Was Stamkos Right for NHL 12 Cover?

During the NHL awards Wednesday night EA Sports announced that Steven Stamkos of the Tampa Bay Lightning would by the next cover-boy for its very popular NHL franchise.

There seemed to be a lot of uproar about Stamkos being selected, despite him being one of the brightest young stars in the game. Judging by the comments on the photos on EA's Facebook Page most fans wanted Tim Thomas on the cover, not Stamkos.

I personally can see it both ways. Thomas did just lead his team to the Stanley Cup and had one of the best years in goal of recent memory, but it is very rare that a goaltender is shown on the cover. The last one to be on the EA Sports cover was John Vanbiesbrouck all the way back for NHL 97.

It makes sense that EA wouldn't put a goalie on the cover, because for the most part you are never playing as the goalie, even though there seem to be big changes to the goalie play this year.

The good news, at least we didn't get a third straight Chicago Blackhawk on the cover.

Overall Stamkos seems like a solid choice, and it could bring some welcomed publicity down to Tampa.