Although other ice hockey leagues saw integration in the early 20th century (including the Quebec Senior Hockey League), the NHL did not see its first non-white player until March 13, 1948, when Larry Kwong broke the NHL's colour barrier playing with the New York Rangers. Czechia, formerly the Czech Republic and one half of Czechoslovakia before that, is the last nation to provide a whole NHL teams roster-worth of players. He only played Notable Slovakian Player: With defenseman Zdeno Chara having retired, New Jersey Devils forward Tomas Tatar now holds the mantle as the active leading scorer among Slovakian players. On any given team in the NHL, you are sure to find players from many different countries, and more and more from non-traditional hockey markets. The Coloured Hockey League was an all-black ice hockey league established in 1895. James signed his contract with the Buffalo Sabres in 1982. Colorado Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon, who was born in Halifax Regional Municipality, Canada, is narrowly ahead of countryman Connor McDavid with 59 points this season. The teams that have the most players hailing from each country are as follows: For North American players, the Golden Knights lead the league with 20 Canadians and the Coyotes, Bruins, and Sabres lead with 12 Americans. Black players in professional American football, History of African Americans in the Canadian Football League, "Soul on Ice: A growing number of Black players are making their mark in a league that until recently has been known for its insensitivity", "Being black in the NHL: From breaking the colour barrier to the Norris trophy", "Soul on Ice: Do hockey and Hip-Hop mix? Take the reigning NHL champion Tampa Bay Lightnings playoff roster as an example of the diversity that can be found on an NHL team. [13] The number of black NHL players was to 26 by the end of the 20th century and sat at 32 in 2016.[9]. Russian players have helped to shape the modern era of the NHL, from the first Soviet NHL player in Sergei Pryakhin to defectors during the Cold War led by Alexander Mogilny, to the Red Wings famous Russian Five. Michael Raffl is Austrias only NHL player. Rk Nationality . 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% As a result, the NHL has been slow to diversify its player base. He did play in Switzerland instead of the Ontario Hockey League during the shortened 2020-21 season, for what its worth. Major League Baseball is a professional baseball league in Canada and the United States, and is widely regarded as the best league for the sport in the world. [10] Born in Vernon, British Columbia, Kwong was a Chinese Canadian of Cantonese descent. Simply slipping into poorly fitting skates, Read More Best Ice Hockey Skates for Wide FeetContinue, The NHL entry draft is a moment NHL fans are passionate about as it allows NHL franchises to bring in, Read More The NHL Entry Draft: All You Need To KnowContinue, As a newbie or a pro skater, you must have once wondered, what are the best CCM Skates money can, Read More What Are The Best CCM Skates?Continue. [11] In 1953, Fred Sasakamoose was the first Cree NHL player, and the first Canadian indigenous player in the NHL, debuting with the Chicago Black Hawks. 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. Do you know that in the 1970s about 2% of NHL players were Americans? Below, we present the total number of players from each country and last seasons points leader from each. When looking at each team in the NHL, the vast majority of every teams roster comes from a country in the Big Six. Research expert covering sports and video gaming. Comparatively, there are 8.9% of the Black or African American ethnicity and 7.5% of the Hispanic or Latino ethnicity. The hockey centre was born in Wales and began playing the sport locally in his hometown. Rk Nationality . In other words, Quebec born NHL players outnumber Russian NHL players. The USA is a not-so-close second at 27%, down 1% from last year. Switzerland, perhaps surprisingly, hovers around the 10-player mark. That will be a reality for Canadas Olympic opponents this year. Canada still leads with the most players by country, but the U.S. isn't far behind, and there are now 17 active countri Historically speaking, some may think Germany doesnt have a significant presence in the NHL. There are 157 players of American descent in the NHL, placing them second behind Canada (42.7%) and ahead of Sweden . The Montreal Canadiens, Philadelphia Flyers, and Winnipeg Jets have the lowest non-North American representation with just three players each. Notable Czech Player: Columbus Blue Jackets forward Jakub Voracek is now the active points leader among Czech players (Jaromir Jagr is first all-time as if there was any doubt). Teams included in the chart below, and all subsequent charts are as follows in order: Canada, United States, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Slovakia, Germany, Denmark, Latvia, France, Austria, Slovenia, Belarus, Netherlands, and