Was the Golden Knights’ size on the blue line something other NHL team…

While there is no single reason why the Vegas Golden Knights are the reigning Stanley Cup champions, a few factors are at the forefront of discourse surrounding how they earned their title.

The team’s biggest critics point to salary cap circumvention as the primary driver of their success, as keeping Mark Stone on long-term injured reserve until the playoffs aided in their roster-construction efforts. Upon his return, Stone was an impact player, and the squad Vegas iced during the postseason was well over the cap.

Another factor that often comes up is the way the team has aggressive pursued available star power in recent years by trading for Stone and Jack Eichel, as well as outbidding the rest of the NHL on a massive free-agent contract for Alex Pietrangelo.

Something else that often been commented on since Vegas hoisted the Cup is the size of their defensive corps. Teams have long prized big men on the blue line, but the group the Golden Knights put together stood out, as their top six defencemen averaged 6-foot-3, 212.333 pounds, with only Shea Theodore listed below 200.

The idea of prioritizing jumbo defenders is an intuitive one. Taller players tend to wield longer, more disruptive sticks — and increased bulk can translate into blocked shots and additional power to separate offensive players from the puck.

If you were building the perfect defenceman from scratch, you’d probably consider replicating Victor Hedman’s 6-foot-7, 244 pound frame — but whether that is enough for teams to make a concerted effort to seek out big defenders is an open question.

That’s something they clearly did in free agency, though.

The two most prominent big defenders received rich, long-term deals in an environment where very few players were getting term. Ryan Graves (6-foot-5, 220 pounds) landed a six-year, $27 million contract, while Scott Mayfield (6-foot-5, 220 pounds) earned a seven-year…