There appears to be a discrete practice mode as well as a “skills training” mode. The sense I got from talking to producers is that these would be more like tutorials rather than skill games found in FIFA.

Crowds will have props, such as multi-fan signs spelling out player names (such as K-O-P-I-T-A-R).

Some player emotions do repeat themselves fairly often, but it is still neat to see players puff out their cheeks after a long shift, chat on the bench, grimace when looking up at the scoreboard or leer at someone on the ice from on the bench (there might be more in final release; hard to know).

The suction effect on board play has been lessened.

The goalie stance appears mostly the same as before, but the new animations, lighting and player fidelity create some subtle differences in the way the goalie moves and looks.

They have added a few new goal horns, but believe it or not, it's actually hard to license every single one.

Did I say the benches look ridiculously good? Well, they do. All 13 other players are there, the backup goalie sits in the right spot (mini bench), there's a trainer (different look for each team) and two coaches. On top of that, you've got Ray Ferraro between the benches. Awesome stuff. The crowd detail next to the benches really sells the whole thing. Looking at it in replay is just absurdly good.

The game uses a lot more motion blur during cinematics (referees skating in to make a call, etc.). Not sure how I feel about that, but it might need to be reduced a bit.

There will be a second “dynamic” camera (read: new) to go along with the already great camera option they've devised for this year.

Giving the goalie a snow shower is now possible, as players carving towards the net produce a pretty good spray.

I asked about attributes, and it seems they will still be in the familiar categories for players. It doesn't seem like there will be any increased clarity for what each stat category actually does (or doesn't) for a player, which is a bit unfortunate.

If there was any doubt, hybrid icing is in.

Because of the new cloth and puck physics, the puck can get stuck in a player's equipment.

This is preliminary, but from my time with the game, hitting from behind on a rush seemed to be less effective at dumping a player.

The poke check is actually doable while you turn, so this allows greater fidelity on the move and creates less of a robotic look.

The L3 button does still speed burst in a straight line, but the effect seems slightly less than before.

For what it's worth, the E3 demo was set on pro and simulation (not hardcore), and the penalty volume was decent (tripping, interference, boarding, etc). It's not where I'd like to see it, but we'll have to see on harder difficulties and with hardcore mode enabled.

You now see the arena spotlights flashing over the goalie after he's been scored on, which adds to the realism.

The goalie glove save (around the world) looks great.

Both consoles will have feature and resolution parity.

I played some more NHL 15 today at E3, and here are 20 new observations: