The scene is 2007, we're playing our first couple seasons in simming, when the cover athlete is announced (this was before he was chosen by fan vote). Eric Staal was announced as the cover man, so I immediately traded Brad Richards (a 91 at the time!) for Staal, and I immediately went out and got Rod Brindamour as well (who was an 84 if I recall)

I told everyone that would listen that both of their ratings would sky rocket. Most guys were like "no way,..that doesn't make sense" They were right, it didn't make sense, but this is EA we're talking about.

NhL 08 dropped and Staal was like 90+ and Brindamour was a 90, kid you not. A freaking 90. I was hoping for like 86. Meanwhile J. Franzen was a 75 and he stayed that way despite scoring 27 goals the year before.

Over the years I've seen EA make some truly mind boggling moves with it's player ratings. I for one am really glad they've got this new "real life stats" thingy cause almost every year you'd start a dynasty and and see that Florida has signed some KHL headcase who's still sitting in the FA pool at 84 (like Ian White this year)

Here's my attempt to give you all who are interested a quick snippet on my thoughts on how and why ratings are what they are in new games.

1. EA tends to favor teams that are successful. Ergo, the kings and Rangers players (including those who've moved on like stralman) are likely to be higher than you expect. Ditto for big name FA signings. Watch Niskanen,...I'd be shocked if he didn't go up.
2. EA also favors guys in the 30-34 range who had big seasons even if that big season was years ago. EX: Danny Heater who hasn't been an effective NHL player for years but started the year at 85.
3. EA poops allover old vets who may or may not be good anymore. EX Selanne who at 42 is still miles better than half the league but is only a 81. Ditto for Alfredsson.
4. EA also poops all over unproven rookies. Consider this, I almost promise that Franzen will be rated higher than Nyquist even thought Nyquist outscored him.  Exceptions to this rule are guys who have a lot of "hype" especially Canadian hype. If guys in Leafs nation are saying some D man is the second coming of Bobby Orr he's likely to be over rated. EA doesn't want to hear an entire country whine about that countries national obsession with their teams prospects.
5.Teams that no one watches, Florida, Carolina etc. are not going to have players rated highly no matter what they do. A. Khudobin turned in a great season he never got above 81. Vokoum has been over 84 for the last couple of games (he started one year at 87!) despite being a back up.
6. There are always WTF players. Some of those guys are retired like pronger (started at 85) some are terrible like kopecky (still an 83) some are those prospects that may or may not be any good

The basic unwritten rule of thumb is, if you think you know what a guy's rating is next game, you're probably wrong lol.

Hope this helps

-fear