Community Manager
@KlariskraysNHL wrote:
@EA_Aljo I personally think making the defender have to do more is the better option. Let's be honest if they shore up the short side shot even more that goalie is getting toasted far side unless they making goalies godlike in side to side movement.
Then i truly believe you need a center who can read a play and know where and how to cover for a defender.
Agreed with your comment about having a good center. Which, I do. He's more defensive minded than offense and makes for a great backup defender since I am playing more aggressively at times. It also depends how your opponents are playing though. Within the first period we can determine their go-to plays and better anticipate what they're going to do. Your goalie is your last line of defense. We try to have their job be as easy as possible. Chances are good that when a goal is scored against us, it's due to a break down in defense more than an issue with the goalie. Of course, goalies could use improving though. I'm definitely not saying they're fine.
The last several years we've had complaints about the short side. I always said if we make this harder, it's going to be easier to score on the far side. Hopefully, we can find a good balance so neither are exploited. Both are good ways to score in the real world. I'd like to see that better implemented in our game as well, but there most likely will always be goals that are easier to score than others. Which then just continues the cycle of teams setting up for the same shot over and over again. Thankfully, that means those teams are easier to defend against. The truly challenging ones are teams that have amazing chemistry and know how to set up good plays.
When I played Junior these shots were common, especially blocker side since it's their weaker end. Although that might be the goalie would adjust their play and cover those common areas. The opposing team would then have to setup by cycling the puck looking for a reasonable shot on net. In these games it was more defensive than offensive since the physicality added to the gameplay. As a D-man the job was to drive the opposing players to the outside laying them out before entering the zone. Strong-side D-men went for the check, while the weak-side covered the middle of the ice driving the right side opponents to the outside also. Goalies at a competitive level knew how to position properly and would stop the same shot if it was repeated numerous times. NHL 23 the goalies don't adapt and let in weak goals. It was costly for a GWC competitor to lose out based off a goal that bounced off the boards and went into the net when the goalie was staring right at it. Waiting for NHL 24 to fix things is too long of a way giving the current product is unacceptable for what we paid full for. Need to fix it or give us compensation to match the quality.
