Yes its a possibility to terminate the whole NHL project. BUT I believe there will be OTHER companies that will try to give us what we, fans of NHL, we deserve - A video game that will be closer to the real deal.
I beg to disagree that NHL market is so small and this is the reason why development are so slow in their progress. Why did EA produced a great game in 07-09? With their innovative right stick as your hockey stick?
They are lousy in giving us the product we need is because they are lazy and keep insisting to give us WHAT THEY WANT TO GIVE, a typical bullish company that has no competition. Plus, people love the game so much that even such trashy effort (such as 15) they will buy, not because they HATE the game but because they love the sports. If there's another company that will produce and really make NHL game, tons of us will just jump shipped and leave EA hanging dry.
Ever since "93, I always get EA NHL until 2003 when 2K started doing a better product. ANd I hope that another company will compete EA or EA quits producing a pathetic game, giving way to another company to produce a better quality NHL video game.