Norway. Of those 23 players, 15 are forwards, six are defensemen, and two are goaltenders. [7], The NHL began its expansion of player nationalities in the 1970s, when players hailed from the United States, Sweden, and Finland. Meet Kailer Yamamoto", "Rookie Yip looking to make impression, big club", "Hockey all-time great is proud of his Aboriginal heritage", "Sports of The Times; Hockey's Minority Players Moving Past Trailblazer Stage", "Proud of his First Nations roots, Blues' Berube could make Stanley Cup history", "Ex-Canucks 'Algonquin enforcer' Gino Odjick opens up about post-career, concussion-related struggles", "Number 22 is number one with Nunavummiut", "Former NHLers Tootoo, Bourque to help raise funds for scholarships", "Indigenous players, coach among those seeking 2020 Stanley Cup glory", https://sihrhockey.org/2020/columns/article.cfm?aid=494, "First Nations celebrate as Indigenous player Ethan Bear makes NHL debut with Oilers", "Wild GM discusses Nicaraguan background for Hispanic Heritage Month", "Maple Leafs' first ever moms trip means something extra special for Auston and Ema Matthews", "San Jose Sharks rookie Matt Nieto helps his mom fight cancer", "For Canadiens' Max Pacioretty hockey becomes family affair", "From local leagues to the NHL, Cape Breton's hockey history full of Lebanese heritage", "Groundbreaking ex-Canucks player Ed Hatoum fondly remembers time with Seattle Totems", "A 'real hustler,' Alain Nasreddine earned his chance with the Devils", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Race_and_ethnicity_in_the_NHL&oldid=1142533271, This page was last edited on 2 March 2023, at 23:22. However, he moved to Canada with his family at a young age. So here we are today! Hockey-Reference utilizes Official NHL data for current NHL seasons. In 2021, just over 24 percent of MLS players were African American, while around 31.6 percent were Hispanic or Latino. The only exceptions are Russians who were born in a non-Russian Soviet Socialist Republic under the Soviet Union (such as Anton Khudobin) or Siberia (such as Kirill Kaprizov). After Finland is the Czech Republic, which provides the NHL with 40 players (4.2% of all players). In terms of percentages, Russian players account for 5.4% of all the currently active players in the NHL now. Although still the largest group of hockey players by nationality in the NHL, recent decades and years have had other countries catching up in numbers and talent. In addition, MLB is the best baseball league in the world in terms of revenue, and 85 countries are active in international competition per WBSC. During the 2012-13 season, the league and disputed players agreed on a percentage of revenue share. Although still the largest group of hockey players by nationality in the NHL, recent decades and years have had other countries catching up in numbers and talent. To use individual functions (e.g., mark statistics as favourites, set His best NHL season came in 2019-20, when he was 16-8-4 with a 2.22 GAA and a .930 save percentage in 30 games (26 starts) to help the Stars reach the Stanley Cup Final, when they lost to the best . What percentage of NHL are American? The emergence of international superstars like Tim Sttzle and even 2022 NHL draft eligible Marco Kasper (Austrian), the game of hockey is clearly growing overseas. 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. Although the NHL started in Canada, the United States and other nations are gradually making themselves known within the league. Playing with the Boston Bruins, he was also the first NHL player of African-descent. What states produce the most NHL players? Of the remaining eleven countries, Switzerland (13) and Slovakia (9) have the greatest number of players, but the highest scorer in this group is Edmonton Oilers star 0/14. Less than half, about 47 per cent, go on to play 400 or more NHL games, with only about two in 10 making it to the 800-game mark. Their surge up the international chartsand the draft boardsignals a new era of ice hockey, where victory for the Canadians is no longer guaranteed. These countries are Slovenia (Anze Kopitar), Belarus (Yegor Sharangovich), Netherlands (Daniel Sprong), and Norway (Mats Zuccarello). Even from the graph above, its easy to see that the Big Six, or the nations of Canada, United States, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, and Russia are still the most represented countries in the NHL. Spotrac. Former Atlanta Thrashers great Ilya Kovalchuk even opted to leave the NHL for the Russian KHL after playing part of the season in each league because of the 2012-2013 NHL lockout. Additionally, there are players born in three more countries: Bulgaria, Great Britain, and Uzbekistan. Only two-thirds of that group were from the North American continent. Rk Henceforth, why NHL players nationalities will continue to gradually expand over time. four games, without scoring a point, though. 