Scout
01-12-2009, 10:47 AM
Courtesy Alan Caldwell
Monday, January 12, 2009
Back in November I did a ranking of WHL teams by the average age, average height, etc of their rosters. Now that the trade deadline has passed, it's worth taking another look at those rosters...
Average age:
# Avg Age Rookies O/As
Medicine Hat Tigers 23 18.35 7 3
Saskatoon Blades 22 18.18 5 3
Swift Current Broncos 23 18.17 5 3
Vancouver Giants 24 18.13 7 3
Calgary Hitmen 24 18.13 7 3
Prince George Cougars 22 18.09 7 3
Prince Albert Raiders 23 18.09 5 3
Spokane Chiefs 24 18.08 8 3
Brandon Wheat Kings 25 18.08 7 3
Kelowna Rockets 23 18.08 8
3
Seattle Thunderbirds 24 18.04 6 3
Lethbridge Hurricanes 22 18.00 6 3
Regina Pats 25 17.92 9 3
Kamloops Blazers 21 17.90 9 3
Tri-City Americans 24 17.88 9 3
Edmonton Oil Kings 23 17.87 10 3
Everett Silvertips 25 17.84 12 3
Red Deer Rebels 23 17.83 9 3
Chilliwack Bruins 24 17.79 10 2
Portland Winter Hawks 24 17.67 11 1
Kootenay Ice 23 17.65 11 3
Moose Jaw Warriors 22 17.50 9 0
Medicine Hat was the oldest team in the league in November, and they still are. And for the most part, you see the older teams are the ones who are contenders this year and the younger teams are the ones looking to next year. One notable exception is Tri-City, who are 3rd overall despite being the 8th-youngest team in the league.
The average player on Medicine Hat's roster is about ten months (0.85 years) older than the average player on Moose Jaw's roster. In most cases that's going to amount to about an extra year of experience in the league, so you can kind of see what Moose Jaw's players are going to be up against the rest of the season: teams who, to a man, are older and more experienced than the Warriors.
By average height:
# Ht Wt
Portland Winter Hawks 24 73.08 185.29
Saskatoon Blades 22 73.05 192.14
Lethbridge Hurricanes 22 73.05 190.23
Red Deer Rebels 23 73.04 184.87
Brandon Wheat Kings 25 72.76 185.72
Kelowna Rockets 23 72.62 190.91
Kamloops Blazers 21 72.62 183.10
Swift Current Broncos 23 72.57 186.13
Regina Pats 25 72.56 184.48
Calgary Hitmen 24 72.33 188.58
Prince Albert Raiders 23 72.22 188.52
Seattle Thunderbirds 24 72.17 189.71
Prince George Cougars 22 72.14 182.59
Kootenay Ice 23 72.04 184.65
Spokane Chiefs 24 72.04 186.25
Chilliwack Bruins 24 71.96 185.88
Edmonton Oil Kings 23 71.96 182.09
Moose Jaw Warriors 22 71.77 182.68
Vancouver Giants 24 71.50 181.92
Tri-City Americans 24 71.42 181.04
Everett Silvertips 25 71.40 187.20
Medicine Hat Tigers 23 71.04 179.22
The Tigers might be the oldest, but they are also the smallest, by over a third of an inch to the next-smallest team and over two inches smaller (on average!) than the league's biggest team, Portland.
Only seven teams average out at under six feet tall though. It's still a big man's league....no entire teams of 5'8" players out there.
Average height/weight/age by position now.....descending by average height.....
Forwards:
# Ht Wt Age
Portland Winter Hawks 14 73.21 180.14 17.79
Saskatoon Blades 13 72.92 192.69 18.08
Lethbridge Hurricanes 13 72.85 191.00 18.08
Red Deer Rebels 14 72.57 184.79 17.93
Kelowna Rockets 15 72.33 190.33 18.27
Prince George Cougars 12 72.33 176.33 17.92
Brandon Wheat Kings 14 72.21 181.86 18.29
Kamloops Blazers 12 72.08 179.83 18.00
Prince Albert Raiders 13 72.00 186.31 18.23
Spokane Chiefs 14 72.00 184.21 18.07
Regina Pats 15 71.80 178.67 17.80
Seattle Thunderbirds 14 71.71 183.36 18.29
Swift Current Broncos 13 71.69 187.77 17.92
Moose Jaw Warriors 12 71.67 182.42 17.67
Chilliwack Bruins 14 71.57 187.00 17.71
Calgary Hitmen 15 71.53 186.00 18.27
Kootenay Ice 14 71.43 183.43 17.64
Edmonton Oil Kings 14 71.36 180.64 17.93
Vancouver Giants 15 71.33 181.80 17.87
Everett Silvertips 14 70.64 184.79 17.71
Tri-City Americans 14 70.64 175.93 17.79
Medicine Hat Tigers 14 70.00 174.71 18.50
The average Tigers forward is 5'10" and 175 lb. The average Hurricanes defenceman (below) is over 6'2" and 194 lb. Who wins when they go into the corners?
