Jamie McLennan TSN Hockey Analyst Follow|Archive

Who says size doesn't matter?



With Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Scott Darling getting his first taste of National Hockey League action this week, the focus wasn't only the feel good story of a journeyman goaltender who finally made it to the bigs with his hometown team - it was another 6-foot-6 goaltender in the NHL.



It's no secret that the league's been trending upwards in the size and strength of players - not to mention an all-time high with skill as well.

That said, goaltenders have gone from that short fat kid who couldn't skate (so they throw him in net) to the athletic monster who is not only lean and agile, but covers a ton of square footage even before he puts the gear on.



The evolution of goaltending has been spectacular. Speaking from experience, there's no doubt the position has evolved skill-wise - to the point where it's the most improved position in the game over the last 20 years. But with that, the size of the goaltenders has also dramatically increased.



Back in 1994, I was just starting out in the league and always considered myself a taller goalie. I was six feet tall and playing a stand-up style like most goaltenders of that generation, so we tended to look taller in the net.



Growing up near Edmonton, I watched and admired Grant Fuhr (5-foot-10) and Andy Moog (5-foot-8). They weren't physical giants, but I thought they were the norm of what a goaltender was built like in that era - smaller, with quick reflexes and in good 'goalie shape' to handle the rigours of a long schedule.



That's quite a contrast to the way goalies are built today in the NHL.



So far in this NHL campaign, there's been 62 goalies who have played at least in one regular season game and leading the size chart is 6-foot-7 Ben Bishop of the Tampa Bay Lightning (the tallest in the history of the game thus far).

But don't forget that there are three other goalies just behind at 6-foot-6 (Devan Dubnyk, Anders Lindback and Scott Darling), another trio just behind them at 6-foot-5 (Pekka Rinne, Darcy Kuemper and Robin Lehner) and six more goalies who are 6-foot-4 (Martin Jones, Reto Berra, Steve Mason, Eddie Lack, Kari Lehtonen and Mike Smith).



In fact, the average size of goalies in the NHL today is just over 6-foot-2, with the shortest goalie in the league listed at 5-foot-10 (Jhonas Enroth).



Of the 62 goaltenders who have seen NHL action this season, only 19 of them are under 6-foot-2 and only four are under six feet (Dustin Tokarski, Jaroslav Halak, Anton Khudobin and Enroth).



Amazingly, there are 40 goalies who are 6-foot-2 and taller - staggering numbers compared to 20 years ago when the league average of the Top 60 goalies was barely 5-foot-11.



The two tallest goalies in the league were 6-foot-4 (Sean Burke and Darren Puppa) and bringing up the small side were two - that's right, two - goalies who were 5-foot-7 (Tommy Soderstrom and Freddie Braithwaite). Also, there were three at 5-foot-8 (Arturs Irbe, John Vanbiesbrouck and Moog) and five at 5-foot-9 (Mike Vernon, Glenn Healy, Chris Terreri, Jeff Reese and Wendell Young).



With the average height around 5-foot-11 back in the day, the scary things is that there were 34 of 60 goalies that were under six feet. And some greats on that list included Curtis Joseph (5-foot-11), Bill Ranford (5-foot-11), Ed Belfour (5-foot-11), Mike Richter (5-foot-11), Vernon (5-foot-9) and Fuhr (5-foot-10). That's more than half the league!



There were only four others - as well as myself - who were six feet: Dominik Hasek, Kirk McLean, Wade Flaherty and Andrei Trefilov. A total of 19 goalies stood between 6-foot-1 and 6-foot-3.



With the way the game's trended upwards in skill and talent level, it will be interesting to see where goaltending is 20 years from now.



Maybe the key will be to find a goalie who's only four feet tall and six feet wide (a-la-Charles Wang's rumoured theory), but that legendary story will be saved for another time.

SIZING THEM UP

6-foot-7 (1)

Ben Bishop, Tampa Bay Lightning

6-foot-6 (3)

Scott Darling, Chicago Blackhawks

Devan Dubnyk, Arizona Coyotes

Anders Lindback, Dallas Stars



6-foot-5 (3)

Darcy Kuemper, Minnesota Wild

Robin Lehner, Ottawa Senators

Pekka Rinne, Nashville Predators

6-foot-4 (6)

Reto Berra, Colorado Avalanche

Martin Jones, Los Angeles Kings

Eddie Lack, Vancouver Canucks

Kari Lehtonen, Dallas Stars

Steve Mason, Philadelphia Flyers

Mike Smith, Arizona Coyotes

6-foot-3 (9)

Frederik Andersen, Anaheim Ducks

John Gibson, Anaheim Ducks

Michael Hutchinson, Winnipeg Jets

Chad Johnson, New York Islanders

Roberto Luongo, Florida Panthers

Curtis McElhinney, Columbus Blue Jackets

Ondrej Pavelec, Winnipeg Jets

Carey Price, Montreal Canadiens

Cam Talbot, New York Rangers

6-foot-2 (21)

Jake Allen, St. Louis Blues

Craig Anderson, Ottawa Senators

Niklas Backstrom, Minnesota Wild

Sergei Bobrovsky, Columbus Blue Jackets

Scott Clemmensen, New Jersey Devils

Corey Crawford, Chicago Blackhawks

Brian Elliott, St. Louis Blues

Ray Emery, Philadelphia Flyers

Marc-Andre Fleury, Pittsburgh Penguins

Jonas Gustavsson, Detroit Red Wings

Jonas Hiller, Calgary Flames

Braden Holtby, Washington Capitals

Ryan Miller, Vancouver Canucks

Al Montoya, Florida Panthers

Antti Niemi, San Jose Sharks

Karri Ramo, Calgary Flames

Tuukka Rask, Boston Bruins

James Reimer, Toronto Maple Leafs

Cory Schneider, New Jersey Devils

Ben Scrivens, Edmonton Oilers

Semyon Varlamov, Colorado Avalanche

6-foot-1 (9)

Thomas Greiss, Pittsburgh Penguins

Jimmy Howard, Detroit Red Wings

Carter Hutton, Nashville Predators

Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers

Michal Neuvirth, Buffalo Sabres

Justin Peters, Washington Capitals

Calvin Pickard, Colorado Avalanche

Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles Kings

Cam Ward, Carolina Hurricanes

6-foot-0 (6)

Jonathan Bernier, Toronto Maple Leafs

Viktor Fasth, Edmonton Oilers

Jamie McLennan, Five NHL teams

Evgeni Nabokov, New York Islanders

Antti Raanta, Chicago Blackhawks

Alex Stalock, San Jose Sharks

Niklas Svedberg, Boston Bruins

5-foot-11 (3)

Jaroslav Halak, New York Islanders

Anton Khudobin, Carolina Hurricanes

Dustin Tokarski, Montreal Canadiens

5-foot-10 (1)

Jhonas Enroth, Buffalo Sabres