Because they didn't do anything worth a fuck this year.
Oh joy, you added a new fighting engine and way to fight. So for the first week everyone will love it, then get tired of it and go back to actually playing the game. (remember when goalie fights were the exact same thing)
You added off ice stuff to be a pro. Great, now I can score 100+ pts a season, tell every media person to go fuck themselves, and still probably never be traded because I score that much.
Sweet, you added NHL94 back in. WHY THE FUCK IS THIS SUCH A BIG DEAL? Am I the only one who really doesn't think NHL94 was really anything special. It was the next progression of the game, but it wasn't anything I thought really needed an entire mode dedicated to 20 years later.
So basically they are out of big features. Nothing they can do ground breaking to EASHL, Be a Pro is basically the same, and connected careers has hardly been mentioned, and probably got skipped over this year from an upgrade it needed.