I've never understood the "poke check being too overpowered" complaint. You shouldn't ever be able to deke through someone else's stick/body and a higher poke check slider setting solves a lot of those problems. I hated the poke checking in NHL 17. Too many times i felt like i lined it up and timed it perfectly, only for the guy to deke through my defender's stick/body.
If I had to guess, most of the complaints come from people who rag the puck and exploit weak game physics to win games.
Probably. The EANHL community is pretty scrubish in general, with most not knowing how to play "real hockey" so to speak.
Love how they reward hockey I.q in this game. No more Deking through entire teams and exploiting limited defensive options. Defensive skill stick is the best thing to happen in a long time.