With physical and medical testing coming up, it's also time to note the height and weight of players heading into the next schedule. Often, when it comes to height, teams have fun "boosting" the height of certain players. This year, Cole Caufield suddenly went from 5-foot-7 to 5-foot-9.
They say a guy grows to be 21, but I have a hard time buying that Caufield landed 2 inches taller this year... That's a way of doing things at the junior level and in the NHL, which is to increase the size of the smaller guys by an inch or two.
If he is like Brian Gionta, Caufield will certainly advise the organization that his actual height is 5 foot 7. Gionta? Yes, yes! The former Montreal Canadiens captain has already met with management when he was playing at Boston College. The organization put Gionta's height at 5 feet 9 and he was not comfortable with that.
He went up to the boss's office and told him he wasn't 5-foot-9, he was 5-foot-7. He (Gio) was very proud of this and it was important to him that his real height be made clear. A real one! All this to say that this habit for smaller players has not evolved...
