Post-deadline roster breakdown

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
Swift Current Broncos	23	18.17	5	3
Vancouver Giants	24	18.13	7	3
Calgary Hitmen	24	18.13	7	3
Saskatoon Blades	21	18.10	5	2
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
Saskatoon Blades	21	73.19	192.24
Portland Winter Hawks	24	73.08	185.29
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, Saskatoon.

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	12	73.17	192.92	17.92
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.