Hockey is globally known as Canadas game, and while that might still be true today, there are several countries that have closed the gap in the past decade or so. Tampa Bay played 21 players across their 23 game playoff run. The Athletic updated its trade board one final time on Monday ahead of what will still likely be a . Canada and the United States make up the majority of players in the NHL (70%), but even within the Big Six, North Americans account for 74% of players. Then you can access your favorite statistics via the star in the header. What do you know about the legendary Original Six? It took four more decades for defenseman Thommie Bergman to seriously start blazing trails for his fellow countrymen, primarily as a Detroit Red Wing over an eight-year career. 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With so many international players in the mix, what is the national breakdown of the NHL? As a result, the NHL has been slow to diversify its player base. Once known as a league riddled with racism and exclusiveness, the NHL . The National Hockey League (NHL) has been called the "whitest" professional sport in North America. This value is based on 906 player signings, including all buried and two-way contracts. When looking at each team in the NHL, the vast majority of every teams roster comes from a country in the Big Six. Copyright 2023 The Win Column, All Rights Reserved. The Los Angeles Kings, Devils, and Toronto Maple Leafs are the other teams in double digits, all with 10 players from outside North America. Arizona has taken on a ton of dead cap space and it receives a functional NHL player who will perhaps get one more chance at showing why he needs more minutes. 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While nearly half the NHLs players still hail from Canada, the past couple of decades have seen an influx of players from Europe, with more than 15% of the leagues 887 players now coming from Scandinavian countries. From here on, Europe takes the reins for providing the NHL with its players. In terms of birth country though, Bulgaria (Alexandar Georgiev), Great Britain (Nathan Walker), and Uzbekistan (Arthur Kaliyev) join the list. No doubt this is part of why Russia, a hockey superpower with a far larger population than Sweden or Finland, sends less players to the NHL than its Nordic neighbors. Viewing: Country. How has the nationality spread of NHL players changed over time? These countries are Australia (Nathan Walker), Austria (Michael Raffl), Slovenia (Anze Kopitar), Netherlands (Daniel Sprong), and Norway (Mats Zuccarello). Percentage of NHL Players by Nationality 20192020 Stats. Truth be told, since the official birth of the Czech Republic in the early 1990s, theyve always been up there. Welcome to NHL.com, the official site of the National Hockey League . NHL; NHL DRAFT; AHL; KHL; SHL; LIIGA; NLA; DEL; OHL; QMJHL; WHL; . As you might expect, the NHL has diversified immensely in the last 100 years since its formation. This is significantly lower than the start of the season where the average was 1.3 players and 5%. Nationality Players GP G A P PIM PPG SHG GWG; 1 Canada: 485: 21 346: 3344: 5753: 9097: 11 288: 600: 82: 479: 2 United States: 317: . Updated hourly, with analysis, commentary and features from hundreds writers worldwide, our articles are read over 5 million times every month. More recently, the popularity and appeal of the NHL branched out to other countries around the world. You only have access to basic statistics. In terms of percentages, the breakdown of NHL players by nationality during the 2018-19 season are as follows: Canada (44.1%), United States (26.7%), Sweden (10.0%), Finland (5.5%), Russia (4.3%), Czech Republic (4.2%), Switzerland (1.5%), Slovakia (1.0%), Denmark (0.8%), Germany (0.7%), Austria (0.3%), France (0.2%), Norway (0.2%), Australia Carolina has tried 2,108 shots (3rd in the league) and has a shot percentage of 9.63%, while allowing their opponents 1,571 shots. For years in the NHL; during the era of the original six (read more about the original six NHL teams here) and decades after that, Canadian players ruled the ice hockey rink. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Only 11 Swiss players are in the NHL, but it is a pretty good group of 11. That will be a reality for Canadas Olympic opponents this year. Sweeney (as he preferred to be called) started in an affiliate league of the New York Americans NHL team in 1933. There are 57 currently active Russian players in the NHL right now. The relationship between Russia and the NHL is similar to that between Japan and the MLB. Fast forward to 2019 where the league has 31 teams and more players. During his career he played 11 seasons, winning 2 Stanley cups with the Toronto Maple Leafs after he was traded in 1939. November 17, 2022. Once again, most teams are composed primarily by North American players, though the separation between North America and the rest of the world is not nearly as large as it was for the Big Six. Required fields are marked *. Of the 91 players, 6 of them are