Interesting though that 12 teams - more than half the league - have an average forward height under six feet tall. I don't think that would have been the case 4 or 5 years ago.
Defencemen:
# Ht Wt Age
Lethbridge Hurricanes 7 74.29 193.86 17.86
Calgary Hitmen 7 74.00 197.71 18.00
Regina Pats 8 73.88 196.38 18.13
Swift Current Broncos 8 73.88 186.88 18.38
Brandon Wheat Kings 9 73.78 190.89 17.89
Kelowna Rockets 6 73.50 193.83 17.67
Red Deer Rebels 7 73.43 186.43 17.86
Kamloops Blazers 7 73.29 187.86 17.71
Tri-City Americans 7 73.29 190.14 18.14
Saskatoon Blades 7 73.00 193.14 18.43
Chilliwack Bruins 8 73.00 187.88 17.88
Medicine Hat Tigers 7 73.00 189.29 18.29
Portland Winter Hawks 8 72.88 197.00 17.50
Seattle Thunderbirds 8 72.75 196.25 17.88
Kootenay Ice 7 72.71 186.86 17.71
Edmonton Oil Kings 7 72.57 187.00 17.86
Prince Albert Raiders 8 72.50 190.13 17.75
Spokane Chiefs 8 72.38 187.50 18.00
Everett Silvertips 9 72.33 193.33 18.22
Prince George Cougars 8 72.00 191.38 18.00
Vancouver Giants 7 71.86 182.14 18.71
Moose Jaw Warriors 8 71.50 184.38 17.25
The average Giants defenceman is under six feet tall.....very interesting. I wonder if that is a concern for Giants fans, how durable their blueline might be for a playoff run when the amount of hitting goes up a fair bit. The Giants blueline is also the oldest in the league though by a full 1/3 of a year over 2nd place, so while the players might be smaller, they're definitely used to the physical grind. Five of the 7 Giants d-men are 19 or 20 and none of them are likely to be back next year. Rebuild time on the blueline there next season, clearly.
Lethbridge and Calgary are at the other end of things, as both average out at 6'2" or bigger on defence.
Kelowna only has six defencemen on their roster - and four of them are 17 years old. No room for rests, injuries, or suspensions. Unless some of their forwards can switch back to defence when needed and play well there, I might be a tad concerned about that heading into the playoffs.
Goaltenders:
# Ht Wt Age
Red Deer Rebels 2 75.00 180.00 17.00
Saskatoon Blades 2 74.00 185.00 18.00
Edmonton Oil Kings 2 74.00 175.00 17.50
Kootenay Ice 2 74.00 185.50 17.50
Kamloops Blazers 2 73.50 186.00 18.00
Moose Jaw Warriors 2 73.50 177.50 17.50
Swift Current Broncos 2 73.00 172.50 19.00
Regina Pats 2 73.00 180.50 18.00
Seattle Thunderbirds 2 73.00 208.00 17.00
Portland Winter Hawks 2 73.00 174.50 17.50
Everett Silvertips 2 72.50 176.50 17.00
Calgary Hitmen 2 72.50 176.00 17.50
Prince Albert Raiders 2 72.50 196.50 18.50
Brandon Wheat Kings 2 72.00 189.50 17.50
Kelowna Rockets 2 72.00 186.50 18.00
Vancouver Giants 2 71.50 182.00 18.00
Medicine Hat Tigers 2 71.50 175.50 17.50
Prince George Cougars 2 71.50 185.00 19.50
Spokane Chiefs 2 71.00 195.50 18.50
Tri-City Americans 3 70.67 183.67 17.67
Chilliwack Bruins 2 70.50 170.00 18.00
Lethbridge Hurricanes 2 70.00 172.50 18.00
Size is probably not quite as important in net as it might be elsewhere, but Red Deer has both the biggest and the youngest (tied) goaltending in the league. They also have the least experienced, with neither of their goaltenders having played a minute in the WHL prior to this season.
