Poke-check wonkiness
I actually think poke-checks are in a better place in NHL 25 than they have been in recent years, but there's still some kinks to work out. My main concern is that quite often the poke check doesn't move the puck when it should. It may dislodge it briefly from the offensive player's stick, but it doesn't get knocked away like it should. This often just results in the offensive player picking the puck right back up.
There are plenty of time where poke-checks in situations exactly like the clips below are successful and do knock the puck away. But there are still too many (IMO) plays where we get results like the ones below. I'd like to see more consistency. Especially when the defender is hustling and "carrying" the puck with one hand on the stick.
Context: EASHL club games. The defenders in these clips have between 90-92 defensive awareness and stick checking.
I'll start with the least egregious example. On the surface this looks bad, but I think because the main thrust of the poke didn't happen until after the animation moving the defender's stick into place ( and through the offensive player's stick and the puck ) was finished the actual "poke" portion of the animation wasn't touching the puck. Still looks bad at a glance though.
In the next two clips the offensive player is carrying the puck with one hand on the stick, so you'd think it should be easy to knock away. But in both cases the defender's poke goes right through or somehow under the puck and just brings it to a stop.
And lastly, there the times where the initial thrust of the poke check isn't enough to knock the puck away, but the animation of pulling the stick back can pick up the puck and return it to the offensive player.
