Spent some time with it last night. It's gooood. The "Be a Player" mode is going to be pretty interesting, taking my created dude through the minors into the big leagues.
They've cleaned up a lot of little things that I didn't like in last years game, including adding some penalties that were mysteriously missing. Tons of extra animations for the little things as well, which I keep noticing.
If people like sports games, regardless of whether they like hockey, need to pick it up. Too much fun.