Goalies are god awful this year.. What a joke Edit: Removed profanity. Per the Answers HQ rules, please keep your posts free of swearing. -CM

EA just once again, has the wrong people making decisions with this franchise, it’s so infuriating.Right now, most people are still in the honeymoon phase with this game and don’t see how this crap is going to play out with what they’ve done to the goalies, and the implications this is going to have on the overall gameplay once people really figure the game out. Let me explain…People cried about cross crease goals going in the last few years, when in reality it’s their horrible defence allowing teams to get them in the first place. Granted, pass interceptions were abysmal and complete RNG at times. Now pass interceptions were worked on for 23, and are actually pretty decent now when compared to NHL 22, that alone was enough of a nerf to the cross crease meta, because now the D actually have the tools to pick off these passes and be rewarded for good positioning. This is how the game should be balanced, THE HUMAN D given the tools to succeed!!! But once again, EA, rather than putting the game in the players hands, decides to double down on AI determining the outcome of games, by now bailing out massive defensive breakdowns by human users, when they have just been given the tools to succeed to stop it themselves in the first place.Why year after year do these devs feel the need to make the AI more impactful in the game, when in reality they should be as non impactful as possible. Not only that, but the fact EA doesn’t realize that each mode needs to be tuned completely seperate from one another. Again, let me explain…Offline modes, the AI should be impactful, and provide a challenge for offline players by being aggressive and having goalies and AI defenders be difficult to beat. Move on to online HUT and Versus mode…. You can only control 1 player at a time in these modes, so the AI should be positionally solid, but very passive, which would force players to have to switch when defending and not just rely on the AI playing fetch for them. Positionally good so that when SWITCHED TO by the human, they can make a play. Goalies in HUT and versus should also be CONSISTENT in what goes in the net, and should not be the reason teams win or lose.Now onto EASHL, imo AI shouldn’t even exist in this mode, this should 100% be purely humans, it’s what the mode was made for, but I get that not everyone can get a full squad on to play and it would suck not being able to play at all. That being the case, the AI should literally be pylons in this mode, they should be treated like BOTS in fortnite, where they are just beyond bad and not impactful, but just there to be enough of a decoy. This is not HUT or versus where you only have control of 1 player, you have other human user teammates there that should be reading plays and playing man on man coverage anyways. The AI goalies in club, again should be as consistent as possible, they should not have these constant save of the year moments and determine the outcome of games while the other teams goalie plays like a peewee bum. I honestly don’t get the mindset of these devs thinking the AI in online modes should be as good as your average player in this game, when in reality they should be bad which will force you to find other humans to play with.These human goalies being programmed to make these miraculous cross crease saves is a complete joke and people don’t realize how the meta of the game is going to further turn into a 1 man show style of play because passing simply won’t be rewarded anymore. I’m already 150+ games into playing 23, I’m 52-2-1 in drop ins, 19-0-0 in HUT, global champion for 1s eliminator, 12-0-0 in 3s eliminator, and 63-3-3 in club, I can 100% tell you guys, the meta is to pass as little as possible. Puck interceptions being jacked up, and goalies stopping cross creases the way they are, means breakaways, wrist shot and slap shots, taking it to the net, and rebounds are now the meta. Not once of those things in the meta requires you to pass the puck, does nobody else realize this?Please for the love of god NHL devs, please rethink your mindset on how you tune this game…

@EA_Aljo Instead of uploading the whole 20+ minute game I broke it down into a bunch of shorter videos. Keep in mind all of these clips are from a single game, except for the very last one which is from our immediate rematch against them. I hope you and everyone else watch all these clips, because they get progressively worse as we go.Heres our first good chances of the game. Wide open one tee saved followed by a wide open wrister from the same spot and another chance in tightHeres there counter a few moments later:Not great D by our wing but the dman had a clean poke that failed entirely and then our goalie cant get over to make a save, which would be fine if theirs didnt go on to stop 24 shots. Bonus clip of blatant interference that goes uncalled:Later on in the game I get a clean lane to the net when one dude is shot out of a cannon on the backcheck but i still get off a pretty good chance that is stuffed. Again not awful, but when the other team is scoring on every look they get, its annoying.More robbery from their goalieMore of the sameBy the way, to this point both of our goals are from penalty shots. Which shouldnt even be in the game and I would still love someone to tell me why were forced to play with made up rules in a competitive game mode but no one ever can answer that.Heres some more robbery from their goalie followed by our goalie being entirely uselessMore saves from their goalieI get a clean break in against the goalie but cant get a shot off because of the goalies stickMe getting stoned on a break again and then immediately getting robbed on a cross creaseAgain, not my best moves or anything but another clean look thats stopped followed by an insane save on the second chance play.Heres a shooting gallery of shots that start off a little clunky at first but capped off by the desperation save on the backdoor manual sauce over the defender, which leads to a break out where they score of course. Sorry for cutting the clip short by a secondMore dumb savesWe continue to pressure and naturally get caught giving up a 2-0, our goalie fails to make a save where their goalie has stopped a bunch of these exact looks, if not even better onesSecond bonus clip from our rematch against them. More insane saves followed by them just stumbling around and scoring on accidentAs you see, in a vacuum, some of these arent that bad, and you'd almost expect 1-2 of these in a game, but this happened over and over again all game. The outcome of the game was totally taken out of our control by AI goalies. Theirs made incredible saves all game long and ours couldnt do anything. This shouldnt be happening. Giving one team Dominik Hasek, and the other a beer league goalie ruins the game.

