The NHL 18 team has made some changes to the player overall ratings this year, making them lower and more spread out than they have been in the past. This will widen the gap on the talent from first liners to fourth and improve franchise logic. Players will see a more defined gap between a player’s value in Franchise Mode, affecting player transactions from trades to waivers.
This will make superstars like Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby stand out more and make it more obvious, the value they bring to their respective teams.
Top prospects like Nolan Patrick and Nico Hischier will be ready to step into the NHL straight out of the NHL Entry Draft. This allows for more authentic drafting, as generally the top picks out of every NHL Entry Draft class are able to step in and make an impact in the NHL.
Below is a general guide to how veteran NHL players fit in with their overall in NHL 18. There will be some crossover as there are players in real-life who find themselves right in between a second line forward and third line scoring forward role:
FORWARDS
- First Line Forward = 85 OVR – 99 OVR
- Second Line Forward = 82 OVR – 85 OVR
- Third Line Scoring Forward = 80 OVR – 82 OVR
- Third Line Checking Forward = 78 OVR – 80 OVR
- Fourth Line Forward = 75 OVR – 78 OVR
DEFENSEMEN
- Top 2 Defenseman = 87 OVR – 99 OVR
- Top 4 Defenseman = 81 OVR – 87 OVR
- Top 6 Defenseman = 78 OVR – 81 OVR
- Top 8 Defenseman = 75 OVR – 78 OVR
GOALTENDERS
- Elite Goaltender = 87 OVR – 99 OVR
- Starting Goaltender = 82 OVR – 87 OVR
- Backup Goaltender = 75 OVR – 82 OVR
EA has started revealing NHL 18 overall player ratings today, we will continue to update this post as they arrive, along with posting the top 10 lists separately.
- Connor McDavid (Overall 93)
- Sidney Crosby (Overall 93)
- Evgeni Malkin (Overall 92)
- Carey Price (Overall 92)
- Alex Ovechkin (Overall 92)
- Patrick Kane (Overall 91)
- Steven Stamkos (Overall 91)
- John Tavares (Overall 90)
- Vladimir Tarasenko (Overall 90)
- Braden Holtby (Overall 90)
- Jamie Benn (Overall 90)
- Nicklas Backstrom (Overall 89)
- Patrice Bergeron (Overall 89)
- Ryan Getzlaf (Overall 89)
- Tyler Seguin (Overall 89)
- Jonathan Toews (Overall 89)
- Nikita Kucherov (Overall 89)
- Sergei Bobrovsky (Overall 89)
- Cory Schneider (Overall 89)
- Joe Pavelski (Overall 88)
- Matt Murray (Overall 88)
- Henrik Lundqvist (Overall 88)
- Devan Dubnyk (Overall 88)
- Tuukka Rask (Overall 88)
- Corey Crawford (Overall 87)
- Taylor Hall (Overall 87)
- Brad Marchand (Overall 87)
- Johnny Gaudreau (Overall 87)
- Max Pacioretty (Overall 87)
- Cam Talbot (Overall 87)
- Auston Matthews (Overall 87)
- Blake Wheeler (Overall 87)
- David Pastrnak (Overall 87)
- Jakub Voracek (Overall 87)
- Leon Draisaitl (Overall 87)
- Jack Eichel (Overall 87)
- Hampus Lindholm (Overall 86)
- Rasmus Ristolainen (Overall 86)
- Wayne Simmonds (Overall 86)
- Patrik Laine (Overall 86)
- Phil Kessel (Overall 86)
- Marc-Andre Fleury (Overall 86)
- Phil Kessell (Overall 86)
- Artemi Panarin (Overall 86)
- Filip Forsberg (Overall 86)
- Eric Staal (Overall 85)
- Gabriel Landeskog (Overall 85)
- James Van Riemsdyk (Overall 84)
- Mikael Backlund (Overall 84)
- Mika Zibanejad (Overall 84)
- Nazem Kadri (Overall 84)
- Bo Horvat (Overall 84)
- Adam Henrique (Overall 83)
- Tyler Johnson (Overall 83)
- Brendan Gallagher (Overall 82)
- Brenden Dillon (Overall 81)
- Chris Wideman (Overall 79)
- Zach Hyman (Overall 79)
- Eddie Lack (Overall 79)
- Brock Boeser (Overall 78)
- J.T. Brown (Overall 77)
- Curtis Lazar (Overall 77)
- Max Jones (Overall 68)
- Kasimir Kaskisuo (Overall 64)
