NHL 09

I'll have some football thoughts tomorrow but I have spent some time (finally) with NHL 09 and while this is undeniably a 'fun' game (especially multiplayer) why do most reviews fail to mention:

A) The serious lack of gameplay sliders
B) The fact that there are hardly no penalties called

How can you review a hockey game without covering that? I'm not saying you need to bag the game because of it but still -- it's like reviewing a baseball game without walks, which we know the media doesn't seem care about either...

But if you were considering buying a hockey game be it 2K or EA, isn't that sort of...important?