Please support us by disabling ad blocker for this site.
The question we are examining this week is whether NHL experience matters to team success in the regular season.
Below, we have broken down each team in the Western Conference from the most experienced rosters to the least. I’ve made note of the goalie’s experience, but it is not included in the team averages.
We will look at the arbitrary top three skaters on each roster and see how much experience they have, as well as look at any noteworthy players defying Father Time or players who are arriving after limited games in the league.
Here are who I consider the top 30 skaters in the NHL (Including games till 11/7/25).
Usually, this domain is reserved for players with 200-300 games or more in the league. Still, early on, we have Cutter, Gauthier (95 GP), Macklin Celebrini (85), Leo Carlsson (145), Connor Bedard (165) and Matthew Knies (176) all having under 200 NHL games.
Conversely, Sidney Crosby (1,207), John Tavares (1,196), and Evgeni Malkin (1,150) have over 3,500 games between them and have had great starts to the 2025-26 season.
Most to least experienced Teams in the West:
Winnipeg – Average 552 GP per skater (9-6-0)
Connor Hellebuyck – 579 GP, Eric Comrie 81 GP
Top three skaters (732 GP average): Mark Scheifele (894), Kyle Connor (628) and Josh Morrissey (677). What makes this trio unique is that they have all only played for Winnipeg in the NHL.
The Jets are a roster built around age and experience, which helped contribute to the Presidents’ Trophy in 2024-25 and getting to the second round in the playoffs.
They added Jonathan Toews (1,082 GP), Gustav Nyquist (873 GP) and Tanner Pearson (737 GP).
Their window to win the Stanley Cup is this year or next.
Vegas – 542 GP (7-3-4)
Adin Hill – 191 GP, Akira Schmid 56 GP, Carl Lindbom 3 GP
Top three (670 GP): Mark Stone (710), Jack Eichel (630), Mitch Marner (670).
Both Stone and Eichel have a lot more experience than the number of games they’ve played to date, as they both have had numerous injuries and missed quite a few games over the years.
Vegas has played to compete for the Stanley Cup since they came into the league, and it’s not surprising to see them near the top of this list.
Los Angeles – 531 GP (7-5-4)
Darcy Kuemper – 449 GP, Anton Forsberg 194 GP
Top three (772 GP): Adrian Kempe (646), Anze Kopitar (1,393), Quinton Byfield (276).
We could include Kevin Fiala (667) moving forward for Kopitar, who is retiring at the end of 2025-26.
This roster is about to get much younger in 2026-27.
Edmonton – 451 GP (6-6-4)
Stuart Skinner – 185 GP, Calvin Pickard – 181 GP
Top three (632 GP): Connor McDavid (728), Leon Draisaitl (806), Evan Bouchard (363).
The Oilers have added Matt Savoie, David Tomasek, Noah Philp and Isaac Howard to their lineup for most of 2025-26 so far, which has brought down the experience quite a bit in the forwards.
The return of Zach Hyman (652) can’t come soon enough. He should be back in 7-10 days.
Colorado Avalanche – 442 GP (10-1-5)
Mackenzie Blackwood – 254 GP, Scott Wedgewood – 167 GP
Top three (585 GP): Nathan MacKinnon (886), Cale Makar (411), Martin Necas (457)
The Avalanche welcomed back Gabriel Landeskog (754), but also has newcomers, Gavin Brindley and Zakhar Bardakov, with Joel Kiviranta out of the lineup.
Minnesota – 431 GP (6-7-3)
Filip Gustavsson – 182 GP, Jesper Wallstedt – 8 GP
Top three (399 GP): Kirill Kaprizov (336), Matt Boldy (302), Joel Eriksson Ek (561)
The Wild added Vladimir Tarasenko (848) and have recently welcomed Mats Zuccarello (906) back from injury.
Having Kaprizov with just 336 NHL games is kind of cheating, as he came over to the NHL at the age of 23.
On defense, they are much younger with Zeev Buium and David Jiricek, with Buium being a regular and the quarterback on the first unit of the power play.
