Please Help this Offline gamer

I know many of you primarily play online, but I'm looking for help as a strictly offline player.

Before I spend the money, I was just wondering what offline play is like. I play franchise mode--building the roster, lines, chemistry... then I sim the regular season and play some playoff games. I can't even tell you how badly I want to decompress this weekend by getting seasons deep into franchise mode.

BUT. My fun is always spoiled by the gameplay. I can look past the shortcomings of franchise mode (although it seems they've given it some love?), but what I can't look past is being able to skate straight past professional defensemen on the hardest difficulty for easy goals. Or the ballerina spinnies. Or not being able to simply clear the puck out of my own zone (whoever thought of this is an absolute **bleep**). So please, PLEASE someone tell me that the offline AI has improved? I'll even take the spinnies and dumpless-defense if the game is at least difficult. I'm tired of slider-searching.

Any help would be greatly appreciated before I spend what little money I have. Thanks!