Last week, we looked at the league's top players among those aged 18 through 23, and today we're moving on to examine the superstars who are in their prime.
This makes the job much harder, having to choose between Jamie Benn, Sidney Crosby, Drew Doughty, Victor Hedman, Braden Holtby, Patrick Kane, Erik Karlsson, Carey Price, Tyler Seguin, Steven Stamkos, Vladimir Tarasenko, John Tavares and Jonathan Toews, all of whom are in this 24-to-29 age range; which six should be selected as the top player at each respective age?
Much as when this challenge was first taken on in 2013-14 and 2014-15, a variety of hockey statistics will be used to shed some dispassionate and objective light on the debate.
Even with all these numbers floating around, there is still a fair deal of interpretation to pack into our analysis, so ultimately these choices can be considered my own personal opinions, and wide open to other perspectives. Remember that those in their 30s and up will be tackled in the next piece.
Here we go!
Age 24
Mikael Granlund, LW, Minnesota Wild
He may not have the same track record and reputation as other players his age, but there's no denying that Granlund is having the best season of any 24-year-old.
After finishing 17th in the league in 2015-16, the Wild are on pace to win their division for only the second time in franchise history, and Granlund deserves some of the credit for that. He leads the Wild with 50 points in 56 games, which is tied for 16th in the NHL, and leads his age group by five points over Evgeny Kuznetsov of the Capitals. Granlund now has 133 points in 206 games in the past three seasons, which ranks third in this age group.
Granlund is also first among Minnesota forwards with an average of 15:20 even-strength minutes per game, and his plus-28 is tied for seventh in the NHL.
Not only does Granlund score at the same pace as those who are deployed offensively, he carries similar defensive responsibilities as players like Gabriel Landeskog, Tobias Rieder and Sean Couturier, as demonstrated in the following player usage chart:
Playing in both zones (horizontal axis) and against top opponents (vertical axis) on the top two-way line with Mikko Koivu and Jason Zucker, Granlund has been performing at both ends of the ice. In his career, he has averaged 1:36 shorthanded minutes per game, and is currently tied for fourth in the NHL with three shorthanded points.
It remains to be seen if Granlund can continue to play at this level in the long term, but he has earned the benefit of the doubt with his solid two-way play this season.
Honorable mention: Justin Faulk, Ryan Johansen, Mark Stone
Age 25
Despite the disappointing season overall in Dallas, Seguin's continued offensive prowess as the team's No. 1 center keeps him on top of the pack of an age group that includes several of the game's top offensive talents.
This season's scoring race among 25-year-olds is a tight three-way battle between Seguin at 56 points, Tarasenko at 53 and Panarin at 51. Nobody else is at or above 40 points.
Normally, scoring totals like these require favorable deployment in the offensive zone. For example, Panarin has started 344 of his even-strength shifts in the offensive zone this season, and 68 in the defensive zone, for a league-leading zone start percentage of 83.5 percent. Tarasenko ranks 15th with 66.2 percent.
It's slightly easier to rack up the scoring when starting so many shifts in the offensive zone, but with an offensive-zone start percentage of 47.2 percent, Seguin does not enjoy that same advantage. Cast in that light, his scoring supremacy seems that much more impressive.
Honorable mention: Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Taylor Hall, Artemi Panarin, Vladimir Tarasenko
Age 26
Erik Karlsson, D, Ottawa Senators
No one is going to dispute Karlsson's scoring credentials. Since 2011-12, his 359 points make him the only defenseman above 300. His scoring rate of 0.90 points per game exceeds all other defenders by at least 0.2 points per game, except Pittsburgh's Kris Letang, 0.84, and San Jose's Brent Burns, 0.75. He won the Norris Trophy in 2011-12 and 2014-15, and was the runner-up in 2015-16, when he became the first defenseman to lead the NHL in assists since Bobby Orr in 1974-75.
Any arguments made against Karlsson's inclusion at the top of best-of lists like this are typically crafted around the notion that he is soft, weak defensively, or otherwise not a complete player. While fans could point to his 142 blocked shots, which rank third in the NHL this season, there's a much stronger counter-argument to be made.
