You used Stepan as a "drastic" example of a decline in his late 20's. Not sure why you used that example if you weren't implying that it's a possibility for Panarin.
I used Stepan as an example of the type of player that Panarin is not. Read it again.
Ovechkin has scored 49 or more goals 5 times ages 28-33 while improving drastically defensively. I'm not sure what you're getting at - his best years have been these years.
Ah the ol' moving of the goal posts.
OV's best offensive seasons occured in his 20's. You can point to improved defensive play or what ever, he scored 60+ and won an art ross + hart at 22.
I'm not putting words in your mouth. You're saying he will likely decline from here on out. I've provided examples where elite players improved past age 27. I disagree with your entire premise that this is "likely". We don't have to agree on this. I understand your point of view but I don't think Panarin has peaked - particularly given the club he's played on. We'll see.
Except you were.
I never said that hes going to fall off of a cliff. History shows that guys of his caliber usually level off and then start to dip a bit before completely falling off if they don't call it quits first.
That doesn't mean that said player is a bad player once the dip happens, but I dunno, I don't exactly love the prospect of paying 11 million for a 65 point player.
FWIW, Panarin's peak year was probably 2017-18. His numbers were slightly up this year, but as someone mentioned league scoring was also up and the production of the guys around him was higher. Look at the gap between him and the guy who finished 2nd (I think it was Dubois) in 2017-18, it's almost Pavel Bure on the Panthers type ridiculous.
