The new styles, I think these guys are good examples of the trends going on that most players would be aiming for (Achievements within last 5 years ish) if they were attempting to break into the league:
- Undersized dmen (sub 6'): Hughes/Makar (Speedy PMD with offense tilt due to high vision) specialists
- Average (To 6'2): Chychrun/Chabot/Dumba/Reilly (PMD with less speed some sand paper but offensive minded) generalists
- Average (To 6'2): Tanev/Vlasic (PMD with less speed, some sandpaper and leaning towards defensive minded) generalists
- Oversized (6'4+): Hedman/Carlo (PMD with whatever talent combos, sandpaper and a slight leaning towards defense) either
It's not to say they're the best or the best guys to model, but it seems like good examples of the main trends of the average/majority dmen coming into the league? Certain guys like Brodie, Karlsson, Burns etc. I had to omit because they have elite facets to their games the average player just isn't capable of attempting to emulate at all.
The smaller guys basically all have to have IQ to survive. Otherwise a single bad hit ends their career.
The mid level guys can absorb more, but are also expected to do a bit more in terms of defense, offense, physicality etc.
They do what they can. The bigger guys, you can't teach size. Those guys basically have elite size and they use whatever tools they can in whatever manner they can hoping to be elite in multiple facets or as an overall package.
The above guys have obviously modeled their game on guys before them, but also tweaked them towards more modern systems, play style and speed.