Reasons Wild Fans Will Love NHL 14

A glimpse of the Iowa Wild in NHL 14. Mandatory Credit: Iowa Wild Facebook Page

As if the release of the NHL 14 demo earlier this week wasn’t enough, Wild fans have officially been given a sneak peak as to what the Iowa Wild will look like in their inaugural season of existence. It looks awesome, to say the least. That said, the baby Wild and their jerseys aren’t the only new things in store for Wild fans once the game is officially released.

If Iowa’s new jerseys are in the game, you can bet Minnesota’s new road whites will be in it, as well. Because, let’s face it, it would just be awkward wearing the one the team has used these past several seasons. But that’s not all–there’s a new roster and new division rivals. Nino Niederreiter, Keith Ballard, Jonathon Blum and Matt Cooke will all don Wild sweaters for the first time in the game series, and young guys like Charlie Coyle and Jason Zucker should have realistic faces both in game play and their profile photo.

What’s more, Erik Haula will be in the game, which is good…especially if he’s in consideration with Coyle and Mikael Granlund for second line center in St. Paul. Johan Gustafsson will also be available for emergency call-ups now that he’ll be sharing time in net with Darcy Kuemper in Des Moines.

Perhaps the biggest point of intrigue, however, is prospect/rookie ratings. Last year, Jonas Brodin went from not even being in the game to jumping in as a 76 rating as a 19-year old rookie in later roster updates. That’s impressive, to say the least. The designers and developers at EA Sports rank the players within the game by using scouting assessments from veteran NHL scouts. Where will they have Granlund, Coyle, Zucker, Brodin and Kuemper ranked this year? How about Niederreiter, Phillips, Dumba and Gustafsson? How will these kids fare against the other promising young talent within the division?

If you haven’t checked out the demo, please do; you won’t be disappointed. The skating is much more fluid and the hits are very realistic, but don’t play dirty or you may be forced to drop the gloves thanks to the game’s new “fight night” technology and “enforcer engine”. Gone Puck Wild will resume the previous programming of Dallas Stars Week after this.