moved.
In Other News...
Kasperi Kapanen Is Suddenly Caught In The Oilers' Toughest Lineup Call
Kasperi Kapanens place in the Oilers forward mix has become one of the more interesting decisions hanging over camp, because Edmonton is no longer short on options. The conversation is not just about whether Kapanen can fit into the top half of the lineup, but how the team balances established names with younger forwards who are pushing for meaningful minutes. Matt Savoie and Isaac Howard have both added pressure to a group that already needs to sort out where the offense is going to come from beyond the obvious stars.
Mike Babcocks preferred line construction only makes the puzzle trickier, especially with Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins all factors in how the top end gets arranged. Once the coaches start sorting out those combinations, the ripple effect reaches all the way down the lineup and puts Kapanen in a spot where his role is far from settled. What looked like a simple depth question now feels like one of Edmontons toughest calls. [Read more 🡒]
Podkolzin Is Becoming Too Important For Oilers Fans To Ignore
Vasily Podkolzin did not arrive in Edmonton with the kind of fanfare that usually follows a player who ends up mattering this much. Acquired in August 2024 for a 2025 fourth-round pick, he was more of a depth add than a headline move, but he quickly carved out a real role and became the sort of dependable presence coaches trust and teammates notice. Playing all 82 games in his first season only reinforced how steady he has been for the Oilers.
Now, in 2025-26, Podkolzin has taken another clear step forward, and that is where the conversation around him starts to change. His work ethic and development have drawn praise inside the room, and the sense around him is that this is still trending upward rather than peaking. For a team always looking for useful, affordable pieces that can grow into more, Podkolzin is becoming hard to overlook. [Read more 🡒]
Oilers Fans Finally Have Context For Trent Frederics Rough Season
Trent Frederics first full season in Edmonton did not go the way anyone around the Oilers expected, and now there is some needed context for why the production never really followed. The forward finished with just four goals and seven points while clearly fighting through a rough stretch, and he has since said he was not fully healthy for much of the year. What looked like a disappointing fit on the surface now reads more like a player trying to survive a season without his normal legs under him.
Frederic says he is finally feeling recovered, which matters for an Oilers team that has already made changes to the roster and is looking for cleaner answers heading into the next season. A healthier Frederic gives Edmonton a chance to see what he can actually bring under new coach Mike Babcock, and whether he can become a more useful piece rather than just another name from a frustrating year. The bigger question now is whether this is the reset that lets him move past the injury-plagued version of 2025-26 and show the player the Oilers thought they were getting. [Read more 🡒]