‘NHL 17’ announced for PS4, Xbox One, Cover Vote happening in 3 rounds, new teaser shows career mode

“NHL 17,” EA Sports’ hockey title, is happening. And the publisher is putting the cover star in the hands of the players.

Over at the official website, the developer has already announced the voting system to determine who will be the face of “NHL 17.” There are eight superstars representing their respective teams. These are also the eight who are in the running to become the cover star of “NHL 17.”

The race towards the cover is a little tight, as EA has already pre-matched two against two of the eight superstars to make choosing easier. This means that there will be three rounds of voting. The first round has already begun and will last until May 2. Round 2 starts on May 3 and will last until May 9. The final round is set from May 10 to 16.

In the first round, the four match-ups include the following: Joe Pavelski versus Anze Kopitar, Aleksander Barkov versus Jamie Benn, Connor McDavid versus Jakub Voracek and Vladimir Tarasenko versus Victor Hedman. The second round will face-off the four winning players from the first round. The third round will have the top two vying for the Cover Vote.

Fans can cast their votes in different ways. The link above already has an easy one-click selection for the first round. However, those who want to cast their vote via Twitter can do so by using specific player hashtags. Using Twitter has the advantage of double vote counts for Twitter Thursdays, for those who want to bring up the votes of their favourite NHL players.

EA has not limited the voting, so players can keep on submitting their votes until the deadline trickles in.

Alongside the announcement, EA Sports has also released a new video showing off some of the features in “NHL 17.” Spotted by Polygon, the new video is the first promotional video for the game.

It shows off franchise relocation as well as the World Cup of Hockey. “NHL 17” seems to be allow players to move clubs to new territories. The developer may be expanding the options for players in terms of how they can also customise the jerseys of players and even the interior look of the arenas.