Quite frankly, the Senators are one team with Karlsson on the ice, and quite another without. His team leans on him more heavily than practically any individual skater in the league, and the difference is obvious whether you trust your eyes or the numbers.
Since 2013-14, Karlsson has logged 8,256:14 minutes, which ranks second to Ryan Suter, at 8,493:56. On a per-game basis, his 27:36 per game again ranks second to Suter.
In terms of shot-based metrics, Ottawa has outshot its opponents 8,186-7,260 since 2011-12 with Karlsson on the ice, for an SAT of plus-926 that ranks 25th in the NHL -- the next highest Senator is Erik Condra, at plus-363. In terms of percentages, Karlsson has boosted Ottawa's share of all shot attempts from 48.9 percent to 53.3 percent. If that's the description of a soft player or a defensive liability, then the Senators could use a few more of them.
Honorable mention: Victor Hedman, Steven Stamkos, John Tavares
Age 27
Drew Doughty, D, Los Angeles Kings
With a league-high on-ice shot attempt differential of plus-2,349 in the past seven seasons, Doughty has become the poster child for those who dominate shot-based metrics. Nobody in his age range is anywhere close to that, other than teammate Jake Muzzin
Even those who tune out the number-crunchers have to concede that Doughty's team always seems to have the puck when he's on the ice, whether that's in the regular season, in the Stanley Cup playoffs, or in best-on-best tournaments like the Olympics or the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. That can't be a coincidence.
What makes his numbers even more remarkable are the conditions in which he has achieved them. Doughty has averaged 28:10 minutes per game in the past three seasons, which ranks second to Suter (and ahead of Karlsson), which is spent in all manpower situations, all zones, against top opponents, and usually with a borderline NHLer like rookie Derek Forbort or Brayden McNabb as a partner. And yet, he still finds a way to insert himself in the Norris Trophy conversation -- which he finally won in 2015-16. How did it take that long?
Honorable mention: Jamie Benn, Braden Holtby
Age 28
Patrick Kane, RW, Chicago Blackhawks
There is a common perception that players who are used in strictly offense-oriented situations are weak defensively. While that may be true in some cases, don't be fooled by Kane's sky-high career offensive-zone start percentage of 65.9 percent; he is hard to play against in any game situation.
Given his tremendous offensive abilities, it makes perfect sense for Chicago coach Joel Quenneville to use Kane exclusively to score, rather than to block shots, kill penalties, or shut down top opponents. In turn, Kane has joined Alex Ovechkin as the very archetype of a great scoring-line winger.
Last season, Kane scored 46 goals and 106 points in 82 games to become the first American-born player to win the Art Ross Trophy, and the Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player. With 58 points in 57 games this season, Kane remains one of only six active players to average more than a point per game in his career, a rate he has stayed at or above for the fifth consecutive season.
Honorable mention: Sergei Bobrovsky, Brad Marchand, Jonathan Toews
Age 29
Sidney Crosby, C, Pittsburgh Penguins
It's quite a challenge to find just the right statistic that demonstrates Crosby's status as the most dominant player in hockey today, and for at least the past decade.
The first instinct is to point to his career 1.32 points per game rate, which dwarfs his teammate Evgeni Malkin in second place with 1.18, Ovechkin with 1.14, legend Jaromir Jagr with 1.13, and heir-apparent to the title of best player, Edmonton's Connor McDavid, who is fifth with 1.08.
Upon further reflection, perhaps the more telling statistic is the boosting effect that Crosby has on his linemates. Since 2013-14, Crosby's six most frequent linemates have increased their scoring from 1.51 even-strength points per 60 minutes without him, to 2.17 playing with him, which is a 44.2 percent increase. For example, Conor Sheary's scoring has increased from 1.79 points per 60 to an amazing 3.01 on Crosby's line, and Bryan Rust has vaulted from 1.20 to 1.94. That's the sort of impact that few players have at any age.
Honorable mention: Carey Price