NHL Upcoming Young Talent

The National Hockey League (NHL) enters the mid season this weekend and it can be noticed that more young players are dominating the game especially with the All-Star meet set for the weekend at the Shark Tank. This event will see Auston Matthews, Connor McDavid, and Nathan MacKinnon taking over as captains during the weekends NHL All-star game.

The three forwards have had an excellent season despite the fact that they are only 23 years of age or younger. According to one of the leagues’ legends, players are now reaching their prime at a relatively younger age as compared to earlier days when players would reach their prime at the age of 26 or even 27 years. The game is becoming more of a younger man’s sport and teams are calling up their younger brass at a relatively younger age to help the team.

A Younger Man’s Game

Heading to the All-Star game break none of the league’s top scorers has turned 26, and at the weekends game players with less than 22 years(11) outnumber the number of players who have turned 30 and above(8). Its pretty fun to see how the game is changing in terms of skill and speed which has been brought about by the injection of younger blood to the teams.

With the increased game speed and skills, teams are averaging more goals than in previous seasons and this has seen the league’s intention of increasing the average goals per game with changes such as reducing the goalie pads materialize. Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper has admitted that the game is now being run by players in their twenties who bring positive arrogance in the league with much confidence in what they do on the field leading to what can now be seen on the field.