The 25 greatest NHL players in their 30s today

Crosby is on track to have one of the greatest careers in NHL history. Three-time Stanley Cup champion, two-time Conn Smythe Trophy winner, two-time MVP, two-time scoring champion, two-time "Rocket" Richard winner, and he might even have a Selke Trophy (best defensive forward) in his future. He is 32 years old and while he may not be quite as dominant offensively as he was in his early 20s, he is still as good as it gets in the NHL as an all-around player. 

Even at 34 years old there is no sign that Ovechkin is slowing down. He is still the league's most dominant scorer and seems to be a lock to score 50 and lead the league every season. Every team in the NHL knows where the Capitals' power play is going to go (one-timer to Ovechkin from the left circle), and they still cannot stop it. The truest sign of dominance in sports is when you do exactly what your opponent thinks you are going to do and you still beat them. 

As good of a two-way player as there is in the league thanks to his dominance at both ends of the ice, Bergeron is a shutdown center who matches up against the other team's best player every night while also scoring like a top offensive player. What is most amazing is that his offense seems to keep getting better as he ages. 

His sideshow antics and borderline play take away from the fact that he is truly an incredible hockey player. He has been one of the top five offensive players in the league for about four years now, is excellent defensively and does everything you want from a top-line player. He and Bergeron are about as dominant as a top-line duo can get. Add David Pastrnak to that line, and it is the best in hockey. 

I hate saying this because he's been called "underrated" so many times in his career that is hard to take that title seriously with him, but he might really be the most underappreciated great player of his generation. Backstrom is an elite playmaker, a strong two-way player and one of the backbones of a franchise who has been at the top of the NHL and a constant Stanley Cup contender for more than a decade. 

Burns is a defender who scores like a top-line forward (and it is worth noting that he spent two years playing as a top-line forward for the Sharks at one time). He is one of the most impactful players in the league and while he may not be the best player in his own zone, he is not bad there and more than makes up for it offensively. He has been a finalist for the Norris Trophy (best all-around defenseman) in three of the past four seasons, winning it during the 2016-17 season. 

It is a testament to how dominant his career has been when he comes off a point-per-game season (71 points in 68 games during the 2018-19 season), and it is viewed almost universally as a down year for him. To be fair, there were some issues with his performance outside of the point total, but he has arrived in training camp this season seemingly on a mission to show he is still one of the league's top players. It is a good bet he will do exactly that. 

Kane is one of the most dynamic offensive players in the league with the puck on his stick. He is equally strong as a goal scorer and playmaker and has two 100-point seasons over the past four seasons. He is the one player from the Blackhawks championship core who has not dramatically declined in production. 

A few years ago Giroux looked like his days as an elite offensive player were in the rearview mirror, but his career has rebounded in a huge way over the past two seasons. The Flyers have an impressive core of young players making their way to the NHL, but Giroux remains the face of the franchise and the core piece the entire team is built around. 

One of the NHL's all-time greatest undrafted success stories, Giordano has been a key part of the Flames organization for the past decade and has managed to get better with age. He won his first Norris Trophy at the age of 34 with a great year-long performance during the 2018-19 season. How long he can continue to play at that level will play a big role in whether the Flames can remain a top contender in the Western Conference. 

When Price has been at his best he has been one of the most impactful players in all of hockey. When he is great, he turns the Canadiens from an average team into a contender, and he has put together some of the best single seasons for any goalie in the modern era. He had a down year in 2017-18 but bounced back a little this past season and should still continue to be an excellent starting goalie for a few more years. 

The biggest issue with Letang is that you know every season he is going to miss at least 10 games due to injury. He has been incredibly unlucky during his career when it comes to his health, but when he is on the ice he is as good as it gets among the league's defenders. He is a dazzling skater, has incredible offensive skill, plays with an edge physically and is always making an impact. 

With Patrick Marleau and Joe Pavelski gone and Joe Thornton in the twilight of his career, Couture is now becoming the focal point of the Sharks franchise. He has not only been a great top-line player in the regular season, but he also has been one of the league's most dependable postseason performers and a big part of why the Sharks have been among the NHL's final four teams in two of the past four seasons. 

