Top 30 by age category

[Mythras]

Was killing time the other day and wrote this up, figured I'd share since it is already made. I went through the top 30 in scoring from the 96/97 season up til now. I organized the scorers into 4 categories: 23 and under, 24-28, 29-33, and 34+. These are the numbers:

top 30	96/97	97	98	99	00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19
19-23	4	1	2	3	1	3	3	5	N/A	5	6	8	6	6	8	4	7	6	5	4	7	6	10	10
24-28	17	19	19	11	11	13	11	11	N/A	14	10	12	14	13	8	13	14	15	15	16	11	14	10	11
29-33	6	7	8	12	13	12	14	10	N/A	7	6	7	7	9	11	9	7	4	5	8	11	10	10	8
34+	3	3	1	4	5	2	2	4	N/A	4	8	3	3	2	3	4	2	5	5	2	1	0	0	1

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

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[Bluesguru]

23 and under taking off. 34+ getting less and less.

 

[abo9]

The next few seasons will be interesting for the 34 + age group. Ovechkin, Malkin, Crosby are all entering that stage of their careers and if they stay healthy they could bring that number back up. That's without counting on guys like Wheeler, Marchand, Kopitar, Bergeron that could break in the top 30

 

[heretik27]

Makes sense, they took away the red line and opened the game up so that the younger, faster, highly skilled players are taking over.

 

[Henkka]

Makes sense, they took away the red line and opened the game up so that the younger, faster, highly skilled players are taking over.

And then St. Louis Blues came and did win the Cup with slower and lesser skilled players.

 

[txpd]

Makes sense, they took away the red line and opened the game up so that the younger, faster, highly skilled players are taking over.

The coaches have coached the offensive advantage to removing the red line out of the game. Reducing obstruction is what opened up the game for younger players. The game became less physical. The obstruction came back because no obstruction lead to too many injuries. The move to more mobile defenseman has increased the value of young players.

But the best teams in the league are the older teams. If the game is set up for younger players, why do you suppose that is? Playoff goals are scored less and less in transition and off the rush. A possession, limit turnovers game supports the more experienced teams.

My read is that big, physical, experienced teams have the advantage right now.

The Blues, Caps, Pens, Blackhawks, Kings and Bruins didn't that I can remember have a heavy young player influence.

 

[morehockeystats]

And then St. Louis Blues came and did win the Cup with slower and lesser skilled players.

Younger, faster, skilled young players dominate the regular season, and even more the scoring in the regular season.

Playoffs is a different kind of story that remind me of this joke:
A young and and old bull go on top of the hill and see a herd of cows.
The young bull tells the old one:
'Let's rush quickly downhill and screw these two cute ones on the right side!
'No, let's walk down slowly and calmly and screw the entire herd.

 

[SneakerPimp82]

And then St. Louis Blues came and did win the Cup with slower and lesser skilled players.

I'd contend that while the Blues aren't the fastest team in the league, they are by no means a slow team, especially on defense where the system calls for mobile defensemen who can skate or pass the puck out of the defensive zone. As for the lesser skilled part, again take a look at the roster. There is skill sprinkled throughout the lineup, especially on the 4th line, which plays a lot more than your typical 4th line and is likely one of the best in the league. Lacking superstars? Sure. Lacking skill? Not really.

 

[Henkka]

I'd contend that while the Blues aren't the fastest team in the league, they are by no means a slow team, especially on defense where the system calls for mobile defensemen who can skate or pass the puck out of the defensive zone. As for the lesser skilled part, again take a look at the roster. There is skill sprinkled throughout the lineup, especially on the 4th line, which plays a lot more than your typical 4th line and is likely one of the best in the league. Lacking superstars? Sure. Lacking skill? Not really.

It was the exact opposite what future NHL was told to be.

And that's the best in hockey. You can't say one direction is the right direction. There's always the opposite way of play.

 

[kruezer]

Could this have more to do with the talent within the age groups than any changes the league has made?

Players turning 34 in 2014 (the last year before the precipitous drop) would have been drafted 16 years prior (roughly) which would have been the 1998 draft, the drafts from 1995 thru to 2002 are pretty much seen as a terrible (with obvious exceptions here and there of course).

I haven't looked thru any more in depth so this is just a hot take, but it doesn't surprise me to see the coming out of the 80s and early 90s where large swathes of elite offensive players were drafted that after those players aged out they weren't replaced by anyone.

 

[morehockeystats]

Could this have more to do with the talent within the age groups than any changes the league has made?

Players turning 34 in 2014 (the last year before the precipitous drop) would have been drafted 16 years prior (roughly) which would have been the 1998 draft, the drafts from 1995 thru to 2002 are pretty much seen as a terrible (with obvious exceptions here and there of course).

I haven't looked thru any more in depth so this is just a hot take, but it doesn't surprise me to see the coming out of the 80s and early 90s where large swathes of elite offensive players were drafted that after those players aged out they weren't replaced by anyone.

Here comes the question: was it around 1995 when the majority of players began to be drafted at the age of 18?

 

[Ace Card Bedard]

The coaches have coached the offensive advantage to removing the red line out of the game. Reducing obstruction is what opened up the game for younger players. The game became less physical. The obstruction came back because no obstruction lead to too many injuries. The move to more mobile defenseman has increased the value of young players.

But the best teams in the league are the older teams. If the game is set up for younger players, why do you suppose that is? Playoff goals are scored less and less in transition and off the rush. A possession, limit turnovers game supports the more experienced teams.

My read is that big, physical, experienced teams have the advantage right now.

The Blues, Caps, Pens, Blackhawks, Kings and Bruins didn't that I can remember have a heavy young player influence.

2010 Blackhawks were a young team.
Avg age 25 yrs old. Kane and Toews were 21, Hjalmarsson was 22, Bolland was 23, Seabs was 24, etc.
The only "old" guys were Madden, Sopel, and Huet (backup)

The other two cup years they were definitely older but had some significant younger players like Saad, Kruger, Teuvo, Shaw, etc.

 

[67Leafs67]

Could this have more to do with the talent within the age groups than any changes the league has made?

Players turning 34 in 2014 (the last year before the precipitous drop) would have been drafted 16 years prior (roughly) which would have been the 1998 draft, the drafts from 1995 thru to 2002 are pretty much seen as a terrible (with obvious exceptions here and there of course).

I haven't looked thru any more in depth so this is just a hot take, but it doesn't surprise me to see the coming out of the 80s and early 90s where large swathes of elite offensive players were drafted that after those players aged out they weren't replaced by anyone.

Yeah, I think this has more to do with it. Top end talent isn't evenly distributed year by year, and some short eras, or single birth years have a lot more top 20 calibre scoring players than others. Those lulls and dips are probably the dominant factor, not necessarily major changes to the way the game is played. Not that those changes aren't a factor...just certainly not the only one.

 

[txpd]

2010 Blackhawks were a young team.
Avg age 25 yrs old. Kane and Toews were 21, Hjalmarsson was 22, Bolland was 23, Seabs was 24, etc.
The only "old" guys were Madden, Sopel, and Huet (backup)

The other two cup years they were definitely older but had some significant younger players like Saad, Kruger, Teuvo, Shaw, etc.

The Blackhawks were 10 years ago. Their formula is no longer valid. I am just taking the last 3 winners.