Scout
Monday, January 12, 2009
Back in November I did a ranking of WHL teams by the average age, average height, etc of their rosters. Now that the trade deadline has passed, it's worth taking another look at those rosters...
Average age:
# Avg Age Rookies O/As
Medicine Hat Tigers 23 18.35 7 3
Saskatoon Blades 22 18.18 5 3
Swift Current Broncos 23 18.17 5 3
Vancouver Giants 24 18.13 7 3
Calgary Hitmen 24 18.13 7 3
Prince George Cougars 22 18.09 7 3
Prince Albert Raiders 23 18.09 5 3
Spokane Chiefs 24 18.08 8 3
Brandon Wheat Kings 25 18.08 7 3
Kelowna Rockets 23 18.08 8
3
Seattle Thunderbirds 24 18.04 6 3
Lethbridge Hurricanes 22 18.00 6 3
Regina Pats 25 17.92 9 3
Kamloops Blazers 21 17.90 9 3
Tri-City Americans 24 17.88 9 3
Edmonton Oil Kings 23 17.87 10 3
Everett Silvertips 25 17.84 12 3
Red Deer Rebels 23 17.83 9 3
Chilliwack Bruins 24 17.79 10 2
Portland Winter Hawks 24 17.67 11 1
Kootenay Ice 23 17.65 11 3
Moose Jaw Warriors 22 17.50 9 0
Medicine Hat was the oldest team in the league in November, and they still are. And for the most part, you see the older teams are the ones who are contenders this year and the younger teams are the ones looking to next year. One notable exception is Tri-City, who are 3rd overall despite being the 8th-youngest team in the league.
The average player on Medicine Hat's roster is about ten months (0.85 years) older than the average player on Moose Jaw's roster. In most cases that's going to amount to about an extra year of experience in the league, so you can kind of see what Moose Jaw's players are going to be up against the rest of the season: teams who, to a man, are older and more experienced than the Warriors.
By average height:
# Ht Wt
Portland Winter Hawks 24 73.08 185.29
Saskatoon Blades 22 73.05 192.14
Lethbridge Hurricanes 22 73.05 190.23
Red Deer Rebels 23 73.04 184.87
Brandon Wheat Kings 25 72.76 185.72
Kelowna Rockets 23 72.62 190.91
Kamloops Blazers 21 72.62 183.10
Swift Current Broncos 23 72.57 186.13
Regina Pats 25 72.56 184.48
Calgary Hitmen 24 72.33 188.58
Prince Albert Raiders 23 72.22 188.52
Seattle Thunderbirds 24 72.17 189.71
Prince George Cougars 22 72.14 182.59
Kootenay Ice 23 72.04 184.65
Spokane Chiefs 24 72.04 186.25
Chilliwack Bruins 24 71.96 185.88
Edmonton Oil Kings 23 71.96 182.09
Moose Jaw Warriors 22 71.77 182.68
Vancouver Giants 24 71.50 181.92
Tri-City Americans 24 71.42 181.04
Everett Silvertips 25 71.40 187.20
Medicine Hat Tigers 23 71.04 179.22
The Tigers might be the oldest, but they are also the smallest, by over a third of an inch to the next-smallest team and over two inches smaller (on average!) than the league's biggest team, Portland.
Only seven teams average out at under six feet tall though. It's still a big man's league....no entire teams of 5'8" players out there.
Average height/weight/age by position now.....descending by average height.....
Forwards:
# Ht Wt Age
Portland Winter Hawks 14 73.21 180.14 17.79
Saskatoon Blades 13 72.92 192.69 18.08
Lethbridge Hurricanes 13 72.85 191.00 18.08
Red Deer Rebels 14 72.57 184.79 17.93
Kelowna Rockets 15 72.33 190.33 18.27
Prince George Cougars 12 72.33 176.33 17.92
Brandon Wheat Kings 14 72.21 181.86 18.29
Kamloops Blazers 12 72.08 179.83 18.00
Prince Albert Raiders 13 72.00 186.31 18.23
Spokane Chiefs 14 72.00 184.21 18.07
Regina Pats 15 71.80 178.67 17.80
Seattle Thunderbirds 14 71.71 183.36 18.29
Swift Current Broncos 13 71.69 187.77 17.92
Moose Jaw Warriors 12 71.67 182.42 17.67
Chilliwack Bruins 14 71.57 187.00 17.71
Calgary Hitmen 15 71.53 186.00 18.27
Kootenay Ice 14 71.43 183.43 17.64
Edmonton Oil Kings 14 71.36 180.64 17.93
Vancouver Giants 15 71.33 181.80 17.87
Everett Silvertips 14 70.64 184.79 17.71
Tri-City Americans 14 70.64 175.93 17.79
Medicine Hat Tigers 14 70.00 174.71 18.50
The average Tigers forward is 5'10" and 175 lb. The average Hurricanes defenceman (below) is over 6'2" and 194 lb. Who wins when they go into the corners?
