NHL 22 Player Ratings: Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon Headline Top Rankings

Ahead of the release of NHL 22, EA Sports has unveiled player rankings for this year's game.  

For the second consecutive year, Edmonton Oilers star Connor McDavid tops the list at 95 overall. It's the same rating he had in last year's game. Nathan Mackinnon of the Colorado Avalanche, Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins and McDavid's teammate, Leon Draisaitl, are all tied for second with a 93 overall rating. 

NHL 22 Player Ratings - Top 10

1. Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers (95 OVR)

2. Nathan Mackinnon, Colorado Avalanche (93 OVR)

3. Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins (93 OVR)

4. Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton Oilers (93 OVR)

5. Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks (92 OVR)

6. Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay Lightning (92 OVR)

7. Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning (92 OVR)

8. Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals (92 OVR)

9. Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs (92 OVR)

10. David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins (91 OVR)

McDavid has been the most dominant offensive player in the league for the past five seasons. The 24-year-old led the NHL with 72 assists and 105 points in just 56 games in 2020-21. He has scored at least 100 points four times in the previous five years and led the league in points three times during that span. 

MacKinnon, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2013 NHL draft, continues to make strides as one of the best young players in the league. The 26-year-old had a streak of three consecutive 90-point seasons snapped in 2020-21, but he still finished with 20 goals and 45 assists in 48 games. 

The Oilers and Lightning are the only teams to have at least two players ranked in the overall top 10. It's not a surprise, since they have arguably the two best scoring duos in the league. Draisaitl had a career-high plus-29 last season, marking just the third time in his career he's been on the positive side of the plus-minus rating (plus-seven in 2016-17 and plus-two in 2018-19). 

Kucherov had one of the most uniquely dominant performances in the NHL during the 2020-21 campaign. He missed the entire regular season after undergoing hip surgery. The Russian star returned for the playoffs and scored a league-high 32 points in 23 games to help the Lightning win the Stanley Cup. 

If you extend the list just beyond the top 10, the Boston Bruins have three players ranked in the top 12. David Pastrnak is listed at the end of the top 10 with a 91, but Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron are right behind him with the same rating. 

Crosby and Alex Ovechkin remain stalwarts in the top 10. The Penguins star retained his 93 overall rating from last year. Ovi did take a very slight dip from 93 overall last year to 92 this year. The modest change comes after he missed 11 games in 2020-21 with injuries and had the lowest single-season point total of his career (42). 

Fans will be able to get their hands on the latest iteration of the series on Oct. 15 when NHL 22 drops.