EA Sports has released the first ratings for NHL 26, kicking off everyone’s favorite phase ahead of launch with the strongest defensemen of the league.<\/p>\n
Editor’s Picks<\/p>\n
2 Related<\/p>\n
Quinn Hughes<\/a> of the Vancouver Canucks<\/a> has been crowned as the most stalwart defender with 95 OVR, boasting fantastic mobility and speed to boot. On top of being the highest-rated player of his position, the American is among the top five highest-rated athletes in the entire game.<\/p>\n Following very close behind him is Colorado Avalanche<\/a> defender Cale Makar<\/a> with the same 95 OVR, but slightly lower stats in Speed and Passing, earning him sixth rank overall.<\/p>\n Zach Werenski<\/a>, Roman Josi<\/a>, Victor Hedman<\/a>, and Rasmus Dahlin<\/a> are chasing the top duo with 92 OVR each, which is enough for Werenski and Josi to slip into the overall top 20.<\/p>\n Here are the top 20 defenders in NHL 26:<\/p>\n Quinn Hughes, Vancouver Canucks: (95 OVR)<\/p>\n Cale Makar, Colorado Avalanche: (95 OVR)<\/p>\n Zach Werenski, Columbus Blue Jackets<\/a>: (92 OVR)<\/p>\n Roman Josi, Nashville Predators<\/a>: (92 OVR)<\/p>\n Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay Lightning<\/a>: (92 OVR)<\/p>\n Rasmus Dahlin, Buffalo Sabres<\/a>: (92 OVR)<\/p>\n Miro Heiskanen<\/a>, Dallas Stars<\/a>: (91 OVR)<\/p>\n Jaccob Slavin<\/a>, Carolina Hurricanes<\/a>: (90 OVR)<\/p>\n Josh Morrissey<\/a>, Winnipeg Jets<\/a>: (90 OVR)<\/p>\n Adam Fox<\/a>, New York Rangers<\/a>: (90 OVR)<\/p>\n Jake Sanderson<\/a>, Ottawa Senators<\/a>: (89 OVR)<\/p>\n Gustav Forsling<\/a>, Florida Panthers<\/a>: (89 OVR)<\/p>\n Charlie McAvoy<\/a>, Boston Bruins<\/a>: (89 OVR)<\/p>\n Evan Bouchard<\/a>, Edmonton Oilers<\/a>: (88 OVR)<\/p>\n Colton Parayko<\/a>, St. Louis Blues<\/a>: (88 OVR)<\/p>\n Moritz Seider<\/a>, Detroit Red Wings<\/a>: (88 OVR)<\/p>\n Dougie Hamilton<\/a>, New Jersey Devils<\/a>: (88 OVR)<\/p>\n John Carlson<\/a>, Washington Capitals<\/a>: (88 OVR)<\/p>\n Noah Dobson<\/a>, Montreal Canadiens<\/a>: (88 OVR)<\/p>\n Drew Doughty<\/a>, Los Angeles Kings<\/a>: (88 OVR)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EA Sports has released the first ratings for NHL 26, kicking off everyone’s favorite phase ahead of launch…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97280,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":["post-97279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}