Interesting though that 12 teams - more than half the league - have an average forward height under six feet tall. I don't think that would have been the case 4 or 5 years ago.
Defencemen:
# Ht Wt Age
Lethbridge Hurricanes 7 74.29 193.86 17.86
Calgary Hitmen 7 74.00 197.71 18.00
Regina Pats 8 73.88 196.38 18.13
Swift Current Broncos 8 73.88 186.88 18.38
Brandon Wheat Kings 9 73.78 190.89 17.89
Kelowna Rockets 6 73.50 193.83 17.67
Red Deer Rebels 7 73.43 186.43 17.86
Kamloops Blazers 7 73.29 187.86 17.71
Tri-City Americans 7 73.29 190.14 18.14
Saskatoon Blades 7 73.00 193.14 18.43
Chilliwack Bruins 8 73.00 187.88 17.88
Medicine Hat Tigers 7 73.00 189.29 18.29
Portland Winter Hawks 8 72.88 197.00 17.50
Seattle Thunderbirds 8 72.75 196.25 17.88
Kootenay Ice 7 72.71 186.86 17.71
Edmonton Oil Kings 7 72.57 187.00 17.86
Prince Albert Raiders 8 72.50 190.13 17.75
Spokane Chiefs 8 72.38 187.50 18.00
Everett Silvertips 9 72.33 193.33 18.22
Prince George Cougars 8 72.00 191.38 18.00
Vancouver Giants 7 71.86 182.14 18.71
Moose Jaw Warriors 8 71.50 184.38 17.25
The average Giants defenceman is under six feet tall.....very interesting. I wonder if that is a concern for Giants fans, how durable their blueline might be for a playoff run when the amount of hitting goes up a fair bit. The Giants blueline is also the oldest in the league though by a full 1/3 of a year over 2nd place, so while the players might be smaller, they're definitely used to the physical grind. Five of the 7 Giants d-men are 19 or 20 and none of them are likely to be back next year. Rebuild time on the blueline there next season, clearly.
Lethbridge and Calgary are at the other end of things, as both average out at 6'2" or bigger on defence.
Kelowna only has six defencemen on their roster - and four of them are 17 years old. No room for rests, injuries, or suspensions. Unless some of their forwards can switch back to defence when needed and play well there, I might be a tad concerned about that heading into the playoffs.
Goaltenders:
# Ht Wt Age
Red Deer Rebels 2 75.00 180.00 17.00
Saskatoon Blades 2 74.00 185.00 18.00
Edmonton Oil Kings 2 74.00 175.00 17.50
Kootenay Ice 2 74.00 185.50 17.50
Kamloops Blazers 2 73.50 186.00 18.00
Moose Jaw Warriors 2 73.50 177.50 17.50
Swift Current Broncos 2 73.00 172.50 19.00
Regina Pats 2 73.00 180.50 18.00
Seattle Thunderbirds 2 73.00 208.00 17.00
Portland Winter Hawks 2 73.00 174.50 17.50
Everett Silvertips 2 72.50 176.50 17.00
Calgary Hitmen 2 72.50 176.00 17.50
Prince Albert Raiders 2 72.50 196.50 18.50
Brandon Wheat Kings 2 72.00 189.50 17.50
Kelowna Rockets 2 72.00 186.50 18.00
Vancouver Giants 2 71.50 182.00 18.00
Medicine Hat Tigers 2 71.50 175.50 17.50
Prince George Cougars 2 71.50 185.00 19.50
Spokane Chiefs 2 71.00 195.50 18.50
Tri-City Americans 3 70.67 183.67 17.67
Chilliwack Bruins 2 70.50 170.00 18.00
Lethbridge Hurricanes 2 70.00 172.50 18.00
Size is probably not quite as important in net as it might be elsewhere, but Red Deer has both the biggest and the youngest (tied) goaltending in the league. They also have the least experienced, with neither of their goaltenders having played a minute in the WHL prior to this season.
Scout