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. Furthermore, he also won the Hart in 2020. This opens a lot of avenues for the NHL since their teams are often so nationally diverse. Call the National Council on Problem Gambling 24/7 at 1-800 . Minnesota Active NHL Players Totals by Birth State - Career Stats. The Capitals, once again, have the most non-North Americans on their roster with 16, closely followed by the Blue Jackets with 13. This is on par with last year. In, Spotrac. Welsh-born Nathan Walker will be the only Australian in the NHL if he gets promoted again from the AHL. There have been 24 winter Olympic games that have had mens ice hockey, and these five nations have won 65 out of 72 total medals or 90% of medals awarded. The 23 Russians in the NHL come from 12 different teams. The USA is a not-so-close second at 28%. These categories of players do not fit into this classification. 1,352. Notable Swiss Player: Despite playing in the shadow of ex-teammate and defensive partner Shea Weber for his first few seasons, Nashville Predators defenseman Roman Josi has come into his own as one of the leagues premier defensemen, winning the James Norris Memorial Trophy in 2020. 26 NHL players come from the Central European country. changing their name during his first and only season in 1926-27. Find our most recent breakdown using opening day rosters from the 2021-22 season here! However, six and a half years ago, it was roughly half, while in the 1980s it was over three-quarters..
The Columbus Blue Jackets are this seasons most diverse team, featuring players from 10 different countries. Canadians At the time that was the highest percentage of Americans the NHL had ever seen on an opening night roster. Proudly powered by WordPress
Some of the most notable active U.S.-born players are Patrick Kane (Chicago Blackhawks), Phil Kessel (Pittsburgh Penguins), Zach Parise (Minnesota Wild), and Blake Wheeler (Winnipeg Jets). The Blue Jackets have the most non-North Americans on their roster with 14, closely followed by the Florida Panthers and Washington Capitals with 13. United States citizens constitute 28.1% of the NHL's total roster. Josi has been excellent this year and Meier is currently averaging over a point per game. However, six and a half years ago, it was roughly half, while in the 1980s it was over three-quarters. iwanickiconnor Follow. Then you can access your favorite statistics via the star in the header. Russian Alexander Barkov Sr. played professionally in Finland, where Aleksander was born (and trained). Business Solutions including all features. Avg 2022 Payroll. Jake can be reached at jake@tenthousandsports.com, Your email address will not be published. Canada Percentage of Active NHL Players by Nationality Career Stats. For the past few years, The Win Column has done a breakdown for every team in the NHL based on nationality (see 2019, 2020, 2021, and the beginning of the 202122 season here). NHL Totals by Nationality - 2021-2022 Regular Season Stats. Required fields are marked *. Percentage of NHL Players by Nationality 20222023 Stats. Slovak goaltender Jaroslav Halak is still putting up good numbers as well and he may make one final run as Slovakias Olympic goaltender. When Owen Power was selected first overall by the Buffalo Sabres in the 2021 draft, it was the first time six years that Canadians were taken first overall in back-to-back drafts. Germans actually have a Stanley Cup-winning goal to their credit though, with Colorado Avalanche defenseman Uwe Krupp ending a marathon three-overtime Game 4 in 1996. Notable German Player: Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl may be seen simply as the guy who rides shotgun with McDavid. Read More What Is AAV In Ice Hockey?Continue, Hockey skates are one of young hockey players most important skating gear. He began his NHL career with the Montreal Wanderers during the first NHL season (1917-18 season). With an all-time high of players born outside of North America, Canadian-born players made up just 49.7 per cent of the 624 players to appear in a game in the first two weeks of the 2015-16 season. These countries are Australia (Nathan Walker), Austria (Michael Raffl), Slovenia (Anze Kopitar), Netherlands (Daniel Sprong), and Norway (Mats Zuccarello). Although most of the American players originate from states that have harsh winter climates some players originated from warm climate states(Auston Matthews was born in California but grew up in Arizona where he became a fan of the Coyotes, and at one point, one of the highest paid NHL players). During the era of the original six, to the expansion era and 1970s, the number of Canadians in the game was about 90% of total NHL players nationalities. In the mean time though, I could not stop geeking about cleats and their performance benefits. The integration of international players from around the world into the NHL is part of the factors facilitating its spread to