Who is the oldest player in the NHL? Meet the top 10 oldest active players in 2025-26 and the greatest old-timers in league history.

Who Is the Oldest Player in the NHL? All-Time & 2025-26

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<pre class="text-text-100 mt-3 -mb-1 text-[1.125rem] font-bold"><img src="https://cdn.eliteprospects-assets.com/cms/uRPSSIXdMnvhIZhWSwv5K56Czh66p3Gb612panM8.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="859" /><br /><span style="font-size: 8pt;">Image: Bildbyr&aring;n</span></pre>
<h2 class="text-text-100 mt-3 -mb-1 text-[1.125rem] font-bold">What Are Waivers in the NHL?</h2>
<p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">Every franchise in professional hockey eventually faces a moment of brutal arithmetic: too many players, not enough roster spots. When a team needs to send a player to the minors or simply move him off the active roster, the <a class="underline underline underline-offset-2 decoration-1 decoration-current/40 hover:decoration-current focus:decoration-current" href="https://www.eliteprospects.com/league/nhl">NHL</a>'s waiver system gets involved. It is a mechanism most casual fans only notice when a recognizable name quietly vanishes from a lineup. But understanding how it actually works reveals something far more interesting: a hidden marketplace where careers end, begin, and occasionally get saved.</p>
<p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">Waivers are, at their core, a mandatory notification process. Before a team can assign a player to the <a class="underline underline underline-offset-2 decoration-1 decoration-current/40 hover:decoration-current focus:decoration-current" href="https://www.eliteprospects.com/league/ahl">American Hockey League</a> or any other minor league, they must first place that player on waivers, effectively offering every other NHL team the chance to claim him at no cost. The claiming team assumes the player's existing contract in full. If nobody claims him within 24 hours, he "clears waivers" and can be sent down freely. If a team does claim him, he is gone, often without the original team having any say in the matter.</p>
<p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">The priority order for claims runs in reverse of the current NHL standings, meaning the worst teams get first access. It is a competitive-balance mechanism designed to stop bottom-feeders from getting even worse by watching talent pile up in the AHL while contenders hoard depth.</p>
<h2 class="text-text-100 mt-3 -mb-1 text-[1.125rem] font-bold">Who Has to Clear Waivers?</h2>
<p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">Not every player is subject to waivers, and this is where the rule gets nuanced.</p>
<p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">A player must clear waivers before being assigned to the minors once he meets certain thresholds based on age and professional experience. Players who are 18 or 19 years old need zero NHL games before becoming waiver-exempt for two seasons. Players who are 20 to 23 years old at the start of the season require 160 AHL games before losing that exempt status. Once a skater has appeared in a set number of NHL games, generally around 400 depending on the signing age of his first NHL contract, he becomes permanently waiver-eligible and cannot be sent down without going through the process.</p>
<p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">These thresholds are defined in the NHL's Collective Bargaining Agreement and have evolved through successive labor negotiations. The practical takeaway is simple: veteran players cannot be quietly demoted to protect a cap slot or manage ice time without first being exposed to every other team in the league.</p>
<h2 class="text-text-100 mt-3 -mb-1 text-[1.125rem] font-bold">What Does Clearing Waivers Mean?</h2>
<p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">When a player "clears waivers," it means the 24-hour window passed and no team submitted a claim. The player's current team retains his rights and can assign him to the minors or handle his contract as originally intended.</p>
<p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">Clearing waivers is not inherently a verdict on a player's ability. Many players clear simply because other teams have their own roster constraints, lack the cap space to absorb the salary, or have no immediate need at that position. What it confirms is that no general manager saw an urgent enough opportunity to press the button. That is a data point, not a definitive judgment on what a player is worth.</p>
<h2 class="text-text-100 mt-3 -mb-1 text-[1.125rem] font-bold">What Happens When a Team Makes a Claim?</h2>
<p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">The more consequential scenario is when a claim does happen. One team's difficult roster decision becomes another team's upgrade. Throughout NHL history, there are cases that demonstrate exactly how a waiver claim can redirect a career.</p>
<h3 class="text-text-100 mt-2 -mb-1 text-base font-bold">Michael Grabner</h3>
