Money wise it used to about 27 when player was a UFA or about to a UFA it was the "best" age to hockey player. Now with RFAs getting UFA money, it might age 22...for some big money.
We might have a bunch of young stars at age 22, but generally I think maybe age 26 is when most players peak. Might be a good poll question. Age when players are the best.

I think you are right about the 22 year olds. Another year that I like is 33 year olds. Kane Toews Marchand Giroux

(Whispers) Vince Dunn is the 2nd best 22 year old defenseman behind Chabot

Ahead of Werenski, Hanifin? I don't think so. At least not yet. I'll give him that.

He was better than both of them, arguably way better last season.

He played on average 15 mins a night 5v5..... He didn't play enough to prove it IMO. Great rookie campaign but not nearly as good as Werenski as a player overall IMO.

Not really his fault though. With similar usage, Dunn blew Werenski out of the water both offensively and defensively. Werenski best him in points, but mainly because he played 4 more games and roughly 4 more minutes per game with tons of access to Panarin. Dunn beat him in the per/60 measurements.

Unfortunately, you can't prorate had he been given the same minutes and type of minutes, he'd have been better. Dunn had every opportunity to pass Gunnarsson, Bouwmeester, Edmunston during the year on the depth chart had he been legitimately as good as you say.

He also hasn't done it for long enough. One season isn't enough to put him over Werenski whose been playing like a top pairing dman every year in the NHL since he's joined...

Werenski gets top pairing minutes, but it doesn’t mean he’s a top pair quality defenseman. He suffers defensively and doesn’t necessarily drive offense either despite given very generous usage. Really his only draw is he puts up points which is valuable, but usually more of a reflection of his ice time, teammates, and deployment. Dunn on the other hand, is given the same easy deployment except with a worse partner and dominates while also scoring points at a high rate (7th in 5v5 points/60.) True, we don’t know what will happen if Dunn gets 23 minutes a game, but given last year’s results it’s likely better than Werenski.

Ahh yes recency bias at its finest. Werenski gets the same easy deployment as Dunn? Come on man. Your bias is bleeding through here. You simply can't play 23 minutes a night without facing the other teams best players.

Anyways like I said, a single year doesn't prove enough. Erik Gustafsson had a 60 point season last year, not about to crown him a better dman than Victor Hedman because he produced more with equal minutes.

https://twitter.com/ineffectivemath/status/1171091163375439872?s=21

Part of my argument is that Werenski isn’t very good. Yeah he’s probably facing more minutes against better players, but he’s also playing a lot with Jones and Panarin so the quality of his teammates is usually greater than that of the competition.

Players who aren't very good, don't get to play with the teams best players. Don't need to source anything there. Anyways, I'll gladly agree to disagree with you on this.

Yep, can’t really compare the two until Dunn plays a full season in the top-4. I’m hoping they sign him before he gets top power play minutes and lights it up.

True that. but with the way RFA dman contracts are going, it won;t be a crazy deal. Werenski, Provorov, McCavoy, etc all make Dunns next contract very palatable unless he puts up superstar numbers or something.

Also, I wouldn't worry about the PP minutes for Dunn as much, he was already getting a lot this year. It'll be 5v5 minutes that will drive up his production.

True, but most of it was on the 2nd unit without Tarasenko and O’Reilly. I just hope that without all the pressure and scrambling this year they let the young guys just do their thing.

Pretty crazy that is the 2nd unit....

Anyway curious to see what happens this year with the Blues. Not going to lie, I feel there will be a cup hangover with this team. (Most teams do usually)

I think they could be a stronger regular season team considering Dunn, Thomas, and eventually Kyrou should grow as players and Tarasenko and Schwartz should bounce back, but I also think there’ll be less motivation and at least some regression from Binnington and O’Reilly. Likely 2nd to 4th in the division unless there’s serious long term injuries or terrible goaltending. I wouldn’t call them bonafide cup contenders, but they’re firmly in the group of 5-8 teams who could be contenders.