Young and Younger

Reading a few blogs lately on the prospects coming up to play with the Caps this coming season got me to thinking. So much talk of Johansson and Perreault, my first thought was; “They’re so young!” And my second thought was; “and they are soooo small!”

So, I went on the Caps website to look through the roster and compare our players by height, weight and age. Now, I’m not a statistician. I just found some of this kinda interesting.

(editors note: while I was there the rumor of the Flash/Belanger trade hit the tweet stream. At the time I was looking at the roster, and I noticed Flash wasn’t on it. But boy, did the proverbial shit hit the fan when I pointed that out on Twitter! Thank goodness for Eric (aka @emcerlain, thanks Eric!), for catching a screen shot of it before it was corrected as shown below:

So originally Flash was not included in my chart but now I am including Flash with the caveat that he may or may not be an applicable to this list at any given moment.)

Starting by height, everyone on the “current” roster is 6’ 1” or more EXCEPT Perreault and Johansson. At 5’ 10” and 5’ 11” respectively, the rest of the team must look like giants to them. Imagine one of them next to 6’ 6” Schultzy, he has a good 8” on little Matty! It’s like the difference between a full grown oak tree and a sapling. “Hello, down there!”

Now, let’s look at weight. 18 of 21 players on the “current” roster weigh 200 lbs or more, with Ovi topping the list at 233. Then there’s little Matty Perreault at 174 lbs. That’s 59 lbs difference between Ovi and Matty. 59 freaking lbs! I sure as hell would be scared to see the Great 8 gunning for me if I were Matty, thank goodness they are on the same team. But, I’m willing to bet, the majority of NHL players weigh in between 200 and 225 lbs. Kinda gives you an appreciation for the heart and guts it takes for kids like Johansson and Perreault to get out there and play, doesn’t it?

Ok, now to age. On the “current” roster, only 5 players are 30 or over. Think about that; 16 guys are under the age of 30. Talk about Young Guns - this team is full of kids (figuratively). Now, in that category, Marcus and Matty fit right in. I like that about our team, lots of young players = lots of enthusiasm and energy, and a sprinkling of some more mature men = wisdom and heart.

One other thing struck me while I was perusing the “current” roster. I get the impression many people think our team as the team with all the Russians. Maybe in the past; if 5 counted as “all the Russians”; but no more. If you include Johansson and Perrault in the list, we have 13 Canadian born players. Doesn’t sound like a Russian army to me. Does it to you? (Not that I expect fans of other teams to lay off that crap.)

Anyway, after looking at all this information, just the fact the Marcus Johansson and Mathieu Perreault; if he gets signed up to play full time; would be the smallest and lightest players on the roster just confirms my initial thoughts: “They are so young and soooo small!” Still, I love ‘em anyways!