Admin Notes
The system used to work as described in this request. The problem is that DEL players don't carry out retirement planning - that is, they don't decide at age 33 that they want to play only three more years and thus only sign a three year contract. Instead, the 33 year old will sign a ten year contract because that is what the team offers, only to retire after three seasons. We also had issues with coaches trying to "game" the retirement algorithm via contract offers, when retirement is the player's choice (in the case of stars).
Additionally, reality is that stars retire while their skills are objectively superior to marginal players' primes. Retirement occurs because (a) they are ready to move on in life and/or (b) they aren't playing at the level they are used to.