In a generation that is chock-full of young talent, St. Louis Blues scoring machine Vladimir Tarasenko is definitely one of the brightest stars in the game today. Last year the Russian winger graced the cover of NHL 17, joining the likes of Mario Lemieux, Wayne Gretzky, Alexander Ovechkin and Jonathan Toews in a long line of superstars who have been immortalized as a cover athlete.

Ahead of the launch of NHL 18, we had the chance to sit down with Sean Ramjagsingh, producer on EA Sports' NHL series. While discussing the upcoming release, we asked "Rammer" if there was any feature he wouldn't mind seeing make a return to the NHL series as a special Easter Egg. Apparently Rammer isn't the only fan of the series who would like to play with the "Breakaway Cam" once again. 

 

[Sean Ramjagsingh]: From a nostalgic perspective, I might go with the breakaway cam. I think the first time I saw it, I didn’t like it. I probably didn’t like it that entire year. But looking back on it now, it was pretty fun. So back then, in the days of the breakaway cam, everyone was looking for more realism, more authenticity. And then you see something like that and you’re just like, “well that’s not realistic” (laughs). But I think looking back, in hindsight, it was a pretty fun mechanic. No doubt, it took away from gameplay, it ruined the experience…

 

[DZ]: You would have to see the same save over and over.

 

[SR]: (laughs) Yeah, and it felt kind of scripted. But, we sat with Tarasenko last year, with him being on the cover, and the first feature he mentioned loving was the breakaway cam. And we started digging it out a little bit and he was just like, “yeah, from a fun video game perspective, it was a great feature that you guys had in there.” It wasn’t totally realistic, but it’s a video game, so it doesn’t always have to be realistic. And coming from a guy who plays at the highest level in the world, asking about that gameplay mechanic was kind of funny.   

 

 

 

If Tarasenko wants to see the Breakaway Cam make a return, then we should all lobby together to make it happen. Who knows, perhaps it was playing with the Breakaway Cam in NHL 2002 that granted Tarasenko his special offensive gifts.

 

We owe it to the next generation of hockey players to get that feature back in the game. Check back on Friday for our full sit down interview with Rammer, as well as our review of NHL 18.