The NHL certainly seems younger these days ... but maybe I'm the only one who finds a 1990 birthdate odd. It feels like it's hard to watch a game these days without a teenager taking part — and often making an impact — which certainly wasn't the case even four or five years ago.

Here's a look at the 20 youngest players in the league this season, a group that includes five defencemen and 15 forwards (Carey Price, 21, is the youngest goalie and the 37th youngest player in the NHL):

Stats are from prior to last night's games, by the way.

There are actually only eight 18-year-olds — and 16 teenagers — in the NHL so far this season, so they're still a pretty rare breed. And this group will likely shrink as we hit the nine-game mark, when teams have to send players back to junior hockey or have their entry-level contracts kick in.

(Filatov's an exception given he's able to be bounced between the NHL and the minors due to the fact Russia never signed off on his agreement with his OHL club.)

If we keep looking up the line to older players, there are 32 under the age of 21 in the league to this point, which makes up only 4.7 per cent of all 675 players that have skated in at least one game.

Who's been good? Doughty in Los Angeles so far looks like a real keeper, and scored a nice goal the other night.

Boedker has really nice, NHL-calibre wheels but will probably take some time to become an elite point producer. (Phoenix looks like a team with some great pieces and some serious growing to do.)

Moller, a kid who I'd heard very little about coming into the season, also looked quite good in the Colorado game the other night, picking up a goal and an assist. He was a big-time scorer in the WHL last season, finishing seventh in league goal scoring, and may have been a steal as a late second rounder back in 2007.

Another player to watch on this list that I haven't seen get any attention is Columbus' Jake Voracek, who picked up another two points on Tuesday night despite playing less than 11 minutes. If Ken Hitchcock gets a little more comfortable playing him — he's been on a nifty second line with Derick Brassard and Jason Chimera — Voracek's point totals could really take off.

He piled up 187 points in 112 games in junior hockey the last two years and is proof that Columbus might finally have found some secondary scoring.

That said, I still don't think we'll see a teenager score points the way Patrick Kane, Evgeni Malkin and Alex Ovechkin/Sidney Crosby did the past three seasons. Consider that the anomaly.

Who's impressed you?