Perhaps this is what the writer meant. As I said, since I stay away from the ranked crowd, I don't see a lot of the cheese that others might. This does remind me of something that crossed my mind while playing NHL 08 online against mkharsh (great game BTW, but what was up with our defense? 7-6? Yeesh!) the other night -- How about the ability to deke & skate at close to full speed for players with a high (maybe 85-90+) deking rating?
The gliding mechanic could be used for lower-skilled players and the player's speed while deking could increase proportionately with their ability. Most, if not all, NHL players can pull off some moves at slow speeds, but the greats (Crosby, Ovechkin, et al) can do it a full-speed. That's part of what makes them great offensive talents to begin with...