Where does Ovechkin's Aged 35-39 Seasons rank specifically all time for players in that age range?

WarriorofTime

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Jul 3, 2010
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Mods feel free to merge into one of the other dozen Ovechkin History threads if appropriate.

Asking specifically for this age range, not necessarily every post-35 season (i.e., no season in the 40s included). It's a pretty specific question granted, but chosen because (topically) it's Ovechkin age 39 season and (generally) it reflects a period when you expect players to rapidly decline and potentially elect to retire but where the extent to which they keep playing doesn't feel like they are doing so merely for the sake of doing so. So an interesting barometer of longevity so to speak.

For 2020-21 through 2024-25 Ovechkin has 331 GP, 184 Goals (cumulative rank of 7th in NHL), 335 points (cumulative rank of 31st in NHL). 1.012 PPG (cumulative rank of 25th in NHL with players with a minimum of 100 GP in that time period) with a few games left in the 2024-25 season as of today), -20

"Feels" like 2nd to Howe seems about right. Crosby could (likely will?) pass depending on how his next two seasons go.
 
While I think Howe is first, it's not too far ahead of Lidstrom. 3 Norrises in that age frame and being widely considered the best defenseman in the world.

Some of it will come down to what specific age cutoff you're using. But Lidstrom's run was unreal.

Beliveau had two second place Hart finishes, and two great playoff runs.

Harvey had 3 Norrises.
 
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Some that aged well in that range.

Beliveau was ppg (313 in 314), 8th among people with 90 games or more, most point in the playoff, 5th in the playoff ppg.

Bourque was third among defenseman in points, tie for second in goals, no ice time but took the most shots.

Norris: 2-3-7-7-7

MacInnis went 1-2-7-8-16 for the norris, that era of elite defenseman had good 35-40 performance.

Adam Oates, 8th in the nhl in points, second in assist (98-02), winning 58% of his faceoff, one really nice 1998 playoff run at it.

Alfredsson seem to almost have got better after 27 years old than before, 21th in ppg from 2008 to 2012.

Selanne was 24th in ppg, 18th and 37 in totals goals and points, won a cup with a couple of very nice playoff, it was perfect timing with the lock-out break in 2004 to start his 35-39 window fresh which helped.

All the name that came to mind, seem to have made sense looking at the nice list above...
 
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Some very rough attempt to adjust for when they played, this is just the adjusting for the defensive GAA of the teams they faced for every game of the seasons.


full_nametotal_gamestotal_pointstotal_goalsadj_goalsadj_ptsgpgppg
Johnny Bucyk388448183209.0510.00.541.31
Adam Oates3843617297.0486.00.251.27
Martin St. Louis362354124169.0480.00.471.33
Brett Hull403345155215.0480.00.531.19
Gordie Howe352371148191.0478.00.541.36
Jean Ratelle385428149161.0462.00.421.2
Wayne Gretzky31435180104.0457.00.331.45
Mark Messier352345135173.0447.00.491.27
Ray Whitney385330111148.0441.00.381.15
Ron Francis404324108147.0438.00.361.09
Daniel Alfredsson348324125166.0430.00.481.24
Alex Delvecchio366331106135.0422.00.371.15
Nicklas Lidstrom3963206483.0415.00.211.05
Teemu Selanne307309154201.0402.00.651.31
Jean Beliveau314313120149.0387.00.471.23
Ray Bourque38628980104.0378.00.270.98
Joe Thornton3592847193.0377.00.261.05
Al Macinnis3532697097.0371.00.271.05
Joe Pavelski369307121146.0370.00.41.0
Igor Larionov3602846583.0367.00.231.02
Norm Ullman373317108124.0364.00.330.97
Rod Brind'Amour375273101125.0340.00.330.91
Mike Modano35825399130.0331.00.360.93
Mark Recchi31925592119.0331.00.371.04
Doug Gilmour3492386995.0326.00.270.93
Alex Ovechkin274272147175.0324.00.641.18
Joe Sakic22323983109.0315.00.491.41
Jarome Iginla366227109150.0313.00.410.86
Brendan Shanahan304242117150.0310.00.491.02
Patrick Marleau410235114150.0310.00.370.76

Despite the limited game total, Gretzky show up, best ppg for the 250 games or more (when low enough to get Ovechkin that missed good amount of them with covid and everything):

full_nametotal_gamestotal_pointstotal_goalsadj_goalsadj_ptsgpgppg
Wayne Gretzky31435180104.0457.00.331.45
Gordie Howe352371148191.0478.00.541.36
Martin St. Louis362354124169.0480.00.471.33
Johnny Bucyk388448183209.0510.00.541.31
Teemu Selanne307309154201.0402.00.651.31
Mark Messier352345135173.0447.00.491.27
Adam Oates3843617297.0486.00.251.27
Daniel Alfredsson348324125166.0430.00.481.24
Jean Beliveau314313120149.0387.00.471.23
Jean Ratelle385428149161.0462.00.421.2
Brett Hull403345155215.0480.00.531.19
Alex Ovechkin274272147175.0324.00.641.18
Alex Delvecchio366331106135.0422.00.371.15
Ray Whitney385330111148.0441.00.381.15
Ron Francis404324108147.0438.00.361.09
Al Macinnis3532697097.0371.00.271.05
Nicklas Lidstrom3963206483.0415.00.211.05
Joe Thornton3592847193.0377.00.261.05
Mark Recchi31925592119.0331.00.371.04
Igor Larionov3602846583.0367.00.231.02
Brendan Shanahan304242117150.0310.00.491.02
 
Messier-Francis obviously, but how well Hull aged can be miss a bit because it was deep in the dpe, still top 10 type of guy goal wise.

Whitney always kind of show up in total numbers type of affair, St-Louis because of the later high profile start was not seen and perceived to be as old as he was while still elite, some of the oldest Art Ross wins and what not. While a training freak, he did had less mileage than others to help him.
 
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Crosby (who's still in the midst of his late 30s) and Bourque are the first names to come to mind. They both were very consistent and strive to continuously improve their games. Both still world-class players in their late 30s.

Also, both of them were faced with generations after their's that were very, very strong, which made their performances even more evident and impressive.
 

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