The NHL's Smallest Player Ever: Shrimp Worters

So far this week I've been looking at some of the NHL's best little men. Marcel Dionne, Pat Verbeek, and Mats Naslund have headlined so far. Today I look at the smallest of the small: Hart Trophy winner "Shrimp" Worters.

Roy "Shrimp" Worters is probably the smallest player ever to play in the NHL. Height and weight records from the earliest days are a bit sketchy, but no first-hand accounts have ever disputed Worters' distinction.

Shrimp stood all of 5'3" and never weighed more than 130lbs, but he was a giant of the goaltending crease. Most of those 130lbs must have been from his huge heart.

Worters is seldom mentioned when discussing the greatest goalies of all time, likely because he played with some pretty bad teams. It would be tough to imagine how bad those teams would be without Worters.

Worters played most of his career with the New York Americans during the depression years. He also had stints with the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Montreal Canadiens. Full Shrimp Worters Biography