It has been no secret that, over the last few seasons, the Edmonton Oilers have become one of the league’s oldest teams in average player age. As the core of the roster all hits their prime years and the prospects are all traded for players who can help now, leaving roster holes to be filled by other veterans rather than those prospects, it didn’t take long for the average age to skyrocket.
This trend has escalated even further over the past season. On opening night for the 2023–24 season, the Oilers were in the middle of the league with their projected opening night lineup, with an average age of 28.1 (13th oldest in the NHL).
Oldest teams in the NHL heading into the 2024–25 season
With additions like Corey Perry, Jeff Skinner, and Viktor Arvidsson, (all of whom are at least 30 years old) and the recent departures of younger players like Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg in the offer sheet saga, that average age is now even higher. And not only is the average age two years older, the Oilers are now the oldest team in the league.
Those numbers may change a bit once rosters are finalized for the season (noting the roster sizes ranging from 20-25 in just this list), but it is unlikely to drop the Oilers very far down the list if anything changes.
McDavid is the Oilers youngest forward?
One interesting and quite frankly absurd note has been found while identifying the youngest forward on the Oilers’ roster.
Turns out, it is a very real possibility that 27-year-old Connor McDavid is the youngest forward on the Oilers roster.
In this image, the only forward younger than McDavid is the newly acquired Vasily Podkolzin. But since Podkolzin’s spot in the lineup is not guaranteed, as the forward has spent more of his time in the AHL in recent years than with his former team in the Vancouver Canucks, that leaves McDavid as the next youngest.
If this is the Oilers’ forward lineup on opening night, and Podkolzin is a healthy scratch in this scenario, McDavid would be the youngest dressed forward.
There are a couple of other possibilities that may impede with this, such as Evander Kane beginning the year on LTIR and Matthew Savoie making the team out of training camp in that spot.
Still though, it is crazy to think that the youngest forward on the team could be older than the average age of over half of the other teams in the entire league.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
