I don't think these are the changes people have been asking for.
People want a more immersive HOCKEY experience, not a more immersive BUSINESS experience. People want the excitmement of the trade deadline and opening day of free agency. They want more fanfare around the draft and better scouting. More complex contract negotiations with NTCs/NMCs and in-season extensions. I don't recall anyone EVER begging for EA to include a mode where we strategically select which night should be a bobble head giveaway or allowing us to set the prices for valet parking.
It's a hockey game. People want HOCKEY improvements. From the on ice gameplay and presentation to the atmosphere and immersion into important events throughout the season. Nobody cares about the business side and balancing ticket prices, parking prices, jersey prices, beer prices and having it effect whether you get fired from your GM or aren't able to utilize the full salary cap in building your team. Since when do GMs handle these sorts of expenses anyway? This is now a fictional mish-mash of GM responsibilities and duties that belong to someone else entirely, yet it effects whether or not you can remain the GM of the team you want to play with.
This stuff would be fine, assuming you can choose to turn it off if you don't like it, if it was coming on top of, or after, more significant improvements to the actual hockey elements of the game. As the sole improvement to the game, it ends up seeming underwhelming and confusing to some of us.