I disagree with every sentence in this quote.
"Yzerman's peak height blows Sakic's peak height out of the water."
Please show me 7 consecutive years from Sakic that can match Yzerman's 87/88-93/94 and please show any year of Sakic's that's matches Yzerman's 88/89 season, especially considering the players around him that Yzerman did it with.
"The only thing thing one might give to Sakic is the length of his offensive peak and even that isn't by much. They were both point per game or better players for the exact same amount of seasons, 18."
Ok, you're right, it was 17 each.
"And a 35 year old Yzerman brought more to the table than a 35 year old Sakic did."
35 and over numbers for Yzerman: Seasons-6 GP-336 G-100 P-272 +67 1 Selke 1 Cup
35 and over numbers for Sakic: Seasons-5 GP-304 G-116 P-326 +13 -------
Once you consider that Yzerman was being employed in a much more defensive role than Sakic was at the same ages.
And that Sakic got the benefit of playing 4 of those last 5 seasons in the "new" obstruction free/powerplay happy NHL while 5 of Stevie's last 6 seasons were played during the height of the DPE, that point gap is negated and then some.
I mean this is what it really comes down to with these two isn't it? Supposedly Sakic not only makes up all this ground on Yzerman when comparing their last 5-6 seasons but he also manages to pass him.
The reality though is that conclusion only survives the barest surface test and the weight of those years for Sakic is much, much less than it is being assigned.
Either way, at the end of the day, Yzerman made the NHL as an 18 year old, Sakic as a 19 year old and Yzerman played until he was 41, Sakic until he was 40 so any comment as to who did what longer should be answered right then and there.