Ducks’ Trevor Zegras, women’s hockey star Sarah Nurse named NHL 2K23 cover athletes

Anaheim Ducks’ phenom Trevor Zegras will grace the cover of EA Sports’ NHL 2K23 alongside Canadian women’s hockey star Sarah Nurse.

Zegras became an overnight sensation last December when he pulled off the alley-oop assist from behind the net to Sonny Milano against the Buffalo Sabres, which has since been dubbed “The Zegras.” The move has been programmed into this year’s game.

The ninth overall pick of the 2019 NHL Draft also scored two Michigan-style goals throughout the season and finished in second place in the Calder Trophy voting, which is awarded to the league’s most outstanding rookie (Detroit’s Moritz Seider took home the award).

Zegras, despite not officially being named an All-Star, was invited to All-Star Weekend in Las Vegas and participated in the shootout competition, doing his best Peter LaFleur impression from “Dodgeball.”

The 21-year-old led all rookies with 61 points — his 23 goals were tied for the second-most among rookies.

TREVOR ZEGRAS SCORES LATE ON POWER PLAY, DUCKS BEAT BRUINS

Nurse recently won the gold medal in Beijing, and also won gold in the IIHF Women’s World Hockey Championships last year. 

She led the Olympics with 18 points (five goals, 13 assists) and was named an all-star forward. She had a goal and an assist in the gold medal game.

Nurse is the first female cover athlete of the game.

“It’s something that I never even thought was in the realm of possibilities,” Nurse told ESPN. “I never even dreamed of being on it. And so I think that it’s huge, and I think that it just speaks for where women’s hockey is right now, the visibility and the value that people see in women’s hockey.”

The cover will officially be released on Thursday, and the game will be released on Oct. 14.