updated 12:45 a.m. ET Oct. 4, 2008

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 Sid the Kid to Alex the Great, 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.

Sidney 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. And — 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.

He learns mostly from experience. Crosby is there for his teammates, who might be older but haven’t gone through nearly as much as he has since drawing the spotlight when he was really just a kid.

“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.

Alex 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 about,” 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.”

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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.

“It’s exciting. The top players in the league are very young guys,” said Hurricanes forward Eric Staal, now 24. “You’ve got Crosby and Malkin who are barely 22 years ago, and Ovechkin. All the elite players are extremely young and are going to be elite players for a long time. It’s a fresh look and an exciting game to watch.”

The new stars’ arrival comes at a perfect moment.

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