NHL 06 suffers from a common disease of sequels: insufficient expansion of the series.
There are, of course, new and updated rosters from the previous season(in fact, there was a lockout in 2005), and the new rules with whom NHL hockey is now played. But apart from these typical cases of updates, the game is unable to offer something new. Except from one or two things, which are not added, but fixed from the previous release. The skill stick for example, is a bit improved, however in this case it is obviously not fixed enough. But the problem is that you still score big, you will find matches which end with ten or eleven goals.
Furthermore, in 06 the EA crew has taken care of the great lack of balance between offensive and defensive play. And this balance is kept by the time the skill stick is only used for passing and not scoring. However, some problems remain loyaly in the series. The worst of them is the dynasty mode issue: it is teeming with bugs, now even more than before. It is not deep-substanced enough, consequently offering a short and shallow experience to the players.
A minor enhancement is also done to the online play, which seems more than enough this year, offering good multiplayer matchups. Another improvement is done to the visuals. They seems better than ever before, fortunately not asking for high numbers as the previous NHL games did.
NHL 06 makes clear that the NHL series is under construction from the beginning. Let's hope that in two or three years the experience of playing hockey will be one of the best on earth.