NHL 26 Feedback and Rating

This is coming from the perspective of a seasoned EASHLer.

This game is unfortunately in a very bad, broken, dysfunctional state right now, bordering on unplayable.   Goalies have been nerfed into oblivion yet again, biting so hard on the first move that they almost move entirely out of the crease- This wasn't the case on release.

Passing is...beyond atrocious right now.   Now, after using the pass assist in various states, including 0, 100, 50, 60, 40, 30, 70...I'm leaning towards that being broken as the problem.   If one guy constantly has an issue, it's usually their issue...when an entire club is going "where tf is that pass going?/Why'd it go that way?" it's a bigger problem.

Thanks to the mega OP'd EE, you can just once again ballerina your way to the middle for the old school "glitch" shot- high glove cheese that drops 95 times out of 100- This wasn't a problem on release.   Normally, good solid positioning and contact would counter this. HOWEVER,  EE seems to allow you to become impervious to contact within that triangle (high slot to hashmark to hashmark)

X-Factors- Not sure why you felt the need to fix what wasn't broken here, but I think we all see what you tried to do..   Most of them are ok...problem children are Truculence, Elite Edges, and Wheels-  Three things that probably shouldn't even exist, those three attributes should be based on point allotment and nothing more.   However, they're not gonna be removed, so a good a proper nerf is in order for those guys.

Goalies- I mentioned them above, but on release they were very good.   They read plays, poked properly, sticked low shots into the corners, read dekes, and made the saves any novice should make.   After two updates that "contained no changes", they have gotten steadily worse.   Everything from once again ignoring rebounds, to not even reacting to unscreened shots, staying standing up, biting so hard on the first move they slide almost in the corner, over-committing on shots.

Then there's the pre-made Fortnite skins which...whatever, you're marketing to kiddos it is what it is.
Getting up after being bumped can take upwards of 20 in games seconds, and that's when you're not even winded.   That needs to be cut down by at least half

Overall this, to me, is a contender for one of the worst iterations of this game in a long time. Rivalling 15 through 18, 22, and 24.   25 took steps in the right direction, but 26 has taken double the amount backwards.