What a great game

I totally agree, I have no idea how the team managed to pull this off. but the gameplay feels like real physics are put into place without scripted interactions based on rails and predefined scripted animations. It feels like the real deal, with actual puck physics and collisons. great job! don't patch this for the casual kids! 

Cant tell if you are sarcastic. 

if you arent, you are definitely playing offense because as a long time defense, you are completely useless but when I go offense I feel like Lemieux and gretzky had a baby and it was injected with Mcdavid DNA.  

Its a huge mess.   goalies let everything in, everyone skates in a straight line with wheels and then start ballerina with LT which is worse than ever.   How does this feel realistic?  

Maybe you just like that it feels different? 

As A Goalie, this has been the game I've been waiting for. It feels like we actually get rewarded for proper play. Less flukey stuff (so far). Plus the X-Factors actually seem to be a huge bonus for us.

We played 8 games in Chel and never had any of the problems you describe. 

The defense in particular plays much more realistically because you're no longer dependent on pressing a button, but can also capture the puck through clever use of your body and a collision.

The goalies held and acted much better than in NHL25, where many slapstick goals were scored every game.

Are you playing 3s? I read in some comments that xfactors and the gameplay are very unbalanced there.

Played some EASHL 6vs6 games so far. Felt realistic(except breakaways goalies let everything in there true) for sure players will find ways to abuse game mechanics soon. Didnt see someone doing the ballerina LT from last year, so it's still there hmm.. Still it feels like a complete collision/ puck physics overhaul. "Maybe you just like that it feels different?" could be