I think my issue is that I've never seen a difference at
any difficulty level. I'll reserve final judgment for the released product, but so far in the years since NHL07 when I started following the series, what you saw in the videos leading up to the release month has been almost exactly what you get in the final product.
Last year I saw videos of the same lackluster defense where AI defenders backed in without any stick work. The backcheckers had the same issue. It seemed in the game that the AI only really saw physically checking players as a means to separate players from the puck. You could see the AI almost waiting for the puck carrier to enter an invisible bubble, at which point they would then try to physically check the puck carrier, despite having been in stick check distance for a little bit. This lead to the AI doing what they still appear to do which is slowly back in at a predetermined distance, before reaching the crease where they switch to "defense" mode and then try to make contact with the puck carrier as soon as they enter the bubble.
You don't see that in real life. Guys are keeping a gap with the puck carrier, while others close off passing lanes and keep their own gap on any other potential forwards. Similarly, the backcheckers are coming in and applying pressure from behind the play, instead of trying to come in and physically check the player, they're using their sticks before they get within arm's reach to force the puck carrier to move the puck away from their stick, and to also force the puck carrier towards the boards.
You simply don't see any of the above executed by the AI in the game. They don't cover open forwards, they don't use their sticks when they are in range, and they don't try to keep the puck carrier to the outside. They back in to the point that the forward with the puck can simply curl into the high slot and shoot on a now screened goalie, because both defenders have backed up and stopped in the lane, but also put about 10 feet between themselves and the puck carrier leaving an uncontested shot.
Like I said. I know this isn't a final product, but in the past, what's been in the video months before launch has been in the final product. That and the lack of real information on the Franchise mode have me pretty underwhelmed at the idea of NHL18 coming out. EA has two separate pages for Multiplayer and Thee on Three hockey. They have an section dedicated to the Expansion Draft and even a portion of the page dedicated to the all new "Create a Mascot" mode, for the crowd that was just dying to see more mascots in the game. But there's no page for the franchise mode.
I'm fine accepting that EA has to focus on where the money is, and in this day and age, that's DLC and/or online play. They're focusing on online play, and that's fine. But I'm done pretending that maybe this is the year where the offline crowd gets the real changes we've been harping on about for years. I can be proven wrong, but unfortunately, EA's done a great job of proving me right.