from Michael Traikos of the National Post,

Beginning on April 30 — and running for four weeks — the NHL will be holding a 32-team NHL Player Gaming Challenge on EA Sports’ NHL 20 video game. Every team will be represented by actual NHL players, including Seattle, though it has NFL tight end Luke Wilson picking up a controller for the charitable competition.

The NHL Foundation and Electronic Arts will donate a combined $100,000 in support of the CDC Foundation’s COVID-19 relief efforts.

The first game, which is being broadcast on Sportsnet Now in Canada and on NBCSN in the United States, will be a brotherly affair, with Calgary’s Matthew Tkachuk taking on Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk....

“We’ve never done this before, getting our top gamers from the league to come together in a full league competition,” said Chris Golier, NHL Vice President of Business Development. “It’s really part of the hockey at home initiative. It’s the statement that everybody should be safe and distancing and doing the right thing. This is another evolution of that initiative.

“I don’t think we would have been able to pull something like this off if not for the pause.”

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