Cooper Black, 6-foot-9, is tallest goalie in NHL history

Florida Panthers rookie Cooper Black became the tallest goaltender ever to play an NHL regular-season game on Thursday night, making his debut at six-foot-nine in a 4-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena. NHL.com and The Associated Press both reported the milestone.

Black is listed two inches taller than the previous tallest goalies, Ben Bishop, Ivan Fedotov, Mads Sogaard and Mikko Koskinen, who were all six-foot-seven, the AP said. The 25-year-old from Alpena, Mich., stopped 17 of 20 shots in 57 minutes before being pulled for an extra attacker, according to NHL game data.

Nick Robertson scored twice for Pittsburgh, including the opening goal on Black’s glove side. Hendrix Lapierre and Evgeni Malkin also scored, and Arturs Silovs made 26 saves for the shutout.

Black made early stops on Kris Letang and on a Rickard Rakell breakaway, the AP reported. “Cool experience to play against the guys, would have been nicer to win,” he said after the game.

Florida called Black up from its American Hockey League affiliate in Charlotte after Jacob Markstrom went down with a shoulder injury, according to the AP. The Panthers signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2024. Last season in Charlotte he went 25-13-4 with a 2.47 goals-against average and a .903 save percentage.

Black started playing at eight and grew five inches between his junior and senior years of high school, the AP said. “A man that size, it takes a long time to grow into that body,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said before the game.

The loss came a night after the Panthers fell 5-1 in Ottawa, in Brady Tkachuk’s return to his former home rink. Pittsburgh is also dealing with a scare involving forward Ben Kindel, who was reported stable after a medical episode on the team plane.

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Sources: NHL.com; The Associated Press via The Canadian Press.