- Alex Ovechkin is back for his age-41 season and still ranks only third oldest in the NHL
- Brent Burns and Corey Perry both hit 41 before Ovechkin will
- Read below for the full top 10 oldest NHL players in 2026-27
Alex Ovechkin turns 41 next month, and he still will not be the oldest player in the NHL. He will not be the second oldest, either.
Washington re-signed its captain on July 2 to a one-year deal carrying a $4.25 million cap hit, which locked in a 22nd season for a player already 40 years and 330 days old:
Brent Burns is the man at the top of the list. The Avalanche defenseman is 41 years and 157 days old, and he is walking into his 23rd NHL season after Colorado brought him back in late June:
Corey Perry lands second at 41 years and 89 days. Los Angeles brought the winger back on July 1 on a one-year, $1 million deal for a 22nd season, and he says his 9-year-old son Griffin is a big reason he keeps showing up:
Here is how the league’s oldest 10 stack up for 2026-27, using ages as of Thursday:
| # | Player | Team | Age |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brent Burns | COL | 41y, 157d |
| 2 | Corey Perry | LAK | 41y, 89d |
| 3 | Alex Ovechkin | WSH | 40y, 330d |
| 4 | Evgeni Malkin | PIT | 40y, 13d |
| 5 | Kris Letang | PIT | 39y, 111d |
| 6 | Sidney Crosby | PIT | 39y, 6d |
| 7 | Mats Zuccarello | LAK | 38y, 346d |
| 8 | Nick Foligno | MIN | 38y, 286d |
| 9 | Claude Giroux | OTT | 38y, 213d |
| 10 | Brad Marchand | FLA | 38y, 94d |
Evgeni Malkin is the only other player who starts the year north of 40. Pittsburgh has three names in the top 10, with Kris Letang and Sidney Crosby lining up behind Malkin.
Ovechkin has spent years making the age question look silly. He became the sixth-oldest player in NHL history to record a hat trick when he beat Montreal three times last season, then did it again to Utah a few months later.
That second one put him in a club of three. Only Johnny Bucyk in 1975-76 and Gordie Howe in 1968-69 had also recorded two hat tricks in a season at 40 or older.
The 50-goal season he put up at 36 broke a Bucyk record that had stood for more than half a century. It also erased Teemu Selanne’s 48 as the most goals in a season by anyone 36 or older.
Washington keeps getting younger around him. The Capitals open the year with an average age of 28.46, 15th-oldest in the league, and the next oldest name on the roster after Ovechkin is either Justin Holl or Dylan McIlrath at 34.
Nobody has carried the flag for playing deep into your 40s quite like Ovechkin has. He is just not the last man standing, and our running list of the oldest active NHL players says Burns keeps that spot all season.
