I know, I love em too. The game BADLY needed these changes. One thing I never see mentioned is, the height of the average player in the 60s, 70s, 80s, was about 5' 9". Now the average player is 6'2". Greater height means greater reach, meanwhile the rink size hasn't changed a lick. No WONDER there's no frickin' room out there.

Compounding this is the change in defensive approach. If you watch old games, you'll notice how much more lax defense was. Nowadays you can barely see the sweater of the team on offense, because they're wearing a defensive player like a 2nd jersey. That wasn't the case until sometime in the 90s. The game is also MUCH faster than it was back in the day.