<p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">Few waiver claims in modern NHL history have produced the immediate return that <a class="underline underline underline-offset-2 decoration-1 decoration-current/40 hover:decoration-current focus:decoration-current" href="https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/8494/michael-grabner">Michael Grabner</a> gave the <a class="underline underline underline-offset-2 decoration-1 decoration-current/40 hover:decoration-current focus:decoration-current" href="https://www.eliteprospects.com/team/67/new-york-islanders">New York Islanders</a> in October 2010. A former first-round pick by the <a class="underline underline underline-offset-2 decoration-1 decoration-current/40 hover:decoration-current focus:decoration-current" href="https://www.eliteprospects.com/team/77/vancouver-canucks">Vancouver Canucks</a>, Grabner had been traded to the <a class="underline underline underline-offset-2 decoration-1 decoration-current/40 hover:decoration-current focus:decoration-current" href="https://www.eliteprospects.com/team/62/florida-panthers">Florida Panthers</a> that summer but failed to make the team out of camp. Florida placed him on waivers intending to send him to the AHL. The Islanders claimed him on his 23rd birthday. He finished his rookie season with 34 goals and 52 points, led all NHL rookies in goals, and earned a Calder Trophy nomination. New York signed him to a five-year extension worth $15 million shortly after. Florida, for their part, got nothing. The waiver claim cost the Islanders only the assumption of a modest entry-level contract. It produced one of the better rookie seasons the franchise has seen.</p>
<h3 class="text-text-100 mt-2 -mb-1 text-base font-bold">Ilya Bryzgalov</h3>
<p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">If Stralman is the slow-burn version of a waiver claim paying off, <a class="underline underline underline-offset-2 decoration-1 decoration-current/40 hover:decoration-current focus:decoration-current" href="https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/8524/ilya-bryzgalov">Ilya Bryzgalov</a> is the instant kind. In November 2007, the <a class="underline underline underline-offset-2 decoration-1 decoration-current/40 hover:decoration-current focus:decoration-current" href="https://www.eliteprospects.com/team/24/anaheim-ducks">Anaheim Ducks</a> placed him on waivers after failing to find a trade partner. They had re-signed Jean-S&eacute;bastien Gigu&egrave;re and added Jonas Hiller, and Bryzgalov simply had no path to playing time. The <a class="underline underline underline-offset-2 decoration-1 decoration-current/40 hover:decoration-current focus:decoration-current" href="https://www.eliteprospects.com/team/9/phoenix-coyotes">Phoenix Coyotes</a> claimed him. That same evening, he made 27 saves in a 1-0 shutout win over the Los Angeles Kings. Phoenix signed him to a three-year extension almost immediately. He went on to win 26 games that season, then 26 again the next, and eventually 36 in 2010-11 as the Coyotes reached the playoffs for the first time in years. From there, his negotiating rights were traded to Philadelphia for draft picks. A waiver claim with zero asset cost had turned into a franchise-defining player and a future trade asset. Anaheim, for their part, watched all of it happen for nothing.</p>
<h3 class="text-text-100 mt-2 -mb-1 text-base font-bold">David Backes</h3>
<p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">The <a class="underline underline underline-offset-2 decoration-1 decoration-current/40 hover:decoration-current focus:decoration-current" href="https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/11435/david-backes">David Backes</a> situation illustrates a different side of the waiver system, specifically how it handles a veteran player at the end of a contract cycle that no longer fits. After a decorated career as captain of the St. Louis Blues, Backes signed a five-year deal with Boston in 2016. The fit never fully materialized, and by January 2020 the Bruins placed him on waivers to assign him to the AHL. He cleared. It was a brutal public moment for a player who had been one of the better power forwards in the league for most of the previous decade. His story is a reminder that the waiver process carries no sentiment. It reflects where a player stands in the present tense, not where he has been.</p>
<h2 class="text-text-100 mt-3 -mb-1 text-[1.125rem] font-bold">Why Teams Sometimes Let Good Players Go</h2>
<p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">It happens more often than fans expect: a player clears waivers or gets claimed and subsequently outperforms what his previous team had anticipated. Cap constraints are the most common explanation. A team may genuinely value a player but cannot carry his salary without jeopardizing other roster construction decisions. Waiving him is not an assessment of his quality. It is mathematics.</p>
