Quote:
Originally Posted by blankall
I was responding to a post about 9 40+ guys in the 2003/04 season. That group included: Larionov, Messier, Chelios, Oates, Ron Francis, McInnes, and Dave Andreychuk. The only none hall of famers were Steve Thomas (still pretty good) and James Patrick.
The number of 40 plus players may have more to do with the strength of the draft class than any changes in the game.
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It had a lot to do with the weakness of several draft classes in the 1990s, as well. Enough Europeans came into the league to supply adequate talent to the expansion teams. But only half as many kids were born in Canada in 1980 as in 1961, the peak year, and that means a lot fewer top-quality Canadian athletes became draft-eligible in 1998 than in 1979.
The Dead Puck Era was a reaction to expansion and demographics. With fewer good young players, old players were able to stand off the competition a little longer. But as a player ages, his skating slows down and his scoring tends to dry up, while his defensive game can actually continue to improve because of sheer experience. Couple that with coaches who know they haven't got the talent to win high-scoring games, and play slows to a crawl. The league was crowded with players who had to play the trap because it was the only way they could be effective.