Something to consider though OKP:
What is going to be the age at which the decline happens? 22? 23? 21?
I ask this for 2 reasons:
1. Should a manager decide to really "go for it" and end up retiring lets say 8-10 guys, they will need to sign all of their draft picks. In later rounds and picking late in rounds, very often the only usable prospects are aged 22 and up. Most managers have learned that the younger players tend to improve quicker than the older ones. That being said, is it better to draft a D-man that is 19 and has 11 Stamina, 35 Shooting, 45 Skating, 55 Toughness and 72 Defense or a 23 y.o. with 65 Stamina, and similar other attributes. While the attributes for the 19 y.o. may improve quicker than the 23 y.o.; how useful is that player going to be for the manager with such a low stamina? I think he's end up being injured often and I haven't paid enough close attention to how players improve or not while being injured. But if the 23 y.o. player starts to decrease in attributes immediately? I hope you see my point.
2. I presently have 2 23 y.o. and 1 22 y.o. players on my roster. They all have pretty decent attributes and one of them (the 22 y.o.) is actually 4th on my team in goals. Granted he has less points this season than the last player of the month had last month but...The 2 23 year olds both just completed their 3rd season, the 22 y.o. has one more season. All of them played their first seasons on the team in season 38. Not sure when they were all drafted but it's obviously taken time for them to improve to the point they are now. It would be unfortunate if after all this time, that they start to decline just because they were 23 y.o. when drafted. I think it's different than if they were 17 or 18 y.o. cooking in the minors to become superstars.
Again, just my .02
-modo