“The Edmonton Oilers are too old!”
No, they’re not, and it’s not even close. Some people still take shots at the Oilers, saying they’re old and their window is closing.
Edmonton sits in the middle of the pack in the NHL when it comes to team age. Corey Perry, Evander Kane, Calvin Pickard, Derek Ryan, Connor Brown, John Klingberg, Jeff Skinner, Codi Ceci, Nick Bjugstad, and Duncan Keith are gone. In fact, they’re all on the L.A. Kings roster this year. Just kidding, but the Los Angeles lineup is easily the oldest and does include Perry and Ceci.
At first glance, stats seem to back the narrative, and the Oilers don’t look that young. Delving deeper into the stats, another story emerges.
Here are the average ages of all NHL teams:
Team Average Age
Los Angeles 31.3
Florida 30.7
Colorado 30.6
Toronto 30.5
Vegas 29.9
Tampa Bay 29.7
Carolina 29.6
Dallas 29.5
NY Islanders 29.4
Minnesota 29.3
New Jersey 28.8
Nashville 28.8
Edmonton 28.7
Winnipeg 28.6
Pittsburgh 28.6
Utah 28.5
Washington 28.3
Columbus 28.2
Seattle 27.9
Boston 27.8
Ottawa 27.6
Philadelphia 27.5
Detroit 27.2
Buffalo 27.0
Calgary 27.0
Vancouver 27.0
San Jose 26.9
St. Louis 26.6
NY Rangers 26.6
Montreal 26.5
Chicago 26.3
Anaheim 26.3
Now, these lists aren’t exact as players move in and out of lineups, and some teams’ elite players are older than their average. Pro athletes are also in better shape now, and some have long careers like Sidney Crosby. However, this list gives us a reasonable look at the average age of teams around the league. The youngest teams are Anaheim and Chicago at around 26 years old, and L.A. is clearly the oldest at over 31 years old.
Now let’s divide the teams into three groups: young, mid, and old.
Young Teams
Team Average Age
Detroit 27.2
Buffalo 27.0
Calgary 27.0
Vancouver 27.0
San Jose 26.9
St. Louis 26.6
NY Rangers 26.6
Montreal 26.5
Chicago 26.3
Anaheim 26.3
Mid Teams
Team Average Age
NY Islanders 29.4
Minnesota 29.3
New Jersey 28.8
Nashville 28.8
Edmonton 28.7
Winnipeg 28.6
Pittsburgh 28.6
Utah 28.5
Washington 28.3
Columbus 28.2
Seattle 27.9
Boston 27.8
Ottawa 27.6
Philadelphia 27.5
Old Teams
Team Average Age
Los Angeles 31.3
Florida 30.7
Colorado 30.6
Toronto 30.5
Vegas 29.9
Tampa Bay 29.7
Carolina 29.6
Dallas 29.5
So the Oilers are actually in the middle of the pack in terms of the average age of their players. The Mid Teams in the NHL have an average age of 28 to 29 years old. That’s pretty close to the prime age for players to perform. The Young Teams are very young at 26 to 27 years old, and the Old Teams are 30 to 31 years old. The Oilers aren’t even that far from the Young Teams; the difference between 28.7 and 27.2 isn’t much.
Next, let’s break down Edmonton’s roster into three age groups: Young Oilers, Prime Oilers, and Older Oilers. This only includes players from the core roster if everyone were healthy:
Young Oilers
Ty Emberson 26
Vasily Podkolzin 25
Devon Levi 25
Shakir Mukhamadullin 24
Owen Michaels 24
Colton Dach 23
Matt Savoie 22
Isaac Howard 22
Prime Oilers
Leon Draisaitl 31
Jason Dickinson 31
Tristan Jarry 31
Connor McDavid 30
Kasperi Kapanen 30
Jake Walman 30
Ryan Shea 29
Mathieu Joseph 29
Trent Frederic 28
Evan Bouchard 27
Alex Formenton 27
Older Oilers
Frederik Andersen 37
Mattias Ekholm 36
Zach Hyman 34
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 33
Connor Murphy 33
The only older regular players are Murphy, Nugent-Hopkins, Hyman, and Ekholm. Andersen might become a regular later in the year, and he only turned 37 a few days ago. So the Oilers’ average age has dropped significantly. In a relatively short period of time, Edmonton has gone from one of the oldest teams to an average NHL team in terms of age. They have also added a number of younger players who could be on the roster for years.
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