Exciting young talent dominates NHL

NEW YORK – Martin Brodeur relaxed in the middle of a midtown Manhattan hotel and marveled at the NHL talent walking past.

It wasn’t so much the number of fine hockey players that impressed him on preseason media day, it was their youth.

“I was young at one point and I was doing the same thing,” the 36-year-old New Jersey Devils goalie said. “They had (Wayne) Gretzky and (Mario) Lemieux there and Paul Coffey. Now it’s a different era. We have a great crop of young players, as good as ever. It’s kind of weird a little bit. You never feel old, but when you get to these situations you think, ‘All right, maybe I am old a little bit.’ ”

From Sidney Crosby to Alex Ovechkin, the latest NHL superstars are not seasoned veterans headed toward the twilight of their careers. No, these 20-somethings are young and fresh and ready to dominate hockey for years to come.

Crosby is set to enter his fourth season. Only two months after turning 21, the face of the NHL has already been an MVP winner and a scoring champion. As the youngest captain in league history, he has taken the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Stanley Cup finals.

As much pressure and attention as he gets from the outside, it is nothing compared to the high expectations he sets for himself and his team.

“There is no handbook on how to deal with this,” said Crosby, who has 99 goals and 294 points in his first 213 games. “Some guys are used to it, and the guys who aren’t – they’re going to learn quickly how to deal with it. I don’t think it’s something you can just ask someone about. The only way to deal with that stuff is to find the way that’s best for you.”

While Crosby has been a phenomenon since well before he was taken by the Penguins with the first pick in the 2005 draft, he is no longer alone on an island.

Ovechkin turned 23 last month and has a resume every bit as accomplished as Crosby’s. Ovechkin, the first pick in the draft one year before Crosby, is also heading into his fourth NHL season – his debut delayed a year by the season-killing lockout.

Ovechkin edged Crosby for the rookie of the year award in 2006, and wrested league MVP and scoring title honors from his newfound rival last season when he dominated the NHL with 65 goals and 112 points.

“They’re the new generation like everybody is talking,” said 21-year-old center Anze Kopitar, who led the Los Angeles Kings last season with 77 points. “I’m sure all those guys are going to be in this league for 15-plus years. Hopefully, the young guys after us are going to come in and have the same impact.”

What might be even more impressive is the fact that Ovechkin rallied the previously moribund Washington Capitals to the Southeast Division championship with a late-season surge.

Throw in Crosby’s teammate Evgeni Malkin, who is only 22, and you have a trio that will be wowing fans perhaps for decades. Malkin led the Penguins last season – his second in the NHL – with 47 goals and 106 points and carried the club when Crosby was sidelined long term by an ankle injury.

That made him the runner-up to Ovechkin in last season’s MVP race.

The new stars’ arrival comes at a perfect moment.

After the devastating lockout that forced the cancellation of the entire 2004-05 season, the NHL relaunched with a fresh set of rules and a new batch of superstars. Change was necessary if hockey had any hope of rejoining the mainstream sports landscape.

That journey is still in its early stages and there is certainly no assurance it will truly be complete. But powered by players such as Crosby and Ovechkin, the NHL can at least make a case for having its version of LeBron James and Kobe Bryant. If only the league can get anyone to notice.

“It makes me feel old. I am 28 years old,” said Tampa Bay Lightning captain Vincent Lecavalier, the No. 1 pick in 1998. “I feel young, but at the same time when you see guys coming in at 18, 19 years old … it’s nice to see new faces. They are young, dynamic players, exciting players to watch. That’s what people want to see. It’s good for the league and it helps the league.”

Not only are the “Big 3” making their marks, emerging young talent is energizing teams that haven’t mattered in years.

Suddenly, the Chicago Blackhawks have awakened from a slumber that featured only one playoff appearance since 1998 and none in the past five seasons. That rebirth can be credited to the sudden appearance of Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. Kane was the rookie of the year last season, Toews was a runner-up.

Kane, the No. 1 overall pick in 2007, is not yet 20. Toews, chosen third a year earlier, won’t turn 21 until the late stages of the upcoming season. If the general public isn’t aware of this dynamic duo yet, Kane and Toews will be on full display on New Year’s Day when the Blackhawks host the Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings in the Winter Classic at baseball’s Wrigley Field.

Rick Nash of the Columbus Blue Jackets certainly fits comfortably in this stable of young talent. At 24, he has 154 goals and 276 points. His next step will be a postseason appearance, and that could be coming soon from the improving Blue Jackets, who are the only NHL team not to have made the playoffs.

Out West, Dion Phaneuf plays in relative obscurity on defense for the Calgary Flames. The hard hitter is entering his fourth NHL season and already has 54 goals and 159 points at age 23.

“You definitely take on more of a role every year,” Phaneuf said. “With more experience comes more expectation.”