Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman offered a practical reason for why there will be so many NHL outdoor game rookies on the ice Tuesday.
"This is a young man's league and it's changing every year," Bowman said.
To his point, 22 teenagers have played at least one NHL game this season.
"Some team's 19-year-old players are their best players," Bowman said. "When that happens, there's obviously cause and effect and the guys that are moving out of the game are the older players. Teams are skewing younger and when that happens it's also harder to keep teams together year after year. … It's hard to keep a group of 12-15 guys together for more than one or two years. That's just the way the League is going. You have to incorporate young players into the game."
It's not only young players who will be making their NHL outdoor game debuts, though.
Bruins forward Brad Marchand is 30 years old. Blackhawks goalie Cam Ward is 34. Jaroslav Halak, who will be the Bruins backup goalie to Tuukka Rask, is 33.
"Games like this, when you're coming into the League or growing up, you never think things like this would happen, so it's very cool to be a part of something like this," Marchand said. "It's just so different than what you're used to."
Here are the 26 players who are expected to dress for their first NHL outdoor game:
Boston Bruins: Forwards Noel Acciari, Colby Cave, Jake DeBrusk, Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson; Danton Heinen, Sean Kuraly, Brad Marchand, Joakim Nordstrom, David Pastrnak, Chris Wagner; defensemen Matt Grzelcyk, Brandon Carlo; goalie Jaroslav Halak (forward Ryan Donato and defensemen Steven Kampfer are expected to be scratched; defenseman Charlie McAvoy is injured, forward David Backes is suspended)
Chicago Blackhawks: Forwards Alex DeBrincat, John Hayden, Dominik Kahun, David Kampf, Brendan Perlini, Dylan Sikura, Dylan Strome; defensemen Carl Dahlstrom, Gustav Forsling, Erik Gustafsson, Connor Murphy; goalies Cam Ward, Collin Delia (forward Andreas Martinsen is expected to be scratched, defenseman Brandon Davidson is injured, forward Drake Caggiula is not with the team)