I'll just take a small nibble of this topic, and throw this out there. Let's say it's 1981-82 and the defensive/goaltending climate and talent disparity is what it is. How close does a healthy but declining 33-34 year old Bobby Orr get to 200 points?
Dude, let's put down the Kool Aid.
I agree with the suggestion that Orr's real physical peak years (and this, despite earlier injuries / surgeries) passed after 1972. That is, he was never quite the same after that. Of course, he was so good that from 1972-73 through 1974-75 (his last 3 prime seasons), he was still the best player in the League, more or less. 1973 was a down-year for the Bruins after losing roster players to the WHA, and then 1974 was a bounce-back and big year for Espo (B's lost in the Final). 1974-75 is a bit odd. The Bruins were coached by Cherry and dropped a lot of points in the standings, but Orr generally thrived, scoring 135 points (he had more goals than usual), and winning the Art Ross for the second time.
When you break it down, his 1974-75 season isn't
quite as great as it appears (it appears superhuman, so this is relative), what with his scoring 16 points in just 5 games vs. hapless Washington, 10 points in 4 games vs. Minnesota, etc. But then again, there were some terrible clubs in the latter-70s and early-80s, too, even if none as bad as Washington back then. In any case, I would argue that his results are more impressive in 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972 than afterwards.
But if we're going as far ahead as 1981-82, it's now nine full years after Orr's physical peak ended, in reality. I just cannot see anyone scoring 200 points that long after their peak... and then we're talking about a defenceman...? Remember that from 1971-72 to 1986-87, not one player in the NHL (except Gretzky) made it 150 points.
On top of all that, even if Orr had stayed in the same state of relative leg-health as in 1974-75, by the early 1980s, even if the game had opened up on one level (mainly due to the WHA collapse and an injection of youthful players), it was also starting to speed up. It wasn't a good time to be an older player. Orr was only 33-34 during this season, but that was old for his peer group. Among skaters who played 40+ games that season, only 11 players were 34 or older.
On top of which, the '82 Bruins scored fewer goals than the '75 Bruins!
Now, as someone noted, Brad Park could still put up 56 points in 1982, which is really good for age 33, so there's no doubt that Orr could have score more than that.
But 200...? Um, no.
