What do you define as a player's "prime?"

[Blades of Glory]

I was thinking about some of the greatest "primes" of all-time, and I got to thinking, what is the accepted time frame of a hockey player's "prime?" Is it 25-31? Just a random 7-8 year period in their career where their statistics were similar? For example, you could claim Joe Sakic, from age 31-37, was even better than he was from age 24-31.

I usually lean with statistics over age. Some players obviously just have longer primes, due to longevity, greatness, etc. What do you define "prime" as?

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[Iain Fyffe]

In general, hockey is a young man's game. A typical player's prime seasons are probably from ages 23-28 or so.

Many players do not have their peak performance during these years of course, but it applies in general.

 

[Canadiens1958]

Players Prime

Players prime. Usually refers to his best offensive stretch. Rarely if ever is the complete package considered when discussing a player's prime.

Steve Yzerman, Stan Mikita, Bobby Clarke, Gordie Howe, Jean Beliveau, Henri Richard, to name a few, all became complete hockey players after their perceived prime.

To an extent the same perception holds for defensemen and goalies.Little consideration is given to how they mature into their position. The period after which they can get by on simple raw talent and must rely on experience and acquired knowledge is ignored to a great degree.

 

[Boxscore]

By definition, prime refers to the period or phase of ideal or peak condition. So, I guess that varies from player to player, based on their condition and health, etc.

Take Forsberg and Lindros for example, their prime could be considered earlier then other players because of injuries and physical abuse to their bodies.

Intellectually, some players reach their prime (or high ceiling/peak) later in their career, as confidence and mental makeup play a big part of success in sport.

Intelligence and experience, more than physical conditioning, is the reason a good amount of defensemen and goaltenders peak later than other skaters.

 

[matnor]

In terms of offensive production a players prime happens between the age of 24-27 with it's absolute peak at age 26. Below is two graphs for point per game production, once you remove each players average point production, for defenders and forwards respectively. Interestingly, there is no evidence that defencemen are later bloomers than forwards. The data covers every NHL player aged 18-40 since the league started in 1917 until last season.

Defencemen:

Forwards:

Edit: The level of the numbers on the y-axis is not really correct but the scale is.

 

[matnor]

Intelligence and experience, more than physical conditioning, is the reason a good amount of defensemen and goaltenders peak later than other skaters.

That's true. If you do the same graphs as the ones I posted above but for +/- instead of ppg you find that for forwards they are relatively similar but for defencemen the prime occurs between age 27-30 instead.

 

[Axxellien]

prime time:

...3 of my fave players Alex Delvecchio, NormUllman & Johnny Bucyk became MORE complete players in the 2nd half of their long careers, but certainly not better than in their 20s..

 

[alexanderovechkin8]

when the player is his best not his best statistic season Yzerman was better as a 2way player then when he was putting up 150+ [point seasons