Marleau
Age 33 70 pts
Age 34 57 pts
Age 35 48 pts
~31-32% decline in production from age 33 to 35
Prorate to a 33 year old starting at 50 pts
50 pts
41 pts
34 pts
(if said player is still at 50 pts at age 33)
Unaddressed so far in this debate isn't just if he's gonna maintain his production.... it's that his production is going to be dwarfed by Kakko, Panarin, Chytil, Kravtsov, and maybe another pick or two of ours by then. It's not about whether Kreider can maintain his 50 point production level (which is very, very arguable as first line production given today's scoring averages).
It's just as much, if not more, a question of "where does 32 year old Chris Kreider fit on this team?"
In 2-3 years, Kreider is competing for ice time with 21 year old Kaapo Kakko, 22 year old Vitaly Kravtsov, 30 year old Artemi Panarin, 23 year old Filip Chytil, 29 year old Mika Zibanejad, and maybe another young stud forward or two (say, Lundell or Zary from this year, plus maybe if we move a defenseman for a top-6 forward, ie, say Lundkvist is eventually moved for a Kyrou-type return).
Where the hell is Kreider playing? He's gonna be our $6.5m a year third line left winger?
Diminishing returns.
Yes, Kreider is unique, and he'd be very valuable to this team while it rebuilds, right up until the point he gets buried on the depth chart by all the better players.
That time frame is not a question of 33 versus 35 years old. That probably becomes an issue as soon as 2 years from now if he loses even a half step and if our young kids develop.
And I'm not even counting if we keep Buchnevich in all this. Where does Kreider play?
People keep saying "These kids are young, who knows if they are gonna pan out," but you have to PROJECT based on reasonable data. Of course we don't know, but the reasonable indications are, Kravtsov and Kakko and Panarin will all probably be better in 2 years than Kreider, and whoever our first rounder is this year has a good shot at being better or equal (and cheaper) in 2-3 years as well.
Advocating for Kreider is a no-brainer if the only question was the next 3 years. But it's not. The albatross he might be in years 4-7 is not worth it just to have him here as a plus second liner the next 3 years. We have enough talent that we won't be an als0-ran.
Having said all that, IF Kreider could be traded and bring back 2 cost-controlled, CHEAP future pieces, then that helps alleviate the cap situation if he has a big contract, because he has brought back two cheap labor pieces to play along side him, and I could live with re-signing him this summer. As long as we ALSO get the trade chips from a deadline trade first.
But signing him outright without trading him is insanity to me. And if it's not possible to trade and then re-sign him (which I don't understand why it would be impossible), then oh well, I guess I'll miss him.