In the modern league, the NHL has a firm cap on how young its youngest players can be.
This is due to the introduction of the NHL Draft in 1963 and the implementation of age brackets for draft eligibility.
As such, the youngest players in NHL history hail from the pre-draft era, with most of them bunched into one decade in particular.
Still, while this page will recap the outright youngest players in NHL history, it’ll also highlight one of the present youngest players in the NHL and their record-breaking season.
Youngest Players in NHL History
The outright youngest player to ever feature in an NHL game remains Armand “Bep” Guidolin, who made his NHL debut at age 16 years and 11 months for the Boston Bruins in 1942.
Closing in on his 17th birthday, Guidolin also set another record. Aged 16 years and 350 days, he scored his first goal to become the youngest player in NHL history to score a goal – a title he still holds.
Clocking in as the other youngest players to feature in the NHL are as follows:
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Bep Guidolin, 16 years and 11 months, Boston Bruins (1942/43)
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Teeder Kennedy, 17 years and 2 months, Toronto Maple Leafs (1942/43)
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Don Raleigh, 17 years and 4 months, New York Rangers (1943/44)
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Don Gallinger, 17 years, 6 months, and 22 days, Boston Bruins (1942/43)
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Ross Johnstone, 17 years, 6 months, and 23 days, Toronto Maple Leafs (1943/44)
The uniting factor between the skaters who rank as the youngest players in NHL history is that they all debuted between 1942 and 1943, while many teams were deprived of their usual starters due to World War II.
Those were the days of the Original Six, half of which are favoured in the NHL odds to win the Stanley Cup again. The Rangers (+650), Bruins (+1100), and Maple Leafs (+1600) are all very much in the mix.
Which Modern NHL Young Players Hold Records?
In the modern NHL, the youngest a player can be is 18-years-old on or before September 15. So, while 17-year-olds can be drafted in the summer, they’re only eligible if they turn 18 before that September.
This season, we’ve seen Connor Bedard take to NHL competition with ease, seemingly making good on the generational talent he showcased prior to the 2023 NHL Draft.
It took Bedard just under four periods of play to score his first goal, making him the Chicago Blackhawks’ third-youngest goalscorer ever at 18 years and 86 days of age – trailing only Grant Mulvey (18 years, 32 days) and Eddie Olczyk (18 years, 56 days).
The young center also did enough in the opening half of the season to be named to the NHL’s All-Star Game, which made him the youngest-ever All-Star pick in NHL history at 18 years and 201 days old on the day of the competition.
At the time of writing, Bedard had put up 57 points in 60 games of his rookie season.
While it won’t be enough to shift the Blackhawks from their +100,000 to top the Central Division – led by the Dallas Stars at -500 in sport betting circles – it’s clear that the rookie will be the star of the franchise’s rebuild.
There’s still plenty of Bedard’s rookie season to go, so he may yet notch some more history-making performances. One that the talented scorer has missed out on, though, is becoming the youngest hat-trick scorer in the NHL.
That title belongs to Jordan Staal, who put up three goals against the Toronto Maple Leafs on February 10, 2007, aged just 18 years and 153 days old while playing for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Of course, it’d take a monstrous effort from the youngster to beat the rookie record for scoring, which belongs to Teemu Selänne’s incredible 76-goal, 132-point haul in 1992/93. That said, the Finn was 22-years-old on debut.
The youngest player in NHL history is Bep Guidolin at 16-years-old, and it seems unlikely that the record will ever be beaten with safety at the forefront of the sport these days.
*Credit for all images in this article belongs to Alamy*
*Credit for all images in this article belongs to Alamy*
