Your Numbers
You're right about the first point of course but if you want to look at when Lidstrom and Orr were born then the results would be similar IMO. Hockey has grown and has spread to more people over time and hopefully it will continue to do so. There's no denying there are many more people playing hockey now than in the past. For the most part it's been an upward trend since it's infancy. There are 500,000 registered players in the US right now compared to less than 200,000 20 years ago. Coaches and officials have grown in a similar fashion as well.
http://www.usahockey.com//Template_Usahockey.aspx?NAV=ME_03&ID=29074
As for the second paragrah, these leagues have all increased in size over time:
There are 23 KHL teams now compared to 9-12 in the RSL in the 70s and 80s.
There are 30 AHL teams now compared to 8-12 in the 70s plus 10 or so teams in the IHL.
There are 20 OHL teams now compared to 10-12 teams in the 70s.
There are 18 QMJHL teams now compared to 10 in the 70s.
There are 22 WHL teams now compared to 12 teams in the 70s.
They have all grown across the board and so has participation in hockey. The denial of this must stop. It's a bigger pond now and it's more difficult to stand out than ever. To pretend the opposite is true is absurd.
The AHL today basically is a composite of the 1970's AHL, the IHL, the WHL, the CHL(Central), the NAHL, the EHL. Basically as larger arenas were built the additional revenues could justify an upgrade to the AHL level.
The CHL = QMJHL + OHL + WHL. The increases in teams you refer to are the result of arena upgrades and facilitated travel by super highways in Canada. The extra teams come from the substrata of junior leagues that were feeder teams to major junior teams. Previously qualified junior players from the Maritimes - Crosby's dad, did not have local teams in the Q, today Maritime players do.
The lack of difference is evidenced in the NHL Entry Draft. Using the same seasons as in the previous Orr / Lidstrom analogy. 1975 draft saw 217 players selected with pick #210 Dave Taylor making the NHL. 2011 NHL Entry Draft saw 211 players selected. Based on your claims the number of players drafted should have doubled or tripled but the stark reality is that the number of drafted players remained the same.
So what happened?
More people playing hockey does not mean there is more or better hockey talent. All it means is that there are more people registered as hockey players. The kids who did not count in the numbers years ago because they were playing in various informal house leagues now get counted even if they are playing Intro C level or are in learn to skate programs(generates funding). USA hockey is growing in numbers because it is spreading to the grassroots level but their elite is rather stable. Adult hockey is being recognized with leagues running in arenas 12 months of the year but none of the players are going to make the NHL in the future.
Europe is another issue KHL now features imports, juniors and old-timers, similar to the old QSHL,EPHL,AHL,WHL since they cannot sustain the league on their own or with young players at the 23 team level. Factor out the imports, the juniors, the old-timers and you have little growth from the old Soviet league.
For your numbers to carry weight the NHL Entry Draft would have to generate a much larger harvest every year, roughly 400-600 picks, that would be proportionate throughout the hockey playing world. But this is not happening. Fewer Finns, Czechs, Slovaks are getting drafted. True they are replaced at times by an Austrian, Norwegian, German, etc but the size of the overall pool that is drafted has actually shrunk as illustrated above.
