I'd like to start this off by giving my take on where the great game of hockey is right now in its evolution. I feel it is obvious to say that it is better than it has ever been, which is an arguement, or heated discussion, I have had many times with many people. Most of those people tend to think the game was its best in the late 80's through the 90's. Being based in Metro Detroit the majority of people tend to go with the rivalry between the Red Wings and Avalance for the basis of their arguements, which is pretty fair honestly. During that time frame the Wigns and Avs were two of the best teams in the league for years and in a seven year span both teams won a combined five Stanley Cups, those are no slouch numbers. But very rarely is there talk of the talent on either team, unless its Yzerman, Fedorov, and McCarty (who someone once told me should have been the Captain of the Wings over Yzerman). The only thing ever mentioned is the fighting! People will say things like "when they let the players fight" or "fighting is what the game was all about"...I'm not sure what they were watching.
Well actually I do know, a lot of fighting, the rivalry was most known for its bloodshed and physicality, But a lot of people overlook or just didn't notice the high level of skill and competition that there was every time the teams stepped on the ice against each other. Does anyone know the number of combined Hall of Famers on these teams? 11 Wings players depending on how you count the years of the rivalry and another 5 for the Avs...That's damn near a whole team worth of players. And there are definitely a more than a few who could be considered borderline and were definitely key contributors for both organizations...I honestly expected more names when I did that quick search, especially on the Avalance side, but that's neither here nor there.
Clearly these were very talented teams during this era, but they were not alone. There were very talented players spread out all across the league. Dallas had players like Modano, Hull, Lehtinen, Hatcher, and Sydor. New Jersey had Stevens, Niedermayer, Housley, Holik, Elias, and Sykora. These, clearly are the other two teams to have won the cup in the time frame from 1995-2002, but even the opposition as well as the rest of the league still had amazing talent. To name a few of the most popular would be Super Mario, Jagr, Selanne, Kriya, Lindros, Oates, Messier, Robitaille, Sundin, Tkachuk. And those are just the forwards, I've mentioned some D-men, but no goalies. As for goalies you literally have the 3 greatest of all time in the era too in Roy, Broudeur, and Hasek (they're in no particular order here).
Watching all these players, and then some, combined with the way technology began to boom, new players began to be bred. Looking ahead to the just after the 2004-2005 lockout, we saw new types of players and superstars emerged. Most famously from those early drafts we saw the beginning of Crosby, Ovechkin, and Malkin. But there was also the emergence of players like Datsyuk, Kopitar, Nash, the Sedin twins, Kane and Toews, Hossa, Thornton and Marleau. Once again, these are just a few of the forwards. Reason for listing them however is that they make the highlight reels more often than the D-men when it comes to skill plays, though that's no disrespect to them, or goalies either. The high end skill combined with the speed that players began to play with started to set the stage for the young stars entering into the league the last 3-4 years and ever year more are coming in droves.
With the influx of new players, and more importantly younger players, coming into the league I believe we're entering into a new era of Hockey as we know it. Looking at the entry drafts, usually the top 3-5 picks are pretty much figured out with the top 2-3 going in a very predicted order. But every player after that is a roll of the dice as far as the order they are picked. Now that has pretty much always been the case in any draft, across all sports. But in the last few years of the NHL we're all seeing at least the top 60 or so players all showcasing incredibly high end skill in many different ways that we've never haven't seen before. Basically the depth is incredible. This isn't to say that you couldn't pick up a great player in later rounds, but the odds were stacked even higher against than they are now. I feel that in the next 5 years we're gonna be seeing player debates going as far back as the 4th and 5th rounds.
Now the reasoning is basically just a multiplication factor. Lets take it back to the Crosby and Ovenchin drafts for a quick moment and go from there. Those years were 2004 and 2005 respectfully, even though I listed them backwards. Now think about all the amazing players in the league in those years and all the following years. Think of all the incredible goal highlights we see every year, its an increasing amount per year isn't it? All of those highlights are uploaded onto every social media site around and they tend to go viral in the hockey-verse. Now think about all the youth players in the world watching and now going to their practice and trying to emulate what the best players in the world are doing, but they're all doing it at 10-12 years old, some even younger!
