Very soon, the NHL will have a quartet of 40-year-old players, with Jonathan Quick set to change the first and second digits in his age next week.
Quick probably feels like he aged five years in one night after the Ottawa Senators downed his lowly New York Rangers 8-4 at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday. Still, what the rest of us wouldn’t give to hit midlife-crisis territory while being fit enough to tend goal for a team in the world’s best hockey league.
This year, 1985-born players (from oldest to youngest) Brent Burns, Corey Perry and Alex Ovechkin entered the season at 40 years old. Soon, the 1986-born Quick will join them.
This year features the most players in an age-40 or older season (defined by Hockey Reference by your age on Jan. 31 of a given campaign) since 2020-21, when Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Ryan Miller all suited up. The fourth guy in his 40s that year was Zdeno Chara, who played one more season at age 44 and is set to have his No. 33 retired in Boston Thursday night.
The only players in NHL history to play at an older age than Chara are Gordie Howe (age-51 season!), Chris Chelios (48) and Jaromir Jagr (45).
So, with Quick set to hit a life milestone soon and Chara being honoured by the Bruins, we thought it prudent to use this week’s power rankings to celebrate a senior citizen — by pro sports standards, anyway — for all 32 NHL clubs.
1. Colorado Avalanche (33-4-8) Brock Nelson, the oldest forward on the Avs at 34, is suddenly on pace for a career-high 40 goals. He’s scored 16 in his past 21 outings.
2. Tampa Bay Lightning (29-13-3) The two oldest guys on Tampa — 36-year-old Ryan McDonagh and 35-year-old Victor Hedman — have been banged-up much of the year. The Bolts defence corps has seen J.J. Moser and Darren Raddysh really step up and it will be that much better when Hedman and McDonagh return.
3. Carolina Hurricanes (28-15-4) Only four active players — Anze Kopitar, Alex Ovechkin, Brent Burns and Corey Perry — have played more career games than 38-year-old Canes captain Jordan Staal (1,372) since he debuted less than a month after his 18th birthday in 2006.
4. Minnesota Wild (26-12-9) Mats Zuccarello has 21 points in 27 games at age 38. Zuccarello’s three best NHL campaigns came in his age-34, 35 and 36 seasons. What Norwegian superfood did this guy discover late in his career?
5. Detroit Red Wings (28-16-4) Patrick Kane, 37, needs four points to usurp Mike Modano as the highest-scoring American player of all-time.
6. Montreal Canadiens (26-14-7) When 32-year-old Phillip Danault was dealt to the young Canadiens club just before Christmas, he became the second-oldest player on the team after 33-year-old Brendan Gallagher. Danault has had a positive impact during his second go in Montreal, winning 57.4 per cent of his face-offs while recording four assists in 11 games after having just five in 30 outings with L.A.
7. Dallas Stars (27-11-9) The Stars have been scuffling for a while and it’s been a tough go for 36-year-old captain Jamie Benn lately as well. Benn hasn’t scored in six games and has seen under 10 minutes of ice time in two of his past three outings.
8. Buffalo Sabres (25-16-4) Jason Zucker, 33, is the oldest Sabre. He’s been dinged up a couple times, but is scoring at a 32-goal pace in the 26 contests he’s suited up for.
9. Vegas Golden Knights (22-11-12) At 35, Brayden McNabb is the oldest Knight and he’s averaging 20 minutes per game. Mark Stone, 33, has missed 16 games, but he’s scoring at a 122-point pace when he’s in the lineup.
10. New York Islanders (25-16-5) Captain Anders Lee, 35, is the oldest Isles skater and has missed just one game since the start of the 2022-23 season.
11. Toronto Maple Leafs (23-16-7) With Chris Tanev (36) injured, John Tavares (35) and Oliver Ekman-Larsson (34) are the oldest Leafs playing every night. Tavares is second in team scoring with 40 points and Ekman-Larsson is going off, recording 28 points in 46 games, which is one shy of his total from all of last year during his debut season in Toronto.
12. Boston Bruins (26-19-2) Hampus Lindholm turns 32 next week and is the third-oldest Bruin after forwards Sean Kuraly (33) and Viktor Arvidsson (turns 33 in April). Lindholm — who has been sidelined a couple weeks — is averaging 22:11 of ice time per night, most on the squad after Charlie McAvoy.
13. Edmonton Oilers (23-16-8) With fellow 35-year-old Adam Henrique injured, Mattias Ekholm is the oldest Oiler skating every night. He’s still playing a vital role with nearly 21 minutes of ice time per game.
