The Unbearable Lightness of McBean, Team Version

As promised, I'm taking the McBean Ratio and putting it to teams. If you are wondering where the title/concept is coming from, see this previous article.

Interesting results abound...

While we don't have any clear correlation between performance and McBean Ratio, one of the odder things is that you see a good number of the newer teams near the top. Probably the safest thing you can say about this data is that many of the teams with a younger average age are near the lower end (higher numerically) of McBean Ratios. Edmonton doesn't fit this category because they have a number of behemoths (MacIntyre, Penner) that tip the balance. Pun intended. In general, though, this lends to the notion that there's a "filling-out" process that needs to take place for younger teams.

Once again, the data is taken from hockey-reference.com, the league average McBean Ratio is .3584, and I left goalies out because they are pretty weirdly-proportioned human beings.

P.S. The question came up last time why I wasn't using BMI, and to be honest I'm less interested in actual fatness and more interested in the kinetics of these teams (this just happens to be a quick-and-dirty way of looking at mass and space from which it can be applied).

Highest (Stocky) to Lowest (Skinny) Team McBean Ratios, 2010-11

St. Louis Blues --- .3515

Atlanta Thrashers --- .3523

San Jose Sharks --- .3533

Edmonton Oilers --- .3537

Los Angeles Kings --- .354

Tampa Bay Lightning --- .3543

Ottawa Senators --- .3549

New Jersey Devils --- .3553

Montreal Canadiens --- .3559

Toronto Maple Leafs --- .356

Minnesota Wild --- .3562

Washington Capitals --- .3564

New York Rangers --- .3567

Nashville Predators --- .3575

Columbus Blue Jackets --- .3585

Boston Bruins --- .3587

Buffalo Sabres --- .3594

Dallas Stars --- .36

Pittsburgh Penguins --- .3601

Detroit Red Wings --- .3602

Chicago Blackhawks --- .3605

Anaheim Ducks --- .3606

Philadelphia Flyers --- .3609

Florida Panthers --- .3616

Vancouver Canucks --- .3617

Colorado Avalanche --- .3621

Calgary Flames --- .3632

New York Islanders --- .364

Phoenix Coyotes --- .3658

Carolina Hurricanes --- .3678