NHL 24 caters to the toxic community of the Series

It shouldn't be surprising that the game is going to cater to the people who are going to open their wallets to get whatever advantage they can get and to people who have no problem making playing the game an essential 2nd full time job. EA is a business out to make as much money as possible, not deliver the best experience for all players. There is zero reason Squad Battles couldn't be 5-10 games that count towards ranking/rewards and a bunch extra that are just for fun. It would be a hell of a lot more fun and competitive because a ton of people now actually have a shot to compete for the higher rewards because currently they don't have the time and/or desire to play THIRTY EIGHT games against the computer that has a team comprised of players somebody else built just for the CHANCE to get the best rewards. There isn't a reason there can't be an option to have a maximum opponent team overall option to weed out playing against people who have super teams against your low rated team. There isn't a reason why Champions can't have at least 2-3 divisions so that everybody gets the chance to compete for the best rewards. 

None of these things are just randomly happening, they are carefully/deliberately/intentionally done so that it encourages people to purchase packs in order to keep up with the people who are spending their money. At the end of the day the people who should be held responsible are the ones who are paying for the packs, if nobody bought packs and EA gave reasonable chances to get rewards it would be a much more even and far more fun playing field.