NHL Power Rankings: 5 Best Teenagers to Join the NHL Since 1990

An NHL team cannot succeed without veterans - players who are experienced and are good role models. However, those veterans were once just teenagers, hoping for a chance to play in the NHL. Hall of Famers Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Steve Yzerman and Bobby Orr fit that category. 

An NHL also needs young guys in order to succeed - hard-nosed, energetic players looking for a taste of professional hockey. These guys are the inspiration, they are the players who show the drive, the hunger, and the passion towards making an NHL roster. And once they make it, there's no telling what they will be capable of achieving at the NHL level.

With that, here are the five best teenagers to join the NHL since 1990.

5. Simon Gagne

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Gagne had his glory years with the Flyers, including back to back 40-plus goal seasons. He was drafted 22nd overall by the Flyers, and played his first game at age nineteen. He stormed upon the scene, notching twenty goals in his first year.

The two-time all star is now with the L.A. Kings, looking to share some of his experience with a young team. 

4. Jeff Skinner

From NHL.com:

His numbers don't rival those of Gretzky or Lemieux, but considering that he plays in an era when points are harder to come by, Skinner's achievements may be just as impressive.

Skinner's selection by Carolina with the seventh pick in the 2010 draft was a stunner -- Central Scouting rated him just 34th among North American skaters despite a 50-goal, 90-point season with Kitchener in 2009-10. More stunning was that he earned a job with the Hurricanes and looked right at home in the NHL despite being the League's youngest player. 

Skinner scored his first NHL goal on Oct. 20, became the first 18-year-old since Steve Yzerman to make the All-Star Game when he was named as an injury replacement for Crosby and finished his first NHL season with 31 goals and 63 points. That was good enough to win the Calder Trophy as the League's top rookie, making Skinner the first player since Tom Barrasso in 1983 to do so while playing all or most of his first season as an 18-year-old. 

3. Jonathan Toews

Jonathan Toews was selected third in the 2006 NHL Draft by the Blackhawks, then was ushered into the league a year later at age 19. He was nominated for the Calder Cup with twenty-five goals. The following year, he was named captain of the Blackhawks, and still remains the youngest captain in the NHL

Toews recorded the second-longest point-scoring streak to start an NHL career, registering a point in each of his first 10 games (5 goals, 5 assists). He won the Conn Smythe Trophy for Playoff MVP. after leading Chicago to the Stanley Cup in 2010.

2. Vincent Lecavalier

Vincent Lecavalier found himself in the NHL at age 18, and became the captain of the Lightning at nineteen. Proclaimed the "Michael Jordan of hockey", Lecavalier has worked hard to live up to his name.

After being drafted as the first overall pick in 1998, Lecavelier became a productive player, notching double-digit goals in every season. Although he isn't the Michael Jordan of hockey yet, Vinny led the Lightning to their first Stanley Cup in franchise history.  

1. Sidney Crosby

From NHL.com:

Crosby was the most hyped junior player in years, and the Penguins won a lottery after the work stoppage to obtain the No. 1 pick in the 2005 Entry Draft they used to take him.

"Sid the Kid" quickly showed why he was so highly regarded, becoming one of only seven players to reach the 100-point mark in his rookie season -- and only the fourth to do so as an 18-year-old (the third to do it in his first season after being drafted). Given the drop in scoring since the 1980s, an argument can be made that Crosby's rookie season was the most impressive by a first-year player of any age in the 40-plus years since expansion.

The Penguins had finished last in the overall standings in 2003-04 before landing Crosby and were only marginally better (29th overall) with him in the lineup as a rookie. But two years later, Crosby and the rebuilt Penguins were Stanley Cup finalists; one year after that, they were champions.