Sadly, I think you're right. The focus on getting features right in the offline modes has been painfully absent.
I keep saying "Oh, maybe next year" but so far every year's just the same bit of surface work. NHL16 is way better than 15, don't get me wrong, but 15 was such a trainwreck that that wasn't hard to do. NHL16 literally seems like NHL14 on Next-Gen with better presentation (in some areas. The stat issue is unforgivable, and the fact that Doc and Edzo repeat so much of their dialogue gets old quick. If I hear "Being the top scorer means you'll get a lot of attention" once more, I might lose it).
NHL16 still plays the same to me. I don't see enough of a difference in NHL16 to differentiate it from NHL11-14. The players move pretty much the same, the skating is just as frustrating. I would even argue that when they made L2 the backskate, they made doing simple things more frustrating. Before, I could easily face the play on defense by holding L2, and my player would stay facing the puck. Now I'm stuck making tons of micro movements to get my guy accurately facing the right way, because half the time I have to start actually skating backwards to get him to face the play. Throw in the fact that I have no real control over my poke check, and the fine movements required for decent defense are all but impossible. Getting into the right position is tough, but even harder is doing anything once you're there.