One of the most electric players to watch in the game now it Nathan MacKinnon, the former 1st overall pick in the 2013 entry draft. NHL players are usually drafted at 18 years old, so for all of MacKinnons developmental and junior years he had been watching NHL post 2005 lockout, conveniently the seasons after the Ovi and Sid drafts. So he and many other players drafted in those years (2013ish) were all watching the Sid and Ovi show essentially. Now in Nathans particular circumstance, he is from the same town as Crosby, who is arguably the greatest player in the world, and gets the pleasure of being able to now be friends with him and they train together in the off-season therefore enhancing both of their skills.
Now I'm not saying MacKinnon was only watching Crosby play or that he is a replica player, because he is not. There are to many different players to name that an uncountable number of youth players were watching and copying. All that have had years to practice everything they've ever seen on a highlight film, and these kids are the ones who are entering the league now and taking over. Not only are they equally, if not more skilled than many of the 3rd-4th line veteran players, but they're bigger, just as strong, faster, and cheaper to employ. This should give reasoning as to why the league and the game as a whole is not only younger but better than ever when looking at the skill of the game. One great thing is that these new puck and skating skills players have now are not only for forwards, we're seeing an insane number of defense men who all can play in the same way, with fast hands and feet.
Think of Drew Doughty, Erik Karlsson, John Klingberg, Aaron Ekblad, P.K. Subban, Dustin Byfuglien...just to name a few of them. All play for different teams, all play a different style of game that is reflective of their own personality, all have incredibly high end skill. Most of these D-Men have been in the league for 5+ years as well...coincidentally (or maybe not) this years draft had 14 D-men drafted in the 1st round, including the 1st overall pick as well in Rasmus Dahlin. We're seeing the skill now being spread all throughout team line ups making every player dangerous when the puck is on their stick. Now coming into the drafts every year players all have their own highlight reels upwards of 10 minutes long sometimes! So now not only are players able to watch the pros make incredible plays, but they're seeing players just drafted making them.
With all this in mind, just keep compounding it like the interest on a mortgage and imagine what the game will be like in another few years. I have no doubt that after a few more years of young, up and coming players watching and learning from the McDavids and Matthew's of the league now that soon the league will almost be entirely made up of these high speed and high skill players and the days of a true grinder style of player will be gone for good just like we're seeing the extinction of the goon today. I feel I need to add a little something about the physical play in today's game though seeing as that is where I started this off in the evolution talk.
The game is still very, very physical, and likely more dangerous than the 90's style in its own way. Sure, fighting has gone down significantly but that is in large part to how the junior leagues operate where fighting can warrant a suspension and a check to the head definitely does. Like I mentioned, the players now are bigger, stronger and faster, a common them among most sports. So now when an open ice hit happens players have less time to adjust and take the hit in a safe manner. We've already seen it where one of the brightest young players in the game in Laine took an open ice hit to the head and was knocked unconscious. Now as great as the hit was to see, since we all like those spectacles whether we admit it or not, we don't want to see players going down with head injuries.
Physicality is there still its just more spread out due to the injuries that can occur more frequently in today's era of the game. I would say as well that players are far more interested in playing the puck and putting it in the net now than making a big hit. Winning is what matters the most and with so many high end skill players in the game today every goal counts. That is why we're seeing teams built on youth, speed, and skill like never before, and it is only going to increase. Soon we're gonna have teams with 10 20 goal scorers on them and it'll become the norm. And who knows, maybe 2-3 of them will end up being defense man as well. Either way I feel bad for the goalies in coming years, but can not wait to watch the game continue to evolve in this new era and become more exciting than it is now.
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