<p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">Roster logjams are another factor. When a franchise has significant depth at a specific position, a player who is fully capable of contributing at the NHL level may simply be blocked by the contracts above him. A claiming team with an actual hole at that position gives that player the opportunity the original organization could not offer.</p>
<p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">Fit matters too. Hockey is a chemistry-driven sport, and a player who never quite connected with one system or coaching staff can look completely different under different circumstances. The waiver wire functions, in that sense, as an accidental matchmaking service. The price of admission is zero. The cost, occasionally, is watching a player you underestimated succeed somewhere else.</p>
<h2 class="text-text-100 mt-3 -mb-1 text-[1.125rem] font-bold">What Waivers Are Not</h2>
<p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">A persistent misconception is that placing a player on waivers means the team actively wants to lose him. That is not always the case. Teams sometimes put players on waivers hoping they clear, with the sole intention of completing a different roster or cap move. When an unexpected claim comes in, it can genuinely catch the organization off guard.</p>
<p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">There is also a distinction between standard waivers and unconditional waivers. Standard waivers allow another team to claim the player and assume the contract. Unconditional waivers are used to terminate a contract outright, with no claiming process involved. When a team places a veteran on unconditional waivers, the intent is to release him entirely, either as part of a buyout or simply a parting of ways.</p>
<h2 class="text-text-100 mt-3 -mb-1 text-[1.125rem] font-bold">Following the Waiver Wire</h2>
<p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">For fans who want to track moves in real time, the NHL's official transaction feed publishes waiver placements and claims daily. Paying attention to who gets placed on waivers, especially around roster freeze deadlines, the trade deadline, and early in the regular season, provides a useful window into how front offices are actually thinking.</p>
<p class="font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]">A contending team suddenly waiving a veteran forward says something about their confidence in younger options. A rebuilding team making a claim on an experienced player says something about their short-term intentions. The waiver wire does not have the visibility of a trade deadline deal, no press conferences, no pick packages to dissect, no retention negotiations playing out publicly. But the quiet 24-hour window where rosters shift and careers pivot is one of the more honest reflections of how the NHL actually operates. It rewards the teams, and the fans, who are paying attention.</p>

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<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://cdn.eprinkside.com/fm/eprinkside/files/2/images/2023-11/NHL%20Records%202%20(1).png" alt="" width="1280" height="840"></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 8pt;">Photos &copy; Bildbyran</span></p>
<p dir="ltr">Within the annals of the <a href="https://www.eliteprospects.com/league/nhl">NHL</a>, certain records shine as beacons of unmatched achievement. Here, we delve into these historic records, providing a lens to appreciate the magnitude of these accomplishments, complete with "per game" stats for the record holders.</p>
<h2 dir="ltr">Most Points of All Time</h2>
<p dir="ltr"><a href="https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/9678/wayne-gretzky">Wayne Gretzky</a> dominates with 2,857 points, averaging an incredible 1.92 points per game​​. <a href="https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/8627/jaromir-jagr">Jarom&iacute;r J&aacute;gr</a>, with 1,921 points, stands as the second-highest scorer, with Mark Messier and others following as honorable mentions.</p>
<h3 dir="ltr">Most Points in an NHL Season</h3>
<p dir="ltr">The 1985-86 season saw Gretzky amassing 215 points, which breaks down to an astounding 2.77 points per game, a record that still stands tall above <a href="https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/9679/mario-lemieux">Mario Lemieux</a>'s impressive 199 points in the 1988-89 season.</p>
<p dir="ltr">&nbsp;</p>
<h2 dir="ltr">Most NHL Goals of All Time</h2>
<p dir="ltr">Wayne Gretzky also holds the record for the most goals in NHL history with 894, averaging 0.60 goals per game across his career. His closest competitor in this category is <a href="https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/4230/alexander-ovechkin">Alexander Ovechkin</a>&nbsp; with above 820 goals.</p>
<h3 dir="ltr">Most Goals in an NHL Season</h3>
<p dir="ltr">Gretzky&rsquo;s 92 goals in the 1981-82 season equate to 1.15 goals per game, with <a href="https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/21341/brett-hull">Brett Hull</a>&rsquo;s 86 goals in the 1990-91 season following as the second-best.</p>
<p dir="ltr">&nbsp;</p>
<h2 dir="ltr">Most NHL Assists of All Time</h2>
