Best Player by Age

[BM67]

Would have to think Bill Cook leading the NHL in goals and points, followed up by scoring the first OT Stanley Cup winning goal at the age of 36 should get him on the list.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

34-Dominik Hasek (Really close call with Jagr here)

Are you referring to Jagr's 2005-06 season, or his 2006-07 campaign? If we take the aging from hockey-reference.com, Jagr was 33 during his Hart-calibre 2005-06 season. He was great in 2006-07 (at age 34), but Hasek was clearly better.

The really interesting question at age 34 is Gordie Howe vs Dominik Hasek.

Hasek won the Vezina trophy and finished 3rd in Hart trophy voting. His 93.7% save percentage is the highest on record for any goalie appearing in >50 games, and he was ahead of runner-up Byron Dafoe by a large margin (1.1%; yes, that is a huge margin when it comes to NHL goaltending). In the playoffs, Hasek had a Smythe-calibre performance as he dragged a mediocre Buffalo team to game six of the Stanley Cup finals.

Howe won the Hart trophy by a decisive margin (111 voting points; runner-up Stan Mikita had only 54). Mr. Hockey led the league in goals and points (albeit only by 1 goal and 5 points). He had 100 PIM (8th in the NHL); coming from Howe, this was likely a sign of toughness rather than undisciplined play. He was almost certainly the most valuable player on his team (22 points ahead of his next closest teammate, Alex Delvecchio). Like Hasek, Howe lost in the Stanley Cup finals, and had a dominant individual performance (tied as the playoff scoring leader - probably was a Conn Smythe contender).

Interesting similarities in that they both had Hart calibre regular seasons and Smythe calibre playoffs, losing in the Cup finals. I'd give this to Hasek by the slimmest of margins.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

Fun exercise. Some thoughts (I used the age given on hockey-reference, so hopefully that matches)...


It feels like Orr needs to be on here more. I have his 37-102-139 season with a +124 as age 22. I think he should win that over Gretzky's 71-125-196.

Age 21 is very tough between Gretzky and Orr, it's Gretzky's 92 goals against an Art Ross season for Orr. I would give the regular season to Gretzky, but if we are suppose to factor in playoffs, Orr's Cup and Conn Smythe might put him over the top.


There may be a case for Chelios over Howe for the age 40 spot? Chelios was the Norris runner-up and logged the second most minutes to Lidstrom in a Cup winning playoff run.

Note: If Lidstrom keeps his pace this year (which would likely win him the Norris), then he should probably surpass both of these guys for the age 40 spot.


I also agree that Sakic needs serious consideration for age 31. He was the Hart winner, Art Ross and Selke runner-up, and had a Conn Smythe caliber playoff.

How about Bourque at 40?

First team all-star and played more total minutes (counting playoffs) than any player in the league. And his team won the Cup.

 

[WilliamRanford]

Surprisingly, a case could be made for Messier at 29:

http://www.hockey-reference.com/pla...at=&c4comp=gt&c4val=&order_by=points_per_game

89-90 hart, won cup, great PPG compared to the greats.

 

[oil4life97]

Surprisingly, a case could be made for Messier at 29:

http://www.hockey-reference.com/pla...at=&c4comp=gt&c4val=&order_by=points_per_game

89-90 hart, won cup, great PPG compared to the greats.

why surprisingly? Messier is one of the greats. A guy that played a good chunk of his career as a 2nd liner and still manages to have the 2nd most points in the NHL.