Good video jyoung.
Yep, horizontal hockey is nothing new to the series, especially for good defensemen. I actually discussed this with a 'dev' on the EA Forums (here's the
link to the page where we first started discussing). Here's the essence of the convo:
There was actually a point this year where we felt the AI had good flow through the neutral zone. Factors like thinking they can/can't make a head man pass, determining if it will be offside, if they will gain possession back on a dump and their confidence to keep the puck if they regroup instead -- all weighed by current pressure settings, current score, etc. change their mind when they could otherwise just go ahead and gain possession or dump it in.
It is something that remains on our list to make more believable in the way they play.
The better the human defender is playing against them , the worse this scenario can get.
He was a bit vague on why the CPU doesn't just dump it in.