Having been around NHLers (and play with some retired ones in men's league now) myself as well they couldn't be any more different then they're being portrayed in these latest series of games. Of course you have outliers but most are nice, professional people who dress well, speak very politely and understand they're representing not only their themselves but the corporate image of the NHL.
Hockey players largely also play by a code where they don't show off that much or it would very quickly become an issue. Remember when Ovi pretended to put his "hot stick" out and the outrage it caused at the time? That was in 2009 and if one of the most famous players in history learned that he can't do it why would a team making an NHL game it's normal to do on every goal? Why would they create and market a game and all their DLC around a culture that has never existed outside of hockey parodies? Who did they advising them that said hockey players act like this? It's just so...unbelievably wrong and that's just the presentation side.
On ice? Here's a short list.
- Players will randomly pass and shoot to nowhere half a dozen times a game with passes that don't make sense and would never occur in real life
- Goalies don't play like that, it's an elegant and precise position with ~10k worth of modern gear
- CPU cannot cycle, pass using the boards, scores on itself, doesn't understand that a net exists when skating or passing
- Defense can't proficiently skate backwards for some reason, if you skate you'll understand what I mean
- Catching a slap shot or dump from 1 foot away breaks your hand into 10,000 pieces since there's no pad in the palm of your glove
- The odds of you intercepting a pass that's outside of your field of view on your stick is about 0.01 percent not 99
- Every player on every play will try to defensively lift your stick. That's literally how you play defense. The idea you'd slash someone on the hands instead of just...miss if you're out of position is bonkers. Absolutely bonkers.
- There's been something like 4 Michigan goals in the history of the NHL. It was founded in 1917.
This game feels as though it was hockey directed by Michael Bay. If you were around for TMNT or the original Transformers you'll also get that reference.
Best way I can describe it is the people who make this game only watch all star games and try to mimic that and call it hockey.