@EA_Aljo I mean any of the devs, or anyone curious about what’s wrong with the goalies can just go watch any streamer on twitch playing at a high level, and immediately see that almost all of them complain about the goalies determining wins and losses.These goalies are making saves they have no business making on actual skilled plays, yet the only way to consistently score is complete RNG non skilled plays like rebounds, tips, or just driving it into the net without shooting.This game is going to be a laughing stock at the GWC if these goalies aren’t changed. There’s almost no skill or reward left in playing this dumpster fire of a game

Goalies are decent in hockey plays, but everything else god awful.Skate straight line forget to shot and ram the goalie, goal. Where’s the interference? Shots from zero and negative angle, goalie makes a save opposite direction leaving the post open, goal. How about try to pass a goal, yup goas in because goalie still doesn’t react to opponents passes when close. How many years this bug has been in the game?

This is not a game for people who:A-Understand real hockey and want a somewhat remotely similar experience. B-Plays DefenseC-Plays Goalie. This game is targeting very blatantly: -Racists (black guys blonde beards and racists names rampant, especially from Qc players) -Kids who want to "danglez snipez" and have as little resistance as possible to doing whatever they want with the puck. Its pretty sad.

Goalies | EA Forums

46 Replies

VeronicatheCD
3 years ago
I never got in this game the shuffling while in butterfly. Butterfly is a horrible playing style that got popular in the 90s and early 2000s because players were shooting low. But you can see it mastered here by this goalie who does the impossible to adjust himself in butterfly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnloWZxv2Ss

Now, about 3:55 you can see an actual goalie shuffle a bit while in butterfly. Notice how the legs come up momentarily to open up the five hole and it takes the time to make one step NHL 23 goalies do in five.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s_u-eVfxlI

No stress in the game in moving so fast, no sign of severe focus on moving the legs by the top being unsteady - just sliding back and forth as if it weren't a thing.
VeronicatheCD
3 years ago
Here is some more magic goalie movement. He manages to, from a butterfly, float across the net without pushing off of anything. He isn't pushing off his right pad or the post, he just floats over and then jams down the puck. There is no beating the goalie anymore - it is only shooting where the goalie doesn't expect it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hxjbVCBFyQ
VeronicatheCD
3 years ago
And here we see some pushoff to go quite far, but you really see how it treats it like the surface between his pads and the ice was frictionless, like an air hockey puck. He glides way more than in a real game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlogYmkt3pc
kyl_35
Seasoned Ace
3 years ago
@VeronicatheCD wrote:
I never got in this game the shuffling while in butterfly. Butterfly is a horrible playing style that got popular in the 90s and early 2000s because players were shooting low. But you can see it mastered here by this goalie who does the impossible to adjust himself in butterfly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnloWZxv2Ss

Now, about 3:55 you can see an actual goalie shuffle a bit while in butterfly. Notice how the legs come up momentarily to open up the five hole and it takes the time to make one step NHL 23 goalies do in five.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s_u-eVfxlI

No stress in the game in moving so fast, no sign of severe focus on moving the legs by the top being unsteady - just sliding back and forth as if it weren't a thing.
I don’t see anything unrealistic about the execution of the push from Gibson here. That is a very easy move to execute. I do have some issues with it, though.

1) It appears the puck is far enough out that he should be back on his feet by the time the shot is taken.
2) He is pushing over and up, which means he has to move a lot further for a simple catch. Goalies should get their angle first and then (with enough time) gain depth.

Without knowing more about the shot I can only assume some parts of the play.
kyl_35
Seasoned Ace
3 years ago
@VeronicatheCD wrote:
Here is some more magic goalie movement. He manages to, from a butterfly, float across the net without pushing off of anything. He isn't pushing off his right pad or the post, he just floats over and then jams down the puck. There is no beating the goalie anymore - it is only shooting where the goalie doesn't expect it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hxjbVCBFyQ
This one is very annoying for a couple reasons. You’re right that he hasn’t pushed off anything and that he should be pushing off the post. The goalie’s right leg in this case is in horrendous position before the push every begins. By now every goalie in the league has mastered the RVH to the point you could say they over-rely on it. There is no way an NHL goalie has his leg on the outside of the post when trying to do an RVH.

I also don’t like how he can shift the angle of the left side of his body without using any momentum.
EA_Aljo
Community Manager
3 years ago
Thanks for all the clips, everyone. Definitely appreciate you all submitting them. If we have any news on goalie changes, we'll make an announcement.
IceLion68
3 years ago
@SilentAssassn25 wrote:
I disagree. goalies are much better than they were in the beta. you can still abuse the cheese but its much harder due to the increased D ability.
What is this alleged "increased D ability" you speak of, because where I (and many I know) are standing, playing Defense is in the worst state its been in for some years now, it might even be worse than G right now
Trisixty66
New Adventurer
3 years ago
There's no problem at all about goalies being better. The problem is goalies making incredible and desperate saves on every perfect plays. The feeling is that you don't get rewarded for making great plays you get goals only with the same kind of far side shot, wraparound and garbage plays. IT'S NOT FUN! Btw, goalies are as good on rookie and that's a big problem too, cause causal players have even more problems! At least, goalies should play regarding their difficulty levels.
SonicEquator
Rising Rookie
3 years ago
I, agree with you on this one. The Goaltenders don't cover the posts, the Computer knows where to score and it's totally frustrating. I, hate this Deking of the Goalie crap, the Goaltender doesn't stop any of the shots. Boring.
fyb06qhp9uma
3 years ago
Go online look at leader boards skaters shooting percentage to goalie save percentage good goalies should be. Around 85save percentage to 87 good skater shooting percentage should be around 20%not 50% adjust your sliders accordingly up goalie save rang reflex and recover it's like freaking Connor mcdavid shooting on a high school jv goalie it's ridiculous and what happens to goalie interference constantly getting run into with no call fix your.game ea should be embarrassedput people back in box for like the rule is game changing gives the goalie a chance

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