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.<\/p>\n
Quick probably feels like he aged five years in one night after the Ottawa Senators<\/a> downed his lowly New York Rangers 8-4 at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday. Still, what the rest of us wouldn\u2019t give to hit midlife-crisis territory while being fit enough to tend goal for a team in the world\u2019s best hockey league.\u00a0<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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).\u00a0<\/p>\n 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\u2019s power rankings to celebrate a senior citizen \u2014 by pro sports standards, anyway \u2014 for all 32 NHL clubs.<\/p>\n 1. Colorado Avalanche (33-4-8)\u00a0Brock Nelson, the oldest forward on the Avs at 34, is suddenly on pace for a career-high 40 goals. He\u2019s scored 16 in his past 21 outings.\u00a0<\/p>\n 2. Tampa Bay Lightning (29-13-3)\u00a0The two oldest guys on Tampa \u2014 36-year-old Ryan McDonagh and 35-year-old Victor Hedman \u2014 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n 3. Carolina Hurricanes (28-15-4)\u00a0Only four active players \u2014 Anze Kopitar, Alex Ovechkin, Brent Burns and Corey Perry \u2014 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\u00a0birthday in 2006.\u00a0<\/p>\n 4. Minnesota Wild (26-12-9)\u00a0Mats Zuccarello has 21 points in 27 games at age 38. Zuccarello\u2019s three best NHL campaigns came in his age-34, 35 and 36 seasons. What Norwegian superfood did this guy discover late in his career?<\/p>\n 5. Detroit Red Wings (28-16-4)\u00a0Patrick Kane, 37, needs four points to usurp Mike Modano as the highest-scoring American player of all-time.\u00a0<\/p>\n 6. Montreal Canadiens<\/a> (26-14-7)\u00a0When 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n 7. Dallas Stars (27-11-9)\u00a0The Stars have been scuffling for a while and it\u2019s been a tough go for 36-year-old captain Jamie Benn lately as well. Benn hasn\u2019t scored in six games and has seen under 10 minutes of ice time in two of his past three outings.\u00a0<\/p>\n 8. Buffalo Sabres (25-16-4)\u00a0Jason Zucker, 33, is the oldest Sabre. He\u2019s been dinged up a couple times, but is scoring at a 32-goal pace in the 26 contests he\u2019s suited up for.\u00a0<\/p>\n 9. Vegas Golden Knights (22-11-12)\u00a0At 35, Brayden McNabb is the oldest Knight and he\u2019s averaging 20 minutes per game. Mark Stone, 33, has missed 16 games, but he\u2019s scoring at a 122-point pace when he\u2019s in the lineup.\u00a0<\/p>\n 10. New York Islanders (25-16-5)\u00a0Captain Anders Lee, 35, is the oldest Isles skater and has missed just one game since the start of the 2022-23 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n 11. Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> (23-16-7)\u00a0With 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.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n 12. Boston Bruins (26-19-2)\u00a0Hampus Lindholm turns 32 next week and is the third-oldest Bruin after forwards Sean Kuraly (33) and Viktor Arvidsson (turns 33 in April). Lindholm \u2014 who has been sidelined a couple weeks \u2014\u00a0is averaging 22:11 of ice time per night, most on the squad after Charlie McAvoy.<\/p>\n 13. Edmonton Oilers<\/a> (23-16-8)\u00a0With fellow 35-year-old Adam Henrique injured, Mattias Ekholm is the oldest Oiler skating every night. He\u2019s still playing a vital role with nearly 21 minutes of ice time per game.\u00a0<\/p>\n 14. Philadelphia Flyers (22-15-8)\u00a0The oldest guys in the lineup don\u2019t play a tonne, but they\u2019re two of the feistiest Flyers in 34-year-olds Nick Deslauriers and Garnet Hathaway.\u00a0<\/p>\n 15. Pittsburgh Penguins (21-14-10)\u00a0Sidney 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 \u2014 he\u2019s only 35 \u2014 is scoring at a 62-point pace.\u00a0<\/p>\n 16. Washington Capitals (24-17-6)\u00a0OK, here\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n 17. San Jose Sharks (23-19-3)\u00a0Ryan Reaves turns 39 next week and the Winnipeg veteran is still out here chuckin\u2019 knuckles with the meanest dudes on skates.\u00a0<\/p>\n 18. Seattle Kraken (21-15-9)\u00a0Captain Jordan Eberle \u2014 at 35, Seattle\u2019s senior citizen \u2014 is scoring at a 30-goal clip. He\u2019s 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?<\/p>\n 19. Florida Panthers (24-18-3)\u00a0At 37, Brad Marchand \u2014 who is somehow in Year 1 of a six-year contract \u2014 has been a vital forward for Florida. Meanwhile, 37-year-old goalie Sergei Bobrovsky needs a new deal before the start of next season.\u00a0<\/p>\n 20. Utah Mammoth (23-20-4)\u00a0Ian 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n 21. Nashville Predators (22-20-4)\u00a0Roman Josi, the most veteran Pred at 35, has been on fire his past two games, registering five points.\u00a0<\/p>\n 22. New Jersey Devils (24-21-2)\u00a0Jacob 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n 23. Ottawa Senators (22-19-5)\u00a0Claude 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n 24. Chicago Blackhawks (19-20-7)\u00a0Captain Nick Foligno, 38, is still hanging in there. Is this the summer the \u2018C\u2019 gets handed to 20-year-old Connor Bedard?<\/p>\n 25. Los Angeles Kings (19-16-11)\u00a0Corey 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n 26. Columbus Blue Jackets (20-19-7)\u00a0Charlie Coyle, 33, is the oldest regular skater for the Jackets and he\u2019s been every bit as good as the team could have hoped for when it acquired him from Colorado in the summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n 27. St. Louis Blues (18-21-8)\u00a0How 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.<\/p>\n 28. Anaheim Ducks (22-21-3)\u00a0Chris Kreider \u2014 at 34, the third-oldest Duck \u2014 is tied with the youngest Anaheim player \u2014 Beckett Sennecke, 20 \u2014 with 15 goals this year.<\/p>\n 29. Winnipeg Jets<\/a> (18-22-5)\u00a0Just 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n