Picture Pavel Datsyuk's shootout goal from the past week, followed by Henrik Zetterberg's.  One right after the next, like back-to-back holes-in-one, they looked like something a player 20 years ago couldn't even envision happening in the game someday.  These guys make hockey look like art.

When I think about the best players in the NHL these days, it's mostly "Euro style" studs – Alexander Semin, Nick Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin. Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby, Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Phil Kessel. It's that particular style of play they all possess, that smooth, natural, smart and graceful appeal that to the casual fan may seem like something created in CGI.

These types of players have rarely been the most successful in hockey's past. And still, when we think of playoffs, we generally don't think of them as the most dangerous. But I think the game has changed to the point where they've finally harnessed the wow and made it effective. We're squarely looking at a transition in what's effective in our game.

The Capitals are spectacle to behold.

As a former player myself, they make me jealous. I'm in awe. That tic-tac-toe passing would be nauseating to try to defend. But even if they aren't successful as a team this year, is there a better one to go watch?

It's no wonder fan attendance in the nation's capital is up, because the stock of their hockey team is higher than ever too. The value/cost ratio for that ticket makes it one of the cheapest in town.

What that means for the NHL is, the style of play that's fun to watch is finally effective too. We're in the anti-trap era. The Capitals are Cup contenders and they're everything Don Cherry spent a career railing against.

And to think, they're doing it without a real premier goalie. You can do that in this era. Semyon Varlamov is coming around, but don't you feel like both of their goalies are just off their peaks? Like maybe Jose Theodore's was four years ago, and Varly's is four years away?

But the team is a perfect sample of the new NHL star. The RBK sleeker jerseys have highlighted the fact that you don't need to be the big, lumbering power forward of yesteryear to get to the tough areas; rather, you need to have the core and quad strength to stand up and be active in those areas.

These great players are nothing like Keith Primeau and Eric Lindros, both big big men that could skate but, compared to these dangly, fit little Euro-style players, would you put your money on either of them being able to catch them? I know which style player I'd want on my team if I were a GM today.

Next time you watch a game, watch how greatness is changing.

Compare and think about the best teams of the early ‘90's.  Defensive, New Jersey Devils style-clogging has given way to the floodgates of Capitals style scoring.

And floodgates is the perfect term to use about the way these guys play. They're move like water out there. That's where our game is headed.

Watch for the evolution to fluidity.

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