Every season, we see more young players finding success in the NHL. From Macklin Celebrini and Connor Bedard to Lane Hutson and Matvei Michkov, younger talent is making waves in the NHL. That’s why some of the league’s older rosters could find themselves in trouble in a game that’s trending more toward young star talent. Which older rosters could face some adversity during the 2025-26 season?
The Jets are likely due for regression just based on the fact that they totaled 116 points in the standings a season ago. It’s difficult to repeat such a season, but that’s not the only thing working against them. One) The Central Division should be ultra-competitive in 2025-26. Two) The Jets have the oldest roster in the NHL and only got older this offseason.
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They let the 29-year-old Nikolaj Ehlers walk in free agency and signed 37-year-old Jonathan Toews, 36-year-old Gustav Nyquist, and 33-year-old Tanner Pearson. Those signings give the Jets an average of 30.17, the only NHL roster with an average age over 30 entering the 2025-26 season.
It’s not just the Jets’ offseason that gives them the oldest roster in the NHL, though. Some of their core players — Connor Hellebuyck, Adam Lowry, Mark Scheifele, to name a few — are 32 or older. There is some promising young talent in their 20s, most notably Josh Morrisey, but the Jets’ age could catch up to them this season, especially when there’s already plenty working against them. That doesn’t mean they’ll fall out of a playoff spot, but it’s another element that makes them a regression candidate.
The Kings had arguably the worst offseason in the NHL, and it could come back to haunt them this season. Their offseason acquisitions included Cody Ceci, Corey Perry, Brian Dumoulin, Anton Forsberg and Joel Armia, all players who are 32 or older. Forsberg’s age is the least concerning since he’s still a solid backup and goalies tend to age better than skaters, but the rest of the skater group got significantly weaker.
In signing Ceci, the Kings traded Jordan Spence, a promising 24-year-old defender, to the Ottawa Senators. Replacing Vladislav Gavrikov, one of the best shutdown defenders in the NHL, is Dumoulin, who’s on the back nine of his career. Perry still has some scoring touch and plays with an edge, but he’s 40 and does not skate as he used to. This is a significantly older roster than they were a season ago, and only the Jets have an older roster heading into the new season.
The other problem facing the Kings is that they also got significantly slower this offseason. Aside from Dumoulin, every player the Kings acquired ranked in the 55th percentile or lower in top skating speed last season. Fortunately for the Kings, the Pacific Division isn’t particularly good, so their place in the playoffs should not be in jeopardy, but they’ll likely fall off from the 105 points they totaled a season ago.
It might be crazy to doubt the three-time reigning Eastern Conference champions, but the Panthers are due for a down year at some point. Injuries are a part of it. Aleksander Barkov will be out for seven to nine months with a torn ACL and MCL, while Matthew Tkachuk will miss the first few months recovering from offseason surgery.
But it’s not just injuries that could have the Panthers due for a down season. They have the third-oldest roster in the NHL entering the 2025-26 season, following the Kings and Jets. Re-signing a 37-year-old Brad Marchand to a six-year contract will make their roster a bit older, but it’s more about the team they already have in place. Sergei Bobrovsky recently turned 37, Seth Jones is 31, and Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart are 30.
The difference between the Panthers and some of the older rosters in the NHL is that there’s no one more battle-tested and experienced than them. However, combined with the injuries, their place in the playoffs is not as certain as it was just a few weeks ago. I’m doubting the Panthers at my own peril, but they are ripe for the picking in the Atlantic Division.
The Oilers have won the Western Conference in back-to-back years, but can they do it again? You have a chance any time you have Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on your roster, but the Oilers aren’t exactly spring chickens. Mattias Ekholm is starting to show signs of his age at 35, and the supporting cast around McDavid and Draisaitl has gotten older. Zach Hyman is 33, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is 32, and Darnell Nurse is 30, and they’ve had some issues with injuries.
One of the reasons, at least it seems, that McDavid has not yet signed a contract extension is because of concerns about the Oilers’ aging roster (From ‘Can Edmonton Oilers navigate challenge of an aging roster?’ – The Athletic, 9/7/2025). Their farm system is not the best, either, so they need to find ways to make the roster younger. Will it affect them this season?
Something would have to go terribly wrong for the Oilers to miss the playoffs, but for them to make a third straight run to the Stanley Cup Final? The odds seem stacked against them. Many of the arguments that apply to the Panthers apply to the Oilers. Both teams have played a significant amount of hockey over the last few seasons, and given that they have two of the five oldest rosters in the NHL, it may catch up to them come playoff time.
In a world where younger players are finding more and more success, NHL teams with older rosters could have trouble keeping up with some of the faster and more youthful teams in the league. And perhaps that will lead to more turnover in the standings than we’re used to seeing.
Advanced stats from NHL EDGE
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