EA's NHL '13 offers chance to create Ultimate Team

In 1979, the WHA's All-Stars played a three-game series against HC Moscow Dynamo in an event noteworthy because hockey legend Gordie Howe played on a line with his son Mark and a burgeoning young star named Wayne Gretzky.

In the first game of an eventual sweep for the WHA, the line combined for seven points.

Such a collaboration of historic talent in one place has rarely been echoed, though Gretzky and Mario Lemieux playing on the same line at the 1987 Canada Cup and Canada's roster at the 2010 Winter Olympics come to mind. Still, the fact remains that fans will never get to see all of the greats playing together in their prime. Sidney Crosby will never share ice with Jari Kurri and Bobby Hull, Bobby Orr will never pair on the blue line with Erik Karlsson and likewise, the two of them will never play in front of Patrick Roy.

For those wondering just how that dream team lineup might look, however, EA SPORTS could have the solution.

All-Star games and fantasy hockey have given us a glimpse of how the greats would play together for years so long as they're contemporaries, but when EA releases NHL '13 this month, fans will get the chance to see how any legend from any era would have played with anyone else. With the Hockey Ultimate Team mode in EA SPORTS NHL '13, gamers will be able to build rosters from a pool that includes over 4,000 current and past players from the NHL and other leagues around the world. Ultimate Team mode gives gamers the opportunity to build their ideal all-time fantasy team.

Several NHL players recently gave EA SPORTS their own preferences on whom would make their ultimate roster among the League's current players. Claude Giroux chose a starting five of himself with Pavel Datsyuk and Steven Stamkos up front, Karlsson and Zdeno Chara on the blue line and Pekka Rinne in net. Rinne, for his part, opted for a lineup of Rich Peverley, Mikko Koivu and Teemu Selanne with a defense of two players he knows awfully well in Shea Weber and Ryan Suter and Martin Brodeur manning the crease.

Regardless of just which hockey legends gamers choose to put on their all-time ultimate lineups, Ultimate Team mode on EA's NHL '13 is certain to give users an experience in gameplay that is unique among hockey video games and a first in the 23-year history of EA's NHL series.

EA SPORTS NHL 13 will be released for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on Sept. 11. For more information, fans can visit http://www.easports.com/nhl.