<p dir="ltr">Again, Gretzky leads with the most assists, having set up 1,963 goals for his teammates, which works out to an average of 1.32 assists per game. Behind him is <a href="https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/21347/ron-francis">Ron Francis</a>, who tallied a remarkable number of assists as well.</p>
<h3 dir="ltr">Most Assists in an NHL Season</h3>
<p dir="ltr">For assists, Gretzky's record of 163 in the 1985-86 season translates to an average of 2.04 assists per game, surpassing his own second-best record and other high assists seasons by legends like Lemieux.</p>
<p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p>
<h2 dir="ltr">Most NHL Wins in a Season</h2>
<p dir="ltr">The <a href="https://www.eliteprospects.com/team/60/detroit-red-wings/1995-1996">1995-96 Detroit Red Wings</a> and the <a href="https://www.eliteprospects.com/team/75/tampa-bay-lightning/stats/2018-2019">2018-19 Tampa Bay Lightning</a> each achieved 62 wins. The per game rate for these wins would be calculated based on the total games in their respective seasons.<br>It's worth noting that the 1995-96 Red Wings went on to win the Stanley Cup, solidifying their dominance as one of the greatest teams in NHL history.&nbsp;</p>
<p dir="ltr">On the other hand, the 2018-19 Tampa Bay Lightning faced an unexpected early exit in the first round of the playoffs against the <a href="https://www.eliteprospects.com/team/58/columbus-blue-jackets">Columbus Blue Jackets</a>. This unexpected outcome serves as a reminder of the unpredictability and excitement of NHL playoff hockey.</p>
<p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p>
<h2 dir="ltr">Most Penalty Minutes of All Time</h2>
<p dir="ltr"><a href="https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/52429/tiger-williams">Tiger Williams</a> is known for the most penalty minutes accumulated over a career with 3,966, a record that speaks to a very different style of play from past eras of the NHL.</p>
<h3 dir="ltr">Most Penalty Minutes in an NHL Season</h3>
<p dir="ltr"><a href="https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/60150/dave-schultz">Dave Schultz</a>'s notorious record of 472 penalty minutes in the 1974-75 season comes out to approximately 5.78 penalty minutes per game, standing apart from other high penalty minute seasons by players like Tiger Williams.</p>
<p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p>
<h2 dir="ltr">Most Points by an NHL Defenseman of All Time</h2>
<p dir="ltr">Raymond Bourque is the all-time leader in points by a defenseman in the NHL, amassing 1,579 points (410 goals, 1169 assists) across 1,612 games, which equates to an average of 0.98 points per game throughout his career from 1979 to 2001.</p>
<h3 dir="ltr">Most Points by a Defenseman in an NHL Season</h3>
<p dir="ltr">Paul Coffey set the record for the most points in a single NHL season by a defenseman, scoring 138 points in the 1985-86 season, demonstrating his remarkable offensive capabilities from the back end.</p>
<p dir="ltr">&nbsp;</p>
<h2 dir="ltr">Most Goals by an NHL Defenseman of All Time</h2>
<p dir="ltr">Ray Bourque also holds the record for the most goals by a defenseman, with 410 goals over his career, proving his prowess in scoring as well as setting up plays.</p>
<h3 dir="ltr">Most Goals by a Defenseman in an NHL Season</h3>
<p dir="ltr">For the most goals scored in a season by a defenseman, Paul Coffey claims the spotlight, netting 48 goals in the 1985-86 season, a record that underscores his unique scoring talent.</p>
<p dir="ltr">&nbsp;</p>
<h2 dir="ltr">Most Assists by an NHL Defenseman of All Time</h2>
<p dir="ltr">In the assists category, <a href="https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/19141/raymond-bourque">Ray Bourque</a> leads again with 1,169 assists, showcasing his exceptional vision and playmaking ability from the defensive zone over his lengthy NHL tenure.</p>
<h3 dir="ltr">Most Assists by a Defenseman in an NHL Season</h3>
<p dir="ltr"><a href="https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/21321/paul-coffey">Paul Coffey</a> also boasts the highest assist total for a defenseman in a single NHL season, with 90 assists during the 1985-86 season, further cementing his legacy as one of the best offensive defensemen in the history of the league.</p>
<p dir="ltr">&nbsp;</p>
<h2 dir="ltr">Outro</h2>
<p dir="ltr">As we conclude our journey through the storied records of the NHL, these benchmarks stand as a tribute to the exceptional talent and enduring legacies that have defined the league. From Gretzky's scoring records to Williams's penalty minutes, each record is a chapter of history that continues to inspire awe and respect. For enthusiasts seeking to delve further into the rich tapestry of hockey's past, resources like Elite Prospects provide a treasure trove of insights into the remarkable careers that have shaped the game we love today.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>

List of NHL Records: The All-Time Greats & Season Standouts

NHL Records: The All-Time Greats and Season Standouts

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