Hockey usually is a young man’s game. Don’t tell that to Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Brad Marchand, Corey Perry and so many others who are still on top of the NHL in their late 30s and beyond.
Crosby produced at a point-a-game pace last season at 37, the same age Marchand was when he scored six goals in the Stanley Cup Final to help Florida repeat against Edmonton, which counted 40-year-old Corey Perry as one of its better players. Alex Ovechkin broke Wayne Gretzky’s NHL career goals record at 39 and should surpass the 900 mark early this season at 40.
Thanks to changes in sports science, training and technology over the past 20-plus years, the window for stars to remain in their prime is getting longer and longer. And it’s only making the sport better.
“We’re coming into an age of that,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “The science that’s changed over the last 20 years will allow these players to recover faster. ... They’re better fit, conditioned athletes over their entire lives.”
Maurice credited owners for investing a tremendous amount of money and resources into player care. His team is on the leading edge of recovery methods at all ages, which is a big part of why the league’s southernmost team is going for a threepeat.
Everyone is looking for an edge
Patrick Kane is set to turn 37 in November and is on pace this season to pass Mike Modano for the most points by a U.S.-born player. He was the first pick in the 2007 draft, three months before this year’s No. 1 choice, Matthew Schaefer, was born.
A three-time Cup champion with Chicago, Kane credits his and others’ longevity to a decision that there is no longer an offseason.
“It’s incredible the way the guys are almost treating it like a full-year job,” Kane said. “Everyone’s trying to find that edge, whether it’s nutrition or what you do in the summer, how you train, how you recover. Everyone seems to be doing something.”
Sam Reinhart saw that in Crosby and Marchand at Canada’s Olympic orientation camp when they “made it look easy.” The soon-to-be 30-year-old found it inspiring.
“It’s motivating that if you take care of yourself, you work hard, you train, you know when you’re a bit younger, there’s no reason you can’t be at your best when you are a little bit older,” Reinhart said. “It doesn’t look like they are slowing down anytime soon. They’re both machines in the gym and both looking as young and agile as ever.”
Some is luck, but more of it is work
Tampa Bay captain Victor Hedman is on the younger side of this curve with his 35th birthday approaching in December, and yet at 6-foot-7 and 244 pounds, he is still among the best defensemen in the NHL. Hedman should make his Olympic debut for Sweden in February.
Hedman has been healthy for much of his career and stayed durable. He played between 76 and all 82 games over each of the past four seasons.
“I’ve been blessed not being hurt too much, but that’s training going into that,” Hedman said. “It’s a combination of a lot of things. The sports science, you can get so much data of what you need at certain points of the season, so that helps a lot. ... But I think it’s just knowing your body and trying to keep up with these young kids because the game is getting faster and faster.”
Ovechkin caught and passed Gretzky in large part because he is almost never injured. Washington’s captain missed 16 games with a broken leg and still got the job done.
“That’s one of the things that he’ll be remembered by is a lot of people talk about his durability as a player and not getting hurt,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said.
Playoffs are when the old dogs thrive
Maurice acknowledged a quarter-century after the fact that scratching eventual future Hall of Famer Paul Coffey in Carolina’s playoff opener in 1999 was a mistake. Coffey was one of the Hurricanes’ best players on the ice in Game 2, and that provided a valuable lesson on the way to back-to-back titles.
“These older players view the playoffs differently. They understand,” Maurice said. “Older guys have a perspective that young players don’t. Young players can be great, but I think you can almost be assured that you’re going to get the very best out of your older players in playoffs.”
Marchand, who rode the exercise bike in Edmonton prior to his double-overtime Game 2-winning goal in the final, has been a clutch performer his entire career in Crosby’s eyes. But the player known as “Sid the Kid” subscribes to Maurice’s theory about coming up big in the biggest moments.
“Definitely in the playoffs, I think that experience, that type of game probably lends itself to older guys who have been through it and understand it,” Crosby said. “We need us older guys to keep going.”