How is this even possible?

I’ll try to describe the situation as best as I can. I’m not a new player, but this year’s version is just complete garbage — AI, textures, bugs, graphics, and all these weird, unexplainable things.

After the last update, I’m a Silver 1 player (~19K), and I just can’t move up. Not because I’m bad, but because of things I’ll explain below.

Can someone honestly explain how this is possible in online play (club or drop-ins)?

Based on stats I tracked over my last 30 games, my club (around 19K) gets matched against teams rated 21K+ in about 85–90% of games. How does that make sense?

Against these higher-rated teams, the game feels completely unfair. My player and teammates are slow, passing is terrible and sluggish, energy drains super fast, shots are weak. Multiple times my player suddenly slowed down for 5–7 seconds like he had no stamina — even though it was at 100%!!!

Meanwhile, the opponents are super fast, their passing is perfect, and almost every shot is a goal — even from total nonsense positions.

Our goalie is full of holes, comes out of the net randomly… while the opponent’s goalie saves everything, even the impossible, always perfectly positioned and tracking the puck.

And the weirdest part — when I play against teams at a similar level, suddenly everything feels fine. Passing works, speed is normal, shots make sense… and the game actually depends on skill again.

With this kind of system, neither I nor my club can improve or move forward. It’s impossible to progress.

After 25 years, this is the first time NHL has stopped being fun for me. And I’m a huge hockey fan — on PS5 I play NHL 90% of the time.

How much worse can this game even get? Where is the bottom?