Erling Haaland has a blast in Manchester City's season openerhttps://t.co/2b029NQNeo
– RDS (@RDSca) August 11, 2023
The 2023-2024 season is fast approaching, and the Montreal Canadiens are just two months away, to the day, from kicking off the regular season in Toronto.
With the trade of Mike Hoffman and Rem Pitlick to other countries, the CH no longer has such a large surplus on offense.
This will give the youngsters a chance to shine, including Rafaël Harvey-Pinard.
Speaking of youngsters, with next season and the current line-ups, the Tricolore would be the fifth-youngest team in the National Hockey League.
As of today, the following is the average age of each NHL team going into the 2023-2024 season.
1. Pittsburgh Penguins 29.84 #LetsGoPens
2. Washington Capitals 29.22 #ALLCAPS
3. New York Rangers 29.00 #NYR
4. Minnesota Wild 28.95 #mnwild
5. Dallas Stars 28.65 #TexasHockey…– David R (@David954FLA) August 11, 2023
The only clubs younger than the Sainte-Flanelle (26.35) are the Arizona Coyotes (25.92), Ottawa Senators (25.83), Buffalo Sabres (25.62) and Columbus Blue Jackets (25.18).
The bottom line is that these are all teams that should be out of the playoffs, with the exception of the Senators and Sabres, who still have some chance of making the playoffs.
The problem is that the Eastern Conference, specifically the Atlantic Division, is very powerful, and it will be difficult to make it to the spring dance.
Unsurprisingly, the Pittsburgh Penguins are the oldest team, with the same core for years of Sidney Crosby (36), Evgeni Malkin (37) and Kristopher Letang (36).
In addition, Pittsburgh has acquired the services of Erik Karlsson (33), which doesn't help lower the average age.
To be honest, I thought the Pens would be more than 0.62 years ahead of the second oldest club, the Washington Capitals.
But the more you think about it, the more it makes sense, because by adding Karlsson to its roster, Pittsburgh also acquired Rem Pitlick (26), in addition to having a few players between the ages of 20 and 25.
The New York Rangers in 3rd place is rather surprising. Let's hope this experience helps them get beyond the first round. The Rangers' playoff run was more than disappointing, and they'll no doubt want to bounce back with a new coach and a new system.
Highlights
– A beautiful memory.
The light shouldn't have been there right Ovi? 😂 pic.twitter.com/AsuZW9RCyU
– TSN (@TSN_Sports) August 11, 2023
– A double for Erling Haaland to start the season.
– Interesting.
Every 38+ year old to score 75+ points in a season in the cap era:
– Joe Pavelski
– Ray Whitney
– Teemu SelanneHe turns 40 next year and he's still doing it at the highest level. pic.twitter.com/VBCliZlHre
– Big Head Hockey (@BigHeadHcky) August 11, 2023
– The doubles teammates will have to cross swords in the semi-finals.
A special situation😅😅https://t.co/1cr1WytYir
– TVA Sports (@TVASports) August 11, 2023