Goaltending needs massive overhaul for NHL 25
I’m gonna be bluntly honest. The goaltending in the NHL franchise is absolutely atrocious. I play HUT specifically so I am referring to how the goalies compete in that mode but I can only assume that in every mode they are just god awful. Please, when it comes time to work on upgrading for NHL 25 it would be wise and greatly appreciated to upgrade how the goalies play and react overall. It has become way too easy to score on the AI goalies and have your own AI goalie scored upon with complete ease. It is nowhere close to being realistic. I know everyone loves scoring goals, but in the real world, hockey games don’t end with a final score similar to that of a baseball or football game. It is way too easy to deke out the goaltender and put the puck in the back of net or to just pass across the crease and tap it in. They just react way too slow to the action going on in front of them and allow way too many goals that would never happen in the actual NHL. If I were an NHL goaltender and I played this game and saw how awful the goaltenders were made to be I would not be too happy. I would be insulted by the ridiculous amount of goals being scored with complete ease. I feel like when it comes to working on the gameplay EA just completely forgot about the goaltending and making the AI goaltenders more competitive and tougher to score on. A hockey goaltender has one of the toughest jobs in all sports and they put a hell of a lot of time, work, and effort into being at the top of their game to not allow a ridiculous amount of goals to be scored upon them. They deserve the respect of being represented properly by the video game developers who claim to be putting out an officially licensed video game that is supposed to be an authentic and realistic representation of the National Hockey League. I can make a list of things that I would like to see changed and improved upon when it comes to the NHL franchise, but the goaltending is most definitely the most frustrating part of the game to me. The compete level is just nonexistent. I’m sure those at EA who are specifically assigned to working on the NHL franchise are constantly doing their best to improve the game and they have done so throughout the patches released since the game was made available. I know that multiple improvements have been made to the offensive and defensive aspects of the game. The visual as well. Now it is time to show the AI goaltenders a little love and improve their overall performance to where it matches the elite athleticism of their real life counterparts. Dedicating some time specifically to improving this aspect of the game would completely change the game for the better by making it both more competitive and realistic. And if it’s possible, I would like to recommend getting the approval for how the AI goaltenders are being portrayed by at least a few real NHL goaltenders before the release of next year’s game. Because the way the game is now, they are coming across as unathletic, slow reacting bums who never seem to make the right decisions when it comes to defending the net. I apologize for the long post as I’ve been waiting patiently for many years for you guys to make the proper changes which have unfortunately never come. This has been one of the most frustrating and unrealistic aspects of the game for many, many years and has not been improved upon in any significant way. So I figured I would take the time to explain my reasoning and disappointment with hopes that what I have just said will be taken into consideration when it comes time to improving the next installment of the NHL franchise.