What improvements are we all looking for in 25?

I'd like a smoother menu system. The most annoying part of playing WoC right now is sitting through a seemingly unending sequence of menu transitions that take ages and are interrupted by splash screens advertising battle pass or whatever. 

Call of Duty has a great interface not because it's simple (in fact, it's a very comprehensive U.I.) but because it's responsive. It seems like any time EA gets their menus running quickly, it's only like that for a year before some other trend makes its way into popular titles and EA tries to shoehorn a cumbersome version of said trend in an effort to remain relevant in the menu wars. 

Agreed. The unresponsiveness of the menus (especially in WoC but also even the basic main menu lol) is probably the worst I've seen out of any AAA game I've played over the last 5 years, at least. 

I'm not sure why shifting from the "suggested for you" menu to the "online" menu when the game starts up has ANY lag whatsoever. That said, WoC is legitimately EGREGIOUS when it comes to how unresponsive its UI is... Navigating the store to buy new equipment is CRAZY slow and even worse? Customizing your player is the most tedious experience ever. 

Wait I don't get why you'd want Total Control disabled in HUT games. What makes HUT games different than OVP games or Club games? Just because you pay money for cards (LOL) doesn't mean that mode is somehow more "legit." But that's beside the point... the point is that YOU can use Total Control controls as well, right? So there's really no need to disable it. 

I agree with the rest of your post, though. ESPECIALLY the speed-boost hitting. Needs to be GONE.

As I said in the op I don't play other modes other than hut so I can't comment on what other modes are competitive 

Yes I know I can use Total control. I would rather not play the game with with stabilisers on. Total control is for people that are new to the game or struggle with skill stick. Simplifying the controls with things like the Michigan, Hip checks or auto aimed shoulder checks should not be in any competitive mode, imo. 

Also, I don't pay for anything other than the game itself. I find it more rewarding building a team by grinding the modes in HUT. 

What improvements am I looking for in NHL 25?

More realistic checking (not every hit should send a player flying).

Disable total control in competitive modes like HUT or HUT Champions. ( or like make michigan harder)

Balance between offensive and defensive gameplay—it feels lopsided at times.

Nerf the speed boost when checking; it’s just too much.

Protecting the puck should actually make it easier to knock players off balance, not harder. It feels unrealistic right now.

Better AI team intelligence, though I think some of this might be addressed.

Also, why was the speed boost for checking even reintroduced? It’d be great if changes like this went through a public survey or poll so players could have more of a say.

can we just revert back to NHL 23 hitting and just revamp that minus speed boost hitting.  24's change to hitting was so atrocious i just run into players instead.  Most of them would stumble or fall and I would achieve the goal of a hit minus the horrendous shoulder check move is is more broken than i could have ever imagined it could have been. 

"Funny" story.  My very first BAP game in 24 I got hit via a speed boost hit by the CPU and it threw my player from one end of the ice to the other into the corner boards and injured my player for the entire year.  

I wasn't very impressed as you would have imagined.

More consistency in bodychecking. Hitting guys shoulder to chest and just sliding off three player is extremely annoying.

Big defenseive builds made more viable. At the competitive level, big defensemen just don't exist because they have to keep up with tiny, 95 speed forwards who can turn on a dime. Maybe up raise the max speed of defensive builds.

Fewer EA goals where the goalie makes a save, but the puck bounces around every piece of his equipment before finally going in the net. Also fewer instances where the goalie knocks the puck into the net himself.

More consistency in net battles. Enable defenders to more consistently engage in successful tie ups in front of the net. Make forwards work for their deflections and backdoor goals.

Bring back the high flip. It was nerfed way too hard in NHL 24 specifically to make the pressure system more effective.

Rework hip checks. There's no reason a 5'7" 160 lb player should send a giant defenseman toppling to the ground because he slightly nudged him.

Rework the menus. The menu systems have been so sluggish and tedious to navigate for a long time. There's times where I wanna hop into a game in WoC, but I dread the thought of having to wait 5 minutes just to get to a lobby. I dread accidentally pressing the wrong button because I know I'll have to wait for every single tab and menu to slowly load before I can get back to where I was before. 

I'd really like to see some stricter hitting rules. There are times when I am getting hit over 1.5 seconds later of me getting rid of the puck and no interference call is made. Sometimes, these hits will even injure my player and yet still nothing. Why am I getting punished for making the good hockey play of getting rid of the puck? Either give us the ability to protect ourselves from hits (a brace for impact/reverse hit mechanic but when without the puck), or lower the hitting window to like maybe .5 to .8 seconds. Any more past this and it's too strong for the defense not to "finish their check" every time.

Here is an example I had to describe this. Its only 1.3 seconds later but still this seems like way too much time for the defense to get a free hit and drain your players stamina.
https://youtu.be/JRjkRs1WUM4

I completely agree with you. Late hits need to be called more strictly. That clip you posted is egregious. 

Im punished by losing half of my stamina (didn’t realize it wasn’t shown in the clip) for making the correct play of passing the puck off to a teammate instead of holding on to it and having more options to avoid the hit with a deke or attempting to reverse hit them. 
As a side note, extended charge times on hip checks should give penalties in the form of clipping (real NHL penalty) the same way elbowing calls do with extended charge timed body checks.