The ongoing investigation of Chicago Blackhawks’ star Patrick Kane over rape allegations hasn’t produced charges yet, but it has prompted EA Sports to drop Kane from the cover of the forthcoming NHL 16. The game’s cover was initially set to feature both Kane and Blackhawks’ captain Jonathan Toews, who were photographed for it shortly after winning the Stanley Cup in June. Now, it will feature Toews alone, as shown above. Here’s the statement EA released on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/EASPORTSNHL/status/631533307013017600/photo/1
This isn’t the first time EA has had to change course on a NHL cover. The most infamous one happened ahead of the release of NHL 2004; Joe Thornton was the initial target, but was dropped after charges of assaulting and obstructing police, leading to a switch to Dany Heatley. Heatley was then at the wheel in a car crash that killed teammate Dan Snyder and led to charges, eventually including vehicular homicide; he reached a plea deal in the end and avoided jail time, but was sentenced to three years of probation. EA quickly switched cover athletes again to Joe Sakic, but the initial games with Heatley on them had already shipped to stores, so there are two different covers of NHL 2004 floating around out there.
Interestingly enough, there were discussions that EA would change course on the cover ahead of NHL 10, which also featured Kane. That summer saw Kane charged with assault and robbery in Buffalo in a dispute over cab fare. EA stuck with him and those charges were eventually dropped in return for Kane pleading guilty to a non-criminal disorderly conduct charge.
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