Horrible goalies and the EA Voodoo

Your net-front players did a solid job of applying a goalie screen. 

In an era where most community members clamour for "better AI" - this video is a great example of what "better AI" actually does. 

Funny because I don't have them on crash the net I have them on full cycle, but holding the right trigger sends them towards the net waiting for a tip 

To myself, I feel that the offline experience is better then it has been since at least NHL 21. I won't speak for online and make that clear cause I don't know what it is like and only read and see what people speak about it. I do wonder if catering sliders is part of why it's better offline? I also play a very realistic game of hockey (pick freezes, dump and change lines, dump and chase), so that could be part of it too.

I can post end game stats to show how balanced and competitive my games are (outside of the number of penalties, still need to figure that out).

I have learned to play with the AI and not against it, so I can easily tell it is better then NHL 24 (for myself anyways), as they don't get as lost or do random cuts to try and push themselves into a position they don't need to be. I find there is more need for a calculated strategy in this game, using stamina to your advantage or risk getting scored on if you leave them out for too long. Most times you do want some coverage in front of the net to help with outside shots. 

There is timed skill involved with skill based one timer as if you time them all wrong you will never "green" them and thus make it non affective. As an example for me I played 3 playoff games, I have had 2 goals scored with "green" one tee and the AI one. But during my season after the nerfs I went multiple games without scoring one. It could be better to have an option like NBA 2K were you can select if you want a more risk and reward ability based on how precise you are with the timing but that would require a shooting meter and I don't see how that would benefit NHL at all (for the general population of the game). I don't know if player stats affect it either, that could be a step to if they don't.

Also, when it comes to goalies. My team GAPG for my season was 1.89 and both of my goalies had .905 or above with below 2.00 GAA. My goalie in 3 playoff games has a .928 and a sub 2.00 GAA. So goaltending can be good in the game as well.