NHL 22 Cover Athlete Auston Matthews
NHL® 22
It might be his second time gracing the cover of an EA SPORTS NHL title, but Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews isn’t taking it for granted. “It feels just as good as the first,” he said in a conversation with EA SPORTS and former NHL star Paul Bissonnette, “I’m excited. I think the game’s gonna be great, and I’m just pumped to be on the cover again.”
There are two versions of the NHL 22 cover, one featuring Matthews in full gameday gear and skates, and another where he’s in street clothes. Matthews likes that idea because it represents a growing movement among younger NHL players. “Hopefully it’ll bring a new light to the game and showcase the personalities of guys a little more and hopefully that entices people to get a little more into it.”
Matthews related that content to how hockey culture is changing in general—and that includes fashion. During his stint in Switzerland pre-NHL career, Matthews said he started to get into fashion, including a regrettable purchase of “a pair of pants that, looking back, were just so bad. Too tight,” he laughed. But it’s these sorts of things that he sees as crucial to the new hockey culture, one that should focus on bringing as many young people to the game as possible. “People should look at hockey and say these guys are cool. It’s a sweet sport, they’ve got awesome personalities, guys dress cool to games, it’s not so stiff. Let’s get loose a little bit.”
As to whether or not things like that are detrimental to a player and his performance, Matthews said that they don’t have to be mutually exclusive. “You can live your life and do what makes you happy, and in the end I think that translates onto the ice too. If you’re happy and you can be yourself, that’s the best version of yourself and you can go out there and perform.”
Superstar X-Factors are a brand-new gameplay system in NHL 22, featuring game-changing abilities inspired by and assigned to the league’s most elite players like Matthews to elevate the NHL’s top talent from the rest of the pack. The star center explained a little bit about his X-Factor ability called Shock and Awe, and how shooting after a deke became something of a signature move for him. “I just want to make [the defenseman] move, I want to make him think I’m going one way and then take it and go another. If I’m shooting, I want him to think I’m shooting here, then flip the other way and change the angle so it not only messes up the D-man, but also the goalie. That’s what’s going through my head, to make him make the first move.”
It’s easy to see why Matthews is one of the most exciting players in the league and how he earned his second NHL cover appearance in three years. Between his style off the ice and his incredible talent on it, the Maple Leafs center is the paragon of the new hockey culture. Speaking about his X-Factor ability, Matthews manages to say exactly what we’re all thinking about his career: “When you’re hot, you’re hot.”