Every year, the NHL game gets faster and younger, and the league's veterans include fewer and fewer role players. The impact veterans, the ones who make the big cap dollars, have gobbled up much of the overall dollars, and teams have been forced to fill in secondary roles with youngsters and less-proven NHL players.
All of which contributes to a smaller pool of veteran talents each season in the NHL. Inside that group of veterans, below the impact group, lies a key number of players on each team who play complementary roles as checkers, penalty killers and depth players.