The folks over at The Athletic recently compiled an up-to-date set of physical demographics for the various NHL teams. While the results for the Vancouver Canucks weren’t exactly surprising, they are a little concerning. With emphasis on the “little.”

As of the start of this 2026-27 season, the Canucks were tied as the sixth-shortest team in the NHL with an average height of 73.3 inches, or a smidgen over 6’1”. That’s below the NHL-wide average of 73.6 inches, though not by much. Only the Colorado Avalanche, Seattle Kraken, Nashville Predators, Minnesota Wild, and Pittsburgh Penguins are shorter than the Canucks on average. We should note that there are at least two purported Stanley Cup contenders in that collection, but it’s still something worth thinking about.

Far more concerning might be the Canucks’ average weight. At an average weight of 194.4 pounds, the Canucks are the lightest team in the NHL, and only the Calgary Flames (194.5) come anywhere close. That’s almost a full seven pounds lighter than the average NHL player at 201.3 pounds.

Now, some of this can obviously be attributed to the Canucks’ youth in this, the earliest stages of a declared rebuild. Some, but not all. The Canucks are only the ninth-youngest team in the league with an average age of 27.1. The St. Louis Blues, Chicago Blackhawks, San Jose Sharks, Montreal Canadiens, Calgary Flames, New York Rangers, Buffalo Sabres, and Anaheim Ducks are all younger. And aside from the Flames, the Canucks are lighter on average than the lot of them.

People can and will debate how much of a factor size is when it comes to winning hockey, but most will agree that it is a factor, especially once we start talking about playoff hockey in particular. And most will agree that, ideally, the Canucks are going to have to start getting bigger as they work through this rebuild process.

The question is how?

Some of that literal growth will be natural. As some of the youngest members of the Canucks, like Zeev Buium, Tom Willander, Jonathan Lekkerimäki, and Liam Öhgren, age, they should naturally put on a bit more muscle and increase their weight. But that’s probably only really a matter of a few pounds per player, and might not bring the overall average up all that much. For real change, there’s going to have to be some alterations to the roster itself.

That could include the selling of veterans. Some of the players that the Canucks are most likely to move on from over the next couple of years are also their slightest, including Brendan Gallagher (5’9”, 183 pounds), Jake DeBrusk (6’1”, 198 pounds), Marco Rossi (5’10”, 196 pounds), and maybe even names like Filip Hronek (6’0”, 187 pounds) and the senior-most Elias Pettersson (6’2”, 185 pounds).

Of course, it’s not just a matter of trading or letting those players go; but then actively replacing them with players who are, on average, bigger. And then, too, the Canucks will have to balance that out with the fact that some of their largest players, like Jamie Oleksiak (6’7”, 251 pounds), Luke Schenn (6’2”, 225 pounds), Drew O’Connor (6’4”, 209 pounds), and Paul Cotter (6’2”, 212 pounds), are all also likely to depart sooner rather than later. Replacing their size in the lineup with similarly large players is easier said than done.

If there’s good news on this front, it’s that GM Ryan Johnson seems to already be addressing this issue in the only real way that can improve it over the long term, and that’s through the draft. The first three players the Canucks selected in the 2026 NHL Entry Draft were Caleb Malhotra (6’2”, 185), Adam Novotny (6’1”, 205), and Brooks Rogowski (6’7”, 236). They’re all still teenagers, but they each project to be much larger than the Canucks currently are on average. Just having these players crack the roster and take on prominent roles, especially if they take the place of some of the smaller veterans, should start to move the Canucks up the various size charts.

And that’s just the result of Johnson’s first draft. The real long-term solution here is to continue to draft with at least a considerable focus on size. The NHL, as a league, does seem to be trending in a bigger direction, and if the Canucks hope to eventually compete, they need to follow that trend. Size has to be a factor they consider when evaluating a draftable prospect, and while there will continue to be room on the roster for smaller players if they are skilled enough, it’s the overall average that needs to rise, and that probably requires a scouting emphasis.

It’s an emphasis the Canucks will probably continue to make under Johnson, based on his first draft and also his first turn at free agency. Prior to signing Oleksiak, Schenn, and Cotter, Johnson told the media that “People that know me know I like size, I like speed, I like character. I like stiffness by committee and not through one person or one line.”

Continuing to stick to that vision, and allowing Johnson the freedom to pursue it, is the actual key to the Canucks digging themselves out of the height and weight basements as they attempt to dig themselves out of the overall standings basement. The Canucks don’t just need to get better or bigger; they need to get better and bigger at the same time.

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