Lamoureux Note: Size Matters (If You're An NHL Scout)

Posted by adn_aces

Posted: September 3, 2008 - 8:22 pm

A reader e-mailed with a question that may be on the mind of other Alaska Aces fans: With goaltender Jean-Philippe Lamoureux's fantastic numbers in junior and at North Dakota, how was it that one of the newest Aces went undrafted by all 30 NHL teams?

The quick answer: Phil's 5-foot-8. And NHL scouts generally don't care for sub 6-footers. They want bigger guys to fill more net and give shooters less net, I guess. (Unlike many of you fans, and you know who you are, you armchair Ken Drydens, I am not a goaltending guru) (And, hey, there's nothing wrong with being 5-8; you can be a perfectly good goaltender at that marvelous height, or even an aging hockey writer).

For proof NHL scouts don't dig on sub-6s, check out the 2008 NHL Draft, where 23 goalies were selected. Only three were in the sub-6 category, and they were all 5-11. The average height of the goalies drafted was 6-2 (OK, Jason Missiaen of OHL Petersborough kind of stretched the curve, so to speak, seeing as how he checks in at 6-8. He was a fourth-round pick by Montreal).

Also, of the No. 1 goalies on NHL teams last season (and we're figuring that based on minutes played in the regular season), the average height was 6-1. Just six of those cats were in the sub-6 category, and four of them checked in at 5-11. The smallest was St. Louis backstop Manny Legace at 5-9.

Check it out, though. Chris Osgood backstopped the Detroit Red Wings to the Stanley Cup. He's 5-10 (Ozzie! Ozzie! Ozzie!)

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