Well that settles it. Why are we signing guys past 25, they're only going downhill.
I don't think that chart tells the full story. You have to recognize the type of player you're talking about. Girardi and Callahan aren't the same as Brian Boyle. Callahan is an excellent 2-Way winger, a captain, a soon to be two time olympian. Girardi was an all-star who has consistently been a top pairing defensemen for several years. Also, both of these guys have grossly exceeded expectations at every point in their careers--a quality that, I believe should influence one's predictions as to their impending decline, and that won't show up on a chart. In any case, I didn't mean for my original comment to seem condescending, I just think, in reality, as you say, there are plenty of examples of players who thrive past 25, not necessarily improving, but also finding other ways to contribute and remain effective players, which in a world where the cap is increasing make the immediate payoff of their presence well worth whatever decline will follow. In the case of Callahan it's easy to look a Morrow and say Callahan will just fall apart later on, but for every Morrow there's another guy who plays a similar style and had a much better progression: Iginla, Doan, Dupuis, Kunitz to name a few.
