We as Canadians proclaim ourselves as the hockey mecca of the world, and for good reason, as our Olympic Gold in 2002 would attest. However, it doesn’t seem as if the general managers of the National Hockey League would agree to that, as this season, there is the lowest percentage of Canadian-born players in the history of the NHL. One may ask why, but there is no definitive answer. One idea is that now, teams are looking to European-born players to fill their roster rather than sticking to this continent and bringing in “homegrown” talent instead.
The following table shows the breakdown of NHL players by country:
Country | Number of players | Percentage of players |
1) Canada | 379/728 | 52.1% |
2) United States | 113/728 | 15.5% |
3) Czech Republic | 58/728 | 8.0% |
4) Russia | 46/728 | 6.3% |
5) Sweden | 42/728 | 5.8% |
6) Finland | 33/728 | 4.5% |
7) Slovakia | 25/728 | 3.4% |
8) Germany | 5/728 | 0.7% |
9) Other | 29/728 | 4.0% |
Note: Percentages were rounded to the nearest tenth, leaving a potential +/- 0.3% margin of error. The top-8 teams represented in the league are the top-8 in the chart, many other countries to numerous to mention comprise the ‘other’ category.
The next question that should pop into your head is who has the most Canadian-born players on the roster? American-born players? European players? The following table will answer these questions, and more:
Team | Canadians | Americans | Europeans |
Anaheim | 10 | 4 | 10 |
Atlanta | 9 | 2 | 13 |
Boston | 14 | 5 | 5 |
Buffalo | 14 | 4 | 8 |
Calgary | 17 | 3 | 4 |
Carolina | 14 | 5 | 5 |
Chicago | 14 | 2 | 7 |
Colorado | 9 | 5 | 9 |
Columbus | 15 | 3 | 5 |
Dallas | 15 | 3 | 5 |
Detroit | 13 | 3 | 7 |
Edmonton | 15 | 3 | 4 |
Florida | 11 | 1 | 13 |
Los Angeles | 11 | 6 | 10 |
Minnesota | 16 | 3 | 5 |
Montreal | 16 | 4 | 7 |
Nashville | 12 | 3 | 9 |
New Jersey | 10 | 9 | 4 |
New York I. | 9 | 5 | 10 |
New York R. | 11 | 5 | 10 |
Ottawa | 13 | 2 | 9 |
Philadelphia | 10 | 7 | 6 |
Phoenix | 14 | 4 | 6 |
Pittsburgh | 14 | 4 | 7 |
St. Louis | 17 | 5 | 4 |
San Jose | 13 | 3 | 8 |
Tampa Bay | 13 | 3 | 7 |
Toronto | 12 | 2 | 11 |
Vancouver | 11 | 0 | 12 |
Washington | 10 | 5 | 9 |
TOTAL (728) | 379 | 113 | 236 |
Numbers in bold represent the specific team leads, or is tied for the lead, in that particular demographic. The numbers are based on opening-day rosters, including players on the injured reserve list (IR).
Something interesting of note is that a Canadian team (Calgary) leads the NHL with the most Canadian-born players with 17 (tied with St. Louis). Another interesting note is that Florida has the most Europeans in the league with 13, more than 50% of their team (and people wonder why Mike Keenan isn’t coaching there anymore…). (Atlanta also has 13 Europeans.) New Jersey has the most American content in the league with 9 of their players being born in the States.
GM’s of the National Hockey League vary in one comment, that being that a team needs more Canadians than others to win the Stanley Cup. The varying argument is that some GM’s believe more Europeans are the answer. The one thing they can all agree on is that all the players have to play as one cohesive unit in order to win the Cup. When one looks at it in that respect, does it really matter how many players of a certain country are on your team? Until a team in the modern era wins with all Canadians, Americans or Europeans, we’ll never know.
Questions/comments? E-mail me at b.larose@habsworld.net.