As first NHL stars of internet age reach twilight years, how has fame changed?

Kirill Marchenko stands at his locker with a bemused grin as a throng of reporters slowly make their way towards his stall at the Ford Performance Centre.

Marchenko has been with the Toronto Maple Leafs for exactly one week, after being traded on the eve of the regular season from the Columbus Blue Jackets.

He’s been readily available throughout the busiest seven days of his professional career, so why is he the subject of interest following a routine Monday practice? Alexander Ovechkin announced plans to retire after the season earlier this morning, and it naturally invites some contemplation on the NHL’s first stars of the internet era.

Marchenko clues in and is ready to play ball.

“It’s our favorite player, especially Ovi and (Evgeni) Malkin,” Marchenko said with a smile on Oct.

5, when asked to speak about Ovechkin’s impact on him as a kid growing up in Russia.

“You always go between these two guys, especially me when I was a kid.

When I was a kid, I used the same curve, same stick, tried to do like, same yellow laces and just copy the style.

It’s so nice.” Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, Steven Stamkos and John Tavares are all prodigies that came of age during the internet’s revolution, the infancy of social media, and are now among the NHL’s elder statesmen.

We knew that Ovechkin wasn’t going to play forever, but after 22 seasons in the league, it’s worth examining how the nature of fame has changed.

There’s another simple catalyst: Gavin McKenna is one of three first overall picks on the Maple Leafs, and all eyes have been on the 18-year-old’s every shift through the opening month of the season.

How has the nature of fame changed for hockey prodigies, from Ovechkin’s time in the league, to the McKennaissance Era? “I think you just want him to be himself,” Tavares told a small group of reporters, including Daily Faceoff’s Matt Larkin, at the NHL Player Media Tour in September.

“There’s a reason why he is who he is and the position he’s in.

So he doesn’t have to come in and look to change or do a number of different things.

I think just come in and try to soak it in.

You’re a rookie once in the NHL and have this amazing opportunity to just enjoy it, be driven, compete your ass off and have fun with it.

“You’re going to have a tremendous number of resources, influences, mentors, people within the organization, on the team, that are going to do everything they can to help you along the way.

And there’s going to be ups and downs, but that’s part of the journey, part of the learning.

And you get to live your dream.

You’ve been thinking about this for as long as you can remember.

You’ve really got to enjoy it and have fun with it.

So I’m excited to be there along with him as a teammate and just remember what it was like for myself.” Steven Stamkos was seemingly predestined for NHL fame.

As legend has it, Stamkos was the first player in his age group to develop a potent slapshot, and he was considered a future first overall pick at 13 years old, while starring for the Markham Waxers in the Ontario Minor Hockey Association, before being selected first overall by the OHL’s Sarnia Sting.

It’s quite possible I may have misremembered a small detail: Stamkos tells me he was not the MVP of the Quebec Pee-Wee Tournament, as I thought, but it’s true that he won the OHL Cup and countless other tournaments as a kid.

After having a few laughs and giving this reporter a chance to save face, Stamkos thoughtfully engages on how his experience may differ from McKenna’s, 18 years apart, on Oct.

“I think it’s changed dramatically, especially when you come to a market like this,” he said.

“I think that’s first and foremost.

I don’t think many people knew who I was in Tampa when I got drafted.

So a completely different set of circumstances.

I think it starts there.

And then obviously the game has grown so much, which is amazing.

And you’ve seen the skill and how ready these kids are coming into the league now.

It’s pretty remarkable.

When you come to a place like this, it’s a pressure cooker, right? You know, I walked into our hotel last night and the TV was on in the hotel and it was all Maple Leafs, right? There’s not many cities you walk into and it’s like that.

So that’s just the way it is here, and I’m sure he’s gonna do fine.

I got a lot of nerves.

You know, it’s a tough league, so it takes some time sometimes.” Stamkos doesn’t know it yet, but later this evening, McKenna will register his first two NHL points, bringing the house down upon roofing a shot into the top corner....