I think in general intercepting passes is in a better place now than it was in NHL 23, but there's still a lot of work to do. There's still too many plays where defenders in good position are punished by either pucks going through/under sticks or just bad animation choices outside of their control.
Here our opponents had been forcing passes all game to the point where we weren't even worried about anything else. My partner tries to block the passing lane by going down on a knee while I've got the inside position on the target of the pass. My stick doesn't touch my partner ( see the angle at the 7s mark ) and it looks like my player goes into a pass interception animation but for whatever reason decides to lift his stick off the ice just enough to let the pass through.
This one just goes through my stick blade. Again, I have the inside position, I'm in a glide and still get burned by factors outside my control. TWF build with 85 defensive awareness and stick checking on this one too.
And then there's the poor animation choices that burn defenders.
This one's been around for a few years. Again inside position and plenty of time to react to the pass but the game decides I want to pick off the pass in a spot where it allows the offensive player to get it first.
Here I make a bad pass to a defender in good position. Initially it looks like he's going to block the pass with his stick, but at the last second the game decides that kicking it towards his own net is the better option. A completely undeserved goal for. "Punished for playing defense" is a phrase that comes out of me and my teammate's mouths way to often playing NHL 24.
Here again I force a pass towards a defender in good position. All he needed to do was keep his stick on the ice and he picks off or at least disrupts the pass. But the game decides he wants to lift his stick up and over the pass instead leading to another undeserved goal.
