Islanders: Predicting Player Ratings For NHL 21

Predicting what the New York Islanders player ratings are going to look like in EA Sports’ NHL 2021 video game.

One of the things that I’ve done during quarantine is getting back into playing video games. I haven’t really done all that much with it just yet, except for play NHL 99 on my N64 or NHL 2K5 on my original Xbox.

I’ve considered getting a new system and playing NHL 20, which got me thinking about the Islanders player ratings and what they might look like in next year’s game.

It’s never too early to look ahead so what I wanted to do was take a look at the Islanders roster and predict what I think the ratings are going to be.

Forwards

Mathew Barzal – 87

Mathew Barzal will be the highest rated Islander forward. He had a bounce-back year so seeing him move up the ranks slightly in comparison to where he’s been in past games makes sense.

Brock Nelson – 85

Brock Nelson somehow started with the same rating as Derrick Brassard in NHL 20. He will get moved up to the Islanders second-highest rated forward.

Anders Lee – 83

Lee started out as an 85 in this year’s game. After a bit of a down year he gets taken down a couple of pegs to start out in NHL 21.

Jordan Eberle – 83 

Eberle is really streaky but he should be in the same kind of area with Anders Lee in terms of a grade.

JG Pageau – 82

Pageau is having a career year in 2019-2020, he deserves an increase in rating and something over an 80.

Josh Bailey – 82

Josh Bailey is someone you’ve been able to pencil in for 50+ points each of the past four years. An 82 seems fair for Bails.

Anthony Beauvillier – 81

Beau is a borderline top-six player, and a very good third line depth piece. With a 47 point pace, he gets a rating increase.

Casey Cizikas – 79

Cizikas started with an 80 in NHL 20 which seems a little on the high side now with the year that he just had but he’s still one of the best fourth liners in the game. A 79 seems about right for Zeeker.

Cal Clutterbuck – 78

Like Cizikas, Clutter is a solid fourth liner so he gets a good fourth line rating for NHL 21.

Leo Komarov – 77

He’s basically a poor man’s Cal Clutterbuck, at the same cost essentially, Uncle Leo gets a tad lower of a rating that Cal.

Michael Dal Colle – 75

He doesn’t really give you that much, a 75 seems more than fair for Dal Colle who is a replacement level NHL player.

Ross Johnston – 72

I don’t see enforcers grading out very well in NHL 20.

Defense

Ryan Pulock – 84

Pulock started off last year with an 83, with his steady play in 2020 he deserve a slight bump and to be the Isles highest rated defenseman.

Nick Leddy – 82

I would not grade Leddy this high, but I think EA Sports does because name recognition and what he’s done in the past.

Adam Pelech – 80

Is Pelech better than Leddy in real life? Yes, but in video game standards I don’t see EA giving him a higher grade than Leddy.

Scott Mayfield – 80

Slightly better than what Boychuk is while not as good as Ryan Pulock. Is on the same level as Pelech, probably not in the eyes on Islanders fans but to EA I’m sure they value them about the same.

Johnny Boychuk – 79

Johnny Boychuk at his age is declining slightly year over year. I think he’s fine so a fine NHL 21 grade is what he gets.

Devon Toews – 79

Devon Toews didn’t take the step that I was expecting him to in 2020 so he’s going to start out with the same rating he received in last year’s game.

Noah Dobson – 76

It’s hard to evaluate Dobson’s year but I don’t think you can give him much higher than a 76 to start out with.

Goalies

Semyon Varlamov – 83

Varly has been about a league average goalie in 2019-2020 so he gets a fairly average grade for NHL 21.

Ilya Sorokin – 79

How do you grade someone coming over from the KHL? Well, they gave Igor Shesterkin a 79 last year so that seems like a pretty good starting out point for Sorokin.

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What do you think the Islanders player ratings are going to look like in NHL 21?