Nashville – 431 GP (5-8-4)
Juuse Saros – 422 GP, Justus Annunen – 55 GP
Top three (979 GP): Filip Forsberg (797), Roman Josi (970), Ryan O’Reilly (1,169)
Add Steven Stamkos (1,181) and Jonathan Marchessault (729), and this is a very experienced top group on this roster. It is not translating to wins at this point.
They have been able to insert Matthew Wood, Ozzy Wiesblatt and Fedor Svechkov as regulars.
Utah – 412 GP (9-7-0)
Karel Vejmelka – 209 GP, Vitek Vanecek – 193 GP
Top three (596 GP): Nick Schmaltz (603), Clayton Keller (617), Mikhail Sergachev (568).
Aside from these three, all in their prime, the Mammoth have Dylan Guenther, Logan Cooley and Dmitri Simashev all under 200 games with Jack McBain (257) and J.J. Peterka (254) and Barrett Hayton (305) just ahead of them.
I think Utah is the perfect mix of experience to make a push for the playoffs in 2025-26.
St. Louis – 409 GP (5-8-3)
Jordan Binnington – 348 GP, Joel Hofer – 76 GP
Top three (376 GP): Robert Thomas (478), Jordan Kyrou (431), Jake Neighbours (219).
It could be argued to include Colton Parayko (726) or Justin Faulk (996) in the top three.
Players under 250 games are Jake Neighbours, Dylan Holloway, Dalibor Dvorsky, Logan Mailloux, Tyler Tucker, and Alexey Toropchenko.
San Jose – 402 GP (7-6-3)
Alex Nedeljkovic – 186 GP, Yaroslav Askarov – 25 GP
Top three (121 GP): Macklin Celebrini (86), William Eklund (186), Will Smith (90)
What these three have done in 2025-26 with their limited NHL experience is astounding. The Sharks are still unlikely to make the playoffs, but it has made them a much tougher opponent much earlier than most people thought.
Other skaters with less than 100 NHL games under their belt are Collin Graf, Sam Dickinson and Shakir Mukhamadullin, not to mention Yaroslav Askarov in goal, who has played just 25 NHL games.
Seattle – 399 GP (7-4-4)
Joey Daccord – 138 GP, Phillip Grubauer – 372 GP, Matt Murray – 274 GP
Top three (516 GP): Brandon Montour (612), Jared McCann (673), Matty Beniers (264).
Beniers hasn’t played to the level of his role since his rookie season, but he remains in the top three by default for now.
The Kraken are trying to break Shane Wright, Berkly Catton, Jani Nyman, and Ryan Winterton all into their lineup in 2025-26, with none of them having more than 100 NHL games of experience. Catton played his 10th NHL game and is unable to be sent back to the WHL this year.
Dallas Stars – 398 GP (9-4-3)
Jake Oettinger – 262 GP, Casey DeSmith – 195 GP
Top three (474 GP): Wyatt Johnston (262), Mikko Rantanen (668), Miro Heiskanen (491).
Jason Robertson (390) and Roope Hintz (479) could be in the mix there as well.
Regulars with less than 100 NHL games are Justin Hryckowian, Mavrik Bourque and Lian Bichsel.
Regulars with more than 1,000 NHL games are Jamie Benn (1,192), Matt Duchene (1,142) and Tyler Seguin (1,005). Benn and Duchene should both be back from injury sooner rather than later.
The Stars give off the impression of an older, experienced team, but their key guys are fairly young or in their prime. Their strength is having some of the more experienced guys as support rather than key players.
Calgary Flames – 377 (4-11-2)
Dustin Wolf – 85 GP, Devin Cooley – 10 GP
Top three (854 GP): Nazem Kadri (1,001), Blake Coleman (641), Jonathan Huberdeau (924).
Your team is in trouble when your top three players are averaging 854 NHL games between them, and your record is 4-11-2.
Where are Matt Coronato, Morgan Frost, Joel Farabee, and Connor Zary? They should be the young forwards vying for the top roles on this team and doing well.
