[rohara66]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

2 years from now it's very possible that Jagr, Iginla, Datsyuk, Elias, Chara, Luongo, Doan and possibly Thornton, Sedin, Hossa and Zetterberg) will all have hung them up.

It does feel like there is a bit of a gap of 'legends' from 1981-1984.

Kronwall (1981)
Lundqvist, Gaborik (1982)
Keith, Spezza (1983)
Nash, Staal (1984)

Lundqvist and maybe Keith are the only one's that really feel like they belong with the later 70's names above. The rest feel more like "Doan's" (not that its anything to be ashamed of) and even then there's only a few of them.

It really picks up again in 85 with guys like Ovechkin, Getzlaf, Perry, Bergeron, Burns, Carter. '86 only really has Malkin, but there seems to be plenty of future 'legends' after that.

Does how you classify these players as legends vs young guys depend on your own personal age? I find myself holding the older guys in higher regard as I grew up watching them. Maybe its just compounded by the late 70 vs early/mid 80 birthdays difference in talent... I dunno.