I love the NHL 09. EASHL is a winner-winner chicken dinner for me. And I still love good old Dynasty mode. Is Dynasty mode perfect? No. But it allows for the Sabres to win the Cup when being controlled by yours truly. Being a hockey nut I still want to play with my team and compete for the Cup in the virtual world. So there. I love the game. It will be in my system for the next six months. I had to get that out of the way because after you read the following you will wonder if I do love this game. I do.

Be A Pro mode is the most disappointing feature since "cone vision passing" in Madden 06. Perhaps to understand why I am so harsh on the mode, let's set up the expectation level. This was written in a blog by EA Sports Producer Andy Agostini on June 20, 2008. I bought it hook, line and sinker:

"With all that is going on in the NHL it's the perfect time to discuss the newest feature in NHL 09 - Be A Pro! I can't tell you everything but I can tell you this....Shhhh. The mode starts you out as a top prospect in an NHL organization, where you will be assigned to the teams AHL affiliate to work your way up to the big club. While down there you will have to play well and earn the trust of the coaches, for you to start playing on the teams top lines. Your very own hockey card will mark your progress, from your rookie days to a potentially legendary ending. With all the young stars in this years draft it will be interesting to see which ones make the jump to the NHL and which have to go through the AHL to make it there. I am excited to see what you guys think of the new mode."

Well Andy, I don't think you will be excited after reading this. I think the mode fails on most every level. Listed below are my major issues with it:

1. You don't feel like a rookie. You can call over the first or second line and demand a line change all while suiting up for your first pro game. This does not work for me. NCAA 09's Campus Legend mode at least made you feel like a part of the team. You had to practice to get to the first team. As the freshman running back at 'Cuse I was not able to call my own number. I ran the play as it was called. In Be A Pro you are the player/coach. There is too much power given to you and it takes you out of the game. "No, no Sid, time for you to sit down, third line rookie center Rob Kotaska wants on the ice." Ludicrous.

2. Your teammates are useless. Unless you get your scoring in, your team will lose. That does not work for me. While I want to function within the team dynamic, I don't want to have to do everything. I thought this mode was supposed to simulate being a part of a hockey team, right? This scoring issue becomes a huge detriment when playing as a goalie in Be A Pro. I made 30-plus saves in back-to-back games, and my team lost both. Why? Because my squad was chock-full of Jody Shelleys that could not skate or score. This leads to the next issue...

3. The mode is boring. I have tried several times to play my fifth game. I just cannot find the fun in watching my inept A.I. teammates from the bench skate back and forth in front of me. I usually quit in the second period and play some dynasty mode with the Sabres. I am not saying that I should be on the ice the whole time, but there has to be a better solution. Even if my teammates could throw in more than one goal in four-plus games I think it would be arduous.

So how does EA fix it? Well EA could start by doing what the NCAA 09 developers did in Campus Legend and fast forward through the side of the ball you were not playing on. I did not have to watch Cuse's defense miss tackle after tackle while I was on bench waiting to run over some linebackers. And thank goodness for that because I see that enough every Saturday -- no need to relive it in a video game. Have the game fast forward while you are on the bench. Let the coach, coach. When the tap on the shoulder comes, get on the ice. I am fine if you make people watch from the "sin bin" though, that should be punishment.

I think Be A Pro can work, and I suppose many people will say it is a good first step. But for me, the final reason why the mode does not work deals with how it impacts the way gamers play THE mode in NHL 09: EASHL.

4. It makes EASHL teammates create bad habits. Offline Be A Pro is death to gamer's EASHL skills. Things that you get away with while owning A.I. players in Be A Pro, simply don't translate to EASHL. I can tell when people have been playing Be A Pro a lot in between online matches. They hold onto the puck far too long and show some tendencies that move dangerously into "Johnny Skillstick" territory. Yes, I know you just scored a goal by weaving through the whole A.I. squad offline like Pele in the film Victory. But that does not work online and certainly doesn't work in the EASHL. Your slick move at our blue line ended with a red light swirling ... over our goal. Nicely done, you are Ovechkin offline, but Ales Kotalik online.

Episodes like this detract from what is becoming the series' signature mode, and that is troublesome. There are too many things in Be A Pro that negatively impact EASHL. I feel like it should have been an effective tool to help build skills offline. In fact that is what I was counting on it being. To have it be the opposite is doubly disappointing.

I guess I should not be surprised that something that was hyped up failed to live up to expectations -- after all I was at the midnight showing of The Phantom Menace. However, the NHL developers at EA Canada had not let me down often in the last three years. Even with this year's title, overall, they have not failed me. But this infection of my EASHL team's performance and my boredom with the Be A Pro mode cannot stand. A complete overhaul is needed or it's off to the Island of Misfit game modes. If the same Be A Pro mode is in NHL 2010 that would be a major problem for me, and it would be strike two in the style of Attack of the Clones. Andy Agostini and EA Canada, you don't want to go there.