The Useless Stats Post:
I had way too much time on my hands in these dying days of the NHL playoffs and I decided to take a look at the ratios between NHL players' heights and weights.
I'm not a math or statistics expert in any ways, I'm not sure these numbers actually mean anything, but here's a little analysis anyway. I decided to use a cm/lb ratio — because feet and inches are a pain to do math with — and I used the NHL app for rosters (dated June 9th, 2023), which means that some teams do have players on their rosters who haven't actually played an NHL game yet, but they're on the roster so they've been taken into consideration.
Do these numbers actually truly mean anything? I highly doubt it, but here are some useless stats and numbers anyway:
A bigger ratio (1 or higher) means a player is as tall, or taller than he weighs in pounds, whereas a smaller ratio (under 1) means a player is heavier than he is tall.
The heaviest team in the NHL in terms of relative height per weight is the New York Islanders, with a ratio of 0.910 cm/lb, with Vegas a close second at 0.912 cm/lb. The lightest team is the Vancouver Canucks, with a ratio of 0.965 cm/lb; the Philadelphia Flyers are the second lightest at 0.964 cm/lb.
There seems to be no indication that the height/weight ratio of a team has an influence on their chances to make the playoffs, or their overall position in the standings.
But if you're like me and have noticed the Florida Panthers seem like they're constantly getting out-muscled and physically dominated by the Vegas Golden Knight in the 2023 Stanley Cup Finals, you wouldn't be wrong, as Vegas has the second lowest cm/lb ratio (0.912 cm/lb) whereas Florida has the 6th highest ratio (0.953 cm/lb). In terms of relative weight per height, Vegas is heavier. Does it actually change anything? I have no clue, I just think it's interesting.
On average, NHL players are heavier than the average male by 13.72 lbs.* Smaller players (under 5'11'') are noticeably heavier for their height than the average male, between 16 and 19 lbs, which would make sense since they have to hold their own against much taller and bigger players. On the other hand, the tallest players (over 6'3'') are only around 8 lbs heavier than the average male.
*when calculating the ratio of height (cm) relative to the median "recommended" weight by height. Tyler Myers, the only player measuring 6'8'', and Cole Caufield, the only player measuring 5'7'' were not taken into consideration for this specific calculation, as their samples were simply too small. Caufield would be almost 27 lbs heavier than the average 5'7'' male, whereas Myers' height to weight ratio would be the same as the average 6'8'' male at 0.89 cm/lb.
Individual players' ratios per team can be found in fun colourful graphs below.
Lightest NHL player: Olivier Rodrigue (EDM) at 1.17 cm/lb.*
Heaviest NHL player: Jamie Oleksiak (SEA) at 0.78 cm/lb.
Lightest Eastern Conf. player: Marcus Petterson (PIT) at 1.07 cm/lb.
Heaviest Eastern Conf. player: David Savard (MTL) at 0.79 cm/lb
Lightest Western Conf. player: Olivier Rodrigue (EDM) at 1.17 cm/lb.*
Heaviest Western Conf. player: Jamie Oleksiak (SEA) at 0.78 cm/lb.
*I'm aware Rodrigue is an AHL prospect and hasn't made his NHL debut yet, even though he's rostered for the Oilers. The second lightest player in the NHL (and the Western Conference) is Kailer Yamamoto (EDM) at 1.13 cm/lb.
Lowest ratio for defensemen: Jamie Oleksiak (SEA) at 0.78 cm/lb.
Highest ratio for defensemen: Akito Hirose (VAN) at 1.08 cm/lb.
Average height for defensemen: 187.3 cm
Tallest defenseman: Tyler Myers (VAN) at 6'8'' or 203 cm.
Shortest defensemen: Torey Krug (STL), Victor Mete (TOR), Brad Hunt (COL), Nick Blankenburg (CBJ), Jacob Bryson (BUF) & Jared Spurgeon (MIN) at 5'9'' or 175 cm.
Average weight for defensemen: 202.74 lbs
Heaviest defenseman: Jamie Oleksisak (SEA) at 257 lbs.
Lightest defenseman: Jared Spurgeon (MIN) at 166 lbs.
In terms of positions, defensemen show a lower height/weight ratio at 0.928, indicating that they’re generally heavier for their height than players in other positions. This could perhaps be explained by a defenseman’s role to take as much space as possible at the blue line to prevent attacking forwards from entering the zone, as well as winning puck battles in the defensive zone by out-muscling wingers and centers. They also need to defend and clear the front of their net to prevent offensive players from tipping in rebounds or screening their goaltenders. Also, in the offensive zone, their position at the blue line means they may need to have a heavier, more powerful shot if they want to get the puck to the net.
Lowest ratio for centres: Mark Kastelic (OTT) at 0.82 cm/lb
Highest ratio for centres: Elias Pettersson (VAN) at 1.07 cm/lb
Average height for centres: 185.1 cm
Tallest centre(s): Nick Bjugstad (EDM), Michael Rasmussen (DET), Logan Brown (STL) & Aliaksei Protas (WSH) at 6'6'' or 198 cm.
Shortest centre(s): Tyler Johnson (CHI) at 5'8'' or 173 cm.
Average weight for centres: 196.74 lbs
Heaviest centre: Mark Kastelic (OTT) at 233 lbs.
Lightest centre: Cole Guttman (CHI) at 167 lbs.
On the other hand, centres are lighter than both wingers and defensemen with a ratio of 0.944, most likely because they often need to be speedy and quick in order to get through defensemen and wingers to make plays. They also tend to cover more ground on the ice, between face-offs and their offensive and defensive responsibilities, and being lighter might help them with speed.