The Flames attempted to get Zayne Parekh into the league as a regular, but he has struggled early on. The Flames have to do everything they can to put Parekh into situations where he will succeed. It made no sense earlier in the year to sit him while Jake Bean and/or Brayden Pachal were ahead of him. He’d have been better off in the AHL for 20-30 games if the club didn’t think he could make a difference at the start of the season.
Anaheim Ducks – 354 GP (11-3-1)
Petr Mrazek – 430 GP, Lukas Dostal – 133 GP
Top three (229 GP): Cutter Gauthier (98), Leo Carlsson (146), Troy Terry (443)
The Ducks are ahead of where I thought they would be to this point and are now a legitimate playoff team. I’m sure they will have a reality check at some point, but their confidence is surely telling them that they can play with most teams in this league right now.
Players under 200 NHL games are Gauthier, Carlsson, Beckett Sennecke, Nikita Nesterenko, Sam Colangelo, Jackson LaCombe, Drew Helleson, Pavel Mintyukov and Olen Zellweger.
Chris Kreider (894) and Mikael Granlund (910) were added to the roster in the summer.
Chicago Blackhawks – 334 GP (8-5-3)
Spencer Knight – 106 GP, Arvid Soderblom – 91 GP
Top three (246 GP): Connor Bedard (166), Frank Nazar (71), Tyler Bertuzzi (503).
Bertuzzi, Andre Burakovsky (711), and Teuvo Teravainen (768) have provided a good veteran complement to Bedard, Nazar, Colton Dach, Ryan Greene, and Oliver Moore in the forwards.
The top four defenders are young. Sam Rinzel (25), Alex Vlasic (194), Wyatt Kaiser (114) and Artyom Levshunov (33) play the most minutes on a nightly basis. Connor Murphy (760) and Matt Grzelcyk (543) are there to provide support.
Vancouver – 334 (8-8-1)
Thatcher Demko – 251 GP, Kevin Lankinen – 171 GP
Top three (478 GP): Quinn Hughes (446), Elias Pettersson (488), Conor Garland (499).
I wouldn’t have thought that the Canucks had one of the least experienced rosters in the league this year, but between Lukas Reichel, Aatu Raty, Arshdeep Bains, Mas Sasson, and Linus Karlsson, there aren’t that many NHL games.
Add in Elias Pettersson (D), Tom Willander, and P.O. Joseph, and it makes you realize that the numbers don’t lie.
I’m not sure how this roster is 8-8-1 if I’m honest.
Will the teams near the bottom of this list be able to compete on a nightly basis over 82 games, or will they falter? We’ve been told over and over before that teams need to learn how to win at the NHL level by doing and gaining valuable experience.
I think that is certainly true in the playoffs and over 82 games in the regular season, but it is sure nice to see some of the younger players in this league do well and carry their teams with them, even if it is just for a brief stretch for some.
Thanks very much for reading. If you have any comments or suggestions, please let me know in the comments or on Twitter @gampbler15.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Elan and Brian tour the NHL standings and talk unstoppable Avs, undroppables in Chicago, forty year olds in Los Angeles, headscratchers in Philadelphia, and create a new rule of physics in Dallas.
We get questions about the basics of dynasty strategy. Victor goes solo this week to summarize some of the most important considerations for succeeding in dynasty hockey. Have a listen! Our show is part of the Dobber Podcast Network and sponsored by Fantrax.com. Email [email protected] and ask to join our free discord. Join our Patreon […]
Elan looks at the schedule for the upcoming week of NHL action and recommends some players with good schedules that you should consider streaming in to win your head to head matchups.
Jeremy and Shams are back to talk about Game Day Tweets going down unknowingly that it would be back up by the end of the recording (phew!). They talk about the Kyrou scratching and then cover a large batch of injuries and outjuries. They close out the show covering a list of hot players including a couple of buy highs.
Lewis and Elizabeth dive into another news update for your fantasy hockey midweek, including Arvidsson, Rosen, and Kindel debuting on top powerplays, as well as a rash of injuries for Pittsburgh. Lewis preaches patience on Ovechkin before selling him for peanuts, then the duo discuss hot streaks for Burakovsky and Eberle, Tippet’s cold streak despite favorable conditions, and which players we think should swap Yahoo ownership percentages with one another.