Quote:
Originally Posted by badger89
The common thread in the drop off in shooting % might be line mates. Neal and many of these players were 1st or 2nd line players at one point, then demoted to 3rd line. Losing PP time could also be an issue. Playing with Ryan isn't exactly the recipe for getting setup for scoring chances.
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This is a good article on what happens as NHL players age
https://hockey-graphs.com/2017/03/23...katers-part-1/
This chart goes over what happens to forwards and dmen by age
https://hockeygraphsdotcom.files.wor...raph.png?w=615
It basically shows that in every offensive situation (even strength and power play) there is a significant drop off at the age of 31. For both situations they peak around 25, they do not drop much until the player turns 31 and then there is a significant drop off from 31-36. It is reasonable to expect a forward who is 31 to significantly become less productive, the stats historically show that. Neal is not doing that much worse than what a reasonable hockey fan should have expected starting this year (I would suggest a reasonable expectation would be about 19 goals, with a steady decrease over the next 4 years). But it is reasonable to expect him to have a big drop over the next 4 and a half years from his historical output.