The Old NHL versus the New NHL

There are obvious differences between the old NHL and the new NHL. For example, the amount of power play time in an average game—puh-leaze. The obstruction that used to be acceptable and isn’t anymore. The list goes on.

However, what I have been pondering lately is how the old NHL versus the new NHL affects various types of players. My brother informed me that one of the Penguins babies, defenseman Letang, "will owe his career to the new NHL." Apparently, Letang can skate and play defense well positionally, etc, though he is not a huge behemoth by any means. My brother was noting that the NHL game has changed—brute force will not be enough anymore.

It made me wonder about currently injured Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik, and if perhaps his less than stellar speed, coupled with hard-hitting ways (not all the time, Pens fans, I’m certainly aware of that) were better suited to a NHL game that no longer exists. Likewise, I wondered about the power forward who dominated the old NHL. The player who was perhaps not gifted with foot speed at all but who could stand in front of the net and dish out body checks and take a beating and use soft hands to put the puck in the net. I wondered if there would be room in the new NHL for players like a younger version of John Leclair or one-time Penguin Kevin Stevens. I wondered if Ryan Malone would ever be able to achieve at an above-average level in the present NHL.

Because the game is different now, and obstruction that was once permissible no longer is, and because so much of the game depends on being able to skate with speed and authority, I wondered about those players of old. The slow-footed yet tall and brutal defenseman who could at least cover in his own zone a little bit? The power forward who had skates of mud but hands of gold?

Is there still room for these types of players in the new NHL? Will defensemen like Letang replace defensemen like Orpik at the NHL level? Will every power forward need to be able to skate at will in addition to having hands of gold? Which old players—renowned in the old NHL—would be out of a job, or have a job description severely altered, by the new NHL?

And, as it pertains to my Penguins—which players do we need to ice the best team for the new NHL, and who are the players who aren’t going to help us win in the new NHL?

Thoughts?