After the 2003–04 season had begun, Heatley was involved in a car crash that killed teammate Dan Snyder, prompting EA to switch covers to one featuring Joe Sakic.
^† as NHL Hockey ^‡ Joe Thornton was originally chosen, but EA switched to Dany Heatley after Thornton was accused of assaulting two police officers. SUI Roman Josi ( Nashville) (The Josi cover was officially released as a downloadable cover by EA Sports, but the McDavid cover was sold at retail in Switzerland) In Finland, special editions were made for each Liiga team.In Sweden, special edition alternative covers were made, showing Niclas Andersen ( Brynas IF), Mattias Tedenby ( HV71), Samuel Pahlsson ( MODO), Mikael Tellqvist ( Djurgardens IF), Jens Bergenstrom ( Leksand), Erik Forssell ( Skelleftea), Robin Figren ( Frolunda HC), Chad Kolarik ( Linkoping), Tomi Kallio ( Vaxjo), Fredrik Pettersson-Wentzel ( Farjestad BK), Per Ledin ( Lulea), and Jared Aulin ( Orebro).In Toronto, at a surprise autograph signing in a downtown Tim Hortons, a special edition alternative cover was made, showing James van Riemsdyk ( Toronto).
The game is developed under license from the National Hockey League (NHL), which enables the use of the league's team names, stadiums and colors in the game, and the National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA), which enables the use of the League's player names and likenesses.
NHL (colloquially referred to as Chel ) is a series of professional ice hockey simulation video games developed by EA Vancouver and published yearly by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports brand. Mega Drive/Genesis, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega CD, DOS, Game Boy, Sega Saturn, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Game Boy Color, PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, Game Gear, Game Boy Advance, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PlayStation 4, Xbox One Budcat Creations, EA Montreal, High Score Productions, Park Place Productions, Tiertex Design Studios, Visual Concepts, HB Studios