I agree that there are issues with the existing passing. I find myself constantly changing my pass aim assist to find the sweet spot where my passes go where I want but also don't lock onto unintended targets.
With that said, I think icon passing "dumbs down" the passing when it comes to competitive play. It levels the playing field between those good at passing and those that are not. Passing is an integral part of hockey. It literally can be the difference between scoring and not, winning and losing, etc. I don't think it should be treated as a "here's a face button to do it for you" type of deal.
I think the quality of life benefits make more sense for offline play, where if someone struggles with passing it makes the game more accessible to them. But for competitive play, I would honestly encourage you to do what I do--- try to tweak your pass aim assist to find where the pass aim isn't locking you onto unintended targets. You may have to continue to tweak this as you change your attributes or swap out boosts for new boosts.
