What is your honest assessment of the game?

Skating:  2/10

Players are way too agile, accelerate way to fast, and move as if they have no weight to them.  Much more detail in this thread about skating.   This is the cause of many of the game's problems, especially online.  The figure skating, the board gyrating, the constant turning back and regrouping, the offensive zone play that looks like Tracey McGrady running an ISO, etc. all relate to this.  The lack of forechecking, the lack of aggressive defensive play, the lack of special teams play looking anything like actual special teams play, etc. are all also related to the skating.  It was much better in the later era of the previous console generation (NHL 14), where you actually had a turning radius that resembled ice skating, and I would argue also better in NHL 94, where you also had more momentum and wider turning radiuses.  Maybe that has something to do with why those games are considered the best?

Shooting:   6/10

It is fine, but it is ready for some innovation similar to the skill stick, which was 15 years ago now.  A more manual shot aiming mechanic (like FIFA), where holding up and to the right would shoot over the net and you would instead have to be more precise with your sticks to hit the corners would be more fun, and put more control into the user's hands.  Right now you just hold up to the right or left and hope the players attributes and RNG interact in a way that lets you score.  Boring, automatic, and one reason why most goals feel like you've seen them a million times before.

Passing:  3/10

EA has somehow arrived at an unhappy medium between passing being too easy and too hard at the same time.  It is way too easy to successfully make and receive hard passes at awkward angles, while sometimes your pass goes nowhere near its intended target.  Offensive players make the most insane puck receptions, at insane speeds and insane angles.

Puck control:  2/10

Way too much puck control.  You can't lose the puck, no matter how much you stickhandle and no matter which player you are using.  Puck pickup reaction speeds are inhuman, even when it is a backhand or other difficult situation.  You can stickhandle through the boards, which essentially widens the rink, favoring possession and controlled (boring) play.  There are no loose pucks, and almost no board play.

Goalies:  5/10

Not horrible, but they save too many shots they shouldn't and let in too many they shouldn't.  Rebounds seem predetermined to either go into the corner or onto someone's stick, with nothing in between.  Instead of short side being too easy like every other year, now far side is too easy.  Maybe settle somewhere in between?  Maybe have a little randomness (based on positioning stats) that impact where the goalie is, to make the user have to actually look before shooting instead of always aiming either near or far side?

Deking:  7/10

The dekes are fine, but almost no one uses them as intended, because it is way easier to figure skate, grind the boards, gyrate, L2/LT, and generally use exploits to get around people than to actually use the deking mechanics as intended.

Defense:  1/10

It feels like you are playing uphill on defense using your stick upside down.  You feel slower than offense, even when not holding dss.  Hitting doesn't work most of the time.  Poking is somehow both too auto-aimed and also not effective enough, as every time you poke the puck away the puck carrier instantly regains it due to inhuman reaction times on puck pickups and horrible puck physics (the puck reacts to poke checks like you are playing outside when it is snowing, or the zamboni has been broken for 3 years at the rink).  Stick lifts are automatic penalties.  Pass interceptions are completely broken, and play by different (way more forgiving) reaction time/orientation rules than pass receptions do.  They have completely nerfed defense this year, and it is really, really bad.

Checking: 2/10

Doesn't work most of the time.  Players shrug off big open ice hits as if nothing happened.  Players get slammed into the boards, stickhandle through the boards, and come out with more speed and complete puck control.  Apparently guys using truculence in HUT/World of Chel have overpowered hitting, but I don't play those modes so I don't see that.  From online versus, hitting is extremely underpowered.

AI:  1/10

Game is unplayable (for me) offline due to AI.  Players take wrong angles at puck carriers, aiming for where they were (essentially back shoulder) instead of where they are going, eliminating any chance at realistic forechecking, backchecking, or defensive zone play.  Defencemen and centers tasked with covering the net front tend to drift up to the high slot/point, which makes the behind the net nonsense way too hard to defend.  Offensive AI when carrying the puck do all kinds of head faking and stutter-stepping that would make Allen  Iverson blush, yet they are completely ineffective and predictable.  Off-puck offensive AI isn't as bad, but it is nowhere near good either.  Its almost as if the AI has gotten WORSE over the years, even with better technology (self driving cars, ChatGPT, etc)

Penalties:   6/10

No real thoughts on this other than stick lifts are broken and almost always result in penalties.

Fighting:   7/10

It is fine, but as with almost everything else in this game, it rewards passivity too much - you are better off not throwing punches and just dodging the whole time, hoping to pull the sweater over the other guy's head.