Florida goalkeeper Cooper Black has become the tallest goalkeeper in NHL history.

Florida goalkeeper Cooper Black has become the tallest goalkeeper in the history of the National Hockey League (NHL), according to its official website.

The 25-year-old American player is 206 cm (6 ft 9 in) tall. Thanks to these parameters, he surpassed the previous achievement, which was shared by Russian Ivan Fedotov, American Ben Bishop, Finnish Mikko Koskinen and Danish Mads Sogord. The height of each of these goalkeepers was 201 cm (6 ft 7 in).

In addition, Black has equaled the height of the tallest outfield players in NHL history — Zdeno Hara, Curtis Douglas and Matt Rempe. According to TSN, the player's unique physical characteristics began to manifest themselves in his youth: during his studies at Alpena High school, Black grew by 12 cm in just one year between junior and senior grades.

The American made his league debut on Thursday, October 22, in an away regular season match against Pittsburgh, which ended in a 0 loss to the Panthers.:4. In this game, Black blocked 18 of 21 shots on his own goal.

Florida head coach Paul Maurice praised the newcomer's actions, stressing that size is not his only advantage. According to the expert cited by the NHL, Black moves like a real athlete and does not rely solely on his size when making saves.

Before joining professional hockey, Black played two seasons in the NCAA collegiate League for Dartmouth College. In the 2023/24 season, he demonstrated a high level of play and was named to the second ECAC Conference all-Star team.

Florida signed him to a two-year rookie contract on April 2, 2024, when the player was an undrafted free agent. Later, on June 8, 2026, the parties extended their cooperation: according to the CapWages portal, Black signed a new two-year bilateral agreement with an average salary of $875,000 per year.

Prior to being called up to the main team, the goalkeeper played in the American Hockey League (AHL) for the Florida farm club, Charlotte. According to the official statistics of the Charlotte Checkers, he played 66 matches in this team, in which he scored 39 victories, including four games to zero. Black's AHL stats were 90.4% of deflected shots with a reliability factor of 2.39 missed goals per game.

At the moment, Florida is in ninth place in the NHL Eastern Conference standings. The team is six points behind the leading Carolina. Paul Maurice's team will play their next match on Sunday, October 25, away against Chicago. The game will start at 22:00 Moscow time.