Very surprisingly......it's actually better than I expected.....but..
As many of you expected, graphic shows no improvement fron NHL06. NHL06 graphic wasn't too bad, but NHL07 is supposed to be a new release and consumers wouldn't really like that. They did include a few more in-game scenes like a few fans cheering for their home team, but it's just not impressive enough.
Starting menu interface looks same, in-game menu interface looks same, dynasty mode....well looks pretty much the same. They did change a few things in dynasty mode, although it's not too impressive. It's still suffering from having same schedules every season and still have those dumb goals from your owner. The most obvious and biggest change is having a salary cap. That would be the only and the biggest difference from NHL06. Well, way you upgrade your club did change as you don't control your budget anymore. Everytime you win game you gain owner's "trust" and that could help you earn stars which can be spent for upgrading your facilities.
Gameplay, however, did change. First of all, goaltending is actually improved. Note that I said improved, but not solved. That means your goaltender will still make some crazy moves for no reason and allow stupid goals sometime. But I clearly see way less flipping compared to 06 and just skating by the goaltender actually doesn't make him lie down and start rolling. Having such improvement actually made this game a bit more playable, but other parts like AI defense are still pretty much the same.
Although NHL07 doesn't have any step forward from NHL06, I would give a slightly higher score than NHL06. However, with all those things still needed to fixed, I am afraid to say this game doesn't worth $39.99 CAN.