When hockey players peak, decline, and hit their prime

[GOilers88]

Power forwards peaking in late 20's early 30's eh.

Milan Lucic says hello to the entire HF universe.

 

[Atas2000]

Players are peaking earlier seemingly every year. These numbers are very fluid.

I am still waiting to see any proof.

 

[buud]

i think that younger, smaller, SKILLED players, are enjoying more success, because of the rule changes (really, just enforcing the rules), reducing clutch and grab, interference, hacking, etc... maybe younger players are being relied on more, for financial reasons?

i heard that players start performing to the best of their abilities, around the 3rd year in the league. lots of variables involved when analysing, so it certainly is not objective. i believe that most players are at their peak, between 24-30.

 

[VoluntaryDom]

Gourde be like “nah f*** that I peak when I want to”

 

[aborkie]

It's about recovery time. Older NHL players can skate with young players just fine, but the young players recover much faster. Older players need more rest before next game.

 

[cg98]

I am still waiting to see any proof.

Well then youre blind lol.

 

[Atas2000]

Well then youre blind lol.

Telling someone he's blind is not proving anything. Millenialthink is awesome but a lot of people agree here that a 32y.o. Ovechkin elevated his game to win the cup. I don't see the new stars peak early, I don't see the older players decline early. All I see is fake news and narratives.

 

[Riddum]

Jagr's peak was around 24-29. Even though he was washed up, from 34 to 36, he put up 290PTS in 246 games.

 

[Sam Spade]

 

[SaltNPeca]

Power forwards peaking in late 20's early 30's eh.

Milan Lucic says hello to the entire HF universe.

Late 30's Shanny called to say wassup?

Season	Age	Tm	Lg	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PIM
2005-06	37	DET	NHL	82	40	41	81	29	105

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

 

[GOilers88]

Late 30's Shanny called to say wassup?

Season	Age	Tm	Lg	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PIM
2005-06	37	DET	NHL	82	40	41	81	29	105

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Lol of course there's always the extreme exceptions.

 

[Akustiikka]

I have allways thought the prime age for athlete and for human performance in general is 27. There are some sports where you need maximum flexibility, like gymnastics or figure skating where athletes peak earlier, and some sports that needs maximum power, where athletes peak later, but in general its 27.

In hockey and other similar teamsports some skilled forwards peak earlier, some defenders and goalies later, but still 27 is the number imo. Ofcourse injuries may have effect on this.

The reason league keeps getting younger has more to do with better coaching of juniors, and the fast development of the sport in general. Lot of talent is coming from many countries. Of course young people learn the new technological improvements faster, and are more familiar with them. And of course young players are cheaper.