I think the biggest difference in the game now is that it's so much faster overall. In the 90's you had guys like Bure, Mogilny, Kariya and Selanne who were so much faster than other players and also there was much more time to give passes and make plays. Now all the guys are great skaters, the game is so fast that there is no time for great combinations. I think it's too fast. Old hockey was actually nicer to watch in many ways.
Can you imagine D-men like Derian Hatcher or Chris Pronger in today's game? No way. When the 2-line pass rule change happened, those large and slow D-men became dinosaurs immediately.
Another thing that has really changed in hockey is the goalies. I just watched a classic game between NHL stars and the Soviet Army team and damn the goalies allowed some stupid goals.
Blueline shots with no screen screen at all went in sometimes. And not only their skills have improved tremendously, also the equipment is much larger now.
However the change already happened when Gretzky and Lemieux were still playing. I think the transformation was in the early 90's. Sure they have still grown in size lately (I think).
