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Vancouver Canucks are surprisingly one of the youngest teams in the NHL

Trevor Beggs
Trevor Beggs
|
Oct 8 2025, 6:16 pm
Vancouver Canucks are surprisingly one of the youngest teams in the NHL
Bob Frid/Imagn Images

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Western Family and the Vancouver Canucks teamed up to create Bar Down Blast, a limited-edition ice cream. Vanilla flavoured blue ripple ice cream and caramel-filled mini chocolatey pucks.

They say that age is just a number, and the Vancouver Canucks are certainly hoping that’s the case.

Now that NHL rosters have been finalized, we have data about the average age of every team in the league.

Entering the 2025-26 season, the Canucks are the fifth-youngest team in the NHL.

Here are the 10 youngest teams in the NHL entering the season, along with the average age of each squad, according to Elite Prospects.

  1. Montreal Canadiens: 25.27
  2. Chicago Blackhawks: 26.00
  3. Buffalo Sabres: 26.04
  4. Philadelphia Flyers: 26.64
  5. Vancouver Canucks: 26.84
  6. Columbus Blue Jackets: 27.09
  7. Calgary Flames: 27.12
  8. San Jose Sharks: 27.17
  9. Boston Bruins: 27.39
  10. Nashville Predators: 27.40

The oldest team in the NHL is the Los Angeles Kings, with an average age of 29.71.

It is surprising to see the Canucks ice a younger roster than perpetually rebuilding teams like the San Jose Sharks or even the Anaheim Ducks (who rank 11th).

However, two prospects who impressed at camp have helped bring down the average.

Here’s a list of everyone on the Canucks roster, along with their ages.

  1. Braeden Cootes (18)
  2. Jonathan LekkerimÀki (21)
  3. Elias Pettersson (21)
  4. Aatu RĂ€ty (22)
  5. Victor Mancini (23)
  6. Arshdeep Bains (24)
  7. Nils Höglander (24)
  8. Linus Karlsson (25)
  9. Quinn Hughes (25)
  10. Filip Chytil (26)
  11. Pierre-Olivier Joseph (26)
  12. Elias Pettersson (26)
  13. Drew O’Connor (27)
  14. Filip Hronek (27)
  15. Brock Boeser (28)
  16. Jake DeBrusk (28)
  17. Marcus Pettersson (29)
  18. Conor Garland (29)
  19. Thatcher Demko (29)
  20. Kevin Lankinen (30)
  21. Kiefer Sherwood (30)
  22. Teddy Blueger (31)
  23. Derek Forbort (33)
  24. Evander Kane (34)
  25. Tyler Myers (35)

Braeden Cootes is the youngest player on the team, having been born on Feb. 9, 2007. Vancouver also had nine players who are 25 years old or younger, including captain Quinn Hughes.

The Canucks are entering the season with just six players over the age of 30, although two of them (Thatcher Demko and Conor Garland) will get there by the end of the regular season.

Despite the fact that the Canucks are, on paper, one of the youngest teams in the NHL, the club doesn’t really view it that way.

“[The team] doesn’t feel too young to me,” Hughes said after practice on Tuesday. “I mean, we have some guys that had to grind in Abbotsford for two, three years, and they’re obviously ready to move up.”

“I think we just have some hungry guys. I don’t look at it as young, but guys that have wanted to crack the team for a couple of years and have earned that right this year.”

Canucks head coach Adam Foote was also surprised by the narrative that the Canucks are a young team.

“I guess I never thought about that, to be honest,” Foote said after practice on Tuesday.

“What I like is the way our leadership groups is carrying the young guys. They’re helping them. They’re communicating with them. I love that stuff.”

It’s also worth noting that the Canucks average age of 26.84 this season was exactly league average seven years ago. Now, the average age of an NHL team is closer to 28 years old.

That could explain why Hughes and Foote don’t feel like this is a young team, even if they are one of the youngest groups in the NHL.

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