'NHL 16' Cover: EA Sports Names Chicago Blackhawks Forwards Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane!

EA Sports has chosen Chicago Blackhawks forwards Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane for the cover of hockey videogame, NHL 16. The cover announcement for the Stanley Cup  champions comes out just after the official gameplay trailer was released during 2015 E3. 

According to IGN, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane grace the cover of NHL 16. On the cover side by side, Toews and Kane appear to be hoisting the Stanley Cup. Not only are they teammates, the duo is holding the Stanley Cup on the cove, which is a first for EA's long-running hockey franchise. 

The tagline states, "Play together. Win together." Kane was featured previously on the cover of NHL 10. Toews was also named cover athlete the following year for NHL 11.

In an interview with Yahoo! News, Toews describes the emotion of being on the cover, "I'm honored to not only share the Stanley Cup Championship with Patrick, but to share the EA SPORTS NHL 16 cover with him too. Our team's passion and dedication have made this all possible - and I'm sure fans will be fired up about it."

Kane adds, "Being teamed up with Jonathan for the NHL 16 cover is a great feeling. I never would have imagined being on the cover twice, and the fact this is happening on top of our team taking home the Cup is unreal."

Polygon reports, this is the first time since 2011 that EA has chosen the NHL cover athlete themselves. In each of the past three years, the publisher usually holds a fan vote on the NHL website for the covers. For NHL 13 (Claude Giroux), NHL 14 (Martin Brodeur) and NHL 15 (Patrice Bergeron), the cover athletes were chosen by voting fans.

NHL 16 will be available in stores September 15 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One

Readers, are you excited to play NHL 16?