EA Sports will release NHL 16 on Sept. 15 and their original cover art featuring Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks holding the Stanley Cup will be changed due to the ongoing investigation involving Kane.
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On Wednesday, EA Sports announced in a statement that Kane’s image would be removed from their promotional materials going forward:
“In light of the ongoing investigation involving Patrick Kane, he will no longer be a spokesperson for the launch of EA SPORTS NHL 16.
“He will not appear on the EA SPORTS NHL 16 cover no participate in other EA SPORTS NHL 16 promotional activities.”
Here’s the new cover art featuring a solo Toews:
EA last changed an NHL cover athlete for the NHL 2004 game when it swapped Dany Heatley for Joe Sakic following the car accident that killed Heatley’s Atlanta Thrashers teammate Dan Snyder.
Kane was previously featured on the cover of NHL 10, which was released a month after he was charged with “second-degree robbery, fourth-degree criminal mischief, and theft of services” for an incident involving a Buffalo cab driver. He pled guilty to noncriminal disorderly conduct charges and given a conditional discharge. He remained on the game’s cover.
Sources told The Buffalo News that a woman claimed Kane brought her and a female friend back to his home and followed her into another room and “overpowered her and raped her.”
According to ESPN’s Katie Strang, there is still no timetable for an update on the investigation into the alleged incident that took place at Kane’s Hamburg, N.Y. home two weekends ago. Police are still awaiting the results of forensic tests.
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Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Sean_Leahy
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