^^^^^You guys were pretty close to the mark. After hearing this on the radio last night I had to transcribe it and post it because it seems like he accidentally spilled the beans.........
Matt Bertz from Game Informer on the KFAN Video Games weekly show 6-25-08
http://a1135.g.akamai.net/f/1135/182...o_Games_Weekly
(F.Y.I. the intro music is really long)
A little bit after the 30 minute mark.2/3 of the way through
"On top of that (Be a Pro mode)
not only can you create your guy and progress to become NHL All-Star
you can also create a team with 5 of your buddies and play in 6 on 6 online leaguesnot just like your league with your buddies and some other guys you know, its a universal, international league that you will be playing in.
They actually tried to take a little page out of the MMO book. You don't just need 5 guys. You can create a "guild" there can be up to 50 people there. So you get an elite bunch of people and they can play 5 on 5 or 6 on 6 matches versus anyone at anytime and it builds up your team ranking. And the ranking system works there's divisions..
multi-divisions. So you work your way up from the bottom up to the top
If you're not playing very well you can get relegated. And at a certain point in the season, EA hasn't determined yet, they are gonna take a snapshot of the league. And the top 50 or 20, they don't know what the number is yet, but they are gonna actually make a cutoff and the top teams in the world are gonna be playing in playoff style format to determine a world champion and there will be prizes as well."