The problem with NHL overalls is that because of how they are calculated, a lot of players don't actually have attributes that reflect their true strengths and weaknesses because giving them that would deflate the number attached to their name, and there is politics to overalls. Not that a player is going to be mad or something, but you can't have Toews one of the league's biggest stars not have a huge overall.
They should get rid of overalls entirely and just go with visible attributes. As in, you can see the numbers attached to speed/shot power/etc, but there is no main overall number attached to each player.
It'd be more realistic for GM mode as well, since players would actually become valuable based on how much they produce. Especially later on, there are players you can sign to 1M per deals because they are only 78 overall, but because they have a mutated shot/high offensive awareness they'll put up 30 goals easily.