Defensemen who peaked very young?

[The Panther]

Over on the (shudder!) main board, they're talking about the ages players peak at. We've all observed that defensemen tend to peak a bit later than forwards, in general.

I was wondering: Are there are defencemen who peaked at a very young age? I'm thinking of those ages being, say, 18 to 23 or something, which is generally a bit sooner than most D-man hit their best years.

(I'm not thinking of those who were severely injured, died young, quit hockey prematurely, etc.)

The only obvious one who comes to mind is Bobby Orr, but we'll never know how he would have aged if healthy past 27.

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[Sadekuuro]

Mike Green's big years were around the late end of that range.

 

[TheAngryHank]

Lids peak was early and very long.
Chelli seemed to start pretty good too, both starting on loaded teams.

 

[Killion]

Barret Jackman.... and I mention him as while he did suffer a nasty shoulder injury after his rookie season he did go on to have a pretty decent career regardless, though never reached the heights of his promise following his outstanding rookie season... winning the Calder over Nash & Zetterberg. One of only less than a dozen Defencemen in the 71X's that awards been given out. That was his "peak", year one. Still excellent after recovering, but no, not the same player..... maybe disqualified as you mention "not because of injury"...

Carl Brewer (Imlach, system hockey, getting beaten up badly, playing scared thereafter) another perhaps closest to the criteria you seek as he did peak early, sustained it, lost it after a fight with Murray Balfour, quit but eventually came back as we all know. And when he did, much more stay-at-home, sedentary. Gone the flashes of youth, the speedster, rushing Defenceman, Needle he once was. Peaked early.... and also possibly disqualified as you mention "cant have quit early"....

 

[Canucks1096]

Ohlund

 

[wintersej]

Tyler Myers

 

[alko]

Andrej Meszaros - his first season in NHL was his best.

Dion Phaneuff - his peak was in 2007/2008 (17+43 + 182 PIM). He was 22 years old.

 

[Hobnobs]

Paul Coffey, peaked very early but it was a long peak interrupted in two seasons by injuries iirc.

 

[double5son10]

Denis Potvin won his first Norris at 22 and his last at 25.

 

[sr edler]

Dave Babych put up 68 and 74 point seasons at age 21 & 22. He became better at actual defense later on though.

 

[Terry Yake]

myers, phaneuf, and green are recent examples

 

[GreatGonzo]

Although he did deal with injuries, just nothing career ending, my homer vote will go to Ozolinsh. He came into the league at 20 in '93 with the Sharks. Had a great season in '94 with 64 points and 28 goals in 81 games(2nd in goals among Defensemen). Three years later, he puts up a similar season at age 24 with 23 goals(1st) and 68 points(2nd) in 80 games, earning 1st team AS honors and ended up 3rd in Norris voting. He then went on to win the Cup with the Avs that post season and put up 19 points in 22 games, 4th overall in team scoring, and 1st overall among all Defensemen.

From '94-'97 he had 211 points in 282 games. He sits 1st in goals, 8th in points, 10th in assists, and 8th in PPG among all Defensemen. Also adding 51 points in 66 playoff games with a stanley cup. He hit his stride early on and made a good amount of noise.

Although he did put up 51 points in 66 games On '98 and 32 points in 39 games the season after that, he was never able to regain that offense he once had, or the success.

He did play another 8 years, but became somewhat of a jouryman.

 

[Nick Hansen]

What about Jay Bouwmeester? He recorded his best offensive seasons before the age of 27. Weird one, though. Hard to really judge that way.

 

[ChiefWiggum]

Green
Phaneuf

Bouwmeester
Myers

 

[Howie Hodge]

Ian "Bull" Turnbull of The Maple leafs.

At 23 he put up his bet season, 22 goals, and 57 assists during the 1976 - 1977 season.

He was productive offensively for another three of four years, but his defensive game never developed, probably even regressed a bit...

Done as an NHL player at 28 years of age...

 

[Howie Hodge]

Barry Beck, Colorado Rockies and Rangers. (Kings brief comeback)

Three good seasons (1977-78 through 1979-1980) prior to 22. Was okay after, but not the same offensive player....

 

[YEM]

Joni Pitkanen had 89 points in his last 2 seasons in philly [135 games]
before the age of 24

 

[sr edler]

Bouwmeester in Florida just had a lot more PP ice time on a bad team. One year early on he had 0 PP goals but 16 PP assists, so just looking at PP goals season to season doesn’t tell the whole picture. He was hardly a better overall player in Florida than he is now in St. Louis.

 

[Kyle McMahon]

Eric Brewer. His first season in Edmonton was good enough that it earned him a spot on the 2002 Canadian Olympic team. He was just 22 at the time and looked destined to anchor the Oilers blue line for the next decade. Regressed the next couple years though and got traded, albeit for Chris Pronger. Had a solid career with St. Louis and later Tampa but never seemed to put it all together like he did for about 18 months earlier in his career. Playing on generally weak teams likely didn't help.

 

[Sticks and Pucks]

Definitely Dion Phaneuf. Looked like a future multiple Norris Trophy winner early in his NHL career.

Eric Brewer is a good one too. I'd say his peak was at age 22 when he was picked for the 2002 Olympics team. That defence was pretty stacked and Brewer somehow made that team.

 

[blood gin]

He doesn't quite fit into this age wise because of when he came to the NHL, but Vladimir Malakhov's first two seasons were his absolute best in the league and he never again approached that level of play.

 

[reckoning]

Brian Benning looked like a future #1 defenceman in his rookie year with St. Louis, but his career seemed to flouder after that.

 

[GJB]

Alex Edler and Dion Phaneuf

 

[Nick Hansen]

Doug Wilson won his Norris aged 24, which also was his highest scoring season.

 

[mrhockey193195]

Pitkanen is a good one, I was convinced he would be a Norris winner. To what degree was his decline due to injuries though?

Brian Leetch is another one. Peaked early - his best season was at the age of 23 in 1991-92. By age 29 he had the following resume:
- 2 Norris Trophies (and three more 2nd all star selections)
- Stanley Cup
- Conn Smythe
- World Cup Gold Medal (as Captain)
- 650 points in 649 games
- 89 playoff points in 82 playoff games

I'd argue that he was trending to be a top-15 defenseman of all time...closer to Chelios, and ahead of Stevens & MacInnis. Then he fell off drastically (he was still a very good defenseman, but he ended up being in the 20 to 30 range and right behind Stevens and MacInnis).