ronald. hainsey. end of discussion.

True I'll add him

Smith has been pretty bad recently

I'm confused... Ovi Geno and Berg have been fine, Parise has started a small decline, Getz has fallen off a cliff, Staal is fine, Spezza is ok as a depth player, but absolutely no where close to where he was at his prime, Gio is fine, Weber is showing small signs of declining, same with Suter, Burns and Keith have absolutely fallen off cliffs, Z is solid, but again no where near prime Z, MAF and Smith have both been really bad this yr, and Miller again is no where near prime Miller

Blake Wheeler

Dude have you watched Ron Hainsey? He's aging more like milk.

Suter has been a tank for over a decade now

All the goalies on here have aged like milk with maybe the exception of miller but he hasn't been great this season

ronald. is. the. goat.

Malkin Ovi and Bergeron are the only forwards who are still elite

J Willy

Yeah, but he's struggling a lot in those minutes now

No. He bad.

Williams?

Different guys in this list are very different.

There are guys who are still competent in their late 30s (Spezza), guys who went from stud to top 6er in their mid 30s (Getzlaf and Staal) and guys who maintained their stud-status into their mid 30s (Bergeron, Malkin, Suter, etc)

Also you missed 2 of three 3 active players who stayed great at nearly 40 or above (you got Chara but missed Jumbo Joe and Marleau)

Agreed. He won a lot this year due to fantastic run support and he was good at times when he needed to be, but overall he was below average for sure. Great guy and I wish him all the best, but I don't want to see him back next year.

The lesson here: elite forwards remain elite for longer. The aging curve for the best players is different. McDavid will be world-class until he's 35, I will have no problem signing him to another 8-year deal when he's 29. I can't say the same about a lot of players though.

Pekka Rinne has not been doing so well recently

no. ronald.