Pavelski was a bit of a late bloomer when it came to being a star, but once he hit his stride he became one of the league's best goal scorers. He had one of his best-ever seasons at age 34 and turned that into a nice three-year contract with the Stars this summer. It was a perfect match for what the Stars needed on their roster, and at the very least he should still be able to give them one or two great years before Father Time starts to rob him of his offense. 

Wheeler has quietly been one of the NHL's most productive players in recent years and is coming off back-to-back 90-point campaigns for the Jets. They are going to need him to maintain that pace for at least the next few years, not only because of the sizable financial investment they have in him, but because the team has lost quite a bit this summer and needs to rely on its top returning players to do even more. 

The key thing for Toews is showing that his huge offensive performance in 2018-19 wasn't a fluke. If he can repeat that, he will once again put himself among the league's best players and give the Blackhawks a chance to end their recent playoff drought. But if he goes back to being the same 50-60 point player he was for the previous six years (and most of his career) then he's just a really good two-way player signed to a massive contract. He has had an amazing career, but he has to be able to keep producing offensively to justify that salary cap number.

Kopitar was one of the many Kings veterans to have a miserable 2018-19 season. He may be entering his age 32 season, and he may be starting to slow down, but there is every reason to believe he is capable of bouncing back because he is too good of a player to just see his career fall apart like that. He has been one of the league's best two-way players for years and was the best player on two Stanley Cup-winning teams in Los Angeles. 

Bishop does not get anywhere near enough credit for being one of the league's best goalies. He has been a finalist for the Vezina Trophy three different times in his career and has the second-highest career save percentage among active goalies. He was a huge part of the Stars' postseason run a year ago. 

He is on the short list of two-time Vezina Trophy winners and was one of the top goalies in the league during his time with the Columbus Blue Jackets. While he had his share of postseason shortcomings, he was one of the single biggest reasons the team made the playoffs as many times as it did during his time with it. The Panthers have high hopes for him and a lot riding on him due to the size of his contract. He might be enough to get them back in the playoffs this season. 

The 2018-19 season was probably the first time in his career that he started to show some real signs of slowing down. It was the worst season of his career, and he clearly struggled behind a rebuilding team. But with the Rangers bolstering their lineup this offseason and adding a ton of talent, he is going to have a lot more support this season. He can still carry the team when he is at his best. The question is have the Rangers done enough to give him a chance to accomplish the only thing his Hall of Fame career is lacking: a Stanley Cup ring?

Radulov is a great "what if" player — the what if being, what if he never played all of those years in the KHL? How big of a star would he be today? What would his NHL career have looked like? Based on what we have seen from him since returning three years ago, he probably could have been a superstar. He is an obscenely talented offensive player who can impact every shift, and he is one of the Stars' best. 

He played a big role on three Stanley Cup-winning teams in Pittsburgh, but his best performance may have been taking the expansion Golden Knights to the Stanley Cup Final. He has always been a boom-or-bust goalie (moments of brilliance mixed with moments of "what are you doing?!"), but the big picture of his career is of him as a remarkably durable, overall solid player. MAF is still going strong for the Golden Knights.  

He is not going to play any kind of a physical game and he has some flaws defensively, but you know he is going to be there every game and play a major role in his team's offense. Kessel wants to score goals and create offense, and he still does that as well as anyone in the league. The Coyotes have not had a player like him in years, and he might be the missing piece to help get them back in the playoffs for the first time since the 2011-12 season.

With Artemi Panarin signing with the New York Rangers, Atkinson becomes one of the go-to players in the Blue Jackets lineup. He is more than capable of that role. He has scored at a 35-goal pace per 82 games over the past three years and is coming off a 40-goal season a year ago. He does not get a lot of attention for being one of the league's top goal scorers, but he has played his way into that discussion. 

Bergeron gets all of the attention among the Bruins centers, but do not overlook how good Krejci has been and still is. He drives possession, he can score and he has played a massive postseason role in the three Bruins teams that have made the Stanley Cup Final during his time with the team.