Mind boggling AI

It would appear that EA's intentions, defensively, for '25 is to make defenders stay back to an unrealistic degree.

For instance, take a look at this recent comment by the community manager regarding their defensive playstyle adopted for '25:

 I've mostly been playing WoC and haven't been seeing a lot of breakaways. I also play pretty conservative D and tend not to cross the blue line unless all opposing players are deep enough in their zone.

In my opinion, an NHL caliber skater should be able to enter the o-zone if the puck is below the hash marks and still be able to generate enough speed to match most puck carriers should a turnover happen and the defense needs to retreat. 

Having so sit back outside of the o-zone to anticipate a streaking forward, might be something you need to do when playing Tuesday night pickup hockey, but not in the NHL.

Backskating top speed needs to be upped just enough so that most players aren't being burned constantly for maintaining proper positioning in the O-Zone. 

Not calling for a full buff, but something that allows adept defenders to remain parallel with puck carrier and recipients. It seems the offensive players get a slight speed buff as they approach the net. 

Watch Yakupov here. His insane burst of speed through the neutral zone and while entering the o-zone is crazy