And that's why if we are only comparing these three skaters, I choose Alexei Yagudin. For me, Yagudin is/was the best of these three at focusing with emotional intensity on fully developing artistry and expressiveness in his skating. And Yagudin was also a very pure, consistent, and superb technician. With Tatiana Tarasova's help, Yagudin worked hard at trying to become a complete skater. His performances at 2002 Olympics were masterful, both technically and aesthetically.
For me, Hanyu is primarily an extraordinarily gifted technician. Of course, Hanyu moves fluidly and mesmerizingly, but he is also rather gumby-like or loosey-goosey, and he does not exhibit nor has he yet fully developed an aesthetically satisfying body awareness, in terms of line and stretch. Hanyu admittedly has patterned his skating after his idol and muse, Johnny Weir. When he first came on the senior scene, Hanyu did seem to move with a graceful fluidity that was reminiscent of Johnny's movement quality. However, for me, Hanyu never quite pulled me in all the way. I became distracted by his loosey-goosey physicality, his lack of stretch and line, and his tendency early in his career to lose endurance in his fps and make errors. Going to Orser was a tremendous help to Hanyu, as Orser managed to find a way to help Hanyu pace himself and solve his lack of endurance problems (possibly related to his asthma).
There's no question that Hanyu is a passionate and determined competitor with a fierce drive to win. He also has very good skating skills, but that's what makes his lack of line and stretch fairly annoying, at least for me. Still, Hanyu is fun to watch when he's in the zone, and his jumping ability is amazing. I would have to agree though that sometimes there's somewhat of a mechanical quality in the way he performs. He has artistic abilities, but he moves in and out of complete concentration on the expressive aspects of his skating. And Hanyu is not a particularly musical skater, in terms of having a superior ability to interpret music in a way that pulls an audience into the weaving of a story. I think audiences are more pulled into Hanyu's other-worldly elf-like persona, and his amazing jumping ability (the suspended quality of his jumps).
Plushenko is Plushenko, and he will likely go down in the history of the sport in a class by himself. No one's passion, determination, and strength of will is greater than Plushenko's, IMHO. As far as artistry, Plush had a lot of capability, but he tended to rely more on charisma, rather than on fully exploring aesthetics. His main focus was upping the technical ante, and utilizing his athleticism and charm, rather than challenging himself with mastering difficult transitions. Plush did not have great stretch or line either, but conversely he did have a catlike, balletic grace.
I do love the exciting ice shows Plush created as his competitive career waned.
