I was in the same boat. Jayson Young wrote some great articles for NHL 09-13 that will mostly help get you up to speed here. Some stuff has changed, but the basics are still the same.
But the truth is, it took me a long time to get up to speed to the point where I could hold my own online, and i still mostly lose. In the end, I play mostly solo and use auto-aim.
While I did finally spend some time getting used to manual aim so thatI could play HUT, which I really enjoy, I still prefer letting the CPU aim for me. But in HUT and any online mode, it is manual aim only. At least this year you can set Auto aim in the setting s and have be the default way you play offline. Before this season, you had to change it in pre game settings before every game, even in season play.
Good luck!
http://www.operationsports.com/strat...de-to-offense/
http://www.operationsports.com/strat...de-to-offense/
http://www.operationsports.com/strat...ly-defenseman/
http://www.operationsports.com/strat...ey-post-patch/
http://www.operationsports.com/strat...-fly-coaching/
http://www.operationsports.com/strat...e-strategies-/
http://www.operationsports.com/strat...nd-formations/
http://www.operationsports.com/strat...faceoff-guide/
http://www.operationsports.com/strat...ay-strategies/