several countries. Could there be a trade brewing between the Calgary Flames and Carolina Hurricanes? . A few years after the formation of the NHL in 1917, 44 (91.7%) of its players were Canadian. What percentage of NHL players are from Canada? Hockey is as popular as its ever been in the States, which is not just emphasized by the number of NHL players, but the success of its international teams. Copyright 2023 The Win Column, All Rights Reserved. Sweden and Finland are hockey juggernauts. This is a list of National Hockey League statistical leaders by country of birth, sorted by total points.The top ten players from each country are included. Still, theres nothing purely North American about the NHL, not any longer anyway, not based on a birth-country-by-country breakdown of the 711 players listed as active on team rosters at the start of this 2022-23 season: As one might expect, Canada still reigns supreme in terms of which countrys players are the most well-represented in the NHL. This is on par with last year. Of the 711 players on season-opening rosters, 294 of them, or 41.4%, are from Canada. NBA Country Tracker. At the time that was the highest percentage of Americans the NHL had ever seen on an opening night roster. Norwegian hockey is the poster-child of this concept. Of the 91 players, 6 of them are goaltenders. Figure 3 Figure 3 is a heat map that plots the origin countries of NHL players. Finlands best may not be as flashy as Swedens but it includes Aleksander Barkov and Mikko Rantanen. The relationship between Russia and the NHL is similar to that between Japan and the MLB. This is significantly lower than the start of the season where the average was 1.3 players and 5%. The NHL has a playoff bonus pool in which players are compensated based on their . You only have access to basic statistics. Each country represented by at least one player has a color assigned to it that corresponds to the number of players it has in the NHL. We didnt get to see a mens Olympic ice hockey tournament this year, but hopefully the new World Cup of Hockey, that is said to feature only national teams unlike the last edition that had Team North American and Team Europe, will be the best-on-best tournament weve all been waiting for. Despite the large population of Hispanic or .
Over the past eleven years that percentage has jumped 6% to 26.5% of the NHL. Some of the best NHL players by nationality. At that time the. NHL Totals by Nationality 20222023 Stats. The depth of Canadian hockey talent is so great that Canada without Quebec still has the most plentiful pool of hockey talent in the world. .hide-if-no-js {
Even from the graph above, its easy to see that the Big Six, or the nations of Canada, United States, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, and Russia are the most represented countries in the NHL. Roman Josi, Nino Neiderreiter, Kevin Fiala, Pius Suter, and Timo Meier are all Swiss players. That being said, were still not at a point where we can say that any country is on a level playing field with Canada. These are the top-ten players of Asian descent, by career points, goals, and assists, when counting only their production with a specific franchise. From here on, Europe takes the reins for providing the NHL with its players. Active NHL Players Totals by Birth State - Career Stats. 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. In 2010, about 20.5% of the players on opening night rosters were Americans. Job Title White, 72.8% Black or African American, 8.9% Hispanic or Latino, 7.5% Unknown, 6.8% Rk Nationality Players GP G A P PIM PPG SHG GWG; 1 Canada: 415: 15 526: 2507: 4253: 6760: 8747: 536: 75: 386: 2 United States: 265: 10 217: 1625: 2735: 4360: . There were 259 Canadian forwards (53.7%), 123 defenders (48%) and 35 goalies (53%) and they made up 51.8% of the NHL. Reigning Venzina trophy winner Andrei Vasilevskiy is another popular Russian hockey import. Nationality Players GP G A P PIM PPG SHG GWG; 1 Canada: 435: 21 124: 3337: 5520: 8857: 10 023: 620: 106: 514: 2 United States: 286: . Operating across the Maritime provinces of Canada, the league operated for several decades until 1930. When understanding the financial nitty-gritty of any sport, a lot of us face difficulties. Six teams have zero players from outside the Big Six, and 13 teams have multiple players from outside the Big Six. In 2021, the greatest share of players by ethnic group were black or African American athletes, constituting 58 percent of players within the NFL. As you know, the foundation of this article will be looking into the classification of NHL players nationalities, by country of origin and percentage of international players in different years. meaning center Matti Hagman, who played four seasons instead, is credited as Players are identified as an All-Star if they were selected for the All-Star game at any time in their career. Gerry would eventually come back to the NHL during the 1925-26 season to play for the Boston Bruins before finally leaving for the American Hockey Association. During his career he played 11 seasons, winning 2 Stanley cups with the Toronto Maple Leafs after he was traded in 1939. Nathan was selected by the Washington Capitals during the third round of the 2014 NHL draft. 