Lower ratio for wingers: Milan Lucic (CGY) at 0.79 cm/lb.
Highest ratio for wingers: Kailer Yamamoto (EDM) at 1.13 cm/lb
Average height for wingers: 185.1 cm
Tallest winger(s): Buddy Robinson (CHI), Michael McCarron (NSH), Jordan Greenway (BUF), Riley Tufte (DAL), Alexei Toropchenko (STL), Tage Thompson (BUF) & Adam Lowry (WPG) at 6'6'' or 198 cm.
Shortest winger(s): Cole Caufield (MTL) at 5'7'' or 170 cm.
Average weight for wingers: 198.77 lbs
Heaviest winger: Milan Lucic (CGY) at 240 lbs.
Lightest winger: Kailer Yamamoto (EDM) at 153 lbs.
Wingers present a slightly lower ratio than centers, at 0.935 cm/lb, possibly because they have to compete in puck battles against the board more often, and most power-forwards – i.e. the heavy hitters, workhorse-type players – are wingers, which may drive the ratio lower.
Lowest ratio for goalies: Frederik Andersen (CAR) & Anthony Stolarz (ANA) at 0.81 cm/lb.
Highest ratio for goalies: Olivier Rodrigue (EDM) at 1.17 cm/lb & Jordan Binnington (STL) at 1.09 cm/lb.
Average height for goalies: 189.5 cm
Tallest goalies: Anthony Stolarz (ANA), Jon Gillies (CBJ), Magnus Hellberg (DET) & Jacob Markstrom (CGY) at 6'6'' or 198 cm.
Shortest goalies: Jaroslav Halak (NYR), Juuse Saros (NSH) & Alex Stalock (CHI) at 5'11'' or 180 cm.
Average weight for goalies: 200.41 lbs
Heaviest goalie: Anthony Stolarz (ANA) at 243 lbs.
Lightest goalies: Olivier Rodrigue (EDM) at 158 lbs & Alex Stalock (CHI) at 170 lbs.
Goaltenders present the highest average ratio per position, at 0.95 cm/lb. As goaltenders need to be extremely mobile, quick, and agile, a higher average ratio makes sense. 22.73% of goalies present a ratio of 1cm/lb or higher, meaning in terms of cm per pound, they’re taller than they’re heavy. In comparison, 14.29% of centres, 13.78% of wingers and 9.93% of defensemen have a ratio of 1 or higher.
By position, goalies also have the highest average in terms of height with 189.5 cm; there are no goalies under 5’11’’ and only three are under 6’0’’ tall. In comparison, wingers and centers both average at 185.1 cm tall and defensemen at 187.3 cm. There are 37 defensemen, 50 centers and 69 wingers under 6’0’’.
Here are graphs for individual players' ratios by team.
Again, I'm not a stats experts, far from it, and all in all, I don't know what any of this means lmao. But if you're into maths and stats and that kind of stuff, please feel free to tell me more about these numbers.
The data I used, as well as more graphs, can be found here:
Atlantic - Metropolitan - Central - Pacific
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what’s the 2018 team Canada scandal about?? I’ve heard everyone talking about it but I have no clue what actually happened, if yk pls share and thank u sm in advance!!!
Apologies for the belated answer, your submission got buried in my inbox.
The entire scandal is about an alleged sexual assault that was supposed to involve up to eight of the players from the 2018 Juniors roster and CHL.
The team won gold that year and in June, they attended the Hockey Canada Foundation Gala & Golf event, after which the group of players was supposed to assault an unnamed woman in a local hotel room.
According to the woman, in question, she met the players in a bar. One of them bought her alcoholic drinks, she got intoxicated and went with that said player to a hotel room where they (still more or less consensually - more or less said because she was drunk, but from the report, it seems that she agreed with that one happening) engaged in sexual acts.
However, after they were done, the player invited the rest of the guys into the room without her knowledge or consent, and over the next several hours they proceeded to assault her, despite her attempts to leave the room.
The day after, the woman's stepfather informed Hockey Canada about the assault and the organization informed the local police, which opened an investigation. Hockey Canada also simultaneously opened a third-party investigation using a Toronto Law firm.
In February of 2019, the police closed the criminal investigation. Hockey Canada also said that the woman declined to speak and cooperate with authorities.
In September 2020, Hockey Canada closed its own private investigation of the matter.
However, in April of 2022, the woman filed for damages worth of 3.55 million dollars from Hockey Canada, the Canadian Hockey League, and the eight unnamed players.
That lawsuit was settled in May of that year for an undisclosed amount outside of the court.
In June 2022 the Hockey Canada organization was bashed about the response to the situation during a Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage meeting as the players, who were present at the Gala in 2018, weren't in fact mandated to participate in the investigation. The president of the organization then also testified that Hockey Canada has reported THREE sexual assault complaints in recent years, including this incident.
The same month the federal funding of Hockey Canada was frozen. Scotiabank announced a pause in sponsoring, and so did Tim Hortons, and Imperial Oil. The House of Commons also approved the motion to pursue an independent investigation and government figures as high as Justin Trudeau got involved.
In July 2022, the third-party investigation and the local police investigation were re-opened. It was also revealed that members of the 2003 men's Juniors team are being investigated for a group sexual assault.
In the meantime, a few of the players from the 2018 Juniors roster publically denied the involvement - Victor Mete, Robert Thomas...
As of right now, the investigation is still ongoing and the identities of the players, who were involved, are still unknown. The same applies to the 2003 incident.
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