I find it a bit ironic. Originally, chasidus intended to open up yiddishkeit for everyone, so that even the simple folk who weren’t learned could have a relationship with Hashem through avoda and tefilla, and not feel disenfranchised by their lack of Torah. But by emphasizing the role of the Rebbe as an intermediate, they are distancing people from having a direct relationship with Hashem, and perhaps even giving the mistaken impression that davening can be done only through an intermediary (seems LB had that impression until now).
The way it seems now, if you are litvish you can daven directly to Hashem, but if you are Chasidish, you need to ask the Rebbe to daven for you. This seems to be a distortion. Can someone who knows more about chasidus explain this discrepancy to me?