14. Philadelphia Flyers (22-15-8) The oldest guys in the lineup don’t play a tonne, but they’re two of the feistiest Flyers in 34-year-olds Nick Deslauriers and Garnet Hathaway.
15. Pittsburgh Penguins (21-14-10) Sidney Crosby, 38, stands a chance to become the oldest player ever to score 45 goals and Evgeni Malkin, 39, is playing at a point-per-game clip. Kris Letang, 38, is still skating nearly 22 minutes a night and youngster Erik Karlsson — he’s only 35 — is scoring at a 62-point pace.
16. Washington Capitals (24-17-6) OK, here’s the path to 1,000 goals for Alex Ovechkin: 18 more this year would leave him 71 shy. Give him 36 next year at age 41 and 29 at age 42 and maybe he nets No. 1,000 in his final NHL game.
17. San Jose Sharks (23-19-3) Ryan Reaves turns 39 next week and the Winnipeg veteran is still out here chuckin’ knuckles with the meanest dudes on skates.
18. Seattle Kraken (21-15-9) Captain Jordan Eberle — at 35, Seattle’s senior citizen — is scoring at a 30-goal clip. He’s netted 30 just once in his long career, when he was an NHL sophomore in 2011-12. If the Kraken fall off the pace, will a team come calling for the pending-UFA?
19. Florida Panthers (24-18-3) At 37, Brad Marchand — who is somehow in Year 1 of a six-year contract — has been a vital forward for Florida. Meanwhile, 37-year-old goalie Sergei Bobrovsky needs a new deal before the start of next season.
20. Utah Mammoth (23-20-4) Ian Cole, 36, and Nate Schmidt, 34, are the oldest two Mammoth and two important D-men for the squad. Neither has missed a game this year, with Schmidt playing 20:08 per night and Cole coming in at 18:26.
21. Nashville Predators (22-20-4) Roman Josi, the most veteran Pred at 35, has been on fire his past two games, registering five points.
22. New Jersey Devils (24-21-2) Jacob Markstrom has won his past two starts and the Devils really, really need the goalie who turns 36 on the last day of the month to find his best form the rest of the way.
23. Ottawa Senators (22-19-5) Claude Giroux just turned 38 and could be on his way to a 55-point season. Meanwhile, 37-year-old goalie James Reimer may get his first game as a Sen any day now.
24. Chicago Blackhawks (19-20-7) Captain Nick Foligno, 38, is still hanging in there. Is this the summer the ‘C’ gets handed to 20-year-old Connor Bedard?
25. Los Angeles Kings (19-16-11) Corey Perry, the second-oldest player in the league at 40, has 10 goals this year. Anze Kopitar, 38, has half a season to go in his incredible career and Drew Doughty, 36, is going to play for Canada at the Olympics 16 years after he did the same at age 20 at the 2010 Vancouver Games.
26. Columbus Blue Jackets (20-19-7) Charlie Coyle, 33, is the oldest regular skater for the Jackets and he’s been every bit as good as the team could have hoped for when it acquired him from Colorado in the summer.
27. St. Louis Blues (18-21-8) How many over-30 guys in St. Louis will be on different teams by March 6? 34-year-old captain Brayden Schenn, 33-year-old defenceman Justin Falk and 32-year-old goalie Jordan Binnington all seem like candidates to go if the Blues decide enough is enough.
28. Anaheim Ducks (22-21-3) Chris Kreider — at 34, the third-oldest Duck — is tied with the youngest Anaheim player — Beckett Sennecke, 20 — with 15 goals this year.
29. Winnipeg Jets (18-22-5) Just when you were ready to completely write him off, 37-year-old Jonathan Toews has goals in three straight contests and seven points in his past 10 outings.
30. Calgary Flames (19-23-4) The oldest Flame, 36-year-old captain Mikael Backlund, seems destined to play his entire career in Calgary. The next-oldest Flames — Nazem Kadri, 35, and Blake Coleman, 34 — are playoff-style guys with Cup rings who could land somewhere else before the 2026 derby starts.
31. New York Rangers (20-22-6) Artemi Panarin, the oldest Rangers skater at 34, is unlikely to ink a new deal with a team suddenly poised for a reset. He could be a huge name on the move before the deadline and a big name to watch on July 1, too.
32. Vancouver Canucks (16-25-5) This team figures to get a lot younger in coming years, as the word “rebuild” officially works its way into the West Coast lexicon. Right now, the senior Canuck is defenceman Tyler Myers, who turns 36 in two weeks.
