EASHL main here. This is one thing I have been saying for a bit now. While I will say that hitting is more difficult in this game, it is not impossible. That being said, when someone does connect, you can be down for up to 10 seconds at times which is fine with me as it rewards someone who makes a good hit. But if I get rid of the puck early and than up to a second or more later, am getting plastered on the boards without a call (or a way to defend myself) than that makes it unbalanced for the offense. Now, either I have to deliberately hold onto the puck just so I can use the reverse hit option on the opposing player before giving it off or pass the puck off with no way to defend myself and potentially being taken out of the play for an extended period of time. As a Defenseman, this could cause an odd man rush just because I made the right play of passing the puck off quick. This is why I think we need to restrict the hitting timer to be lower OR, and this might be a mechanical change which wouldn't happen I imagine, the ability to reverse or brace for hits like was mentioned in past games' controls list with the "brace" option.
Nothing is more frustrating than giving up an Odd-man rush or a breakaway even because you gave the puck off early at the point only for a winger to hit you over a second later with no call and you are stuck waiting seconds to get back up.