Sudden Gameplay Change, Slower/Delayed?

First time posting, checked the other forums and this seemed like the one that had similar posts since the game came out.

I played NHL today for the first time since mid-May, franchise mode, and noticed gameplay felt entirely different. My question is, was the update I was asked to download today one that affected gameplay and changed it drastically? And if not, is there a bug or known issue and fix out there I can use to get my game back to normal?

I'll do my best to describe it, I know a few other people have had similar questions and symptoms so trying to help them too. All my sliders and settings are the same as before in mid-May, but my players skate totally different (a LOT more rounding as they skate, no sharp cuts or changes of direction, slower overall and to react when I switch to them and try skating a different direction) and are MUCH slower to deliver/receive passes and attempt shots. Before, shooting and passing were instantaneous to my input, now it's like it takes an extra second from my input before my player passes or shoots.

It's like playing an entirely new type of game with my team compared to last month. Opposing CPU players seem to be playing different as well, more aggressive, more hits, goalies much harder to beat, but I'm not sure if this is also part of changes I'm noticing, or a byproduct of the issues my players are having. I've tried testing it in other modes and reloaded past franchise save files, and it's also the same. Changing gameplay version from "Latest" to "V1.00" also didn't affect anything. I only play my main franchise save file, nothing online H2H. Unfortunately, I don't have any old captures from before the issue that I can share to compare it with.

Do you have any idea what the issues are, and a way to fix them? Appreciate you helping the community on these forums!