Where Vancouver Canucks rank among NHL's youngest teams | Daily Hive

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They say the NHL is a young man’s game.

And by that standard, the Vancouver Canucks are in a good place.

Sure, no one expects the Canucks to climb out of the bottom five next season. Their depth chart doesn’t paint a pretty picture, based on a combination of underperforming veterans and young guys fighting for minutes.

Welcome to the infancy of the Canucks rebuild.

Two noteworthy outlets, Elite Prospects and PuckPedia, both rank NHL teams by age based on their projected rosters for next season.

PuckPedia currently has the Canucks listed as the third-youngest team in the NHL, with an average age of 26.8. The only teams younger than the Canucks, according to PuckPedia, are the Montreal Canadiens (26.3 average age) and the Chicago Blackhawks (26.2 average age).

However, a manual calculation of the players listed on the roster has the Canucks even younger, with an average age of 26.26. The Blackhawks and Canadiens also had older rosters than the Canucks based on manual calculations of PuckPedia’s listed rosters.

So, is Vancouver actually the youngest team in the NHL?

Not so fast.

Elite Prospects seemingly had the average age calculations correct with their projected rosters. They had the Canucks as the sixth-youngest team in the league, with an average age of 26.61.

The Canucks aren’t quite the NHL’s youngest team, but they’re close. (Elite Prospects)

Chicago was the youngest, and that was even with Elite Prospects including retired 35-year-old defenceman Ryan Ellis on the roster. Without him, their average age sits at 25.2 years old.

Vancouver is basically right where they were last year, with an average age of 26.8 years old at the beginning of the 2025-26 campaign. At the time, that made them the fifth-youngest team in the league.

The Canucks became younger last season by subtracting veterans like Tyler Myers (36), Kiefer Sherwood (30), Conor Garland (30) and Quinn Hughes (26). They did get a bit older this offseason with additions such as Jamie Oleksiak (33) and Brendan Gallagher (34).

The differences between PuckPedia and Elite Prospects’ Canucks rosters were that PuckPedia has Braeden Cootes (19) and Victor Mancini (24) on the team. Elite Prospects omitted those two and had Nikita Tolopilo (26) along with Ilya Safonov (25) instead.

So, which outcome is more realistic?

While Mancini is waiver-exempt, he seems likely to make the team, while Ilya Safonov is a pretty big mystery.

However, the decisions surrounding Cootes and Tolopilo’s inclusion on the opening night roster are fascinating.

Will Braeden Cootes begin the season with the Vancouver Canucks? (Bob Frid/Imagn Images)

Based on where the Canucks are in their rebuild, it probably doesn’t make a ton of sense for them to have Cootes play with the NHL team next season. Unless, of course, he earns the right to begin the season in Vancouver once again.

Based on new rules in the NHL CBA, the Canucks can designate the 19-year-old Cootes to Abbotsford next season. It’s hard to argue against the best spot for his development being Abbotsford, where he can play a ton of minutes in arguably the best hockey league outside of the NHL.

Tolopilo is waiver-eligible next season. While there’s no guarantee he gets claimed, he did statistically outplay both Canucks goaltenders last season. There’s an argument he’s better than at least a handful of backups in the NHL.

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