For the second consecutive year, the Edmonton Oilers rank as the oldest roster in the NHL. That’s not altogether surprising, as the team has acquired multiple veterans in an effort to win in the playoffs. This doesn’t leave much room for youngsters on the roster. What’s less clear is whether that’s a good thing or not.
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Last year, as per Elite Prospects, the Oilers were narrowly ahead of the Dallas Stars, with an average age of 29.40, compared to 29.24. With the losses of Ryan McLeod, Dylan Holloway, and Philip Broberg, the team’s average age is way up at 30.27.
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That makes them not only the oldest team in the league this year, but the oldest since the 2008-09 Detroit Red Wings. In fact, in the salary cap era, only those late-2000s Red Wings even get up above 30. It’s surely not a coincidence that both the current Oilers and late-dynasty Red Wings were built by Ken Holland.
Those Red Wings serve as a positive example for the Oilers. From 2005-06 to 2011-12, they were a force in the Western Conference. They put up 100 points every year and made back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals, winning the cup in 2008. Scotty Bowman, Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg were vital to the success the team had in the 90’s and early 2000’s.
Of course, it helps that their oldest player was also their best. Nicklas Lidstrom won four Norris Trophies during this period, from age 35 to 41. You can get away with an old roster when one of those old guys is a top-three defenceman of all time.
Nick Lidstrom making defense look really easy and cool. Living in passing lanes, putting an end to 2 on 1s, making clutch saves, snatching the puck out of mid air and then going back the other way and scoring it himself. pic.twitter.com/wzwVaq8Ocv
— Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) November 2, 2020
The rest of the greybeards on the roster were bottom of the lineup grinders who had won Cups with the team (or in the case of Brian Rafalski, with the Devils) in the 90s. The true offensive engine of the team was made up of late-prime stars like Datsyuk, Zetterberg, and Johan Franzen.
It’s also worth noting that the youngest of these Red Wings teams was the one that won the Stanley Cup, while the oldest roster lost to the young Penguins the next season.
The Oilers are old in much the same way, with one huge exception. As in all things, the great separator in Edmonton is the dynamic duo of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. While much of the roster is over 30, the 28-year-old McDavid and the 29-year-old Draisaitl are by far the team’s most important players.
Amazingly, they’re the second-and-third youngest forwards projected to make the opening night roster. While the team doesn’t have a Lidstrom, their Datsyuk and Zetterberg comparables are much, much better.
We’ve spent so much time on those Red Wings teams because the other examples of old teams are, well, not great. What do you remember about the New Jersey Devils from 2012-13 to 2014-15? What about the 2019-20 Red Wings? Do the 2016-17 Kings get you excited?
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Since the Lidstrom Wings, most of the league’s oldest teams have been middling teams with no direction like those Devils and recent Wings. Or those teams are clearly on the downslope at the end of a championship window like those Kings, or the more recent Penguins and Lightning. Flags fly forever, so those teams can’t be too upset, but the Oilers haven’t won the Cup yet.
That means this team probably doesn’t have many more shots at the Cup without big changes on the horizon, and that this coming season is extremely important. If they can’t replicate the turnaround of the 2010s Penguins (2012-13’s second-oldest team), they’ll need to channel the 2008 Red Wings to fully deliver on their promise.
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