[The EVHL]

10-hour trial review, about 2-3 hours in...all offline, rather similar sliders to my "Gamechanger" set where dynamic scoring and user skill reigns supreme.
Pros:
1. The AI seem to have taken another marginal step when it comes to rush defense. Is it good? No, but it is slightly better than 22. They are definitely a bit quicker to address wide stretch passes that they'd usually just back up and let you beat them wide. They also poke a lot more right at the blue. I've drawn a few penalties because of it which is nice to see.

2. The goalies having the human "RS" movements at their disposal make them much more realistic when it comes to cross-ice passes. They are desperate, but not too desperate which means more consistent saves and better overall look and feel. Those in-tight backdoor plays are now realistically challenged and usually saved by goalies selling-out with a huge push to the backdoor.

3. Skating feels "tighter" idk how to articulate it. Definitely feels a bit smoother. Still a bit too quick or turns without speed loss for me, but is correctable via sliders for offline folks.

4. OOTB full-sim seems to be in a better state than 22. I've made less tweaks so far to get them to a state where I'd say is pretty close to what I want my experience to be.

5. Powerplay and PK have their own pressure settings. Would be an even better "pro" if "full attack" actually saw more than a 1-man forecheck with two D having zero interest in holding the zone whatsoever.

Cons:
1. In-zone play is as boring as ever, absolutely zero improvements here. The AI for both humans and CPU in both offensive and defensive scenarios simply have little to zero interest in the slot. Tons of room in the slot to exploit but the AI teammates for the human refuse to find dead space, the dmen still don't get involved in the cycle like we see in modern hockey, crash the net still sees 2/3 forwards on the side boards with the 3rd standing off to the side of the net doing nothing. When any defender is beat towards the middle, there's no urgency or even remote desire to cover the slot and force the carrier to move the puck out wide. So, this is in the exact same spot it's been for years and years. If you tune your game to play a more realistic brand of hockey and are wanting to control the zone and play real hockey, this game will not be any more or less fun than 22 in this regard. There's just a real lack of urgency on rebounds, battling for the pucks in the slot, there's simply no "scrambles" offline. It's so static and boring.

2. Hitting is super weird. The animations are just weird. Idk how to articulate it. Not nearly as smooth nor consistent/predictable as 22. Definitely a downgrade here.

3. DSS speed getting a global speed nerf for activating is miserable. You can't have an active stick on the rush in this game, it turns you into an NFL lineman. This makes the offline game less realistic as gaps can't be played as they would be IRL. Huge downgrade here for the sake of online players. Very typical, very disappointing.

4. Stick lifts are now penalties. That's it, that's the feedback. I've seen 5-10 just comically bad slashing penalties happen while both sticks are nearly touching and wouldn't be considered a "risky" lift in the slightest. This combined with the cement speed DSS + inconsistent hitting results makes defense much less of a predictable and rewarding experience. Is it impossible? No. Is it gamebreaking? No. Is it as fun or even as "realistic" as 22? Also no. It's a downgrade.

5. Haven't seen a single "last chance puck touch" or whatever animation yet. Is it a real "con" idk? But being a highlighted feature and not seeing it in 5-6 games yet makes it a rather lackluster feature for all the hype it got. Even more non-existent than penalties.

6. AI penalties are minimal yet again. Ties back into con #1 on my list, there's just no defensive urgency. Day late and dollar short when they pressure, or they simply just don't pressure and have zero urgency when clearly beat. Would love to see them trip me when I beat them inside or hook me, but they just stand still and are content with being beat. When they lose the puck in the offensive zone, they don't DSS or sticklift like a human would, they just sprint looking for hits only and will quickly and passively retreat when the first forechecker is beat like usual.

7. The AI just don't play hockey still. In-zone offense is ping-pong garbage yet again. Never looking to setup a screen on purpose or make a realistic passing play and it's mainly because they don't have to. Your AI will gladly passively stand in the most useless positions to allow for multiple touch passes to happen in dangerous areas of the ice (that the AI will 100% pass themselves out of rather than shoot from) leading to the same experience we've had for almost a decade now.

8. 1-3-1 powerplay functions like the umbrella (so if you slightly move, AI1 will slightly move to cover which means AI2 will move to cover AI1, so AI3 will move to cover AI2, leading to AI4 covering for AI3, which means that AI5 needs to cover for AI4 - I like to call it the "toilet flush" powerplay. It's sad that this is still the current state of the powerplay when they literally focused on adding the 1-3-1 this year. This shows the code under the hood is in an irreparable state of disarray that will certainly never be fixed.

TL;DR version - Marginal at-best improvement from 22 with the goalies being the "highlight" of the improvement. The AI still do not play basic hockey properly, there's no urgency in the slot, no scrambles, everything you experienced both good and bad with the in-zone experience is in the same spot it was in 22. Special teams are as bad as ever, this game is clearly designed to be played online as this offline state of the game does not reflect the modern in NHL in the slightest.