Quoting: Capitalfail67
My biggest question is why are people assuming he / other will fall off a cliff due to age....
since joining the capitals in 2015
15 - 16 (80 games)
26g 25 a 51 points
16-17 (68 games)
33g 23 56 points
17-18 (74 games)
18g 29a 47 points
18-19 (69 games)
25g 29a 54 points
19-20 (69 games)
26g 23 a 49 points
Oshie has been a consistent 50 point player since joining the team.... dont see much changing or drastically changing over night
Because statistically players hit walls in their 30s and the drop is kind of sudden for a lot of guys.
Think Burns play last year. Pavelski, MAF dropped off last year at 34 kind of sudden.
https://www.capfriendly.com/browse/active?limits=age-34-46
This list isn't exactly impressive. A few years back it was an impressive list. Today, not so much.
You got a hand full of guys on there who playing well still. Some of them have things in Common. like Bergeron no longer getting D zone starts to hide his legs. OV doesn't skate well, not that I blame him he's 35. No one is gonna play forever. But their games are tailored to them, OV doesn't have to skate like a lot of the other players do. Much like Bergeron doesn't.
But you can't hide everyone like that. A guy here or there is hard enough. So for instance as you know as a caps fan the PP is basically OV standing on 1 side and the other 4 guys go to work on the other side. OV doesn't really "move" much, The other 4 guys have to move all over the ice though to make it work. One being Oshie. So that's harder to hide as you slow as you get older. And he as slowed. It's not just about numbers but watching the play, biology etc...
It's why the vast majority of the players on this list are basically washed and the Top 3 off it are probably the 3 best players on it, and you can tell the ware on them.
So he's the guy I'm watching. They can hide OV as he slows, set him up let him shoot. Keep him in one zone and let him get off ice the other. But Oshie, he's harder to hide.