This past June, 35-year-old Mark Giordano won the Norris Trophy. Not only did he finish first in the balloting done by the Professional Hockey Writers Association – disclosure: I did not vote – he won the award in a landslide.
But now the Calgary Flames are entering a season where their oldest player, best player and on-ice leader will be 36 years old. He may say he’s young and fresh, but what are reasonable expectations for a player of his style and age?
We dug into the numbers – data via Natural Stat Trick – and took a look at all defensemen that scored 50+ points in a season from ages 35+ in what’s known as the Better Data Era (2007-08 to present).