So i played lot of games in different levels now from neo to pro, and even some game in elite scrims.
On the start i felt that we are pretty shitty when there is no abilities, game is bad and so on. But i put a lot of effort in my build, in my relearning game mechanics a bit and it feels amazing now. I would say for goalies game without abilities Sportsgamer give us second wind to fly and be good and enjoy games. Games also can go 5:1 and 1:1 or 10:1 the same, shutouts happens also, but if you put 2 identical team, its finaly esport gaming with skills and mistakes, that its fun(Goalie experience and skills now matters more then ever).I had some of the greatest game nights when playing pros vs pros with similar skill based teams, in years i didnt have so much fun. There is some goals what is still miracly scored, but its less a lot less. now we can actualy stop shots what we should stop everynight and be better with practice and skill.
Skaters need to work harder, because beat frontal goalie is not so easy now, so need to look for passing, onetimers more, then just crash the net. Actualy now goals only goes if you beat goalie with pass or some awesome moves, not randomly.
So i dont know about you all but i think its more fun , and we need to keep going with ban it all trend. There someone said that it will be easier to play with less defense, and its wrong, its actualy harder to play now as goalie if you team cant d, but if they play good hockey and other opponents play good hockey, its the best experience in the last 2-3 years. you actualy come down to situations where 1 goal will make difference, and your skill as team defense and goalie will do this difference. Its feel similar like 24 nhl start or 23nhl.
Ofcourse if you meet team who is lower then your level its can be disaster oneside hockey, and goalie dont need even sweat because of easy shots, but its actualy how it should be.
Im enjoying now to play this game again. Also now positioning and depth matters again (because there is no abilities to cover our mistakes on positioning and depth), so its time to hit the practices rinks again and make your moves perfect.