I had some lag in the one OTP game I played on PSN during season ticket, which was expected as OTP always lags around launch. 1v1 was smooth as fine ass.
Last night played a couple OTP on XBL, very very small amount of lag. Since I was goalie, where it's pretty damn important, I had no complaints.
I think the no money factor plays a lot into it. I'm just not wanting to shell out a bunch of money. NHL12 really didn't do much for me, and while I know it is a new game, I'm just kind of meh on buying more games right now. I'll probably pick it up, but maybe right now in my life, I just don't care for video games enough to worry about release day shit.
I dunno why you're not into it, but this game shits all over Madden.