Quote:
Originally Posted by Oil Stain
I was looking at the all time games records once on IHDB and noticed that there is a pretty strong size bias going on there:
Top 20
1 Patrick Marleau (1997-2021) 1779
2 Gordie Howe (1946-1980) 1767
3 Mark Messier (1979-2004) 1756
4 Jaromir Jagr (1990-2018) 1733
5 Ron Francis (1981-2004) 1731
6 Joe Thornton (1997-2022) 1714
7 Zdeno Chara (1997-2022) 1680
8 Mark Recchi (1988-2011) 1652
9 Chris Chelios (1983-2010) 1651
10 Dave Andreychuk (1982-2006) 1639
11 Scott Stevens (1982-2004) 1635
12 Larry Murphy (1980-2001) 1615
13 Ray Bourque (1979-2001) 1612
14 Nicklas Lidstrom (1991-2012) 1564
15 Jarome Iginla (1995-2017) 1554
16 Alex Delvecchio (1950-1974) 1550
17 Johnny Bucyk (1955-1978) 1540
17 Shane Doan (1995-2017) 1540
19 Brendan Shanahan (1987-2009) 1524
20 Matt Cullen (1997-2019) 1516
9 out of 20 are 6'2" or taller. Recchi (5'10") and Delvecchio (5'11) only ones under 6 foot. Although average height was probably 5'8" or 9" when Delvecchio started his career. Even the "shorter" ones like Recchi, Messier, Iginla, Stevens, Bourque, etc were built like fire hydrants. Also pretty much all star/superstar level players in their primes as well. Matt Cullen is the exception there.
When you look at active players, the four guys with the best chance to break into the top 20 are Suter, Ovechkin, Burns, and Kopitar. 3 out of 4 of those guys are massive.
Size looks like it has a pretty positive correlation with longevity.
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Take 20 random nhl players today and I'd bet there's near 9 that are 6'2" or more. Since the average height is around 6"1'. Correlating size with longevity seems like a stretch to me.