The NHL is no arena for old men
Canucks’ Thomas Vanek is feeling his age as the league trends toward younger players
EDMONTON — There was a time in the NHL when a player entering his 30s was considered to be in his prime.
Said player, the reasoning went, was at his peak and had accumulated the necessary experience to fully exploit his physical gifts. If such a player made it to unrestricted free agency, he could expect to cash in a winning lottery ticket, like Thomas Vanek did four years ago.
But Vanek will also tell you we are in a different time now, a time when 30 is the new 40 for NHL players. The league has been trending younger for a number of years. The bridge contract no longer exists. As a result, kids in their early 20s are signing massive, multi-year deals, the kind of contracts which used to go to wily veterans.
Vanek, at 34, remains a productive player for the Vancouver Canucks, but also knows teams seem more concerned about the number on his birth certificate than the numbers on the back of his hockey card. The Austrian-born sniper, who sits second on the Canucks in scoring, is headed toward unrestricted free agency for the third time since signing a three-year, $19.5 million U.S. deal with the Minnesota Wild at the start of the 2014-15 season.
You don’t have to tell him how the business of the NHL works these days.
“Teams are committing to the young guys,” Vanek says. “Once you get into the 30s nowadays, you get people saying he’s too old or he can still help a team but he’s not one of the go-to guys. That’s just the way it is.
“It is what it is. Obviously I’m not getting any younger, but I feel good and I’m going to keep on doing my thing.”
Where he’ll do that thing is the next question, but Vanek knows there are no guarantees at his age.
As mentioned, the NHL’s version of ageism has been a story for a couple of years now, and a quick look at the league’s stat sheets speaks volumes about the direction the game has gone.
Of the NHL’s top 28 scorers, just eight are over 30 and none are older than Washington’s Alex Ovechkin, who turned 32 in September. That represents 29 per cent of the league’s top scorers.
The effect is even more pronounced among defencemen where just four of the top-25 blue-line scorers, 16 per cent, are over 30.
True, some of the game’s best players have seen their odometers click over the dreaded 30 mark recently: Vancouver’s Thomas Vanek, right, celebrates a goal with teammate Bo Horvat earlier this season. The veteran winger has been a valuable addition to the Canucks this season but he recognizes the NHL is becoming more of a young-man’s league. — THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Sidney Crosby, Anze Kopitar, Claude Giroux and Kris Letang all hit that milestone in the last year and show no signs of slowing down. But, in recent weeks, the league has also seen respected vets like Chicago’s Brent Seabrook (32) and Dallas’s Jason Spezza (34) made healthy scratches and Paul Martin (36) put on waivers by San Jose.
“The game is so fast now,” Canucks GM Jim Benning says. “I noticed it two years ago and every year it just gets faster and faster. It’s about speed and I don’t think that’s going to change going forward. You look at the teams having success now, and they’re fast, skilled teams.”
Benning, as it happens, is facing decisions on the 34-year-old Vanek and the 37-year-old Sedins. Before the Canucks-Oilers meeting at Rogers Place on Saturday, the GM said he’s having a long think about Vanek’s future with the team.
The twins, of course, represent a different category to the Canucks, but there are still a multitude of factors to be considered there.
“I think Thomas Vanek has been a good acquisition for us,” Benning said. “He and Brock (Boeser) have had all real good chemistry together. He’s been good for Brock. He’s got a certain swagger about him, a veteran player who’s scored in this league.”
Benning was asked if the organization is considering re-signing Vanek.
“We’re going to see over the next five weeks,” he said. “That’s one of the things we’ve talked about.”
As for the twins, Benning said there have been preliminary talks with their agent J.P. Barry, but the big conversation about their future will come this off-season.
“They don’t have to tell us exactly what their plans are, but we’re going to talk to them in the next little while and see which way they’re leaning,” Benning said. “They’re still important players on our team. They set the example for the whole team. If we have enough depth around them, they can still be part of our group.”
Depth, in this case, means the young players the Canucks have drafted and developed over Benning’s four years on the job. The organization, like the league, is getting younger, putting a player like Vanek in a vulnerable position. Then again, after playing for seven teams over the last five years, he’s grown used to it.
“I think what changed it is the salary cap,” Vanek said. “Teams are putting a lot of stock in young guys, paying them early, hoping they’ll pan out to their contract. It kind of pushes out the older guys.” He pauses, then adds. “At the same time the young guys are pretty good.”
And they will be served.
“Once you get into the 30s nowadays, you get people saying he’s too old or he can still help a team but he’s not one of the go-to guys. That’s just the way it is.” — THOMAS VANEK CANUCKS WINGER