This series has finally died to us...

I couldn't agree more! 

I have a similar situation...Bunch of old guy XBOX friends who have been playing NHL for many, many years.  I took like a 3 year hiatus and came back to NHL25.  I played with a friend that was new to the game and it came back to me quick, but we were getting crushed every game.  Initially, I chalked it up to my friend that was new to the game.  Then, the cheesy reoccurring goals, crap AI teammates, and crazy poor matchmaking started getting old quick.  Seemed like one player on the other team would always score 4-5 goals a game on 5-6 shots...i mean come on, that dosent happen!  If you are unfortunate enough to get an AI teammate, you are just playing shorthanded all game.  The AI skaters play with no urgency...they wont sprint, they pass extremely slow, and their reactions are ridiculous.  Don't even get me started on matchmaking....why when we lost 10 in a row are we being matched up with 4th prestige player that are diamond rank?!   

Then NHL26 came out, I reunited with my old team.  We've been playing routinely together.  We know how each other plays, we play solid hockey.  Still....we are losing 9 of 10 games, most by 5-6 goals!  Same issues as NHL25...it looks like the same exact game, EA just cut and pasted, then added a 26 everywher ethe 25 was. 

I see the same that you do.  Defense dosent exists.  They have builds that can skate, or as I call it, dance around in circles until they shake the point defender after which they zig zag through the other two defenders, through hits and poke checks, to an easy goal everytime.  And the goalie AI is just flat out crap!  These easy goals should be blocked 95% of the time.  I mean the guy will be completely to the left or right, with his teammates no where to be found, and the goalie will leave a gap on the strong side?!  WHAT!?    

I hope EA fixes some of this soon.  Otherwise I'll just move along to another game like you did.