Small players doing Big things in the NHL

NHL teams seem to be fixated on a "Bigger is Better" mentality. Especially when drafting players. A perfect example of this is Connor Garland.

Connor Garland tore up the QJMHL where he played with the Moncton Wildcats. In the last 2 season with Moncton he totaled 257 points. However, he was overlooked by many teams at the 2015 draft. Due to his size (5ft8) he was deemed to small to be a force in "today's NHL". He was finally drafted in the 5th round and 123rd overall by the Arizona Coyotes. He is currently in the AHL, however if Arizona is smart, they will give this kid a chance next year.

True, the NHL of today is bigger, but it is also faster, and that is where speed demons like Garland can succeed. Several undersized forwards are doing that. Let's have a look at some other 5ft 8 players.

1)Cam Atkinson (Columbus Blue Jackets)

-Tied for 7th in the league with 30 goals, and leads the Blue Jackets in points with 56.

2) Mats Zuccarello (New York Rangers)

-His 46 points is second on the team. Leads the team in assists with 34.

3) Johnny Gaudreau (Calgary Flames)

-Johnny Be Good is really good. In 54 games he has 44 points, and has been on fire with the Flames recently.

These "undersized" players are arguably the best players on their respected team, and succeeded where others thought they would fail. So they have proved that size doesn't matter.

As well, if you look at the top 20 scoring forwards in the NHL you will see that 7 of them are under 6 ft . (And 3 of them are in the top 5 scorers in the NHL)

-Joe Pavelski 5ft 11 (57 points)

-Artemi Panarin 5ft 11 (58 points)

-Mikael Granlund 5ft 10 (60 points)

-Nikita Kucherov 5ft 11 (63 points)

-Patrick Kane 5ft 11 (70 points)

-Brad Marchand 5ft 9 (70 points)

-Sidney Crosby 5 ft 11 (70 points(

Now when if come to defenseman, that is a different story.It is even more rare that you are going to find a blueliner under 6 feet. Torey Krug is one of the few exceptions.

There is no question that bigger players have success in the NHL, but so do smaller players. So NHL teams and scouts should stop focusing and/or determining size as a pivotal factor in whether a player can be a dominating force in the NHL.