Is Young Good Enough?

Is young good enough? Well, having a young team in the NHL means that you are going with the future, one needs some good veterans on the team but young is the way to go.

Take for example the Pittsburgh Penguins, sure they were bad for a few years enabling them to have good draft picks, but still, they are a good young team, with a few older players to help them out. How about the Edmonton Oilers, they are almost all young, and still have a chance to make the play-offs albeit a slim one. The Montreal Canadiens are also a young talented team, but as young talented teams are, they make youngster mistakes, all teams do, but in the end they all learn from their mistakes.

Trying to buy a Stanley Cup with all old veterans doesn’t work anymore. The new NHL is too fast for the old generation, sure they can still play, but they can’t keep up to the young fast kids. It used to be the bigger you were the better, now it’s how fast you are, of course if you happen to be big, and fast, more power to you.

Within the last remaining few years of the CBA, fans will see players the likes of Jaromir Jagr, Brendan Shannahan, Mike Modano, Joe Sakic, Mats Sundin, and so on, retire, all the old school players who stuck around and could play in today’s NHL will slowly dissipate, leaving the game to the new generation of players, faster than the older generation, coupled with the new rules makes the game more exciting for the fans, and filled with more headaches for general managers who try to work within a salary cap environment to make the respective teams compete.

Younger is better, it gives a chance for everyone to learn, when you have too many older players on the team, they try and coach the team, this is good in some situations, but, in the long run there can only be one coach, and it can’t be a player. The only thing hockey is missing nowadays is the respect aspect, too many players are lacking respect towards each other. This is due to the fact that there is a rule in place which prevents players from basically policing themselves.

Enjoy watching your old favorite players which I’ve named above for a few more years, as they will all disappear soon enough, the talented young crop of players that are establishing themselves will certainly astonish a few fans along the way. The experience factor does pose an interesting question, especially in the post season, but it will make it all the more exciting for the fans to watch while all the young up and coming stars emerge in the play-offs, gaining their own experience along the way.

Yes, as long as you are patient, young is good enough, look around this year, it’s answer enough.