I'm a regular player of the NHL series since nhl99.  I like nhl2002 because the gameplay is slightly improved:  certain moves don't always produce goals, defenseman can poke the puck away, you can pass over other sticks (though the programmers idiotically give this 100 percent success, when it should be closer to 60 percent), and it has a bit of a slower feel which is more realistic.  But if you're a regular player, you might be very disappointed with some of the changes or lack thereof.  First of all, I was very much looking forward to new faces for players who are relatively new, or at least new as of the beginning of last year.  (For example, All-Star goalie Roman Cechmanek, Flyers starters since September 2000 like Ruslan Fedotenko, new players like Dopita, etc. all lack faces.)  In fact, I can't find one new face at all since nhl 2001.  In addition, the rosters aren't quite right, and usually exclude new additions during the summer (for Philly, like Dopita, Brendl, Boulerice -- all starters).  Second, I was looking forward to new colour commentary:  the entire commentary is nothing but bad jokes, with no comments on the players at all.  Worse, these jokes just get repeated.  Third, this joking has been taken into the arena announcements.  One of the things I most enjoyed about nhl2001 was its realism, of feeling like you were in the arena.  Now, all of the realistic arena announcements have been replaced by a handful of stupid joke announcements:  "If you are a single woman in your twenties, I'd like to meet you..." or "I just inhaled a balloon, doesn't my voice sound funny"  or "If your car is a ..., then... you should buy a new car!"  If these sorts of changes are for you, then definitely buy the game right away.  If, like me, you were mostly interested in updates of the stats, faces, rosters, etc. then you'll be disappointed.  (And yes, the "cards" cheats are stupid:  you get a deck of cards for boost-cheats on league players you have no control over.)  If you've never owned an NHL game, then this is definitely the best out there.
By the way, the automatic update feature is buggy -- which is probably okay since EA has not put out any updates or even updated rosters, though we are already in the season and these rosters were as of July.
I'm a regular player of the NHL series since nhl99. I like nhl2002 because the gameplay is slightly improved:  certain moves don't always produce goals, defenseman can poke the puck away, you can pass over other sticks (though the programmers idiotically give this 100 percent success, when it should be closer to 60 percent), and it has a bit of a slower feel which is more realistic. But if you're a regular player, you might be very disappointed with some of the changes or lack thereof. First of all, I was very much looking forward to new faces for players who are relatively new, or at least new as of the beginning of last year. (For example, All-Star goalie Roman Cechmanek, Flyers starters since September 2000 like Ruslan Fedotenko, new players like Dopita, etc. all lack faces. )  In fact, I can't find one new face at all since nhl 2001. In addition, the rosters aren't quite right, and usually exclude new additions during the summer (for Philly, like Dopita, Brendl, Boulerice -- all starters). Second, I was looking forward to new colour commentary:  the entire commentary is nothing but bad jokes, with no comments on the players at all. Worse, these jokes just get repeated. Third, this joking has been taken into the arena announcements. One of the things I most enjoyed about nhl2001 was its realism, of feeling like you were in the arena. Now, all of the realistic arena announcements have been replaced by a handful of stupid joke announcements:  "If you are a single woman in your twenties, I'd like to meet you... " or "I just inhaled a balloon, doesn't my voice sound funny"  or "If your car is a... , then... you should buy a new car! "  If these sorts of changes are for you, then definitely buy the game right away. If, like me, you were mostly interested in updates of the stats, faces, rosters, etc. then you'll be disappointed. (And yes, the "cards" cheats are stupid:  you get a deck of cards for boost-cheats on league players you have no control over. )  If you've never owned an NHL game, then this is definitely the best out there. By the way, the automatic update feature is buggy -- which is probably okay since EA has not put out any updates or even updated rosters, though we are already in the season and these rosters were as of July.