The skating was ruined with the introduction of RPM in NHL 19. Their goal was to make everyone skate like a 40 pound McDavid after 60 red bulls and 10 hits of smelling salts, and they achieved it:
https://youtu.be/yJS4uqcUhoc?si=ww2vkrKvwdkc0Fg6
"really quick blends matching exactly what the player is asking for from the input and really that's how McDavid skates in real life"
In other words, no momentum, no responsibility on the user to manage speed vs control. You can be skating at full speed and pretty much turn in any direction you want without losing much if any speed. Everyone's legs move as if they are weightless and they move their feet a million times per minute.
Like everything else in the game, this mostly helps offense. It is hard to angle players out when they can completely change angles at full speed. It is why it is so easy to break out and there is no forechecking. It is why offensive zone play looks more like an Allen Iverson ISO than anything resembling hockey.
The skating was much better with the TPS skating from NHL 13-18:
https://youtu.be/v3YiRzMLsPA?si=HUi4Zn_xwtRby8Kn
"In NHL 13, skating is physics based. When the forward comes in with speed, he has a harder time turning"
When you were skating fast, you actually felt like you were skating fast, because you could feel the momentum when turning. It was actually fun to gain speed, you felt like you were going fast and had momentum.