{"id":876143,"date":"2025-10-07T23:17:47","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T04:17:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/07\/from-sidney-crosby-to-alex-ovechkin-hockey-is-becoming-a-sport-for-old-men\/"},"modified":"2025-10-07T23:17:47","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T04:17:47","slug":"from-sidney-crosby-to-alex-ovechkin-hockey-is-becoming-a-sport-for-old-men","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/07\/from-sidney-crosby-to-alex-ovechkin-hockey-is-becoming-a-sport-for-old-men\/","title":{"rendered":"From Sidney Crosby to Alex Ovechkin, hockey is becoming a sport for old men"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Hockey is a usually a young man\u2019s game. Don\u2019t tell that to Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Brad Marchand, Corey Perry and so many others who are still on top of the NHL in their late 30s and beyond. <\/p>\n

Crosby produced<\/a><\/span> at a point-a-game pace last season at 37, the same age Marchand was when he scored six goals<\/a><\/span> in the Stanley Cup Final to help Florida repeat<\/a><\/span> against Edmonton, which counted 40-year-old Corey Perry<\/a><\/span> as one of its better players. Alex Ovechkin broke<\/a><\/span> Wayne Gretzky\u2019s NHL career goals record at 39 and should surpass the 900 mark early this season at 40.<\/p>\n

Thanks to changes in sports science, training and technology over the past 20-plus years, the window for stars to remain in their prime is getting longer and longer. And it\u2019s only making the sport better.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re coming into an age of that,\u201d Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. \u201cThe science that\u2019s changed over the last 20 years will allow these players to recover faster. … They\u2019re better fit, conditioned athletes over their entire lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maurice credited owners for investing a tremendous amount of money and resources into player care. His team is on the leading edge of recovery methods at all ages, which is a big part of why the league\u2019s southernmost team is going for a threepeat<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

Everyone is looking for an edge<\/h2>\n

Patrick Kane is set to turn 37 in November and is on pace this season to pass Mike Modano for the most points by a U.S.-born player. He was the first pick in the 2007 draft, three months before this year\u2019s No. 1 choice<\/a><\/span>, Matthew Schaefer, was born.<\/p>\n

A three-time Cup champion with Chicago, Kane credits his and others\u2019 longevity to a decision that there is no longer an offseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s incredible the way the guys are almost treating it like a full-year job,\u201d Kane said. \u201cEveryone\u2019s trying to find that edge, whether it\u2019s nutrition or what you do in the summer, how you train, how you recover. Everyone seems to be doing something.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sam Reinhart saw that in Crosby and Marchand at Canada\u2019s Olympic orientation camp when they \u201cmade it look easy.\u201d The soon-to-be 30-year-old found it inspiring.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s motivating that if you take care of yourself, you work hard, you train, you know when you\u2019re a bit younger, there\u2019s no reason you can\u2019t be at your best when you are a little bit older,\u201d Reinhart said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t look like they are slowing down anytime soon. They\u2019re both machines in the gym and both looking as young and agile as ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some is luck, but more of it is work<\/h2>\n

Tampa Bay captain Victor Hedman is on the younger side of this curve with his 35th birthday approaching in December, and yet at 6-foot-7 and 244 pounds, he is still among the best defensemen in the NHL. Hedman should make his Olympic debut for Sweden in February.<\/p>\n

Hedman has been healthy for much of his career and stayed durable. He played between 76 and all 82 games over each of the past four seasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been blessed not being hurt too much, but that\u2019s training going into that,\u201d Hedman said. \u201cIt\u2019s a combination of a lot of things. The sports science, you can get so much data of what you need at certain points of the season, so that helps a lot. … But I think it\u2019s just knowing your body and trying to keep up with these young kids because the game is getting faster and faster.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ovechkin caught and passed Gretzky<\/a><\/span> in large part because he is almost never injured. Washington\u2019s captain missed 16 games with a broken leg and still got the job done.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s one of the things that he\u2019ll be remembered by is a lot of people talk about his durability as a player and not getting hurt,\u201d Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said. <\/p>\n

Playoffs are when the old dogs thrive<\/h2>\n

Maurice acknowledged a quarter-century after the fact that scratching eventual future Hall of Famer Paul Coffey in Carolina\u2019s playoff opener in 1999 was a mistake. Coffey was one of the Hurricanes\u2019 best players on the ice in Game 2, and that provided a valuable lesson on the way to back-to-back titles.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese older players view the playoffs differently. They understand,\u201d Maurice said. \u201cOlder guys have a perspective that young players don\u2019t. Young players can be great, but I think you can almost be assured that you\u2019re going to get the very best out of your older players in playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marchand, who rode the exercise bike in Edmonton prior to his double-overtime Game 2-winning goal in the final, has been a clutch performer his entire career in Crosby\u2019s eyes. But the player known as \u201cSid the Kid\u201d subscribes to Maurice\u2019s theory about coming up big in the biggest moments.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefinitely in the playoffs, I think that experience, that type of game probably lends itself to older guys who have been through it and understand it,\u201d Crosby said. \u201cWe need us older guys to keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NHL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nhl<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

STEPHEN WHYNO Associated Press
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hockey is a usually a young man\u2019s game. Don\u2019t tell that to Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Brad Marchand, Corey Perry and so many others who are still on top of the NHL in their late 30s and beyond. Crosby produced at a point-a-game pace last season at 37, the same age Marchand was when he<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":876144,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22729,22728],"tags":[117354,146620],"class_list":{"0":"post-876143","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-crosby","8":"category-sidney","9":"tag-crosby","10":"tag-sidney"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=876143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/876144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=876143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=876143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=876143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}