NHL 17, Cover Athlete Voting Bracket and Trailer Revealed

The first steps toward the highly anticipated release of NHL 17 were taken Wednesday, as EA Sports released a debut trailer and the candidates to be featured on the cover. 

While more information regarding gameplay won't be available until the NHL Awards show in Las Vegas at the conclusion of the season, EA Sports offered a sneak peak at what gamers can expect on Xbox One and PlayStation 4:

In addition to that, the first round of voting for the cover athlete was revealed on NHL.com, and it will run through May 2 at 3 p.m. ET. Here is a look at the opening matchups:

Player 1	vs.	Player 2
Joe Pavelski - San Jose Sharks	vs.	Anze Kopitar - Los Angeles Kings
Aleksander Barkov - Florida Panthers	vs.	Jamie Benn - Dallas Stars
Connor McDavid - Edmonton Oilers	vs.	Jakub Voracek - Philadelphia Flyers
Vladimir Tarasenko - St. Louis Blues	vs.	Victor Hedman - Tampa Bay Lightning

The second round of voting will take place from May 3 through May 9, while the finals are set for May 10 through May 16.

Regardless of who wins the vote, there will be a first-time cover athlete on the front of NHL 17 after Jonathan Toews was featured on the franchise's cover for the second time in his career as part of NHL 16.

All eight options have impressive credentials that make them deserving of the honor, but Edmonton Oilers phenom Connor McDavid may be the favorite.

Although he missed 37 games due to injury, he posted 48 points in 45 games as a rookie and has all the makings of becoming the NHL's best player in the near future.

His popularity is immense in Canada, which may be the primary factor that pushes the 19-year-old to the forefront of NHL 17.

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