A guide to player LOCK

[esmeet7]

I'm relatively new to NHL, coming back to 23 last year after 20+ years away. I really enjoyed the Career Mode, in part, because of player lock.

I'm trying player lock in Franchise with 24, and I love this style of play. I have one issue, and that is with executing line changes. When I call for a line change for my half (i.e., defense), I often can't see the bench, so I skate my locked player off the screen and hope I hit the right spot on the bench. I often miss the right spot, take too long, or otherwise screw up the change because the CPU doesn't take over my guy and change him for me (like it did in the Career Mode).

Am I missing something about line changes with player lock? Is there a better way to get your guy off the ice and changed out? Is there a way to yield control of your guy so he skates directly to the bench for the change?