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. The 29-year-old has posted decent underlying numbers Calgary controlled just over 50 percent of the expected goals at 5-on-5 when Ritchie was on the ice, in admittedly sheltered minutes. 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 28. There are seven NHL teams located in Canada. [Online]. Albert Pudas was technically the first Finnish-born NHLer. Over the past eleven years that percentage has jumped 6% to 26.5% of the NHL. Yet another Colorado Avalanche player, forward Mikko Rantanen, who was born in Nousiainen, Finland, leads his NHL countrymen with 62 points. The NHL began its expansion of player nationalities in the 1970s, when players hailed from the United States, Sweden, and Finland. A scale is included on the right to explain how many players each color represents. As you might expect, the NHL has diversified immensely in the last 100 years since its formation. Heres hoping for NHL participation in a best-on-best tournament soon. This means there might have been some players who had parents native to such countries but were not given birth there. The average team has 1.6 players from outside Big Six countries or just around 5% of their roster/taxi squad/IR. Austria 2 (0.3%): The title of most accomplished Austrian-born NHLer has been passed to Seattle Kraken forward Andre Burakovsky, who represents Sweden internationally. Some of the most popular active Russian players in the NHL are Alexander Ovechkin (Washington Capitals), Vladimir Tarasenko (St. Louis Blues), and Ilya Kovalchuk (Los Angeles Kings). Statistics are current through the end of the 2021-22 NHL season and players currently playing in the National Hockey League are marked in boldface.. All players are listed by the current country of the players' birth location . However, after a year, he left the NHL for a french team after the collapse of the Montreal Wanderers NHL team. Later on, he moved to the Czech Republic to get professional training. 11 %. Fast forward to 2019 where the league has 31 teams and more players. Out of North American players, the Edmonton Oilers lead the league with 20 Canadians and the Winnipeg Jets lead with 15 Americans. A 2012 report by ESPN found that black players made up only 6.7 percent of the NHL, compared to 57.8 percent in the NBA and 21 percent in MLB. Percentage of Active NHL Players by Nationality Career Stats. As of the 2019-20 NHL season, there are 23 Russians playing in the National Hockey League. 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. In 2010, about 20.5% of the players on opening night rosters were Americans. What other nations have enough hockey infrastructure to send a large number of players to the NHL? 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Those two names dont quite sound North American. [13] His stints with the Buffalo Sabres and Toronto Maple Leafs were short lived and he eventually retired in 1987 due to injury. NHL Totals by Nationality 20192020 Stats. Please do not hesitate to contact me. Sweden sends a lot of players to the NHL. This is currently the lowest percentage of Canadian players in NHL history, which is glaring proof of the diversification of the NHL. This was during the expansion era of the NHL when the NHL went from six to twelve teams. The NHL features players of 18 different nationalities, and 21 birth countries this season. Slovakia is worth mentioning among all of these Other nations. The Vancouver Canucks are a franchise team in the National Hockey League (NHL). Accessed March 04, 2023. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1279112/nhl-player-count-by-country/, Spotrac. Also worth noting is the very high proportion of Finlands NHL stars that have been goaltenders. What do you know about the legendary Original Six? These are the top-ten players of Asian descent by career points, goals, and assists. The Oilers netminder has posted a 17-8-4 record, paired with a .884 save percentage, while Hellebuyck is sitting at 26-19-2, with a .920 save percentage. The MLB has a smaller percentage of Black baseball players now than it has any year in the last three decades, according to a new report released this week. This is in line with last years ratio. The average number of NHL games played was 448 or about 5 1/2 seasons. Broken down even further, most of the Big Six players hail from North America. A family friend and former NHL assistant GM has often lectured me and another Ten Thousand Sports writer about the odd regional nature of sports. What percentage of NHL players are Canadian 2021? Rk Nationality Players GP G A . United States citizens constitute 28.1% of the NHLs total roster.