6'1.2" — 0.9 inches under the NFL and 5.1 under the NBA — and the last season comes at 27.7. Height, retirement age and career length from the league’s own record.
Read the full story ↓Every player who entered the league from 2015 to 2025, counted once at his listed height: the average is 6'1.2", the median 6'1", and the whole group fits between 5'6" and 6'9". Set beside the other leagues measured on the same rule, hockey sits 0.9 inches under the NFL, 5.1 under the NBA, and 0.5 over the WNBA.
| League | Average height | Players |
|---|---|---|
| NHL | 6'1.2" | 1,534 |
| NFL | 6'2.1" | 6,026 |
| NBA | 6'6.3" | 1,124 |
| WNBA | 6'0.7" | 292 |
4,276 completed careers — begun 1980 or later, finished by 2019 — end at a mean age of 27.7 and a median of 27. Read the two ends of the curve together: 38.8% of careers were over by 25, while 11.2% were still on a roster at 35. The careers that survive run long — 5.86 seasons on average across 7,039 players, with 23.4% reaching ten — which is why the league can end most careers young and still carry a deep veteran tier.
| Milestone | Share of careers |
|---|---|
| Finished by age 25 | 38.8% |
| Still active at age 35 | 11.2% |
| Reached ten seasons | 23.4% |
One league record, read two ways. Heights are the listed height of every player who entered between 2015 and 2025, one per player, with unreadable listings excluded rather than guessed. Ages are the final-season calendar year minus the birth year for careers begun 1980 or later and completed by 2019; moving that completion cutoff shifts the mean by 0.14 of a year, which is why the decimal is published rather than rounded away. The same questions for football: the average NFL retirement age and how big the average NFL player is.
More from the record book: how long a pro career lasts, the average NFL retirement age, how big the average NFL player is, the NFL sack record, average NBA height, the tallest NBA players ever, the shortest NBA players ever, average WNBA height, how many players are in the NFL, how many players are in the NBA, the average MLB player, the most home runs in a season, the most Super Bowl wins, the most World Series wins, the most NBA championships, the tallest WNBA players ever, the NFL single-season records, the perfect MLB season and every perfect season.
6'1.2" on average, with a median of 6'1", across the 1,534 players who entered the league between 2015 and 2025. The shortest listing in that group is 5'6", the tallest 6'9".
Yes, on average: 0.9 inches under the NFL's 6'2.1" and 5.1 inches under the NBA's 6'6.3", and 0.5 inches over the WNBA's 6'0.7" — each league measured from its own roster record on the same rule.
27.7 — the mean age at a player's final season across 4,276 completed careers, with a median of 27. 38.8% were finished by 25, and 11.2% were still on a roster at 35.
5.86 seasons, measured across 7,039 completed careers — the longest mean of the five leagues on the cross-sport page — with 23.4% of careers reaching ten seasons.
Slightly: the NHL mean final-season age is 27.7 against the NFL’s 27.4, both measured the same way — careers begun 1980 or later and completed by 2019, final-season year minus birth year.
That is the game this record book scores: spin real franchise eras, draft an all-time NHL roster with these listings on the cards, and chase the perfect season on the 98-0 board.
