The National Hockey League gets younger every year. On the eve of next season, only 14 players over the age of 37 are under contract, two of whom, Shea Weber and Brent Seabrook, are “dead” souls; 10 more are free agents. Today we’re going to talk about seven current NHL veterans who will give many young players a head start.
Corey Perry (Chicago, 38)
It seems that the Canadian striker will still have to accept the fact that he will no longer see the second championship ring (the first one was obtained in 2007 with Anaheim) -after three consecutive lost finals and the subsequent elimination in the first round-. Corey ended up on the team, which is still as far from contention for the Stanley Cup as possible, having moved from sunny Tampa to breezy Chicago as a result of the trade.
The Blackhawks were generous and signed Perry to a one-year, $4 million deal, which for a forward whose average playing time was less than 12 minutes last season, is a significant amount. However, such expenses of the “hawks” are quite understandable: in the person of Corey, they acquire a kind of “uncle” for Connor Bedard, who will help the first number of the recent draft pick to take his first steps in the NHL. . , and in which case he will defend it on the ice. No kidding: Perry has fought as many as 11 times in the past year, only four players in the entire league can boast more fights in the same span.
The veteran can’t wait to get to work with the young talent:
Perry: Exciting times ahead for Chicago with Bedard
Mark Giordano (Toronto, 39)
The best defender in the NHL of the 2018/2019 season will turn 40 in October: if Mike Smith suddenly does not find a new team for himself, Giordano will become the oldest player in the next championship and the only one who has traded their fifth decade.
Mark was an important figure for Toronto in the regular season, becoming the team’s most useful defenseman and losing the palm on this indicator only to Auston Matthews (+27 vs. +31). At the same time, the Canadian has 147 blocked shots on his tally: among Maple Leafs hockey players, he went under the puck most often. Thanks to this, in February, Giordano set an NHL record for blocked shots: for all the time in the elite of North American hockey, the veteran of the “blades” made 2078 shots.
Mark Giordano (#55) fighting for the puck
Photo: Nathan Denette/AP/TASS
However, in the playoffs, everything turned out to be not so rosy – Mark often did not keep up with his rivals and, despite the same dedication to his own goal, finished the postseason with the worst in the “Toronto” “-7”. . Ahead of the indisputably standout defender, the final year of his contract with the club from the Ontario capital – another setback in the quest for the Stanley Cup, which Giordano has yet to reach – may push him to the decision to hang up his skates. . .
But once Mark managed to play in the KHL:
Canadian defender “Toronto” expressed his opinion about the game in Russia
Marc-Andre Fleury (Minnesota, 38)
The last playoffs were also difficult for another Canadian legend. Not to say that in the course of the regular season, Marc-Andre showed outstanding hockey: Flower alternated high-quality matches with downright disastrous ones, finishing as many as 19 of 46 starts on the ice with an indicator below 90% of reflected. spear For a goalkeeper who recently took Vezina and was considered one of the best in the world for a decade and a half, this is a terrible result. However, it was in the postseason — specifically, Game 2 of the series with Dallas — that Fleury, it seemed, finally lost Minnesota’s number one status, which had previously been considered a bit of a contention.
How the Canadian gets through next year depends on his entire future career: At the end of the season, Marc-André’s contract will expire and his extension, like a new deal elsewhere, remains a big question. Two upcoming milestones could give the goalkeeper some extra motivation: Fleury has just 15 games left to join the 1,000-cap goalkeeping club alongside Martin Brodeur (1,266), Roberto Luongo (1,044) and Patrick Roy (1,029), and scoring eight victories to pass. St. Patrick’s (551) and rank second in NHL history on this metric. The first, of course, behind the legend of “New Jersey” (691).
But Brodeur left hockey for nothing a “devil”
Did they play here? Bio Pages of NHL Legends You May Not Know About
Brent Burns (Carolina 38)
After Patrice Bergeron’s recent departure from big sports, there were only three hockey players left who were playing in the NHL before the 2004 lockout. His career, so Brent Burns, thanks to Carolina’s program to re-educate hateful defenders (Tony Deangelo had to sign up for second place), is experiencing its renaissance. So much so that within a year everyone seemed to have forgotten about the botched period with an exorbitantly large cap hit in San Jose.
Judging by the volume Brent put up in the playoffs, he’ll have enough energy for at least next year. Will it be enough to help the “hurricanes” achieve the same with the coveted trophy? Plunge head, hurricanes unlikely to have other issues
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Evgeny Malkin (Pittsburgh, 37)
On July 31, Evgeny turned 37, and at that point, he had accomplished literally everything he could achieve in the NHL. Three Stanley Cups, Calder, Conn Smythe, two Art Ross, Ted Lindsay, Hart, more than 1,000 games and 1,200 points, many will envy such a career. At the same time, Malkin doesn’t plan to slow down: last season he made 83 effective actions in 82 regular season games, that is, he scored an average of one point per game. The problems with the contract of the Russians are left behind, with injuries, apparently, too. So we have a few more years to enjoy the game of Eugene, who continues to be part of one of the greatest combinations in NHL history.
And they say so not only in Russia.
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Joe Pavelski (Dallas, 39)
Looking at Joe’s play, especially in recent years, it’s hard to believe that in 2003 he was drafted only in the seventh round at number 205 and debuted just three years later. Today’s Dallas is nearly impossible to imagine without him (as San Jose once was), and his tie-up with Roope Hinz and Jason Robertson will likely hurt the stars’ rivals more than once next season.
Joe Pavelski celebrating a goal against Seattle
Photo: Tony Gutierrez/AP/TASS
Game 1 of the series against Seattle in the recent Stanley Cup season is the latest and most striking reminder of Pavelski’s incredible leadership qualities of late. Can you imagine that such a player will finish hockey in the next year or two? I can’t here.
Alexander Ovechkin (Washington, 38)
The same can be said for Alexander Ovechkin, who in a couple of months will continue the already legendary quest for Wayne Gretzky’s sniper record. Now on account of the captain of “Washington” 822 abandoned washing machines in the regular season of the NHL. To surpass the greatest hockey player of all time, he had 73 shots left.
Alexander Ovechkin
Photo: Nick Wass/AP/TASS
The task is more than feasible, given that in the previous season, Alexander surprised his opponents 42 times; at that rate, it should take him less than two regular seasons to achieve the coveted mark. The main thing is that health does not fail – in recent years, Ovechkin has not been able to go the entire distance without getting injured. Fortunately, the damage was not serious and the Russian was quickly back in the game. Let’s hope this continues to be the case.