goaltenders. . In the 2019-2020 season a total of 271 Canadian born players were in the NHL, which works out to 42.7% of NHL players. As of 2020, 57.5% of NFL players were Black, 0.4% Hispanic or Latinx, 0.1% Asian, 1.6% Pacific Islander, and 0.2% American Indian. Michael Raffl is Austrias only NHL player. Belarus 3 (0.4%): New Jersey Devils forward Yegor Sharangovich had a fairly productive 30-point rookie season in 2020-21, made all the more impressive by the shortened season. William Nylander, despite being born in Canada, is also Swedish and is counted as a Swede for all hockey purposes. The average team has 1.6 players from outside Big Six countries or just around 5% of their roster/taxi squad/IR. Figure 3 is a heat map that plots the origin countries of NHL players. In 202122, there are even more players from different countries, and a few new nationalities we havent seen in quite some time. This is on par with last year. Although the NHL started in Canada, the United States and other nations are gradually making themselves known within the league. Sixty-two players didn't, or haven't yet, made the NHL at all, and 10 players appeared in just one NHL game. Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game; G/G = Goals per game; A/G = Assists per game. Notable Russian Player: Two playoffs ago, Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov led the league in playoff scoring en route to helping his team capture a second straight Stanley Cup. Avg 2022 Payroll. Operating across the Maritime provinces of Canada, the league operated for several decades until 1930. The current 2022-2023 percentage of Canadian players is the lowest the league has seen (42.86%) and there remains a possibility of an even lower percentage next season. Business Solutions including all features. A few of the most noteworthy Canadian NHLers are Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins), Jason Spezza (Dallas Stars), and Dion Phaneuf (Los Angeles Kings). Figure 3 Figure 3 is a heat map that plots the origin countries of NHL players. As the sport of hockey continues to grow worldwide, more and more countries are being represented on the national hockey stage. Two of those previous four picks were Europeans, something that just didnt used to happen very often. Active Players. David Schriner was born in Saratov in the Russian Empire but moved with his parent to Calgary, Alberta Canada when he was a month old. Since that time up until today, there has been a gradual but consistent decrease in the domination of Canadians in the NHL. Slovenia 1: Los Angeles Kings star Anze Kopitar is also the first Slovenian to ever play in the NHL, setting a great example for aspiring hockey players in his country. Percentage of Active NHL Players by Nationality Career Stats 14 more rows Rk Nationality Players GP G A P PIM PPG SHG GWG; 1 Canada: 42.7%: 43.7%: 41.6%: 42.9%: 42.4%: 50.3% Netherlands 1: While just 25, Daniel Sprong has bounced around quite a bit in his short career, now calling the Kraken home.if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[336,280],'thehockeywriters_com-large-mobile-banner-2','ezslot_10',831,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-thehockeywriters_com-large-mobile-banner-2-0'); United Kingdom 1: St. Louis Blues forward Nathan Walker has a relatively fascinating background as the only (current) British-born NHLer, originally hailing from Wales. This opens a lot of avenues for the NHL since their teams are often so nationally diverse. It makes sense, then, that throughout history, Canada has consistently led the NHL in terms of the number of players hailing from the country. Slowing making themselves known behind Canada are the players from the United States. The rest of the NHL roster consisted of 5 U.K. players, 3 U.S. players, and 1 player each from Ireland and Finland. 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If he is able to put up that save percentage, the Capitals could finally be the contender they have been touted as. Rumors have swirled that Nylander could play on the Swedish Olympic team but at the moment it seems he will not be on Swedens squad for the upcoming Winter Olympic Games. The Detroit Red Wings and the Vancouver Canucks each have 4 Swedish Players on their rosters. Calgary Flames left winger Johnny Gaudreau, who was born in Carneys Point, New Jersey, leads the 237 NHL players born in the United States with 55 points. Of the 3% of the remaining ethnicities, twenty-six are black. Yet another Colorado Avalanche player, forward Mikko Rantanen, who was born in Nousiainen, Finland, leads his NHL countrymen with 62 points. At the time that was the highest percentage of Americans the NHL had ever seen on an opening night roster. Rk Nationality Players GP G A P PIM PPG SHG GWG; 1 Canada: 42.8%: 45.2%: 44.7%: 44.3%: 44.5%: 52.3% So, then, what percent of players in the NHL today are actually from North America? Jakub Voracek and David Pastrnak are perhaps the most recognizable Czech players in the league, but the best Czech player of all time has to the great Jaromir Jagr.